Bible Commentary - Psalms 28

Psalm 28 is another prayer psalm.  Verse 1 tells us the topic will be David’s pleas for deliverance.

A typical prayer psalm has three components: a problem statement (the subject of the petition), the petition itself, and praise and thanksgiving in anticipation of God’s response.  This psalm contains approximately two out of three sections.  It has a petition for relief in verses 1-5, and it has praise and thanksgiving in verses 6-9.  What is absent is the “problem statement”, where David would lay out the crisis that he is facing to precipitate this prayer.  I can’t really offer much of an explanation or rationale why David would exclude the problem statement from this prayer, unfortunately.

Moving on, the prayer itself is composed of two parts.  In the first part, David asks God to protect and deliver him (v. 1-3), and in the second part he asks God to punish the wicked (v. 4-5).  In a lot of ways this follows the typical “bless the righteous, punish the wicked” doctrine of divine justice.  In fact, verse 3 alone lays that out clearly when David asks God to not punish him in the same way that God punishes the wicked.  “Do not punish me in the same way that you punish evil men,” he says, “because I’m not like those guys.”

Unlike the previous two psalms, David does not use the temple of God as a symbol of his innocence, though in verse 2 he does use it as a description of his prayers (giving us an early tradition of orienting prayer in the direction of a holy place, in this instance the temple in Jerusalem).  Interestingly, David does not make any particular claim of innocence or personal integrity; he implies it by contrasting himself with the wicked, but he does not directly state it.  Instead, David simply asks God to answer his prayer, as if asking for help was reason enough for God to give it.

The wicked in this case are defined by their deeds, “those who work iniquity” (v. 3), and “the evil of their practices” (v. 4).  The only evil deed specifically described is dishonesty, speaking peace to a neighbor while planning evil (v. 3).  There is also an oblique reference to how the wicked “do not regard the works of the LORD”, but the exact nature of this offense is not clear to me, other than perhaps a vague reference to pride or insolence.

The thanksgiving section begins personal, and then gradually expands.  David first praises God “because he has heard the voice of my supplication” and he protected David.  In verse 8, David expands the scope and praises God for protecting the people and also “his anointed” (most likely referring to the king).  In verse 9, David concludes by praying one last time for the people Israel, that God would save, bless and shepherd them forever.

Besides that, the thanksgiving section doesn’t even really connect much with the petition.  There are no common threads that unite them together, so these really could be in completely different psalms and it would make no difference to my reading.  In fact, I would challenge my readers to pretend there is a completely different psalm beginning at verse 6, and after reading verses 6-9 tell me if it sounds incomplete or different from any of the other thanksgiving psalms.  Same thing with verses 1-5, which form a relatively complete thought.

I wish I could say more, but this psalm is so generic I really can’t find anything else to remark upon.