Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 28:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 28:9. Save thy people — Continue to preserve them from all their enemies; from idolatry, and from sin of every kind.

Bless thine inheritance — They have taken thee for their God; thou hast taken them for thy people.

Feed them — רעה raah signifies both to feed and to govern. Feed them, as a shepherd does his flock; rule them, as a father does his children.

Lift them up for ever. — Maintain thy true Church; let no enemy prevail against it. Preserve and magnify them for ever. Lift them up: as hell is the bottomless pit in which damned spirits sink down for ever; or, as Chaucer says, downe all downe; so heaven is an endless height of glory, in which there is an eternal rising or exaltation. Down, all down; up, all up; for ever and ever.

ANALYSIS OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH PSALM

There are three parts in this Psalm: -

I. A prayer, Psalms 28:1-6.

II. A thanksgiving, Psalms 28:6-9.

III. A prayer for the Church, Psalms 28:9.

I. The first part is a prayer to God; in which he first requests audience, Psalms 28:2: "Hear me." And his prayer is so described, that it sets forth most of the conditions requisite in one that prays: -

1. The object - GOD: "Unto thee, O Lord, do I cry."

2. His faith: "To thee I cry, who art my rock."

3. His fervour: It was an ardent and vehement prayer: "I cry."

4. Humility; it was a supplication: "Hear the voice of my supplication."

5. His gesture: "I lift up my hands."

6. According to God's ORDER: "Towards thy holy temple."

1. The argument he uses to procure an audience; the danger he was in: "Lest, if thou be silent, I become like them that go down to the pit."

2. Then he expresses what he prays for, which is, that either

1. He might not be corrupted by the fair persuasions of hypocrites:

2. Or that he might not be partaker of their punishments: "Draw me not away with the wicked." Upon whom he sets this mark: "Who speak peace - but mischief is in their hearts."

3. Against whom he uses this imprecation, which is the second part of his prayer: "Give them according to their own deeds," c.

4. For which he gives this reason: They were enemies to God and to his religion far from repentance, and any hope of amendment: "They regard not the words of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands; therefore he shall destroy them, and not build them up."

II. Then follows an excellent form of thanksgiving, which he begins with "Blessed be the Lord;" and assigns the reasons, which express the chief parts of thanksgiving.

I. That God heard him: "He hath heard the voice of my supplication."

2. That he would be his Protector: "The Lord is my strength and my shield."

3. For his grace of confidence: "My heart trusted in him."

4. That from him he had relief: "I am helped."

5. The testification and annunciation of this gratitude: "Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him." He remembers the indenture: "I will DELIVER THEE, - thou shalt PRAISE ME." And, therefore, with heart and tongue he gives thanks.

6. And that God might have all the honour, he repeats what he said before: "The Lord is their strength," c., that is, of all them that were with him.

III. He concludes with a prayer, in which he commends the whole Church to God's care and tuition.

1. "Save thy people," in the midst of these tumults and distractions.

2. "Bless thine inheritance" that they increase in knowledge, piety, and secular prosperity.

3. "Feed them:" Give them a godly king.

4. "Lift them up for ever:" Make their name famous among the Gentiles; let them increase and multiply till thy Church embraces all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. This hath the Lord promised.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 26-28 Living uprightly

David appeals to God to support him against those who plot evil against him. God has done a work of grace in his life, and this causes him to hate the company of worthless people and make every effort to live the sort of life that pleases God (26:1-5). He desires righteousness, delights in worship, loves to spend hours in the house of God and enjoys telling others about God (6-8). He therefore asks that he will not suffer the same end as the wicked (9-10). Though determined to do right, he knows that he will not succeed without God’s help (11-12).
The psalmist is fully confident in the power of God and in God’s willingness to protect him (27:1-3). His desire is to live his life as if he is in the presence of God continually. Thereby he will have protection, and his life will be one of constant strength and joy (4-6). He prays that God will hear his prayers and never turn away from him. Others might reject him, but he is confident that God’s care of him will never fail (7-10). In view of the persecution he suffers, he asks that God will teach him more about the way he should live (11-12). He remains confident in God and this gives him patience. Whatever may happen, he knows that he can always depend on God’s help (13-14).
In the next psalm David again is in great distress and cries out to God to save his life. He does not want to die like the wicked, for whom an early death is a fitting punishment (28:1-3). His prayer to God to punish the wicked is not because of personal bitterness or the desire for revenge. It is because they are the enemies of God and they disregard all that he has done (4-5). David knows that God will answer his prayer and thereby strengthen David’s trust in him (6-7). This will also strengthen the faith of the people, who will have a better understanding of God as their defender and shepherd (8-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Jehovah is their strength, and he is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever”

