By David.
The Davidic ascription is supported by v8 (the Lord’s anointed [king]).
Broyles notes some of the ‘odd’ features of this psalm, including that it both addresses the Lord directly and refers to him in the third person; shifts without explanation from a plea for divine help to thankfulness for help given; has an apparent mismatch between the prayer (give the wicked their just reward) and the answer (the Lord has helped me); and a further shift of focus from ‘I’ to God’s people. Broyles thinks that, in the light of these features, the psalm should be understood as a liturgy, possibly reflecting more than one speaker.
As Motyer (NBC) remarks, this psalm appears to continue the theme of the previous two psalms, and shares a number of common features with them: the same life-threatening situation (v1), the focus on the Lord’s house (v2), and concern for the welfare of God’s people (v9).
The suggestion by the contributor to Harper’s Bible Commentary that this psalm was composed at least in part during a time of serious illness (with vv6f expressing thanks for a cure) is plausible. Kidner, similarly, thinks that the psalmist is experiencing ‘illness or deep despair’. But the middle section, which is concerned with the destiny of the wicked, does not really fit this scenario. Broyles, accordingly, thinks that the psalm is more likely to have been composed for occasions when one is under (threat of) attack from one’s enemies. The metaphors of protection (v7f) support this hypothesis.
The movement from fear to faith is a common one in the psalms and elsewhere. The psalm seems to speak of two distinct moments in David’s life – first, when bringing his troubles before a God who seems not to hear, and second, when looking back over the way in which the Lord has brought him through those troubles.
The psalm may be regarded as moving between the polarities of not being heard by God and being heard by him. Or, as moving between the polarities of the works of the wicked and of God. The call to the reader, then, is to learn to live in the midst of these polarities and to discern the word and works of God. (NICOT)
In terms of general application, Spurgeon notes that this psalm:
‘may suit any slandered saint, who being misunderstood by men, and treated by them as an unworthy character, is anxious to stand aright before the bar of God. The Lord Jesus may be seen here pleading as the representative of his people.’
28:1 To you, O LORD, I cry out!
My protector, do not ignore me!
If you do not respond to me,
I will join those who are descending into the grave.
To you, O Lord, I cry out! – This initial prayer seems almost worldless. It is followed by a plea for mercy (v2), a note of thankful praise (v6), and prayer for the Lord’s people (v9).
Throughout this first section (vv1-4), David cries out to a God who who seems not to hear.
‘What is here taught by example is in the New Testament taught by precept, James 5:13’ (Plumer).
My protector – ‘my rock’.
Henry Law:
‘Prayer usually singles out some gracious revelation of our God, and earnestly pleads it. Here God is reminded that He is His people’s Rock. As such He is immovable, and they who rest on Him cannot be shaken. Billows of trouble may lash. Storms of persecution may arise. But they remain secure.’
If you do not respond to me… – ‘If you remain silent’, the implication being that God has been silent for some while.
How did David expect the Lord to respond? By events? By Scripture? By prophecy? In context, the first seems most likely; David is asking God to deliver him from whatever was afflicting him (probably sickness or enemies).
For the time being, God is silent. But David cries out nevertheless, noting first the awful prospect of a godless death, and then (v2) appealing to the covenant that God has established.
‘The superstitious and pharasaical pray for other reasons, one to feed a blind, fanatical zeal, the other to be seen of men. But the intelligent and devout ask, that they may receive a divine blessing’ (Plumer).
Boice invites us to think of Jesus’ temptations, and his reply to the temptor: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3). So:
‘if the only way life is received, sustained, and preserved is by hearing the words of God, shouldn’t we be profoundly serious about developing our relationship with him—indeed, much more serious than we are? If we really believed that we were perishing apart from hearing the voice of God, as David apparently did, wouldn’t we study the Bible more? And wouldn’t we pray more? Wouldn’t we be always crying out to him in prayer and seeking his face regularly through diligent Bible study?’
