Tehillim 28 | Harmony

After several psalms in which we saw the tension between trust in God and despair, between prayer and suffering, and between anguish and redemption — it seems that our psalm offers a relatively harmonious narrative. The psalm is structured in three parts: it begins (vv. 1–2) with a prayer to God and a plea that He not turn a blind eye to the speaker’s needs. Then comes a description of the distress and plea that the wicked not succeed in their schemes (vv. 3–5). Finally, there is a section of thanksgiving for God’s having responded to the prayer, and from it emerges a tone of trust in God and a prayer for salvation for all of Israel.

Dr. Beni Gesundheit shows that there is a tight verbal connections between its sections. At the opening, the poet describes lifting his hands ("בנשאי את ידי") toward the sanctuary, and the psalm ends with “sustain them forever” ("נשאם עד עולם"). The poet asks, “hear the sound of my plea” (v. 2), and at the end of the psalm he is answered with that very phrase: “who has heard the sound of my plea” (v. 6). Even within the request section there are strong verbal parallels between its components: the poet asks God to pay the wicked back for their deeds ("כמעשה ידיהם תן להם") — those same wicked people who do not recognize God’s handiwork ("לא יבינו... מעשה ידיו").

Thus, this psalm expresses a calm and confident unit of prayer: the poet turns to God, he is indeed in distress, and by the end of the psalm his prayer is answered and he is filled with trust in God.

If we wish to examine the chapters of Tehillim as a sequence, then it seems that after several psalms of challenge and inner struggle, our psalm presents a more stable world of prayer, leading into the next two chapters with their focus on the Temple—praise of God in Psalm 29, and thanksgiving to Him in Psalm 30.