“Stronghold… to his anointed” (Psalms 28:8). Addis stated that “anointed” in this passage may refer, “Either to the king or to the high priests.”W. E. Addis, p. 377. This is true enough, of course; but as Dahood noted, in this passage, “The reference is to the King.”Mitchell Dahood in The Anchor Bible, p. 173.

“Here David builds upon the fact that he is God’s anointed, that he is more than a private citizen. As the Lord’s anointed (a term that grew into the Messiah), he stood for his people, and God’s grace must be meant for them as well as for himself.”Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 123.

Being assured that God has indeed answered his prayer, David here takes courage and asks for the deliverance of all Israel.

“As God’s anointed here, David realizes that the fortunes of the people rise and fall with him.”Anthony L. Ash, p. 110. From this, there springs at once this fervent prayer for the welfare of all of God’s people, even the nation of Israel. The sudden outcropping of the Shepherd metaphor in the last line is another mark of the Davidic authorship.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Save thy people - All thy people. The psalm appropriately closes with a prayer for all the people of God. The prayer is offered in view of the deliverance which the psalmist had himself experienced, and he prays that all the people of God might experience similar deliverance and mercy.

And bless thine inheritance - Thy heritage; Thy people. The Hebrew word properly means “taking possession of anything; occupation.” Then it comes to mean “possession; domain; estate:” Num, Psalms 18:21. Thus it is used as applied to the territory assigned to each tribe in the promised land: Joshua 13:23. Thus also it is applied to the people of Israel - the Jewish nation - as the “possession” or “property” of Yahweh; as a people whom he regarded as His own, and whom, as such, He protected: Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:26, Deuteronomy 9:29. In this place the people of God are thus spoken of as His special possession or property on earth; as that which He regards as of most value to Him; as that which belongs to Him, or to which He has a claim; as that which cannot without injustice to Him be alienated from Him.

Feed them also - Margin, “rule.” The Hebrew word refers to the care which a shepherd extends over his flock. See Psalms 23:1, where the same word, under another form - “shepherd” - is used. The prayer is, that God would take the same care of His people that a shepherd takes of his flock.

And lift them up for ever - The word used here may mean “sustain” them, or “support” them; but it more properly means “bear,” and would be best expressed by a reference to the fact that the shepherd carries the feeble, the young, and the sickly of his flock in his arms, or that he lifts them up when unable themselves to rise. See Isaiah 40:11, note; Isaiah 63:9, note. The word “forever” here means simply “always” - in all circumstances; at all times. In other words, the psalmist prays that God would “always” manifest Himself as the Friend and Helper of His people, as He had done to him. It may be added here, that what the psalmist thus prays for God’s “will” to be done. God “will” save His people; He will bless His heritage; He will be to them a kind and faithful shepherd; He will sustain, comfort, uphold, and cherish them always - in affliction; in temptation; in death, forever. They have only to trust in Him, and they will find Him to be more kind and faithful than the most tender shepherd ever was to his flock.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

