Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 28:4
Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
4. Give them according to their work,
And according to the evil of their doings:
Give them according to the operation of their hands.
This is not a vindictive craving for personal revenge, but a solemn prayer that Jehovah will openly convict false and wicked men by manifesting His righteous judgements upon them, and punishing them as they deserve. See Introd. p. xc.
Give ] Of a judicial sentence. Cp. Hos 9:14; Jer 32:19.
their desert ] The word denotes an action either good or bad, and its fitting reward.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Give them according to their deeds – Deal righteously with them. Recompense them as they deserve.
And according to the wickedness of their endeavours – Their designs; their works; their plans.
Give them after the work of their hands – Reward them according to what they do.
Render to them their desert – A just recompense. This whole verse is a prayer that God would deal justly with them. There is no evidence that there is anything of vindictiveness or malice in the prayer. In itself considered, there is no impropriety in praying that justice may be done to the violators of law. See the general introduction, section 6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 28:4-5
Give them according to their deeds.
Saints desire God to punish sinners
I. why impenitent sinners deserve to be punished. Their wickedness lies in their endeavours, or intentions, to do evil. All their free, voluntary exercises are entirely selfish and criminal, for which they deserve to be punished.
II. some sinners more deserve to be punished than others. One may design to take away a mans property, another may design to take away a mans life, and another may design to destroy a nation. These are all bad designs; but the second is worse than the first, and the third is worse than the second. Ill desert is always in proportion to the ill design of the agent; and the ill design of the agent is always in proportion to the magnitude of the evil he designs to do.
III. what is implied in Gods punishing finally impenitent sinners according to their deserts.
1. According to the duration of their deserts, i.e. for ever.
2. According to the degrees of their guilt. Christ expressly declares that it shall be more intolerable for some sinners than for others in the day of judgment.
IV. why good men desire that God would punish the finally impenitent according to their deserts.
1. It is the nature of true benevolence to love justice.
2. It is the nature of true love to God to desire that He may be glorified for ever.
3. To promote the highest good of the universe.
Conclusion:
1. If the ill desert of sinners essentially and necessarily consists in their free, voluntary design to do evil, then neither the foreknowledge, nor purpose, nor agency of God can ever afford them the least ground or reason to complain of Him for punishing them for ever.
2. If good men, for good reasons, desire God would punish the finally impenitent according to their deserts, then they are prepared to rejoice when they shall see Him display the glory of His justice in their future and eternal punishment.
3. If good men desire God to punish the finally impenitent for ever, for the reasons that have been mentioned, then sinners will never have any just ground to reproach or complain of them for feeling and expressing such a desire.
4. If good men desire God to punish the finally impenitent for ever, then they have no more reason to disbelieve and oppose the doctrine of reprobation than the doctrine of election.
5. If guilt or ill desert consists in the evil intentions of the heart, then there is a wide difference between awakenings and convictions. Sinners are commonly awakened before they are convinced. It is one thing to be sensible of danger, another thing to be sensible of guilt.
6. If guilt or ill desert consists in the selfish and sinful affections of the heart, then we may see why moral sinners commonly experience the deepest convictions before they are converted. They are not so easily awakened and alarmed as more open and profligate sinners.
7. Since all guilt or ill desert consists in the evil affections of the heart, it is easy to see why good men have been so much borne down with the burden of sin. Job, David, and Paul had a deep and habitual sense of their great criminality and guilt. The reason was, they had experienced keen convictions of conscience before they were converted; and this made their conscience always tender afterwards. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Give them] Is the same as thou wilt give them; a prophetic declaration of what their lot will be.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
David useth these imprecations, partly, to vindicate himself from the slanders of his enemies, who reported him to be as wicked as they were, only more close and cunning therein; which, if he had been, he had bitterly cursed himself; which it could not reasonably be presumed that he would do; partly, from his great and long experience of their implacable and incorrigible malignity, not only against him, but against God, and his declared will, and against all truly good men, and that covered with pretences of piety to God, and of peaceableness towards their neighbours, Psa 28:3, which made their wickedness more inexcusable and detestable; partly, by the instinct and direction of Gods Spirit, by whose inspiration he uttered this as well as the rest of the Psalm; and partly, that hereby he might provoke them to repentance; for this curse belongs only to those who shall obstinately persist in their wicked courses. Add to all this, that as verbs of the imperative mood are oft used by the Hebrews for futures, so these may not be proper imprecations, but predictions of their destruction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. The imprecation is justifiedin Ps 28:5. The force of thepassage is greatly enhanced by the accumulation of terms describingtheir sin.
