Psalms Chapter 28 By David.
1 To you, LORD, I call. My rock, don't be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands towards your Most Holy Place.
3 Don't draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they don't respect the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he will break them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my petitions.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.
8 The LORD is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
9 Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.
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Psalms Chapter 28 By David. Guide
The affinity between this psalm and the previous one is evident and its placing by the editor here was in all likelihood due to that fact. In Psalms 27:1-14, in true order, praise prepares for, and issues in, prayer, the whole ending in an appeal to "wait on Jehovah." The next psalm opens-Unto Thee, O Jehovah, will I call.
This is not to suggest that the song was written by the same person or immediately. It rather affords an illustration of a song written by one who acted on the principle enjoined. The cry of need is very urgent. The peril is so great that death threatens. Unless Jehovah help there is no help. That the danger arose from enemies is evident from the psalmist's cry to Jehovah for justice.
Suddenly the prayer becomes a song of praise, an act of adoration. The prayer is heard, help is granted, the song begins. That this psalm, with its inverted order of prayer and praise, follows closely that in which the order is praise and prayer is encouraging. The true order is praise and prayer. If the heart is not strong enough for this, let it learn how to praise by speaking first in prayer of its sorrow. The one thing impossible in worship is to compress it within the narrow limits of stated formulas.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Psalms Chapter 28 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- A prayer in distress. -- (1-5)
- Thanksgiving for deliverance. -- (6-9)
Verses 1-5
David is very earnest in prayer. Observe his faith in prayer; God is my rock, on whom I build my hope. Believers should not rest till they have received some token that their prayers are heard. He prays that he may not be numbered with the wicked. Save me from being entangled in the snares they have laid for me. Save me from being infected with their sins, and from doing as they do. Lord, never leave me to use such arts of deceit and treachery for my safety, as they use for my ruin. Believers dread the way of sinners; the best are sensible of the danger they are in of being drawn aside: we should all pray earnestly to God for his grace to keep us. Those who are careful not to partake with sinners in their sins, have reason to hope that they shall not receive their plagues. He speaks of the just judgments of the Lord on the workers of iniquity, ver. #(4). This is not the language of passion or revenge. It is a prophecy that there will certainly come a day, when God will punish every man who persists in his evil deeds. Sinners shall be reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they designed, and did what they could to effect. Disregard of the works of the Lord, is the cause of the sin of sinners, and becomes the cause of their ruin.
Verses 6-9
Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his name. The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on through all my services and sufferings. The heart that truly believes, shall in due time greatly rejoice: we are to expect joy and peace in believing. God shall have the praise of it: thus must we express our gratitude. The saints rejoice in others' comfort as well as their own: we have the less benefit from the light of the sun, nor from the light of God's countenance, for others' sharing therein. The psalmist concludes with a short, but comprehensive prayer. God's people are his inheritance, and precious in his eyes. He prays that God would save them; that he would bless them with all good, especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. And direct their actions and overrule their affairs for good. Also, lift them up for ever; not only those of that age, but his people in every age to come; lift them up as high as heaven. There, and there only, will saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink, or be depressed. Save us, Lord Jesus, from our sins; bless us, thou Son of Abraham, with the blessing of righteousness; feed us, thou good Shepherd of the sheep, and lift us up for ever from the dust, O thou, who art the Resurrection and the Life.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.