John Gill Commentary Psalms 28

Unto you 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 cry to the Lord only; to which he was encouraged by what follows;

O Lord my rock ;
he being a strong tower and place of defence to him, in whom were all his safety, and his trust and confidence, and in whom he had an interest;

be not silent to me ;
or "deaf" ^F17 ; persons that do not hear are silent, and make no answer; as the Lord seems to be, when he returns no answer to the cries of his people; when he does not arise and help them; when he seems not to take any notice of his and their enemies, but stands at a distance from them, and as if he had forsaken them; see (Psalms 39:12) (Psalms 35:22Psalms 35:23) (Psalms 50:3Psalms 50:21) (Isaiah 65:6) ;

the words may be considered, as they are by some, as an address to Christ his rock, his advocate and intercessor; that he would not be silent, but speak for him, and present his supplications to God, with the much incense of his mediation; see (1 Samuel 7:8) ;

lest, [if] you are silent to me, I become like them that go down into
the pit ;

either like such that fall into a ditch, and cannot help themselves out, and they cry, and there is none to take them out from thence; or like such that die in battle, and are cast into a pit, and there buried in common with others; which David might fear would be his case, through Saul's violent pursuit after him; or lest he should be like the dead, who are not regarded, and are remembered no more; or lest he should really die by the hands of his enemies, and so be laid in the grave, the pit of corruption; or be in such distress and despair as even the damned in hell be, the pit out of which there is no deliverance.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17:
  F17 (vrxt la) "ne obsurdescas", Vatablus, Tigurine version, Gejerus; so Ainsworth, Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis.

Hear the voice of my supplications
Which proceed from the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and are put up in an humble manner, under a sense of wants and unworthiness, and on the foot of grace and mercy, and not merit;

when I cry unto thee ;
as he now did, and determined he would, and continue so doing, until he was heard;

when I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle :
the holy of holies, in the tabernacle and in the temple, which was sometimes so called, (1 Kings 6:23) ; compared with (2 Chronicles 3:10) ; where were the ark, the mercy seat, and cherubim, between which the Lord dwelt, and gave responses to his people; or heaven itself, which the holy of holies was a figure of; where is the throne of God, and from where he hears the prayers of his people directed to him; or else Christ himself, who is the most Holy, and the "Debir", or Oracle, who speaks to the Lord for his people; and by whom the Lord speaks to them again, and communes with them. The oracle had its name, "debir", from speaking. Lifting up of the hands is a prayer gesture, and here designs the performance of that duty to God in heaven, through Christ; see (Lamentations 3:41) (1 Timothy 2:8) ; it was frequently used, even by the Heathens, as a prayer gesture ^F18 ; see (Psalms 141:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: "Duplices manus ad sidera tendit--et paulo post--et ambas ad coelum tendit palmas", Virgil. Aeneid. 10. vid. Aeneid. 2. "Ad coelum manibus sublatis", Horat. Satyr. l. 2. satyr. 5. v. 97. "Coelo supines si tuleris manus", ib. Carmin. l. 3. Ode 23. v. 1. "Et pandere palmas ante Deum delubra", Lucretius l. 5. prope finem (dh ceira anascwn) , Homer. Iliad. 5. v. 174.

Draw me not away with the wicked
That is, with those who are notoriously wicked; who are inwardly and outwardly wicked; whose inward part is very wickedness, and who sell themselves and give up themselves to work wickedness: the sense is, that God would not suffer him to be drawn away, or drawn aside by wicked men, but that he would deliver him from temptation; or that he would not give him up into their hands, to be at their mercy; who he knew would not spare him, if they had him in their power; or that he might not die the death of the wicked, and perish with them; see (Psalms 26:9Psalms 26:10) ;

and with the workers of iniquity ;
who make it the trade and business of their lives to commit sin; and which may be applied, not only to profane sinners, but to professors of religion, (Matthew 7:23) ; since it follows,

which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief [is] in their
hearts ;
hypocrites, double minded men, who have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it; pretend to religion, and have none; and speak fair to the face, but design mischief and ruin; as Saul and his servants did to David, (1 Samuel 18:17 1 Samuel 18:22) .

Give them according to their deeds
According to the demerit of them, which is death, even death eternal;

and according to the wickedness of their endeavours ;
for though wicked men do not always succeed; yet their want of success does not excuse their wickedness;

give them after the work of their hands ;
see (2 Timothy 4:14) ;

such petitions are not contrary to that Christian charity which the Gospel recommends; nor do they savour of a spirit of revenge, which is condemned by the word of God; for it should be observed, that these things are said with respect to men given up to a reprobate mind; and that the psalmist does not seek to avenge himself, nor to gratify his own mind; but he sought the glory of God, and moreover spoke by a prophetic spirit, knowing what was the will of God in this case; see (2 Timothy 4:14) ; and therefore these petitions of his are not to be drawn into an example in common and ordinary cases.

Because they regard not the works of the Lord
Neither the work of creation, as if there was no first cause of all things; nor the work of Providence, taking no notice either of the judgments or of the mercies of God; as though they believed that God has 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; the things of the Spirit of God being foolishness to them, and undiscernible by them; see (Isaiah 5:12) . Perhaps the psalmist may have some regard to his being anointed by Samuel, according to the will of God, and to the victory which he obtained over Goliath, and over others, which justly gained him great esteem among some, and created envy in others; and also the wonderful protection of him from time to time; the Chaldee paraphrase is, "because they do not understand the law of the Lord". It follows,

nor the operation of his hands ;
in which his hand was so very apparent, that nothing less could be said than that this was the finger of God; wherefore,

he shall destroy them, and not build them up ;
that is, they shall be irrecoverably lost; they shall be punished with everlasting destruction; there will be no help or remedy for them: some ^F19 understand this as a prayer, that God would destroy them in such a manner, and render it, "let him destroy them" ^F20 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Kimchi in loc. Vid. Aben Ezram in loc.
• F20: (Morhy) "destruat eos", Vatablus; so the Arabic version.