‘Bartimaeus was not answered at the first, but he cried again. The Syro-Phoenician woman seemed at first to be met with repulse and refusal, but she pleaded the more earnestly. The sisters of Bethany were left for three whole days in their woe; but the Saviour came in his good time, brining light and joy. So let us learn to pray and wait. Daniel took comfort by looking toward Jerusalem; let us look above, to Jesus, “the Author and Finisher of our faith.”‘
Those who are descending into the grave – Into ‘the pit’. The contributor to Harper’s Bible Commentary notes that the word translated ‘grave’ (or ‘pit’):
‘originally meant a quarry (Isa 51:1), well, or cistern (Gen 21:25, 30), which when empty became a place for detaining people (Jer 38:6). The term also came to signify the abode of the dead, because of the dank, dark, and unhealthy conditions of these cisterns (Pss 30:4; 88:7; Isa 38:18).’
They are meeting a godless end. David does not want to share their fate. Kidner agrees that the fear is not so much of death itself, but of a disgraceful death.
‘He begs God not to punish him with the punishment that the evil people deserve.’ (Longman)
It is not so much death, but a certain kind of death, that David shrinks from. He is appalled by the thought of a godless death, a death outside of the loving presence of God. Williams notes:
‘A young girl in our church died of leukaemia. When we prayed for her healing, there was only a little relief. In the final moments of her life, however, she told her parents that she saw Jesus standing with her, taking her hand. His radiance was upon her face. While God did not grant her physical healing in this life, He granted her His presence.’
Boice, however, argues that:
‘What David seems to be saying is not that he will be killed or die but that spiritually speaking he will be as good as dead unless God speaks to him. If God refuses to answer his prayers, how will David differ from the dying godless who have no relationship with God whatever?’
Henry Law:
‘The most exalted believer is still a miserable sinner. Sin is a malady under which he daily groans. It is a foe with which he daily struggles. He hates it in its every form. Especially he loathes deceit, and deviousness, and fraud. Therefore he earnestly cries that he may be severed from its contact now, and from its doom forever. He knows that justice will erect its throne; that rigid scrutiny will weigh each word and work; that final reckoning will assign true judgment. He looks onward to the great white throne and its award. He humbly acquiesces in the sentence which will there be given.’
28:2 Hear my plea for mercy when I cry out to you for help,
when I lift my hands toward your holy temple!
Hear my plea for mercy is followed by ‘he has heard my plea for mercy’ in v6.
I lift my hands – I come to God empty-handed, beseeching his favour.
(Jacobson’s repeated reference to the psalmist as ‘her’ strikes me as an absurd instance of ‘political correctness’. It is in defiance both of the Davidic ascription of the psalm and of the reference (v8) to the psalmist to ‘God’s anointed’. Jacobson confuses the matter still further when, later, he refers to the same person as ‘he’.)
Wiersbe observes that this psalm has quite a lot to say about hands: David’s hands (lifted up in prayer) and the hands of the wicked (v4). The Lord’s hands are alluded to in v5.
According to JFB, this lifting of the hands to God:
‘symbolized the lifting up of the heart to God. David lifted up his hands to the oracle, as it contained the ark of the covenant, the visible symbol of God’s presence. God graciously condescended to man’s natural craving after the visible, by this seen type of Him who is, as God, unseen, but who has in the incarnate Son of God manifested Himself in the most perfect way to us Christians.’
And Spurgeon writes:
‘Uplifted hands have ever been a form of devout posture, and are intended to signify a reaching upward towards God, a readiness, an eagerness to receive the blessing sought after. We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy seat of Jesus, for there our expectation dwells.’
Your holy temple – The word is only found elsewhere in accounts of Solomon’s temple, but since it means ‘innermost sanctuary’, its use need not imply that the psalm is post-Davidic.
As Williams notes, David’s prayer consists of audible words (‘I cry out to you for help’), accompanied by appropriate physical gestures (‘I lift my hands toward your holy temple’). There may be a place for wordless contemplation, but that is not what David is doing here.
