Big Idea: The menaces of leadership are myriad, sometimes posed by cordial faces with malicious intentions, and we pray that God will be the real Shepherd.

Understanding the Text

Gunkel lists Psalm 28 among the individual complaint songs, the genre that, in his view, forms the basic material of the Psalter.[1] Gerstenberger, based on the elements of petition, thanksgiving, and intercession, agrees and considers this psalm a model representative of the individual complaint psalm,[2] commonly referred to as the individual lament. Based on the individual nature of these psalms, Gunkel objects to the inclination of some scholars to interpret the “I” of the Psalms as corporate Israel.[3] The suppliant’s concern for his personal situation could not, however, be isolated from his concern for co…