David, according to the superscription.
The Lord Hears, Helps, and Shepherds His People
The Lord hears the cry of His servant, judges hardened evil, strengthens His anointed, and shepherds His people forever.
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The Lord hears the cry of His servant, judges hardened evil, strengthens His anointed, and shepherds His people forever.
Psalm 28 argues that the Lord's hearing is the servant's life, the Lord's justice is the answer to deceptive wickedness, and the Lord's shepherding is the hope of the covenant people. The psalm does not stop at personal rescue; it carries the worshiper into prayer for the Lord's anointed, people, inheritance, and enduring care.
Israel's worshiping community, receiving David's prayer as both royal testimony and congregational formation.
The exact occasion is not named. The psalm assumes enemy pressure, hidden malice, worship toward the Lord's holy sanctuary, and the king's concern for the covenant people.
The Lord hears the cry of His servant, judges hardened evil, strengthens His anointed, and shepherds His people forever.
David, according to the superscription.
Israel's worshiping community, receiving David's prayer as both royal testimony and congregational formation.
The exact occasion is not named. The psalm assumes enemy pressure, hidden malice, worship toward the Lord's holy sanctuary, and the king's concern for the covenant people.
- The righteous are threatened by people who speak peaceably with neighbors while evil remains in their hearts.
The psalm reflects covenant worship, lifted hands in prayer, sanctuary orientation, Davidic kingship, and Israel's identity as the Lord's people and inheritance.
Psalm 28 belongs to Book I of the Psalter and stands in the monarchy-and-Davidic horizon while anticipating fuller messianic and shepherding fulfillment.
Urgent cry -> sanctuary-directed supplication -> moral separation -> divine recompense -> heard mercy -> joyful praise -> corporate shepherding prayer
Theological exposition and fulfillment
Psalm 28 forms honest, discerning, justice-submitting, praise-ready, church-burdened worshipers.
Plea for Hearing
Distinction From the Wicked
Praise for Answered Mercy
Intercession for the People
- 1-2: The worshiper brings desperate need toward the Lord's holy presence.
- 3: The psalm exposes the danger of outward civility masking inward malice.
- 4-5: The psalm asks God to judge wickedness according to its works and its refusal to regard His works.
- 6-7: Answered mercy becomes praise, trust, joy, and song.
- 8-9: David's deliverance becomes intercession for God's inheritance.
Theological Argument
Psalm 28 argues that the Lord's hearing is the servant's life, the Lord's justice is the answer to deceptive wickedness, and the Lord's shepherding is the hope of the covenant people. The psalm does not stop at personal rescue; it carries the worshiper into prayer for the Lord's anointed, people, inheritance, and enduring care.
fear of silence -> plea for mercy -> moral distinction -> divine justice -> heard prayer -> joy and song -> corporate shepherding hope
- 1.The LORD's silence would be devastating.
- 2.The LORD must distinguish the faithful from the deceptive wicked.
- 3.Judgment is tied to deeds and disregard for God's works.
- 4.Answered mercy turns prayer into praise.
- 5.The LORD's care extends to His anointed and His people.
Theological Focus
- Divine hearing
- Mercy
- Sanctuary access
- Hypocrisy exposed
- Divine justice
- Works of the Lord
- Trust
- Thanksgiving
- Davidic kingship
- People of God
- Shepherding preservation
- Prayer and Divine Hearing
- Integrity Versus Hypocrisy
- Divine Recompense
- Trust and Praise
- Davidic and Corporate Hope
- Shepherding Care
- Doctrine of God
- Prayer
- Sin and Hypocrisy
- Divine Justice
- Davidic Kingship
- People of God
Theological Themes
The psalm moves from pleading for the Lord to hear to praising Him because He has heard.
The wicked speak peace while evil remains in their hearts.
David entrusts judgment to the Lord according to deeds.
The helped heart trusts, rejoices, and sings.
The Lord is strength for His people and refuge for His anointed.
The Lord is asked to shepherd and carry His inheritance forever.
Covenant Significance
The psalm is covenantal in address, worship setting, ethics, justice, kingship, and corporate identity. The Lord hears from His holy place, judges those who disregard His works, shelters His anointed, and owns His people as inheritance.
- The worshiper lifts His hands toward the Lord's holy sanctuary.
- Speech and heart must be unified before the Lord.