David is praying towards to Holy of Holies, the place of the Ark of the Covenant. His prayer invokes God’s covenant, and on that basis believes even when God seems to be silent.
Boice remarks that David’s prayer is, accordingly, based on God’s covenant with his people and on the blood sacrifices that were offered on the Day of Atonement:
‘This refers to the innermost part of the tabernacle or temple enclosure, where the Ark of the Covenant rested. It was there where the blood sacrifices were offered for the nation’s sin on the annual Day of Atonement. So when David addresses his appeal toward God’s Most Holy Place he is telling God that he is coming on the basis of the shed blood, a sinner who knows that his sin must be atoned for before he can approach the Almighty.’
Boice adds that the prayer of the tax collector (Lk 18:13) is actually a reference to the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, ‘God be merciful to me’ is, more literally, ‘God be propitious to me’; ‘Receive my prayer on the basis of blood atonement.’
As Plumer remarks, if the sanctuary was a type of Christ, then we must look to Christ in our praying. ‘For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence’ (Heb 9:24).
Boice notes that Psa 27 ends on the note of waiting for the Lord. This psalm picks up that theme, and encourages to prayer as we wait. In this regard, the parable Jesus told in Lk 18:1-5 is a great encouragement. The point of the parable is that if a lazy and immoral judge will respond to a poor widow’s insistence entreaties, how much more will ‘God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly’.
Broyles comments:
‘While we today may not believe in “sacred space,” our prayers with closed eyes and vague thoughts of omnipresence can diminish our anticipation of personal encounter with God. At the very least, our inward eyes must be focused without, not within.’
‘
28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,
with those who behave wickedly,
who talk so friendly to their neighbors,
while they plan to harm them!
Do not drag me away with evil men – The thought is of being dragged away to punishment.
David’s desire is to be separated from the deceit and malice of the wicked. If he has no part in their wicked deeds then he will not share in their hopeless demise.
Wiersbe asks:
‘How could God treat his anointed king like a criminal? But we should remind ourselves that the Father allowed his own Son to be unjustly treated like a common criminal (Isa. 53:7–8, 12; Luke 22:37).’
Those who behave wickedly – Jacobson notes the contrast between ‘the rough work of their hands’ and ‘the smooth speech of their tongues’.
These people talk so friendly to their neighbours, while they plan to harm them! – Their behaviour is hypocritical and manpulative. Their ‘facade of cordiality’ masks an attitude of malice (Wilson). See Prov 26:23-26 for a more extended description.
Wilson remarks that:
‘it is not that [they] are murderers or thieves—there is no indication of physical assault or robbery. Instead, they are described as “two-faced” or deceptive in their relations with others…This is an interior attitude of self-focus and self-concern that is not visible to those around about. Yet lack of integrity in inner thought and outer expression is one of the sinful attitudes commonly addressed in the psalms.
‘Clearly such deception undermines the foundation of intimate relationship. To cloak one’s inner thoughts and feelings behind a deceptive exterior is to deny others access to the real person. Humans can dissemble with one another and succeed in hiding their true selves and motivations for a while at least, but God is not deceived since he looks on the heart and knows all the plans and motivations of his creatures.’
The corollary is that God loves a man who lives with honesty and integrity:
‘A man who does to others as he would have others do to him; a man who gives his Maker the praise, honour, service and homage which are his due; a man who would rather die before he would knowingly roby God of defraud man; a man who would rather be imposed on a thousand times than do one acts of injustice. Such a man, in gold or in rages, in prison or in state, is the noblest specimen of all God’s works on earth.’ (Plumer)
28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!
Pay them back for what they do!
Punish them!
Pay them back for their evil deeds! – The implication is that the punishment is to be no less (and no more) than deserved. ‘The wages of sin is death.’
Those with a clear conscience may rightly pray for the Lord to act with justice against the perpetrators of evil.
