Psalm 30:6 Komentář

This is a psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances which God had wrought for David, penned upon occasion of the dedicating of his house of cedar, and sung in that pious solemnity, though there is not any thing in it that has particular reference to that occasion. Some collect from divers passages in the psalm itself that it was penned upon his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, which might happen to be about the time of the dedication of his house. I. He here praises God for the deliverances he had wrought for him (Psa 30:1-3). II. He calls upon others to praise him too, and encourages them to trust in him (Psa 30:4, Psa 30:5). III. He blames himself for his former security (Psa 30:6, Psa 30:7). IV. He recollects the prayers and complaints he had made in his distress (Psa 30:8-10). With them he stirs up himself to be very thankful to God for the present comfortable change (Psa 30:11, Psa 30:12). In singing this psalm we ought to remember with thankfulness any like deliverances wrought for us, for which we must stir up our selves to praise him and by which we must be engaged to depend upon him. A psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David.

We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David was in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in each of those states - what he said and did, and how his heart stood affected; in the first of these we may see what we are too apt to be, and in the other two what we should be. I. He had long enjoyed prosperity, and then he grew secure and over-confident of the continuance of it (Psa 30:6, Psa 30:7): "In my prosperity, when I was in health of body and God had given me rest from all my enemies, I said I shall never be moved; I never thought either of having my body distempered or my government disturbed, not had any apprehensions of danger upon any account." Such complete victories had he obtained over those that opposed him, and such a confirmed interest had he in the hearts of his people, such a firmness of mind and such a strong constitution of body, that he thought his prosperity fixed like a mountain; yet this he ascribes, not to his own wisdom or fortitude, but to the divine goodness. Thou, through thy favour, hast made my mountain to stand strong, Psa 30:7. He does not look upon it as his heaven (as worldly people do, who make their prosperity their felicity), only his mountain; it is earth still, only raised a little higher than the common level. This he thought, by the favour of God, would be perpetuated to him, imagining perhaps that, having had so many troubles in the beginning of his days, he had had his whole share and should have none in his latter end, or that God, who had given him such tokens of his favour, would never frown upon him. Note, 1. We are very apt to dream, when things are well with us, that they will always be so, and never otherwise. Tomorrow shall be as this day. As if we should think, when the weather is once fair, that it will be even fair; whereas nothing is more certain than that it will change. 2. When we see ourselves deceived in our expectations, it becomes us to reflect, with shame, upon our security, as our folly, as David does here, that we may be wiser another time and may rejoice in our prosperity as though we rejoiced not, because the fashion of it passes away. II. On a sudden he fell into trouble, and then he prayed to God, and pleaded earnestly for relief and succour. 1. His mountain was shaken and he with it; it proved, when he grew secure, that he was least safe: "Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled, in mind, body, or estate." In every change of his condition he still kept his eye upon God, and, as he ascribed his prosperity to God's favour, so in his adversity he observed the hiding of God's face, to be the cause of it. If God hide his face, a good man is certainly troubled, though no other calamity befal him; when the sun sets night certainly follows, and the moon and all the stars cannot make day. 2. When his mountain was shaken he lifted up his eyes above the hills. Prayer is a salve for every sore; he made use of it accordingly. Is any afflicted? Is any troubled? Let him pray. Though God hid his face from him, yet he prayed. If God, in wisdom and justice, turn from us, yet it will be in us the greatest folly and injustice imaginable if we turn from him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark (Psa 30:8): I cried to thee, O Lord! It seems God's withdrawings made his prayers the more vehement. We are here told, for it seems he kept account of it, (1.) What he pleaded, Psa 30:9. [1.] That God would be no gainer by his death: What profit is there in my blood? implying that he would willingly die if he could thereby do any real service to God or his country (Phi 2:17), but he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the bed of sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour. "Lord," says he, "wilt thou sell one of thy own people for nought and not increase thy wealth by the price?" Psa 44:12. Nay [2.] That, in his honour, God would seem to be a loser by his death: Shall the dust praise thee? The sanctified spirit, which returns to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him; but the dust, which returns to the earth, shall not praise him, nor declare his truth. The services of God's house cannot be performed by the dust; it cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in the grave, for it is the land of silence. The promises of God's covenant cannot be performed to the dust. "Lord," says David, "if I die now, what will become of the promise made to me? Who shall declare the truth of that?" The best pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God's honour; and then we ask aright for life when we have that in view, that we may live and praise him. (2.) What he prayed for, Psa 30:10. He prayed for mercy to pardon (Have mercy upon me), and for grace to help in time of need - Lord, be thou my helper. On these two errands we also may come boldly to the throne of grace, Heb 4:16. III. In due time God delivered him out of his troubles and restored him to his former prosperity. His prayers were answered and his mourning was turned into dancing, Psa 30:11. God's anger now endured but for a moment, and David's weeping but for a night. The sackcloth with which, in a humble compliance with the divine Providence, he had clad himself, was loosed; his griefs were balanced; his fears were silenced; his comforts returned; and he was girded with gladness: joy was made his ornament, was made his strength, and seemed to cleave to him, as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. As David's plunge into trouble from the height of prosperity, and then when he least expected it, teaches us to rejoice as though we rejoiced not, because we know not how near trouble may be, so his sudden return to a prosperous condition teaches us to weep as though we wept not, because we know not how soon the storm may become a calm and the formidable blast may become a favourable gale. But what temper of mind was he in upon this happy change of the face of his affairs? What does he say now? He tells us, Psa 30:12. 1. His complaints were turned into praises. He looked upon it that God girded him with gladness to the end that he might be the sweet psalmist of Israel (Sa2 23:1), that his glory might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue (for our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God) or his soul, for that is our glory above the beasts, that must be employed in blessing the Lord, and with that we must make melody to him in singing psalms. Those that are kept from being silent in the pit must not be silent in the land of the living, but fervent, and constant, and public, in praising God. 2. These praises were likely to be everlasting: I will give thanks unto thee for ever. This bespeaks a gracious resolution that he would persevere to the end in praising God and a gracious hope that he should never want fresh matter for praise and that he should shortly be where this would be the everlasting work. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house; they will be still praising him. Thus must we learn to accommodate ourselves to the various providences of God that concern us, to want and to abound, to sing of mercy and judgment, and to sing unto God for both.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 30 A Psalm [and] Song [at] the dedication of the house of David. This is the first time that a psalm is called a song; some psalms are called by one name, some by another, and some by both, as here; and some are called hymns: to which distinction of them the apostle refers in Eph 5:19. A psalm was sung upon musical instruments, a song with the voice; it may be this psalm was sung both ways: the occasion of it was the dedication of David's house: the Targum interprets it of the house of the sanctuary, the temple; and so most of the Jewish commentators (i); which might be called his house, because it was his intention to build it; his heart was set upon it, he provided materials for it, and gave his son Solomon the form of it, and a charge to build it; and, as is thought, composed this psalm to be sung, and which was sung by the Levites at the dedication of it: others, as Aben Ezra, are of opinion it was his own dwelling house, made of cedar, which he dedicated according to the law of Moses, with sacrifices and offerings, prayer and thanksgiving, Sa2 5:11; so Apollinarius calls it a new house David built; but since there is nothing in the whole psalm that agrees with the dedication, either of the temple, or of David's own private house, it seems better, with other interpreters, to understand it of the purging of David's house from the wickedness and incest of his son Absalom, upon his return to it, when the rebellion raised by him was extinguished; which might be reckoned a new dedication of it; see Sa2 20:3; and to a deliverance from such troubles this psalm well agrees. Theodoret interprets it of the restoration of the human nature by Christ, through his resurrection from the dead. (i) Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abdendana.