- The Lord judges according to deeds and disregard of His works.
- The Lord is the saving refuge of His anointed.
- The people are the Lord's inheritance.
Canonical Connections
The Lord as strength, song, and salvation provides covenant background for Psalm 28's praise.
The Lord as Rock and His perfect works stand behind Psalm 28's Rock language and works theology.
David's deliverance song shares rock, shield, salvation, refuge, praise, and anointed-king themes.
Psalm 27's plea for hearing and waiting confidence prepares Psalm 28's cry and praise.
Psalm 29 continues the theme of the Lord giving strength and blessing to His people.
Isaiah develops the Lord's strong shepherd-care for His flock.
Ezekiel promises the Lord's shepherding care through a Davidic shepherd.
Jesus the good Shepherd fulfills the divine shepherding trajectory.
Christ entrusts Himself to the just Judge and becomes Shepherd and Overseer of souls.
The Lamb shepherds His people into consummate blessing.
Psalm 28 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's people need mercy, rescue from judgment, a righteous anointed king, and a shepherd who can carry them forever. The gospel announces that God has provided this in Christ, the crucified and risen Son of David who saves, blesses, shepherds, and preserves His people.
- The faithful cry for mercy, not self-salvation.
- The wicked face judgment, and God's people need deliverance.
- The Lord is saving refuge for His anointed.
- The Lord saves, blesses, shepherds, and carries His people.
- Do not make the psalm teach salvation by personal integrity.
- Do not separate gospel comfort from divine justice.
- Do not reduce shepherding to sentiment · it includes saving and sustaining grace.
Primary Emphasis
Psalm 28 contributes to Christological reading through Davidic kingship, righteous suffering, heard prayer, just judgment, and shepherding hope. In the fuller canon, Jesus is the righteous Anointed One who entrusts Himself to the just Judge, is heard beyond death, and shepherds His people forever.
Chapter Contribution
Psalm 28 argues that the Lord's hearing is the servant's life, the Lord's justice is the answer to deceptive wickedness, and the Lord's shepherding is the hope of the covenant people. The psalm does not stop at personal rescue; it carries the worshiper into prayer for the Lord's anointed, people, inheritance, and enduring care.
God is the 'Rock' whose character and reliability do not change, even when His presence is not felt or heard.
God’s relationship with His people is characterized by the intimate, sacrificial care of a Shepherd who carries the weak.
God governs the world through a system of justice where deeds are eventually met with their appropriate consequences.
God’s blessings for His people are often channeled through the leader whom He has uniquely empowered and protected.
The Lord is Rock, strength, shield, saving refuge, shepherd, and carrier of His people.
The Lord hears the cries for mercy offered by His people.
Sin includes peaceful speech that hides evil in the heart.
The Lord judges according to deeds and disregard for His works.
The Lord is saving refuge for His anointed.
God's people are His inheritance and depend on Him for salvation and shepherding.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- Direct address
- Mouth-heart contrast
- Works of humans versus works of the Lord
- Praise turn
- Covenant-care verbs
- Psalm 28 forms honest, discerning, justice-submitting, praise-ready, church-burdened worshipers.
Sense covenant name of God
Definition covenant name of God
References Psalm 28:1,6-9
Why it matters The psalm is addressed to the covenant Lord who hears, judges, helps, and shepherds.
Sense rock, stable refuge
Definition rock, stable refuge
References Psalm 28:1
Why it matters David's plea rests on the Lord's reliability, not on emotional strength.
Form in passage Qal · Jussive · 2nd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense be silent or unresponsive
Definition be silent or unresponsive
References Psalm 28:1
Why it matters The opening fear is divine silence, which would leave the worshiper like one descending to the pit.
Sense pit, grave-like depth
Definition pit, grave-like depth
References Psalm 28:1
Why it matters The image makes divine hearing a matter of life and death.
Sense pleas for mercy
Definition pleas for mercy
References Psalm 28:2,6
Why it matters The psalmist comes needy, not self-vindicated.
Form in passage Masculine · Singular · Construct What is this?
Sense holy inner sanctuary
Definition holy inner sanctuary
References Psalm 28:2
Why it matters Prayer is directed toward the Lord's holy presence.
Sense wicked or guilty ones
Definition wicked or guilty ones
References Psalm 28:3
Why it matters The psalm distinguishes the trusting servant from those opposed to the Lord's way.