In this verse he shows that it was not so much his own welfare as the welfare of the whole Church which was the object of his concern, and that he neither lived nor reigned for himself, but for the common good of the people. He well knew that he was appointed king for no other end. In this he declares himself to be a type of the Son of God, of whom, when Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9) predicts that he would come “having salvation,” there is no doubt that he promises nothing to him apart from his members, but that the effects of this salvation would diffuse themselves throughout his whole body. By this example, accordingly, he prescribes a rule to earthly kings, that, devoting themselves to the public good, they should only desire to be preserved for the sake of their people. ⁽⁶⁰¹⁾ How very far otherwise it is, it is needless to say. Blinded with pride and presumption they despise the rest of the world, just as if their pomp and dignity raised them altogether above the common state of man. Nor is it to be wondered at, that mankind are so haughtily and contumeliously trampled under foot of kings, since the greatest part cast off and disdain to bear the cross of Christ. ⁽⁶⁰²⁾ Let us therefore remember that David is like a mirror, in which God sets before us the continual course of his grace. Only we must be careful, that the obedience of our faith may correspond to his fatherly love, that he may acknowledge us for his people and inheritance. The Scriptures often designate David by the name of a shepherd; but he himself assigns that office to God, thus confessing that he is altogether unfit for it, ⁽⁶⁰³⁾ save only in as far as he is God’s minister.

(601) “Que tout la prospetite qu’ils se souhaitent soit a cause du peuple. —Fr. “That all the prosperity they desire should be for the sake of the people.”

(602) “Veu que la plus grand part rejette et desdaigne de porter le joug de Christ.” — Fr.

(603) “Qu’il n’en est pas digne.” — Fr. “That he is not worthy of it.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 28:1-9

Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent, I become like those that have gone down into the pit. Hear my voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle ( Psalms 28:1-2 ).

So David in his prayer had those times when he lifted up his hands towards God.

Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. Give to them according to their deeds, according to their wickedness in their endeavors: give them after the work of their hands; render them their just desserts. Because they did not regard the works of the LORD, nor the operation of your hands, you will destroy them and not build them up. Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my prayers. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him. The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless your inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever ( Psalms 28:3-9 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 28

This psalm is similar to Psalms 26, except that in this one, David’s distress was imminent. He believed God would not punish him with the wicked, and he asked Him to save and shepherd His people. The combination of confidence in Yahweh and prayer to Yahweh, that appears in Psalms 27, appears again here but in reverse order. Psalms 28:1-5 are lament, and Psalms 28:6-9 are thanksgiving.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. Final request for deliverance 28:9

Having expressed his confidence in the Lord’s salvation, David repeated his request for deliverance. He wanted divine salvation and guidance for Israel from her Shepherd forever. This is a long-range petition for God’s sustenance in the years that lay ahead.

God’s people can appeal for help in distress to their great Shepherd and can rely on His guidance and salvation in view of His commitment to them. The leaders of God’s people should intercede for the Lord’s blessing on the people under their charge, as David did (cf. 1 Samuel 12:23).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Save thy people,.... The psalmist begins the psalm with petitions for himself, and closes it with prayers for the people of God; whom God has chosen for his people, taken into covenant to be his people, and given them to his son as such; these he has resolved to save, and has appointed Christ, and sent him into the world, to be the Saviour of them; and to them he makes known and applies the great salvation by his Spirit: so that this prayer was a prayer of faith, as are also the following petitions;

and bless thine inheritance; the people whom the Lord has chosen for his inheritance, and has given to Christ as his portion, and are his peculiar possession; and these he blesses with all spiritual blessings, with grace here, and glory hereafter, as is requested;

feed them also; as the shepherd does his flock, by leading them into green pastures, by giving them the bread of life, by nourishing them with the word and ordinances, by the means or his ministering servants, who are under-shepherds appointed to feed the saints with knowledge and understanding;

and lift them up for ever; above their enemies, and out of the reach of them; bear and carry them now, as the shepherd does his lambs, in his arms and bosom; and raise them out of their graves, and give them the dominion in the morning of the resurrection, and cause them to reign as kings and priests with Christ, as they ever will.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.   7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.   8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.   9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

      In these verses,

      I. David gives God thanks for the audience of his prayers as affectionately as a few verses before he had begged it: Blessed be the Lord,Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6. How soon are the saints' sorrows turned into songs and their prayers into praises! It was in faith that David prayed (Psalms 28:2; Psalms 28:2), Hear the voice of my supplications; and by the same faith he gives thanks (Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6) that God has heard the voice of his supplications. Note, 1. Those that pray in faith may rejoice in hope. "He hath heard me (graciously accepted me) and I am as sure of a real answer as if I had it already." 2. What we win by prayer we must wear by praise. Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his name.

