Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 28:2
Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
2. The first line recurs in Psa 31:22.
when I cry ] A stronger word than that in Psa 28:1, meaning to cry for help.
when I lift up my hands ] The attitude of prayer (Psa 63:4; 1Ti 2:8), the outward symbol of an uplifted heart (Psa 25:1).
toward thy holy oracle ] Lit., as R.V. marg., toward the innermost place of thy sanctuary, i.e. the most holy place, where the Ark, the symbol of God’s Presence among His people, was. See 1Ki 6:16 ff; 1Ki 8:6. The rendering oracle, following Jerome’s oraculum, rests upon a wrong derivation. The word does not in itself denote the place where God answers. It is used elsewhere only in the accounts of the building of the Temple (1 Kings 6-8; 2 Chronicles 3-5). The worshipper naturally turns as he prays towards Jehovah’s dwelling-place in heaven (1Ki 8:22), or its earthly counterpart (1Ki 8:30 ff.). Cp. Psa 5:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hear the voice of my supplications – It was not mental prayer which he offered; it was a petition uttered audibly.
When I lift up my hands – To lift up the hands denotes supplication, as this was a common attitude in prayer. See the notes at 1Ti 2:8.
Toward thy holy oracle – Margin, as in Hebrew, toward the oracle of thy holiness. The word oracle as used here denotes the place where the answer to prayer is given. The Hebrew word – debyr – means properly the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle or the temple, the place where God was supposed to reside, and where He gave responses to the prayers of His people: the same place which is elsewhere called the holy of holies. See the notes at Heb 9:3-14. The Hebrew word is found only here and in 1Ki 6:5, 1Ki 6:16, 1Ki 6:19-23, 1Ki 6:31; 1Ki 7:49; 1Ki 8:6, 1Ki 8:8; 2Ch 3:16; 2Ch 4:20; 2Ch 5:7, 2Ch 5:9. The idea here is that he who prayed stretched out his hands toward that sacred place where God was supposed to dwell. So we stretch out our hands toward heaven – the sacred dwelling-place of God. Compare the notes at Psa 5:7. The Hebrew word is probably derived from the verb to speak; and, according to this derivation, the idea is that God spoke to His people; that he communed with them; that He answered their prayers from that sacred recess – His special dwelling-place. See Exo 25:22; Num 7:89.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Toward thy holy oracle.] debir kodshecha; debir properly means that place in the holy of holies from which God gave oracular answers to the high priest. This is a presumptive proof that there was a temple now standing; and the custom of stretching out the hands in prayer towards the temple, when the Jews were at a distance from it, is here referred to.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Towards the holy of holies, which is so called, 1Ki 6:23, compared with 2Ch 3:10; compare also 1Ki 6:5; 8:6, because there the ark was; from whence God gave oracular answers to his people; and to which they accordingly directed their prayers, not only when they drew near to it, but when they were at a distance from it, as Dan 6:10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. lift up my handsa gestureof prayer (Psa 63:4; Psa 141:2).
oracleplace ofspeaking (Exo 25:22;Num 7:89), where God answered Hispeople (compare Ps 5:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, 1Ki 6:23; compared with 2Ch 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 La 3:41; it was frequently used, even by the Heathens, as a prayer gesture r; see Ps 141:2.
r “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
, Homer. Iliad. 5. v. 174.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Hear the voice of my prayers when I cry to thee. This repetition is a sign of a heart in anguish. David’s ardor and vehemence in prayer are also intimated by the noun signifying voice, and the verb signifying to cry. He means that he was so stricken with anxiety and fear, that he prayed not coldly, but with burning, vehement desire, like those who, under the pressure of grief, vehemently cry out. In the second clause of the verse, by synecdoche, the thing signified is indicated by the sign. It has been a common practice in all ages for men to lift up their hands in prayer. Nature has extorted this gesture even from heathen idolaters, to show by a visible sign that their minds were directed to God alone. The greater part, it is true, contented with this ceremony, busy themselves to no effect with their own inventions; but the very lifting up of the hands, when there is no hypocrisy and deceit, is a help to devout and zealous prayer. David, however, does not say here that he lifted his hands to heaven, but to the sanctuary, that, aided by its help, he might ascend the more easily to heaven. He was not so gross, or so superstitiously tied to the outward sanctuary, as not to know that God must be sought spiritually, and that men then only approach to him when, leaving the world, they penetrate by faith to celestial glory. But remembering that he was a man, he would not neglect this aid afforded to his infirmity. As the sanctuary was the pledge or token of the covenant of God, David beheld the presence of God’s promised grace there, as if it had been represented in a mirror; just as the faithful now, if they wish to have a sense of God’s nearness to them, should immediately direct their faith to Christ, who came down to us in his incarnation, that he might lift us up to the Father. Let us understand, then, that David clung to the sanctuary with no other view than that by the help of God’s promise he might rise above the elements of the world, which he used, however, according to the appointment of the Law. The Hebrew word דביר, debir, which we have rendered sanctuary, (594) signifies the inner-room of the tabernacle or temple, or the most holy place, where the ark of the covenant was contained, and it is so called from the answers or oracles which God gave forth from thence, to testify to his people the presence of his favor among them.