Sense peace, welfare
Definition peace, welfare
References Psalm 28:3
Why it matters The wicked speak peace while concealing malice.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense evil, harm, malice
Definition evil, harm, malice
References Psalm 28:3
Why it matters The psalm exposes wickedness as hidden heart-malice, not only visible violence.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense inner person, will, intent
Definition inner person, will, intent
References Psalm 28:3
Why it matters God sees beneath social speech into the moral center of the person.
Sense work, deed, action
Definition work, deed, action
References Psalm 28:4
Why it matters Judgment is sought according to actual deeds.
Form in passage Feminine · Plural · Construct What is this?
Sense the LORD's acts
Definition the LORD's acts
References Psalm 28:5
Why it matters The wicked are condemned for disregarding what the Lord has done.
Sense tear down, demolish
Definition tear down, demolish
References Psalm 28:5
Why it matters Those who disregard the Lord's works are not established by Him.
Sense hear, listen, heed
Definition hear, listen, heed
References Psalm 28:6
Why it matters The Lord's hearing reverses the opening fear of silence.
Sense strength, might
Definition strength, might
References Psalm 28:7-8
Why it matters The Lord is strength for David and for His people.
Sense shield, protection
Definition shield, protection
References Psalm 28:7
Why it matters The Lord personally protects the trusting heart.
Form in passage Qal · Perfect · 3rd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense trust, rely upon
Definition trust, rely upon
References Psalm 28:7
Why it matters The heart's trust receives help and becomes praise.
Sense help, aid
Definition help, aid
References Psalm 28:7
Why it matters The Lord's hearing becomes concrete aid.
Sense song, singing
Definition song, singing
References Psalm 28:7
Why it matters Answered mercy becomes public praise.
Sense anointed one
Definition anointed one
References Psalm 28:8
Why it matters The term anchors the psalm in Davidic kingship and points toward messianic fulfillment.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense save, rescue, deliver
Definition save, rescue, deliver
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters The closing prayer names salvation as the need of the Lord's people.
Cross-language bridge 2 links · View in lexicon
Sense people, covenant community
Definition people, covenant community
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters The psalm ends corporately, not merely privately.
Sense inheritance, possession
Definition inheritance, possession
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters God's people belong to Him as His treasured possession.
Sense shepherd, tend, care for
Definition shepherd, tend, care for
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters The Lord is asked to guide, protect, feed, and sustain His people.
Sense lift, bear, carry
Definition lift, bear, carry
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters The people need the Lord not only to guide them but to bear them.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense forever, enduring duration
Definition forever, enduring duration
References Psalm 28:9
Why it matters The final hope reaches beyond immediate relief to enduring divine care.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
Psalm 28 forms honest, discerning, justice-submitting, praise-ready, church-burdened worshipers.
- Crying for mercy
- Examining speech and heart
- Remembering the Lord's works
- Entrusting judgment to God
- Turning help into praise
- Praying for the church
- Psalm 28 warns against hardened disregard for the Lord's works, peaceful speech that hides evil, and self-centered spirituality that stops with personal relief.
- Divine silence is a serious fear that must drive prayer.
- Peaceful words can hide a malicious heart.
- The Lord judges human deeds.
- Disregard for the Lord's works leads to ruin, not establishment.
- Personal deliverance must widen into concern for God's people.
- Psalm 28 is only private prayer. - It ends with corporate prayer for the Lord's people and inheritance.
- The justice appeal is personal revenge. - The psalm entrusts recompense to the Lord according to deeds.
- The wicked are merely unfriendly people. - They are marked by deceitful speech, hidden evil, evil works, and disregard for the Lord's works.
- The praise turn means every external problem has ended. - The text says the Lord has heard and helped · it does not specify that all circumstances changed.
- Shepherding is sentimental. - The final petition includes salvation, blessing, carrying, and enduring preservation.
- Where do I fear the Lord's silence, and am I bringing that fear to Him?
- Do my words of peace match the intentions of my heart?
- Am I entrusting injustice to the Lord or feeding private revenge?
- Do I regard the works of the Lord enough to resist despair?
- When the Lord helps me, do I turn help into praise?
- Does personal deliverance enlarge my prayer for the people of God?
- Where do I need the Lord to shepherd and carry me?
