Psalm 28/Notes/Lexical.v. 2.289864
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- When I cry to you for help (בְּשַׁוְּעִ֣י): The use of the verb "to cry for help" (שוע) occurs only in poetic texts, and it often appears in parallel with "to call/cry out" (קרא).[1] In the Psalter, "to call/cry out" (קרא) typically appears when the psalmist calls for God to provide deliverance or aid. The verb "to cry for help" (שוע), on the other hand, has a more narrowly focused semantic range. According to DBLH, שוע means "to cry for help; i.e., to ask or request something, with a focus that the asking is intense or desperate, imploring for aid in a difficult or dangerous situation."[2] שוע is a cry for help out of distress. The intensity of the verb "to cry for help" (שוע) might be reflected by the fact that this verb occurs only in the piel stem.[3] Considering that שוע is a cry for help, a cry in times of hardship (cf. SDBH) the use of שוע in Ps 28:2 highlights the psalmist's need for God's help. In other words, the psalmist does not simply “call” (קרא) to God, but “screams out” (שוע) in distress.[4]
- When I lift up my hands (בְּנָשְׂאִי יָדַי) signals a gesture of prayer (cf. TDOT). According to Hilber, "among postures of worship, lifting hands in prayer is commonly mentioned and portrayed pictographically in ancient Near Eastern cultures. Mesopotamians possessed an entire category of prayers named 'prayers with raised hands.' The meaning of the gesture is submission and hopeful appeal."[5]
- Inner sanctuary (i.e., the Holy of Holiest): The term דְּבִיר occurs only here in the Psalter, and it refers to the inner sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was located. דְּבִיר was "regarded as the holiest place" within the sanctuary (SDBH), and it symbolized God's presence among his people. The word דְּבִיר often "appears in accounts for Solomon's Temple. This need not mean that the psalm is later than David; only that the word had become the standard term for the ark's abode by Solomon's time, which suggests that it was in use well before this."[6] According to Ross, the image in Ps 28:2 is "that of the supplicant standing in the courtyard of the sanctuary with uplifted hands facing the Holy of Holies, where the Lord dwelt among his people, crying out for deliverance."[7] Some modern translations have rendered דְּבִיר as "oracle" (cf. KJB, LSV, YLT) perhaps following Jerome's Hebrew Psalter (oraculum). However, "the rendering 'oracle' conveys a wrong idea as though it were a place whence utterances proceeded."[8] As Kirkpatrick noted, the word דְּבִיר "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 Kgs 6—8; 2 Chron 3—5)."[9]