This is not a matter of personal revenge, but of divine justice. The psalmist trusts in God to act according to his holy and just nature. Indeed, we can refrain from lashing out in violent anger precisely because we know that the matter can safely be left in God’s hands. His judgement may be delayed, but it is nevertheless certain. But the New Testament adds a clearer sense of God’s patience and kindness in giving opportunity for sinners to repent and come to faith. See 2 Pet 3.
Sin contains the seeds of its own punishment:
‘God repays men in kind, making their sin their punishment, and the mischief which they plotted for others to recoil on themselves (Matt. 7:2; cf. the case of Haman, Esth. 7:10).’ (JFB)
Spurgeon quotes G.S. Bowes:
‘The Egyptians killed the Hebrew male children, and God smote the firstborn of Egypt. Sisera, who thought to destroy Israel with his iron chariots, was himself killed with an iron nail, stuck through his temples. Adonibezek, Jud 1:5-7. Gideon slew forty elders of Succoth, and his sons were murdered by Abimelech. Abimelech slew seventy sons of Gideon upon one stone, and his own head was broken by a piece of millstone thrown by a woman. Samson fell by the “lust of the eye, “and before death the Philistines put out his eyes. Agag, 1Sa 20:33. Saul slew the Gibeonites, and seven of his sons were hung up before the Lord. 2Sa 21:1-9. Ahab, after coveting Naboth’s vineyard, 1Ki 21:19, fulfilled 2Ki 9:24-26. Jeroboam, the same hand that was stretched forth against the altar was withered, 1Ki 13:1-6. Joab having killed Abner, Amasa, and Absalom, was put to death by Solomon. Daniel’s accusers thrown into the lion’s den meant for Daniel. Haman hung upon the gallows designed for Mordecai. Judas purchased the field of blood, and then went and hanged himself.’
Motyer (NBC) remarks:
‘To find ourselves offended by this vigorous prayer is not a measure of our refined sensitivity but of our less than mature conscience. It is as right to pray for the overthrow of the wicked as it is to pray for the blessing of the church (9): it demands greater holiness if we are to do the former without sin.’
Kidner notes that it is good for us to believe that God will one day put all wrongs to right:
‘Nothing stings so sharply as injustice, and nothing should; so these verses are not simply vindictive, but put into words the protest of any healthy conscience at the wrongs of the present order, and the conviction that a day of judgment is a moral necessity. It is in this sense that God’s elect “cry to him day and night”, and find his wrath already kindled (Luke 18:7).’
Wilson remarks that to believe in divine retribution is to believe that God has created a cosmos which has a oral order, one in which good and evil, right and wrong are clearly distinguished and dealt with justly and wisely.
Boice quotes the saying: ‘Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.’
28:5 For they do not understand the LORD’s actions,
or the way he carries out justice.
The LORD will permanently demolish them.
They do not understand the Lord’s actions – The focus is not on the personal plight of the psalmist but on their disregard for the Lord’s deeds (Broyles).
On the Lord’s manifold works, Spurgeon comments:
‘God works in creation—nature teems with proofs of his wisdom and goodness, yet purblind atheists refuse to see him: he works in providence, ruling and overruling, and his hand is very manifest in human history, yet the infidel will not discern him: he works in grace—remarkable conversions are still met with on all hands, yet the ungodly refuse to see the operations of the Lord.’
Henry Law:
‘Our God does not hide Himself. Man’s ignorance of God is willful and self-chosen. His power and Godhead are written in letters of light throughout creation’s page. His constant interposition in the world’s course, in favor of His people and His truth, always speaks loudly. This witness disregarded seals the sad doom. If eyes and ears refuse to learn, sentence is most just.’
To act against David was to act against David’s God. Jesus regards evil (and good) done towards his people as done toward himself.
In this twofold lack of understanding, they are ‘willingly ignorant’, cf. Rom 1:20f.
‘The acts of the Lord in creation, redemption, and Yahweh’s rule through David reveal the wonder of God’s purpose. The history of redemption condemns the wicked.’ (VanGemeren)
The Lord will permanently demolish them – An architectural metaphor. What now stands as a strong proud building will one day be a heap of ruins.