- Preach the psalm as a movement from desperate prayer to corporate shepherding hope.
- Use verses 1-2 to help believers pray through the fear of silence.
- Use verse 3 to expose the split between peaceful speech and malicious intent.
- Use verses 4-5 to teach entrusted justice without personal vengeance.
- Use verses 6-7 to shape testimony around the Lord's hearing and help.
- Use verse 9 as a prayer for the church: save, bless, shepherd, and carry Your people.
The psalm converts fear of silence into direct supplication.
The worshiper names evil but leaves judgment to God.
The heard heart becomes a singing heart.
Personal rescue becomes intercession for God's inheritance.
The psalm rests in the Lord's enduring shepherding.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Study kingdom reign, divine rule, and gospel kingdom proclamation across Scripture.
Follow shepherding as divine care, messianic leadership, and pastoral oversight across Scripture.
Study temple presence, worship, corruption, judgment, and renewal across Scripture.
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
Urgent cry -> sanctuary-directed supplication -> moral separation -> divine recompense -> heard mercy -> joyful praise -> corporate shepherding prayer
The psalm is covenantal in address, worship setting, ethics, justice, kingship, and corporate identity. The Lord hears from His holy place, judges those who disregard His works, shelters His anointed, and owns His people as inheritance.
Psalm 28 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's people need mercy, rescue from judgment, a righteous anointed king, and a shepherd who can carry them forever. The gospel announces that God has provided this in Christ, the crucified and risen Son of David who saves, blesses, shepherds, and preserves His people.
Focus Points
- Divine hearing
- Mercy
- Sanctuary access
- Hypocrisy exposed
- Divine justice
- Works of the Lord
- Trust
- Thanksgiving
- Davidic kingship
- People of God
- Shepherding preservation
- Prayer and Divine Hearing
- Integrity Versus Hypocrisy
- Divine Recompense
- Trust and Praise
- Davidic and Corporate Hope
- Shepherding Care
- Doctrine of God
- Prayer
- Sin and Hypocrisy
Biblical Theology
- Divine Presence Trace the divine presence thread from covenant nearness and holy manifestation to God's abiding presence with His people through Christ. Trace thread →
- People of God Trace the people of God thread from covenant calling and gathered identity to the redeemed community united in Christ and gathered for God's name. Trace thread →
- Messianic Hope Trace the messianic hope thread from covenant promise and prophetic expectation to the clearer identification of Jesus as the promised ruler, priest, and deliverer. Trace thread →
- Kingdom Trace the kingdom thread from God's royal rule and promised dominion to the unshakable reign received and secured in Christ. Trace thread →
- Truth Versus Deception Trace the truth versus deception theme from covenant warnings against false word to apostolic discernment that guards the church from lies about Christ. Trace thread →
- Covenant Love and Obedience Trace the covenant love and obedience theme from God's commanded covenant fidelity to the new-covenant life of walking in truth, love, and obedience through Christ. Trace thread →
- Gospel and Assurance The gospel and assurance belong together because the same Christ who saves sinners also gives them a solid basis for confidence before God through His finished work, present intercession, and unfailing promises. Assurance is not self-confidence, presumption, or denial of spiritual struggle, but a gospel-grounded confidence that rests in Jesus Christ and is strengthened by the Spirit, the Word, and the evidences of grace. The believer's peace does not arise from personal perfection, but from union with the crucified and risen Lord. Where the gospel is central, assurance is neither ignored nor artificially manufactured, but nurtured through truth, repentance, faith, and persevering dependence upon Christ.
- Gospel and Perseverance The gospel of Jesus Christ not only saves sinners but secures and sustains them to the end. Through union with Christ and the preserving work of God, those who truly belong to Christ continue in faith, repentance, and obedience. Perseverance therefore reveals the enduring power of the cross and resurrection in the life of the believer. The same grace that begins salvation also carries believers forward until the final day of redemption.
- Gospel and Suffering The gospel and suffering belong together because the crucified and risen Christ saves His people not only from sin's guilt, but also teaches them how to endure affliction in union with Him. Suffering is not itself the gospel, yet the gospel gives suffering its truest interpretation by revealing God's holiness, Christ's cross, resurrection hope, and the promise that present affliction will not have the final word. Christian suffering is therefore neither meaningless pain nor automatic evidence of divine displeasure. Where the gospel is central, the church learns to suffer honestly, endure faithfully, comfort wisely, and hope stubbornly in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Passages
Chapter opening: Psalms 28:1-5
Psa 28:6-9 The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald).