endeavourspoints outtheir deliberate sinfulness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Give them according to their deeds,…. According to the demerit of them, which is death, even death eternal;
and according to the wickedness of their endeavours; for though wicked men do not always succeed; yet their want of success does not excuse their wickedness;
give them after the work of their hands; see 2Ti 4:14;
render to them their desert; what their iniquities, in thought, word, and deed, deserve: such petitions are not contrary to that Christian charity which the Gospel recommends; nor do they savour of a spirit of revenge, which is condemned by the word of God; for it should be observed, that these things are said with respect to men given up to a reprobate mind; and that the psalmist does not seek to avenge himself, nor to gratify his own mind; but he sought the glory of God, and moreover spoke by a prophetic spirit, knowing what was the will of God in this case; see Ps 28:5; and therefore these petitions of his are not to be drawn into an example in common and ordinary cases.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Give them according to their works. Having thus requested God to have a regard to his innocence, the Psalmist thunders forth a curse against his enemies. And the accumulation of words shows that he had groaned long and grievously under the burden before he broke forth to desire such vengeance. He intimates that the wicked of whom he speaks had transgressed not once, nor for a short time, nor in one way, but that they had proceeded so far in their constant evil doings, that their audacity was no longer to be endured. We know how troublesome and grievous a temptation it is to see the ungodly proceeding without measure or end, as if God connived at their wickedness. David, therefore, wearied as it were with continual forbearing, and fainting under the burden, implores God, at length, to restrain the wantonness of his enemies, who of late ceased not to heap wickedness upon wickedness. Thus we perceive that there is nothing superfluous in this verse, when to works he adds the wickedness of their doings, and the work of their hands, and thrice petitions that they may receive the reward which they have deserved. Add to this, that he at the same time bears testimony to his own faith, to which boasting hypocrites often compel the children of God, while by their deceit and cavils, they impose upon the judgments of the world. We see how men who are distinguished for wickedness, not content with impunity themselves, cannot abstain from oppressing the innocent by false accusations, just as the wolf, desirous of making a prey (597) of the lambs, according to the common proverb, accused them of troubling the water. David is therefore compelled by this exigency to call upon God for protection. Here again occurs the difficult question about praying for vengeance, which, however, I shall despatch in few words, as I have discussed it elsewhere. In the first place, then, it is unquestionable, that if the flesh move us to seek revenge, the desire is wicked in the Sight of God. He not only forbids us to imprecate evil upon our enemies in revenge for private injuries, but it cannot be otherwise than that all those desires which spring from hatred must be disordered. David’s example, therefore, must not be alleged by those who are driven by their own intemperate passion to seek vengeance. The holy prophet is not inflamed here by his own private sorrow to devote his enemies to destruction; but laying aside the desire of the flesh, he gives judgment concerning the matter itself. Before a man can, therefore, denounce vengeance against the wicked, he must first shake himself free from all improper feelings in his own mind. In the second place, prudence must be exercised, that the heinousness of the evils which offend us drive us not to intemperate zeal, which happened even to Christ’s disciples, when they desired that fire might be brought from heaven to consume those who refused to entertain their Master, (Luk 9:54.) They pretended, it is true, to act according to the example of Elias; but Christ severely rebuked them, and told them that they knew not by what spirit they were actuated. In particular, we must observe this general rule, that we cordially desire and labor for the welfare of the whole human race. Thus it will come to pass, that we shall not only give way to the exercise of God’s mercy, but shall also wish the conversion of those who seem obstinately to rush upon their own destruction. In short, David, being free from every evil passion, and likewise endued with the spirit of discretion and judgment, pleads here not so much his own cause as the cause of God. And by this prayer, he farther reminds both himself and the faithful, that although the wicked may give themselves loose reins in the commission of every species of vice with impunity for a time, they must at length stand before the judgment-seat of God.
(597) “ Voulant devorer les agneaux.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Give them according to their deeds.The justice of the lex talionis was deeply impressed on the mind of Israel, and we need not wonder to find its enforcement made the subject of prayer. A general notice of the imprecations of the Psalms will be found in the General Introduction (VI.). Here it is enough to remark that there is no indication of personal animosity or vindictiveness. The poet, even if expressing his own feelings, was identified with devout Israel, to whom it was natural not only to expect from Jehovah the manifestation of judgment which could alone remove the conditions that were so unfavourable to the true religion, but also to pray that He would at the same time vindicate Himself and justify those faithful to Him. (Comp. for the general thought Isa. 3:8-11.) In the actual course of Gods providence, the retribution is often very accurately apportioned to the evil deed, and the Bible contains many strong instancese.g., that of Adonibezek (Jdg. 1:5; Jdg. 1:7).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Give them according to their deeds The prayer of this verse is only that justice may obtain, not for purposes of private revenge, but of public safety. The character and designs of David’s enemies must be considered.
The nation was in the tumult of rebellion and the whirl of revolution. He was the king and father of his people; and for their sakes, and for righteousness’ sake, he prays for that interposition of penal judgment which alone could save the nation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 28:4. Render to them their desert Their own rendering; as they have rendered to others. This verse would be translated better in the future: Thou wilt give them, &c. See the next verse.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 28:4 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.
Ver. 4. Give them according to their deeds ] God loveth to retaliate; and David, out of a public and prophetic spirit (not from private revenge, or troubled affections), taketh thus upon him to imprecate.
And according to the wickedness of their endeavours
Give them after the works of their hands
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
them. Note the Figure of speech Repetitio (App-6), for emphasis deeds = deed, or work.
endeavours = practices. work. Some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, and Vulgate, read “works” (plural)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 28:4-5
Psa 28:4-5
“Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings:
Give them after the operation of their hands;
Render to them their desert.