(594) דביר, debir, is derived from דבר, dabar, to speak.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Lift up my hands.For interesting illustrations of this Oriental custom see Exo. 9:29; 1Ki. 8:22, &c. Compare the well-known line:
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer.
TENNYSON: Morte dArthur.
Holy oracle.Better, the shrine of thy sanctuary (see margin)i.e., the holy of holies, the adytum, or inner recess of the Temple in which the ark was placed, as we see from 1Ki. 6:19-22. The Hebrew word, which is of doubtful derivation, is, with the exception of this place, only found in Kings and Chronicles. The margin, the oracle of thy sanctuary, is a better rendering than the text.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle The “oracle” was the inner sanctuary, or “holy of holies.” 1Ki 6:16; 1Ki 8:6. On praying with hands outspread towards the most holy place when exiled or absent, see Dan 6:10
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Here also, as in numberless other instances, with an eye to Jesus, we have a lovely example, how to tell the Rock of our Salvation what our confidence is; and how to supplicate all suited grace, when we lift up our hearts, and hands, and eyes, to a God in Christ, as his holy oracle. The mercy-seat was the Old Testament propitiatory, as representing Christ. And what is the New Testament but Christ? Exo 25:21-22 . See a beautiful example of answers given from thence: Num 7:89 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
Ver. 2. When I lift up my hands ] An ordinary gesture in prayer, expressing faith (for they held out their open hands, as craving beggars with the palms upward, 1Ki 8:22 ) and helping fervency; while hands and heart went up together to God in the heavens, Lam 3:40 . Preces fundimus, ecelum tundimus, miserieordiam extorquemus, &c. (Tertul.).
Toward thy holy oracle
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lift up my hands. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for praying.
holy. See note on Exo 3:5.
oracle = speaking place. Occurs only here in Psalms. See note on 2Sa 16:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 28:2-3
Psa 28:2-3
“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;
That speak peace with their neighbors,
But mischief is in their hearts.”
“When I lift up my hands” (Psa 28:2). “Psa 28:1-2, here are a prelude to the prayer proper, on the double ground of his helplessness apart from God, and of his lifting up his hands in prayer. David is in such danger that unless God hears him, he will lose his life. “Hands lifted up in prayer can be expressive of prayer in many moods, such as calling down the power of heaven upon others as in Exo 17:9 f. Paul also associated this action with prayer in 1Ti 2:8.
“Toward thy holy oracle” (Psa 28:2). Dummelow identified this as the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. The ASV marginal reading supports this view, offering as an alternative rendition, “Toward the innermost place of thy sanctuary.”
“That speak peace with their neighbors” (Psa 28:3). The wicked appearing in the prayer here are proved to be so by, “The conflict between their public well-wishing and their inner mischief-planning.
“That speak peace” (Psa 28:3). Leupold suggested that, “This may well refer to the customary Jewish greetings, “As conveyed by the word Shalom, which means `peace.’ Such a view certainly reflects what the conduct of Absalom must have been. He maintained his usual acceptance around David’s palace by such friendly greetings at the same time while he was plotting the overthrow of his father the King.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 28:2. Lifting the hands at a time of prayer was a practice to indicate respectful appeal to God. (1Ti 2:8.) Supplications is an urgent form of prayer. Holy oracle is a term applying to the temple as the spiritual headquarters of God.
Psa 28:3. Draw me not, etc., means for God not to class David with these wicked men. They were hypocrites; saying one thing and thinking another.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
when: Psa 63:4, Psa 125:5, Psa 134:2, Psa 141:2, Psa 143:6, 2Ch 6:13, 1Ti 2:8
thy holy oracle: or, the oracle of thy sanctuary, Psa 5:7, Psa 138:2, 1Ki 6:19, 1Ki 6:22, 1Ki 6:23, 1Ki 8:6-8, 1Ki 8:28-30, 1Ki 8:38, Dan 6:10
Reciprocal: Lev 9:22 – his hand 2Sa 16:23 – as if 1Ki 6:5 – oracle 1Ki 8:22 – General 2Ch 4:20 – the oracle 2Ch 6:12 – spread forth Neh 8:6 – with lifting Job 33:26 – pray Psa 18:3 – I will Psa 61:1 – Hear Psa 140:6 – hear Psa 142:1 – with my voice Lam 2:19 – lift up Lam 3:41 – with Mic 1:2 – the Lord from
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 28:2. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle Earnestly desiring and confidently expecting an answer of peace from thence. The most holy place within the veil is here, as elsewhere, called the oracle. There the ark and the mercy-seat were; there God was said to dwell between the cherubim, and thence he spake to his people, Num 7:89. This was a type of Christ, and it is to him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through him all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven, Heb 9:24. And from God, as our Father in heaven, we are taught to expect an answer to our prayers.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy {b} holy oracle.
(b) He counts himself as a dead man, till God shows his favour toward him, and grants him his petition.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The psalmist begged God to hear and respond to his petition. Lifting up the hands in prayer symbolized utter dependence on God (cf. Psa 63:4; Psa 134:2; Psa 141:2; 1Ki 8:35; 1Ki 8:38; 1Ki 8:42). The sanctuary (Heb. debir) is where the ark abode. David asked that the Lord not judge him with the sinners who opposed him. Moreover he requested that God would punish the wicked as they justly deserved.