It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psa 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec . , as is frequently the case, e. g. , in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced.
In משּׁירי, the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ, as in Ps 45:18; Psa 116:6; 1Sa 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psa 28:6 and Psa 28:8.
The αὐτοί, who are intended by למו in Psa 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psa 12:8; Isa 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx (κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ) reads לעמּו, as in Psa 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel.
For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated.
Israel’s salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God’s people and God’s inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deu 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11, “as on eagles’ wings.
” The Piel , as in Isa 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psa 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psa 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psa 28:1-9.
Psa 28:6-9 The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald).
It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psa 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec . , as is frequently the case, e. g. , in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced.
In משּׁירי, the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ, as in Ps 45:18; Psa 116:6; 1Sa 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psa 28:6 and Psa 28:8.
The αὐτοί, who are intended by למו in Psa 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psa 12:8; Isa 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx (κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ) reads לעמּו, as in Psa 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel.
For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated.
Israel’s salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God’s people and God’s inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deu 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11, “as on eagles’ wings.
” The Piel , as in Isa 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psa 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psa 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psa 28:1-9.
Psa 28:6-9 The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald).
It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psa 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec . , as is frequently the case, e. g. , in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced.
In משּׁירי, the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ, as in Ps 45:18; Psa 116:6; 1Sa 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psa 28:6 and Psa 28:8.
The αὐτοί, who are intended by למו in Psa 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psa 12:8; Isa 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx (κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ) reads לעמּו, as in Psa 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel.
For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated.
Israel’s salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God’s people and God’s inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deu 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11, “as on eagles’ wings.
” The Piel , as in Isa 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psa 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psa 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psa 28:1-9.
Psa 28:6-9 The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald).
It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psa 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec . , as is frequently the case, e. g. , in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced.
In משּׁירי, the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ, as in Ps 45:18; Psa 116:6; 1Sa 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psa 28:6 and Psa 28:8.
The αὐτοί, who are intended by למו in Psa 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psa 12:8; Isa 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx (κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ) reads לעמּו, as in Psa 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel.
For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated.
Israel’s salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God’s people and God’s inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deu 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11, “as on eagles’ wings.
” The Piel , as in Isa 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psa 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psa 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psa 28:1-9.
The occasion of this Psalm is a thunderstorm; it is not, however, limited to the outward natural phenomena, but therein is perceived the self-attestation of the God of the redemptive history. Just as in the second part of Psa 19:1-14 the God of the revelation of salvation is called יהוה seven times in distinction from the God revealed in nature, so in this Psalm of thunders, קול ה is repeated seven times, so that it may be called the Psalm of the hepta' brontai' (Rev 10:3.)
During the time of the second Temple, as the addition to the inscription by the lxx ἐξοδίου (ἐξόδου) σκηνῆς (= σκηνοπηγίας) seems to imply, it was sung on the Shemini Azereth , the last day (ἐξόδιον, Lev 23:36) of the feast of tabernacles. Between two tetrastichs, in each of which the name יהוה occurs four times, lie three pentastichs, which, in their sevenfold קול ה, represent the peals of thunder which follow in rapid succession as the storm increases in its fury.
Psa 29:1-2 The opening strophe calls upon the celestial spirits to praise Jahve; for a revelation of divine glory is in preparation, which, in its first movements, they are accounted worthy to behold, for the roots of everything that takes place in this world are in the invisible world. It is not the mighty of the earth, who are called in Psa 82:6 בּני עליון, but the angels, who are elsewhere called בּני אלהים (e.
g. , Job 2:1), that are here, as in Psa 89:7, called בּני אלים. Since אלים never means God, like אלהים (so that it could be rendered sons of the deity), but gods, Exo 15:11, Dan. 9:36, the expression בּני אלים must be translated as a double plural from בּן־אל, after the analogy of בּתּי כלאים, Isa 42:22, from בּית כּלא (Ges. §108, 3), “sons of God,” not “sons of gods.