They may have forgotten God; but he has not forgotten them.
As Boice remarks, they have spent their lives building imposing edifices, only to see them tumble like sandcastles. How are we building? With wood, hay and stubble, or with silver and gold?
28:6 The LORD deserves praise,
for he has heard my plea for mercy!
28:7 The LORD strengthens and protects me;
I trust in him with all my heart.
I am rescued and my heart is full of joy;
I will sing to him in gratitude.
28:8 The LORD strengthens his people;
he protects and delivers his chosen king.
The Lord deserves praise – ‘Blessed be the Lord’. As is usual in psalms of lament, there is a note of praise.
Boice notes the three tenses employed here: ‘He has heard my plea’; ‘I am rescued’; ‘I will give thanks.’
Jacobson notes that
‘When the phrase occurs in narrative passages, it is a response to some event or message of good news, such as deliverance from an enemy, the birth of a child, the death of an enemy, or the receiving of a favorable word from God (cf. Exod. 18:10; Ruth 4:14; 1 Sam. 25:39; 1 Kgs. 8:15).’
Here, it would seem that the prayer to be delivered from one’s enemies (or, possibly, from one’s sickness) has been answered.
Do we remember to thank God for prayers answered, for blessings received? See Lk 17:17f for a cautionary episode from the life of Jesus.
For he has heard my plea for mercy! – Tears of anguish (v2) have been transformed into shouts of joy. The God who formerly did not seem to hear, has heard and answered.
The first word (‘For…’; ‘Because…’) indicates that there is a real reason for David’s praise:
‘Real praise is established upon sufficient and constraining reasons; it is not irrational emotion, but rises, like a pure spring, from the deeps of experience.’ (Spurgeon)
The Lord strengthens me…the Lord strengthens his people – Ps 28:7; 43:2; Ps 118:14; Isa 12:2; Hab 3:19; Col 1:11.
This is is not theoretical or abstract, knowledge of God, but personal and experiential. David’s knows God’s goodness in his own life. Do we?
His chosen king – ‘his anointed’, using a word that would later be used for the Messiah. As such, David represents, not just himself, but his people. So it is that, in the NT, we, God’s people, are blessed ‘in the Messiah’, Eph 1:3ff.
28:9 Deliver your people!
Empower the nation that belongs to you!
Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms at all times!
The welfare of the king and the welfare of the people go hand in hand. Jesus prays for his people (Jn 17), and is people pray for one another (‘Our Father…give us…forgive us…lead us not…’).
Ash comments:
‘Because the covenant God answered the prayers of the anointed king (the Messiah or Christ), we – the King’s people – may pray with confidence that he will save and bless us, be our shepherd (cf. Psa 23:1).’
Deliver your people! – We should not assume that such help will come automatically. God expects us to partner with him in prayer.
Spurgeon opens up this petition:
‘Deliver them from their enemies, preserve them from their sins, succour them under their troubles, rescue them from their temptations, and ward off from them every ill. ‘
As Spurgeon remarks, there is a plea hidden in the petition. Since we belong to him, he will protect us from destruction.
Empower the nation that belongs to you! – or,’bless your inheritance’. God’s people are his inheritance; they belong to him and no other can lay claim to them (Wilson).
If ‘deliver’ represents the negative side of the prayer (deliver us from danger), the present expression is positive:
‘Grant positive blessings, peace, plenty, prosperity, happiness; make all thy dearly purchased and precious heritage to be comforted by thy Spirit. Revive, refresh, enlarge, and sanctify thy church.’ (Spurgeon)
Care for them like a shepherd – Military imagery (strength, shield, fortress) turns to pastoral sphere (shepherd). (Broyles)
This reference to God as shepherd harks back to Psa 23, thus bracketing Psalms 23-28 as a collection having many themes in common.
Carry them in your arms at all times! – David prays that the Lord might carry Israel out of danger, as a shepherd carries a lame sheep. God’s people have no cause to boast; rather, we plead our need and dependence upon him, trusting himself to pick us up when we fall and carry us when we fail.