      II. He encourages himself to hope in God for the perfecting of every thing that concerned him. Having given to God the glory of his grace (Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6), he is humbly bold to take the comfort of it, Psalms 28:7; Psalms 28:7. This is the method of attaining peace: let us begin with praise that is attainable. Let us first bless God and then bless ourselves. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God: "The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on, through all my services and sufferings. He is my shield, to protect me from all the malicious designs of my enemies against me. I have chosen him to be so, I have always found him so, and I expect he will still be so." 2. His experience of the benefits of that dependence: "My heart trusted in him, and in his power and promise; and it has not been in vain to do so, for I am helped, I have been often helped; not only God has given to me, in his due time, the help I trusted to him for, but my very trusting in him has helped me, in the mean time, and kept me from fainting." Psalms 27:13. The very actings of faith are present aids to a dropping spirit, and often help it at a dead lift. 3. His improvement of this experience. (1.) He had the pleasure of it: Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. The joy of a believer is seated in the heart, while, in the laughter of the fool, the heart is sorrowful. It is great joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. The heart that truly believes shall in due time greatly rejoice; it is joy and peace in believing that we are to expect. (2.) God shall have the praise of it: when my heart greatly rejoices, with my song will I praise him. This must we express our gratitude; it is the least we can do; and others will hereby be invited and encouraged to trust in him too.

      III. He pleases himself with the interest which all good people, through Christ, have in God (Psalms 28:8; Psalms 28:8): "The Lord is their strength; not mine only, but the strength of every believer." Note, The saints rejoice in their friends' comforts as well as their own; for, as we have not the less benefit from the light of the sun, so neither from the light of Gods' countenance, for others' sharing therein; for we are sure there is enough for all and enough for each. This is our communion with all saints, that God is their strength and ours, Christ their Lord and ours, 1 Corinthians 1:2. He is their strength, the strength of all Israel, because he is the saving strength of his anointed, that is, 1. Of David in the type. God, in strengthening him that was their king and fought their battles, strengthened the whole kingdom. He calls himself God's anointed because it was the unction he had received that exposed him to the envy of his enemies, and therefore entitled him to the divine protection. 2. Of Christ, his anointed, his Messiah, in the anti-type. God was his saving strength, qualified him for his undertaking and carried him through it; see Psalms 89:21; Isaiah 49:5; Isaiah 50:7; Isaiah 50:9. And so he becomes their strength, the strength of all the saints; he strengthened him that is the church's head, and from him diffuses strength to all the members, has commanded his strength, and so strengthens what he has wrought for us;Psalms 68:28; Psalms 68:80; Psalms 68:17; Psalms 68:18.

      IV. He concludes with a short but comprehensive prayer for the church of God, Psalms 28:9; Psalms 28:9. He prays for Israel, not as his people ("save my people, and bless my inheritance"), though they were so, but, "thine." God's interest in them lay nearer his heart than his own. We are thy people is a good plea, Isaiah 64:9; Isaiah 63:19. I am thine, save me. God's people are his inheritance, dear to him, and precious in his eyes; what little glory he has from this world he has from them. The Lord's portion is his people. That which he begs of God for them is, 1. That he would save them from their enemies and the dangers they were exposed to. 2. That he would bless them with all good, flowing from his favour, in performance of his promise, and amounting to a happiness for them. 3. That he would feed them, bless them with plenty, and especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. Rule them; so the margin. "Direct their counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Feed them, and rule them; sets pastors, set rulers, over them, that shall do their office with wisdom and understanding." 4. That he would lift them up for ever, lift them up out of their troubles and distresses, and do this, not only for those of that age, but for his people in every age to come, even to the end. "Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift them up as high as heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and those only, whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and guided, and governed, by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for ever.