” They, the God-begotten, i. e. , created in the image of God, who form with God their Father as it were one family (vid. , Genesis S. 1212), are here called upon to give unto God glory and might (the primary passage is Deu 32:3), i. e. , to render back to Him cheerfully and joyously in a laudatory recognition, as it were by an echo, His glory and might, which are revealed and to be revealed in the created world, and to give unto Him the glory of His name, i.
e. , to praise His glorious name (Psa 72:19) according its deserts. הבוּ in all three instances has the accent on the ultima according to rule (cf. on the other hand, Job 6:22). הדרת קדשׁ is holy vestments, splendid festal attire, 2Ch 20:21, cf. Psa 110:3. A revelation of the power of God is near at hand. The heavenly spirits are to prepare themselves for it with all the outward display of which they are capable.
If Psa 28:2 were a summons to the church on earth, or, as in Psa 96:9, to the dwellers upon the earth, then there ought to be some expression to indicate the change in the parties addressed; it is, therefore, in Psa 28:2 as in Psa 28:1, directed to the priests of the heavenly היכל. In the Apocalypse, also, the songs of praise and trumpeting of the angels precede the judgments of God.
Psa 29:3-9 Now follows the description of the revelation of God’s power, which is the ground of the summons, and is to be the subject-matter of their praise. The All-glorious One makes Himself heard in the language (Rev 10:3.) of the thunder, and reveals Himself in the storm. There are fifteen lines, which naturally arrange themselves into three five-line strophes.
The chief matter with the poet, however, is the sevenfold קול ה. Although קול is sometimes used almost as an ejaculatory “Hark! ” (Gen 4:10; Isa 52:8), this must not, with Ewald (§286, f ), be applied to the קול ה of the Psalm before us, the theme of which is the voice of God, who announced Himself from heaven - a voice which moves the world. The dull sounding קול serves not merely to denote the thunder of the storm, but even the thunder of the earthquake, the roar of the tempest, and in general, every low, dull, rumbling sound, by which God makes Himself audible to the world, and more especially from the wrathful side of His doxa.
The waters in Psa 29:3 are not the lower waters. Then the question arises what are they? Were the waters of the Mediterranean intended, they would be more definitely denoted in such a vivid description. It is, however, far more appropriate to the commencement of this description to understand them to mean the mass of water gathered together in the thick, black storm-clouds (vid.
, Psa 18:12; Jer 10:13). The rumbling of Jahve is, as the poet himself explains in Psa 29:3 , the thunder produced on high by the אל הכּבוד (cf. מלך הכבוד, Psa 24:7.) , which rolls over the sea of waters floating above the earth in the sky. Psa 29:4 and Psa 29:4 , just like Psa 29:3 and Psa 29:3 , are independent substantival clauses. The rumbling of Jahve is, issues forth, or passes by; ב with the abstract article as in Psa 77:14; Pro 24:5 (cf.
Pro 8:8; Luk 4:32, ἐν ἰσχύΐ Rev 18:2), is the ב of the distinctive attribute. In Psa 29:3 the first peals of thunder are heard; in Psa 29:4 the storm is coming nearer, and the peals become stronger, and now it bursts forth with its full violence: Psa 29:5 describes this in a general form, and Psa 29:5 expresses by the fut. consec . , as it were inferentially, that which is at present taking place: amidst the rolling of the thunder the descending lightning flashes rive the cedars of Lebanon (as is well-known, the lightning takes the outermost points).
The suffix in Psa 29:6 does not refer proleptically to the mountains mentioned afterwards, but naturally to the cedars (Hengst. , Hupf. , Hitz.) , which bend down before the storm and quickly rise up again. The skipping of Lebanon and Sirion, however, is not to be referred to the fact, that their wooded summits bend down and rise again, but, according to Psa 114:4, to their being shaken by the crash of the thunder-a feature in the picture which certainly does not rest upon what is actually true in nature, but figuratively describes the apparent quaking of the earth during a heavy thunderstorm.
שריון, according to Deu 3:9, is the Sidonian name of Hermon, and therefore side by side with Lebanon it represents Anti-Lebanon. The word, according to the Masora, has ש sinistrum , and consequently is isriyown, wherefore Hitzig correctly derives it from Arab. srâ , fut . i. , to gleam, sparkle, cf. the passage from an Arab poet at Psa 133:3. The lightning makes these mountains bound (Luther, lecken , i.
e. , according to his explanation: to spring, skip) like young antelopes. ראם, like βούβαλος, βούβαλις, is a generic name of the antelope, and of the buffalo that roams in herds through the forests beyond the Jordan even at the present day; for there are antelopes that resemble the buffalo and also (except in the formation of the head and the cloven hoofs) those that resemble the horse, the lxx renders: ὡς υἱὸς μονοκερώτων.
