Psalms 28:2

2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, When I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

Psalms 28:2 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 28:2

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 thy 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 whence 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.

Psalms 28:2 In-Context

1 <> To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don't be deaf to me; Lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, When I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Don't draw me away with the wicked, With the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they don't regard the works of Yahweh, Nor the operation of his hands, He will break them down and not build them up.
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