Psalm 28: Do Not Withdraw Your Oracles
A Psalm of David.
1 To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me, lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary [Oracles]. 3 Do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors; give them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve. 5 Because they do not regard the works of Yahweh, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up.
“To You will I cry, O Lord my 'Tsuri’- not only means my Rock, but my Fountain” (Adam Clarke) Compare Numbers 20:11. “His reliance was not on his own strength; or on his own resolutions; on his own heart; or on his fellowmen. He felt that he was safe only in God, and he appeals to Him,” (Albert Barnes)— that Fount “filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins.” (William Cowper) “lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.’ that is, the grave; i:e., the dead (Isaiah 14:15; 19).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown), “in utter hopelessness.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)
“‘Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands’ and spread them out towards heaven [perhaps to signify that He knows our works and this] was the usual posture of prayer with the Hebrews, ( 1 Kings 8:22, Isaiah 1:15).” (J. P. Lange) — ‘toward Your holy sanctuary’— toward thy holy oracle - debir kodshecha”(Adam Clarke) For David, “But though a new danger has arisen, the old refuge still remains. ‘Bring hither the ephod,’(1 Samuel 23:9) he says to Abiathar.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary) “No sooner was the ephod brought him than he made use of it. We have the Scriptures in our hands, let us take advice from them in doubtful cases. Say, Bring hither the Bible.” (Matthew Henry) “Oh! it is a very high privilege to have a God in Christ to go to, who is engaged in covenant to deliver His people; and when more likely than when they call upon Him?” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
“‘Do not take me away’ —lit. , drag me not. In Ezekiel 32:18 seq., we have a magnificent vision of judgment, in which the wicked nations are represented as being dragged to death and destruction.” (C. J. Ellicott)— with the workers of iniquity… etc. . These are those “‘who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts [towards them].’ David’s brethren in Israel “flattered him with fair speeches, having mischief in their hearts. Therefore he saw that God would not establish their houses, as princes and nobles in the land.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)— perhaps the Heavenly Canaan. “Destroy not the good with the bad.” (Geneva Study Bible) — those consecrated for life with those devoted to destruction.
They say one thing, but what do they do!? Render “according to their deeds (Romans 2:6). “And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; give them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve.’ Note that a true believer places his case into the hands of the Lord, to whom revenge belongs.” (Paul E. Kretzmann) Repay in kind, “making their sin their punishment, and the mischief which they plotted for others to recoil on themselves (Matthew 7:2; cf. the case of Haman, Esther 7:10).”(Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
“Because they regard not the works of Yahweh,.... that is, the work of Creation and Redemption from the Fall of man, as described in His Oracles or Torah. They take “no notice either of the judgments or of the mercies of God; as though they believed that God had forsaken the earth, and would do neither good nor evil; and still less the work of redemption, which in covenant, promise, and prophecy, was appointed for the Messiah to work out; and as for the work of the Spirit of God upon the soul, they had no notion of that, of the nature and necessity of it.” (John Gill) “Let it therefore be our resolution, that we will meditate on His works, and consider the operation of His hands…” (Joseph Sutcliffe) always.
Wherefore: “‘He shall destroy them,’— Destroy them in this world, and not build them up in the world to come, say the Rabbis. Or, as others, he shall break them down, as men do old rotten ruinous houses, and never more repair or rebuild them… They that will not be ruled shall be ruined. See 1 Samuel 2:25.— ‘If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?’ But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.” (John Trapp)— “‘and not build them up.’ or raise them immortal. They are not interested in God’s operations. “They are like the fool who says in his heart, ‘there is no God’ They have had no interest in what God is achieving, and act contrary to it, and so, although they may stand proud for a time, He will dismantle them…” (Peter Pett)
And they shall not be given immortal bodies at the Resurrection.
6 Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! 7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him. 8 Yahweh is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. 9 Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them also, and bear them up forever.
“This man, when he ‘stood praying, believed that he had what he asked,’ and, so believing, had it. There was no change in circumstances, but he was changed. There is no fear of going down into the pit now, and the rabble of evil-doers have disappeared. This is the blessing which every true suppliant may bear away from the throne, the peace which passeth understanding, the sure pledge of the Divine act which answers prayer. It is the first gentle ripple of the incoming tide; high water is sure to come at the due hour.” (Expositor's Bible) “Here is a sweet hosanna. It was first sung by Christ, and may be well sung by all His redeemed in Him. Reader, do not overtook the benediction in the close of it. Is not this another view of Jesus? Remember how Aaron was commanded to bless the people, as a type of Christ, in his everlasting priesthood. Numbers 6:22, etc.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Comm)“Faith cries, I am helped! Let us rejoice even before the jailer comes to tell us that we are free, Acts 16:25; and let us send out our prayers for all the Church, Psalms 28:9.” (F. B. Meyer)
“‘Save Your people. Bless thine inheritance’— Israel, for whom he prays, not as his people, but as God’s. ‘Save thy people: Thine inheritance.’ God’s interest in them lay nearer his heart than his own. ‘Feed them also’ — As a shepherd does his flock, as ''regnem, signifies. Bless them with all things needful for life and for godliness... Direct their counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Set pastors over them that shall feed and rule them with wisdom and understanding, Jeremiah 3:15— "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.’“ (Joseph Benson)
“‘And bear them up’—or raise them up to Heaven— ‘forever’— to die no more. “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 forever from the dust, O thou, who art the Resurrection and the Life.” (Matthew Henry)