Does this mean the unicorn Germ. one-horn depicted on Persian and African monuments? Is this unicorn distinct from the one horned antelope? Neither an unicorn nor an one horned antelope have been seen to the present day by any traveller. Both animals, and consequently also their relation to one another, are up to the present time still undefinable from a scientific point of view.
Each peal of thunder is immediately followed by a flash of lightning; Jahve’s thunder cleaveth flames of fire, i. e. , forms (as it were λατομεῖ) the fire-matter of the storm-clouds into cloven flames of fire, into lightnings that pass swiftly along; in connection with which it must be remembered that קול ה denotes not merely the thunder as a phenomenon, but at the same time it denotes the omnipotence of God expressing itself therein.
The brevity and threefold division of Psa 29:7 depicts the incessant, zigzag, quivering movement of the lightning ( tela trisulca, ignes trisulci , in Ovid). From the northern mountains the storm sweeps on towards the south of Palestine into the Arabian desert, viz. , as we are told in Psa 29:8 (cf. Psa 29:5, according to the schema of “parallelism by reservation”), the wilderness region of Kadesh (Kadesh Barnea) , which, however we may define its position, must certainly have lain near the steep western slope of the mountains of Edom toward the Arabah.
Jahve’s thunder, viz. , the thunderstorm, puts this desert in a state of whirl, inasmuch as it drives the sand (חול) before it in whirlwinds; and among the mountains it, viz. , the strong lightning and thundering, makes the hinds to writhe, inasmuch as from fright they bring forth prematurely. both the Hiph . יהיל and the Pil . יחולל are used with a causative meaning (root חו, חי, to move in a circle, to encircle).
The poet continues with ויּחשׂף, since he makes one effect of the storm to develope from another, merging as it were out of its chrysalis state. יערות is a poetical plural form; and חשׂף describes the effect of the storm which “shells” the woods, inasmuch as it beats down the branches of the trees, both the tops and the foliage. While Jahve thus reveals Himself from heaven upon the earth in all His irresistible power, בּהיכלו, in His heavenly palace (Psa 11:4; Psa 18:7), כּלּו (note how בהיכלו resolves this כלו out of itself), i.
e. , each of the beings therein, says: כבוד. That which the poet, in Psa 29:1, has called upon them to do, now takes place. Jahve receives back His glory, which is immanent in the universe, in the thousand-voiced echo of adoration.
Psa 29:3-9 Now follows the description of the revelation of God’s power, which is the ground of the summons, and is to be the subject-matter of their praise. The All-glorious One makes Himself heard in the language (Rev 10:3.) of the thunder, and reveals Himself in the storm. There are fifteen lines, which naturally arrange themselves into three five-line strophes.
The chief matter with the poet, however, is the sevenfold קול ה. Although קול is sometimes used almost as an ejaculatory “Hark! ” (Gen 4:10; Isa 52:8), this must not, with Ewald (§286, f ), be applied to the קול ה of the Psalm before us, the theme of which is the voice of God, who announced Himself from heaven - a voice which moves the world. The dull sounding קול serves not merely to denote the thunder of the storm, but even the thunder of the earthquake, the roar of the tempest, and in general, every low, dull, rumbling sound, by which God makes Himself audible to the world, and more especially from the wrathful side of His doxa.
The waters in Psa 29:3 are not the lower waters. Then the question arises what are they? Were the waters of the Mediterranean intended, they would be more definitely denoted in such a vivid description. It is, however, far more appropriate to the commencement of this description to understand them to mean the mass of water gathered together in the thick, black storm-clouds (vid.
, Psa 18:12; Jer 10:13). The rumbling of Jahve is, as the poet himself explains in Psa 29:3 , the thunder produced on high by the אל הכּבוד (cf. מלך הכבוד, Psa 24:7.) , which rolls over the sea of waters floating above the earth in the sky. Psa 29:4 and Psa 29:4 , just like Psa 29:3 and Psa 29:3 , are independent substantival clauses. The rumbling of Jahve is, issues forth, or passes by; ב with the abstract article as in Psa 77:14; Pro 24:5 (cf.
