Psalms 28:1 - Exposition

Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; be not silent to me; rather, as in the Revised Version, to thee , O Lord , will I call ; my Rock , be not thou deaf unto me . "My Rock" belongs to the second clause. It is with David, in these early psalms, an epitheton usilatum (comp. Psalms 18:2 ; Psalms 27:5 ; Psalms 31:2 , Psalms 31:3 ; Psalms 40:3 ; Psalms 61:2 ; Psalms 62:2 , etc.). The Hebrew term used is sometimes tsur , sometimes sela' , which call to our minds the two great rook-fortresses of Tyre and Petra. Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit; i.e. without hope, desperate.