And in my prosperity,.... Either outward prosperity, when he was settled in his kingdom, and as acknowledged king by all the tribes of Israel, and had gotten the victory over all his enemies, and was at rest from them round about; or inward and spiritual prosperity, having a spiritual appetite for the word, being in the lively exercise of grace, growing in it, and in the knowledge of Christ; favoured with communion with God, having flesh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy, corruptions being subdued, the inward man renewed with spiritual strength, and more fruitful in every good word and work. This being the case, I said, I shall never be moved; so in outward prosperity men are apt to sing a requiem to themselves, and fancy it will always be thus with them, be in health of body, and enjoying the affluence of temporal things, and so put away the evil day in one sense and another from them; and even good men themselves are subject to this infirmity, Job 29:18; and who also, when in comfortable frames of soul, and in prosperous circumstances in spiritual things, are ready to conclude if will always be thus with them, or better. Indeed they can never be moved as to their state and condition with respect to God; not from his heart, where they are set as a seal; nor out of the arms of Christ, and covenant of grace; nor out of the family of God; nor from a state of justification and grace; but they may be moved as to the exercise of grace and discharge of duty, in which they vary; and especially when they are self-confident, and depend upon their own strength for the performance of these things, and for a continuance in such frames, which seems to have been David's case; and therefore he corrects himself, and his sense of things, in Psa 30:7.

As the prosperity of a city is dependent on the supply of goods for sale in the market, and as we say that a country is prosperous that produces much fruit, so also there is a certain prosperity of the soul when it has been filled with works of every kind. It is necessary first for it to be laboriously cultivated and then to be enriched by the plentiful streams of heavenly waters, so as to bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold and to obtain the blessing that says, “Blessed shall be your barns and blessed your stores.” One, therefore, who is conscious of his own constancy, will say with sure confidence and will strongly maintain that he will not be turned away by any opponent, like a full field that the Lord has blessed.

