Mark Hamilton, PhD - Associate Dean, Professor of Old Testament, ACU Graduate School of Theology
Some days you don’t have much to say because you recognize the extent to which you need mercy. Silence seems better than speaking. Words fail to capture the subtleties of thought, the depths of emotions, the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. Since we must speak, however, we seek the words that draw us back into the silence. These words are not timid little things peaking furtively around the corners of our souls. No, they are bold enough, but also realistic enough to recognize their own limitations.
So it is with Psalm 28, a quiet psalm with two parts. Verses 1-5 cry out to God, who seems all too aloof and silent, for help, and in particular for moral re-formation. Verses 6-9, in an extraordinary turn of mood, extol the Almighty’s willingness to help and tangible demonstration of that willingness.
Older scholars often described psalms like this as mixed-genre pieces. Or they supposed that in the performance of the psalm, a priest stepped forward (presumably just after verse 5 was said) to offer a word of salvation. This all may be true; no one knows for sure. But what is clear is that the space between the cry to God for help and the answer to that cry is not too wide. Praise and laments are not opposites, but close cousins. They both depend on an awareness of the mighty mercy of God.
I am struck today by several of the lines. Verse 3 asks God to separate the psalmist from those who “speak peace to their neighbors but have evil in their heart.” There is a pun here in Hebrew: “their neighbors” = re’ehem (resh-ayin-he), while “evil” is ra’ah (resh-ayin-he). The consonants are the same, but the vowels are different. And what a difference a few vowels can make! And how easy it is to hate a neighbor and scheme against that person, at least in our fantasies. The psalmist wishes to differentiate himself from such persons, especially in the opinion of the God who sees hearts and thus discerns truths behind illusions and appearances.
The other bit to notice is the phrase in verse 6 “blessed be Yhwh.” One often “blesses” God in the Old Testament. Usually we translate the expression as “praise Yhwh,” which is an acceptable rendering. But it is better to recognize that these texts seek to place God in the right place and to recognize that God has superlative qualities that humans ought to recognize.
It’s a short psalm, and I do not wish to break the silence too long today. The good news is that, beyond the silence, there is One who speaks at just the right time and with just the right words.