Psalms 28:1

Unto thee will I cry,.... This denotes the distress the psalmist was in, fervency and ardour in prayer, resolution to continue in it, and singularity with respect to the object of it; determining to

Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

Psalms 28 THE This Psalm seems to be made upon the same occasion with the former, and is mixed, as many others of his Psalms are, of hopes and fears, of prayers and praises. David prayeth earnestly for himself, ,2, that he might not be led away with the wicked, ,4. The reason of his prayer, . He blesseth God for hearing him, ; and prayeth for the people, . Be not silent; be not deaf to my prayers, nor dumb as, to thy answers to them: lest I be in the like or same condition with them that go down into the pit, i.e. a lost creature; as I shall certainly be, if thou dost not succour me.

Psalms 28:1 « [A Psalm] of David. » Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, [if] thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.Ver. 1. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock] That thou mayest grant me what I begged so earnestly of thee in the former psalm especially, Psalms 28:4, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after," &c. For this psalm is of the same subject with that; and seemeth to have been made much about the same time, viz. after that David had twice spared Saul’ s life, 1 Samuel 24:4-6, &c.; 1 Samuel 26:12; 1 Samuel 26:21. Only here he expresseth himself, not as if he had been a private person, and in daily danger of his life; but as destined and designed to the kingdom by Almighty God, to whom, therefore, he prayeth for himself and the people, and against their implacable enemies, with so great confidence, as that he presently praiseth him for his request obtained, Psalms 28:6. Be not silent to me] Cease not, as deaf, from me. If God seem to be deaf to us, we must cry the louder; that, having prepared our hearts by such a seeming silence, he may cause his ears to hear, Psalms 10:17, which he will not fail to do when once we set up our note, and make bitter moan. Lest, if thou be silent, &c.] Here are his reasons to help his hope to be heard. God is well pleased that we argue it out with him in prayer. Like them that go down into the pit] Or, dirty dungeon, that is, the grave; or, as Kimchi, lest I be as the wicked, that go down to hell. "The righteous perisheth," Isaiah 57:1, that is, the world looks upon them as lost.

(1) My rock.—Heb., tsϋr, from a root implying “bind together” (Deuteronomy 14:25), not necessarily therefore with sense of height, but with that of strength and solidity. Thus Tyre (or Tsϋr) is built on a broad shelf of rock. We see from Deuteronomy 32:30-31; 1 Samuel 2:2, that “rock” was a common metaphor for a tutelary deity, and it is adopted frequently for Jehovah in the Psalms and poetical books. Sometimes in the Authorised Version it is rendered “strong” (Psalms 60:9; Psalms 71:3; see margin). The LXX. (followed by Vulg.) here, as generally, apparently through timidity, suppresses the metaphor, and renders “my God.” In the song of Moses in Deuteronomy, the metaphor occurs nine times, and Stanley thinks it was derived from the granite peaks of Sinai (Jewish Church, p. 195). Be not silent to me.—Vulg. and margin, rightly, “from me.” The word rendered “silent” appears, like κωφὸς in Greek, to have the double meaning of deaf and dumb, and is apparently from an analogous derivation. (See Gesenius, Lex., sub voce.) Hence we might render, “turn not a deaf ear to me,” or “turn not from me in silence.” Them that go down into the pit—i.e., the dead, or those just about to die (Psalms 30:3). In Psalms 88:4, the expression is parallel to “My life draweth nigh unto the grave;” pit (bτr) is either the sepulchre (as Isaiah 14:19), or the world of the dead (Psalms 88:4). The two significations pass one into the other. This expression suggests that the psalmist was on a bed of sickness.

PSALM XXVIII A righteous man in affliction makes supplication to God, and complains of the malice of his enemies, 1-4; whom he describes as impious, and whose destruction he predicts, 5. He blesses God for hearing his prayers, and for filling him with consolation, 6, 7; then prays for God's people, 8, 9. NOTES ON PSALM XXVIII This Psalm is of the same complexion with the two preceding; and belongs most probably to the times of the captivity, though some have referred it to David in his persecutions. In the five first verses the author prays for support against his enemies, who appear to have acted treacherously against him. In the sixth and seventh he is supposed to have gained the victory, and returns with songs of triumph. The eighth is a chorus of the people sung to their conquering king. The ninth is the prayer of the king for his people. Verse 1. O Lord my rock] צורי tsuri not only means my rock, but my fountain, and the origin of all the good I possess. If thou be silent] If thou do not answer in such a way as to leave no doubt that thou hast heard me, I shall be as a dead man. It is a modern refinement in theology which teaches that no man can know when God hears and answers his prayers, but by an induction of particulars, and by an inference from his promises. And, on this ground, how can any man fairly presume that he is heard or answered at all? May not his inductions be no other than the common occurrences of providence? And may not providence be no more than the necessary occurrence of events? And is it not possible, on this skeptic ground, that there is no God to hear or answer? True religion knows nothing of these abominations; it teaches its votaries to pray to God, to expect an answer from him, and to look for the Holy Spirit to bear witness with their spirits that they are the sons and daughters of God.

1, 2. Introductory appeal for a hearing, emphasising the urgency of the need.

Unto thee will I cry - That is, under the consciousness of the danger to which I am exposed - the danger of being drawn away into the society of the wicked.

1. My rock—My protection, defence, Deuteronomy 32:8. The Hebrew punctuation would make this the beginning of the second line thus:—Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call; O my Rock, be not silent from