A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XXVIII.
_David prayeth earnestly against his enemies.—He blesseth God.—He prayeth for the people._ A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, _if_ thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief _is_ in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours; give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. Blessed _be_ the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 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. The LORD _is_ their strength, and he _is_ the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever. This is a prayer of David, which in his time he used against Saul, and others like him; but especially against all those Cainish hypocrites who in word pretended to desire peace, but burned with secret hatred in their hearts. Such a viper as this was Absalom, his son, against him; and such an one also was Joab against Amasa and Abner, 2 Kings iii. David, therefore, fearing lest the same things should be laid to his charge, prays, “Draw me not away with the wicked, nor with the workers of iniquity.”
We may use the Psalm against tyrants and fanatical spirits; for in this way are tyrants and persecutors of the word wont to pretend peace in word, and yet secretly plan counsels of slaughter and murder all the while. And so also fanatical spirits and all false prophets boast with ‘big swelling words’ of the word of God, and tumultuously cry out that they seek the glory and the worship of God, and promise nothing but divine and heavenly things, and yet seek all the while their own advantage and their own glory, destroying souls, and walking about in sheep’s clothing, while they are inwardly nothing but ravening wolves. This Psalm belongs to the second and third precept, and to the first and second petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.