Because they regard not the works of Jehovah,
Nor the operation of his hands,
He will break them down and not build them up.”
This is a fourfold plea that God will deal with the wicked as they deserve. The plea is that God will execute justice upon the wicked enemies: (1) according to their work; (2) according to their wickedness; (3) after the operation of their hands; and (4) according to what they deserve. Such could be nothing less than absolute justice. Addis’ notion that this was David’s prayer, “for vengeance,” misses this point altogether. Kidner properly discerned the genuine import of these words as follows:
“Nothing stings so sharply as injustice, and nothing should; so these verses are not simply vindictive, but they put into words the protest of any healthy conscience against the wrongs of the present order, and the conviction that a day of judgment is a moral necessity.
In the Book of Revelation, the souls of the martyrs are represented as crying to the Lord, “How long, O Master, the Holy and True, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood upon them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev 6:10). This also, like the passage before us, cannot be considered a sinful cry for personal vengeance, because the `martyrs’ in that passage are reckoned among the redeemed. Theirs was a cry for the execution of justice, which is identical with what this passage has. As Rawlinson noted, “David here exhibits a moral nature uncorrupted by contact with the world of his day.
The rewarding of evil men according to their conduct and according to what they deserve is retribution; and Rawlinson commented that, “Nothing satisfies the moral feelings of humanity except exact retribution.” The passage here is a prayer for that very thing.
Now and then in the record of sordid human behavior, God has provided examples of retribution against persons of extreme wickedness.
ILLUSTRATION. The gospels carry the story of Herodias’ wicked persecution of John the Baptist in which she contrived through her voluptuous dancing daughter Salome to receive “The head of John the Baptist on a platter.” Behold the retribution which heaven meted out to Herod Antipas, Herodias and Salome as a direct result of their hell-born actions:
(1) Herod lost his throne. Aretas, whose daughter Herod had divorced in order to marry Herodias, declared war on him and drove him out of his kingdom.
(2) Both Herod and Herodias were banished by the Roman Senate to Lyons for their shameful deeds, “Where they both perished miserably, in disgrace.
(3) And the dancing girl, Salome? What happened to her? “She died by a remarkable visitation. She fell through some treacherous ice over which she was passing and fell through it in such a manner that her head was caught while the rest of her body sank into the water, with the result that her head was practically severed by the sharp edges of the broken ice. The dancing girl who received the head of John the Baptist yielded up her own head on the cutting edges of the treacherous ice.
One may indeed see the hand of God in such visitations; and the prayer of David here that all wicked men may receive “what they deserve” justifies our expectation that all wickedness shall eventually receive exactly the punishment it deserves, whether in this life or in the world to come. Regarding David’s prayer here, “There is no evidence that there is anything of vindictiveness or malice in his prayer. It is a prayer for justice.
“He will break them down and not build them up” (Psa 28:5). “David, in these lines, is a prophet.” The grounds of this fate which God announced through David is listed in the preceding lines, “They regard not the works of Jehovah, nor the operation of his hands.” The wicked men in view here appear as unbelievers, “Who have shamefully refused to recognize David as God’s anointed, through whom God promised to establish an `eternal kingdom’ (2 Samuel 7). In this light, Absalom and his fellowconspirators were servants of Satan himself, who was determined to prevent any such promise’s fulfilment.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 28:4. This whole verse is a prayer for God to punish the wicked persons in a way worthy of their unrighteous deeds.
Psa 28:5. Works of the Lord refers to the things that the Lord has created. Operation of his hands means the management of those created things. These wicked men disregarded the whole subject, which was the chief basis for David’s criticism of his enemies. Not build them up means the Lord will not uphold such characters.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Give: Psa 5:10, Psa 59:12, Psa 59:13, Psa 69:22-24, Jer 18:21-23, 2Ti 4:14, Rev 18:6
and: Psa 2:1-5, Psa 21:10, Eze 38:10
the work: Psa 62:12, Psa 103:10, Psa 109:17-21, Psa 103:3, Psa 103:4, Rom 2:6-8, Rom 11:22
render: Ezr 9:13
Reciprocal: Jdg 9:20 – let fire come out 2Sa 3:39 – the Lord 1Ki 8:39 – give to every man Psa 25:10 – the paths Isa 3:11 – for the reward Isa 26:10 – and will not Lam 3:64 – General Rom 11:9 – a recompense Rev 20:12 – according
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 28:4. Give them according to their deeds, &c. It is fit that they should suffer as they have acted, and reap the fruit of their manifold wickedness. Give them after the work of their hands, &c. Dispense a reward to them according to their works, and deal with them as they have dealt with others. This verse would be better translated in the future; Thou wilt give, &c. For this prayer is evidently a prophecy, that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to their deserts: see the next verse, and note on Psa 5:10.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
28:4 {d} 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.
(d) He thus prayed in respect to God’s glory and not for his own cause, being assured that God would punish the persecutors of his Church.