The Lord does not merely instruct us, or even guide us. ‘Through all the changing scenes of life’ he will carry us, for we have not strength in ourselves.
Wilson notes:
‘Isaiah 46:1–2 ridicules those who entrust their lives to idols that must be carried from place to place by their worshipers. Instead, Israel is called to trust Yahweh who has carried them from their birth and will continue to do so until their old age (Isa 46:3–4).’
As Jacobson comments:
‘Such ongoing providence is exactly what Israel experienced from God in the wilderness, throughout the monarchy, through the exile, and into Israel’s unknown, but sure, future.’
Longman writes:
‘The reference to David in the title and to the anointed one in verse 8b allows a connection with the Māšîaḥ (Messiah; Christ). Although Jesus was dragged away with the wicked and crucified between two prisoners, God heard his cry for help and raised him from the dead. God was a fortress of salvation for his anointed one (v. 8), and thus we can call on him to be our shepherd (John 10:11, 14) and carry us forever.’
Ash comments:
‘As we sing this Psalm with Jesus Christ our Anointed King, we heed to warning not to be like the wicked; our natural tendency to be like them is counteracted by a deepening aversion to all they represent. But above all, we rejoice that our prayers are heard in the anointed King’s name. In him, we too are in unbreakable covenant with the living God.’
Robert Hawker (on the whole psalm):
‘Here, my soul, take a lesson from the ever blessed Jesus, David’s Lord, how to cry unto God as thy Rock, thy Jesus, thy sure salvation. He will not be silent to this cry, for he hath said, Before my people call, I will answer.’
‘In the deepest sense, God’s response to man’s cry is Christ. In him God has come to us in human form, brining salvation. Through him God is ever with us, to hear the prayer of the sinner and to satisfy the desires of his saints. When we pray it may be that the answer is delayed. As Joseph spoke roughly to his brethren, though love and kindness were in his heart all the time, so God may seem for a while to close his ear, and suffer us to struggle and cry in vain; but we are sure that his love does not change…
‘If he delays it is because this is needful. It is part of his discipline; it is necessary for the full accomplishment of his purposes. It may be also that God will answer our prayers in a way different from what we expected. We are weak and ignorant. Our minds are clouded, our hearts are confused. We are harassed and distressed by the things which press most closely upon us. We are not fit judges as to what is best. Let us confide in God. He knows what we are and what we need. His way is always the best way…
‘But many times God is pleased to answer the prayers of his people by granting their requests. We ask light, and he gives light. We seek pardon, and he says, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” We crave help in trouble, and he sends forth his angels for our comfort and deliverance. God’s response to our cry calls for thanksgiving. Thus prayer ends in praise (verses 6, 7). There is gratitude for deliverance. Faith is strengthened, hope is revived, and love breaks forth into joyful songs of victory.’ (W. Forsyth)
Jacobson comments that, despite the wide differences between the psalmist’s situation and our own,
‘The life of faith today is much the same as for the ancient petitioner, for whom the only lifeline to hold onto was the spider-web-thin thread of a promise. To live the life of faith is to trust now and live today as if all that has been promised—eternal life, forgiveness of sins, meaningfulness, purpose, the reward for faith, and so on—has already been realized. In fact, to live the life of faith is nothing else than to be so gripped by God’s promises that we live as if the promises have already been kept.’
Jacobson cites Elisabeth Johnson on Rom. 8:22–27:
‘Because we are joint heirs with Christ, we can expect to share in both his sufferings and his glory (8:17). There is no exemption from suffering for believers. Being children of God indwelled by the Spirit does not remove us from the suffering of creation but draws us ever more deeply into solidarity with our suffering world. As joint heirs with Christ, we can expect to share in his sufferings (8:17) on behalf of a world in bondage. As the Spirit of Christ dwells within us, at odds with the powers of sin and death, we experience conflict and suffering, yet we are not driven to despair. The Spirit groans with us and intercedes for us, giving us hope in the promise of redemption.’