Pro 8:8; Luk 4:32, ἐν ἰσχύΐ Rev 18:2), is the ב of the distinctive attribute. In Psa 29:3 the first peals of thunder are heard; in Psa 29:4 the storm is coming nearer, and the peals become stronger, and now it bursts forth with its full violence: Psa 29:5 describes this in a general form, and Psa 29:5 expresses by the fut. consec . , as it were inferentially, that which is at present taking place: amidst the rolling of the thunder the descending lightning flashes rive the cedars of Lebanon (as is well-known, the lightning takes the outermost points).
The suffix in Psa 29:6 does not refer proleptically to the mountains mentioned afterwards, but naturally to the cedars (Hengst. , Hupf. , Hitz.) , which bend down before the storm and quickly rise up again. The skipping of Lebanon and Sirion, however, is not to be referred to the fact, that their wooded summits bend down and rise again, but, according to Psa 114:4, to their being shaken by the crash of the thunder-a feature in the picture which certainly does not rest upon what is actually true in nature, but figuratively describes the apparent quaking of the earth during a heavy thunderstorm.
שריון, according to Deu 3:9, is the Sidonian name of Hermon, and therefore side by side with Lebanon it represents Anti-Lebanon. The word, according to the Masora, has ש sinistrum , and consequently is isriyown, wherefore Hitzig correctly derives it from Arab. srâ , fut . i. , to gleam, sparkle, cf. the passage from an Arab poet at Psa 133:3. The lightning makes these mountains bound (Luther, lecken , i.
e. , according to his explanation: to spring, skip) like young antelopes. ראם, like βούβαλος, βούβαλις, is a generic name of the antelope, and of the buffalo that roams in herds through the forests beyond the Jordan even at the present day; for there are antelopes that resemble the buffalo and also (except in the formation of the head and the cloven hoofs) those that resemble the horse, the lxx renders: ὡς υἱὸς μονοκερώτων.
Does this mean the unicorn Germ. one-horn depicted on Persian and African monuments? Is this unicorn distinct from the one horned antelope? Neither an unicorn nor an one horned antelope have been seen to the present day by any traveller. Both animals, and consequently also their relation to one another, are up to the present time still undefinable from a scientific point of view.
Each peal of thunder is immediately followed by a flash of lightning; Jahve’s thunder cleaveth flames of fire, i. e. , forms (as it were λατομεῖ) the fire-matter of the storm-clouds into cloven flames of fire, into lightnings that pass swiftly along; in connection with which it must be remembered that קול ה denotes not merely the thunder as a phenomenon, but at the same time it denotes the omnipotence of God expressing itself therein.
The brevity and threefold division of Psa 29:7 depicts the incessant, zigzag, quivering movement of the lightning ( tela trisulca, ignes trisulci , in Ovid). From the northern mountains the storm sweeps on towards the south of Palestine into the Arabian desert, viz. , as we are told in Psa 29:8 (cf. Psa 29:5, according to the schema of “parallelism by reservation”), the wilderness region of Kadesh (Kadesh Barnea) , which, however we may define its position, must certainly have lain near the steep western slope of the mountains of Edom toward the Arabah.
Jahve’s thunder, viz. , the thunderstorm, puts this desert in a state of whirl, inasmuch as it drives the sand (חול) before it in whirlwinds; and among the mountains it, viz. , the strong lightning and thundering, makes the hinds to writhe, inasmuch as from fright they bring forth prematurely. both the Hiph . יהיל and the Pil . יחולל are used with a causative meaning (root חו, חי, to move in a circle, to encircle).
The poet continues with ויּחשׂף, since he makes one effect of the storm to develope from another, merging as it were out of its chrysalis state. יערות is a poetical plural form; and חשׂף describes the effect of the storm which “shells” the woods, inasmuch as it beats down the branches of the trees, both the tops and the foliage. While Jahve thus reveals Himself from heaven upon the earth in all His irresistible power, בּהיכלו, in His heavenly palace (Psa 11:4; Psa 18:7), כּלּו (note how בהיכלו resolves this כלו out of itself), i.
e. , each of the beings therein, says: כבוד. That which the poet, in Psa 29:1, has called upon them to do, now takes place. Jahve receives back His glory, which is immanent in the universe, in the thousand-voiced echo of adoration.