"But I said in my abundance, I shall not be moved for ever" [Psalm 30:6]. But I, that people which was speaking from the first, said in mine abundance, suffering now no more any want, "I shall not be moved for ever."

"But I said, in my abundance." Above he gave thanks for the divine benefits; here he pursues the whole order of how he obtained this. Where he does three things. First he sets forth the process of his direction. Second, his recourse to prayer, at "To you, O Lord, I will cry out." Third he shows the hearing of his prayer, at "The Lord has heard." According to the Gloss, the first things are understood of Christ and of every man. And first let us explain how they are understood of every man: Sir. 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride." And therefore in the process of direction, first the presumption of those who trust in themselves is set forth. Second, the falsity of the presumption, at "O Lord, in your will." Third, the punishment of the presumption, at "You turned your face away from me." He says therefore: "I said," that is, I presumed in my heart, "in my abundance" of bodily prosperity, "I shall not be moved," that is, I shall not fail: Rev. 18: "I sit as a queen," etc. Sir. 11: "In the day of good things, do not be unmindful," etc. Or "in my abundance" of spiritual goods, as Adam was in Paradise: Ezek. 28: "Full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, in delights." And in this abundance they say, "I shall not be moved." Against which it is said in 1 Cor. 10: "He who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall." He shows the falsity of the presumption when he says, "O Lord, in your will," etc. The beauty of man temporally is temporal prosperity: therefore it is compared to a flower: Is. 40: "All flesh is grass." But this beauty does not have power to endure of its own nature, as is said in Jas. 1: "Like the flower of the grass it shall pass away. For the sun rose with its burning heat and dried the grass, and its flower fell, and the beauty of its countenance perished: so also shall the rich man," etc. But from where does it have power and firmness and constancy? Certainly from the will of God. And therefore I said, but presumptuously, "I shall not be moved." But it is not so; rather, as long as it pleased you, you gave strength to my beauty. Indeed in perpetuity, because these things are eternal for the saints in the fatherland; but here, at his will. Likewise beauty can be taken for spiritual virtue: Prov. 31: "Strength and beauty," etc. This also of its own nature is not strong: because we have this beauty in earthen vessels, 2 Cor. 4; Lk. 24: "Stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." And therefore he says, "You gave strength to my beauty, but in your will": Rom. 9: "He has mercy on whom he will." And he proves this by the effect: because "when you turned your face from me, I perished." God is said to turn his face from a man so as not to see him, or so as not to be seen by him. He sees all with a simple vision and knowledge; but some he sees with a vision of mercy: Ps. 24: "Look upon me, and have mercy on me." "You turned your face from me," therefore, so as not to have mercy on me. And immediately "I was troubled," either spiritually by falling into sin, or temporally into adversity. Or "you turned your face," so as not to be seen by me. And this seems to be the sense of Jerome's text. In any adversity whatsoever, the strength of man is to have his eyes fixed on God: Ps. 76: "I remembered God, and was delighted." "You turned away," therefore, so that I might not see. "And I was troubled." But if it is explained of Christ, then in this, "I said," not indeed presumptuously but with the certainty of knowledge, "in my abundance," that is, of virtues and graces: Jn. 1: "We saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." "I shall not be moved" from the will of God: Jn. 8: "I always do the things that are pleasing to him." And this because "you gave strength to my beauty," namely, of working miracles and of resisting adversaries: Rom. 1: "He was predestined as the Son of God in power." And this is clear: because "when you turned your face from me" in the passion: Ps. 21: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" "I was troubled," not in reason but in sensuality: Jn. 12: "Now my soul is troubled."

Literally, "A Psalm-Song"--a composition to be sung with musical instruments, or without them--or, "Song of the dedication," &c. specifying the particular character of the Psalm. Some suppose that of David should be connected with the name of the composition, and not with "house"; and refer for the occasion to the selection of a site for the temple (Ch1 21:26-30; Ch1 22:1). But "house" is never used absolutely for the temple, and "dedication" does not well apply to such an occasion. Though the phrase in the Hebrew, "dedication of the house of David," is an unusual form, yet it is equally unusual to disconnect the name of the author and the composition. As a "dedication of David's house" (as provided, Deu 20:5), the scope of the Psalm well corresponds with the state of repose and meditation on his past trials suited to such an occasion (Sa2 5:11; Sa2 7:2). For beginning with a celebration of God's delivering favor, in which he invites others to join, he relates his prayer in distress, and God's gracious and prompt answer. (Psa 30:1-12) lifted me up--as one is drawn from a well (Psa 40:2).

What particular prosperity is meant we do not know; perhaps his accession to the throne. In his self-complacent elation he was checked by God's hiding His face (compare Psa 22:24; Psa 27:9).

(Heb.: 30:7-8) David now relates his experience in detail, beginning with the cause of the chastisement, which he has just undergone. In ואני אמרתּי (as in Psa 31:23; Psa 49:4) he contrasts his former self-confidence, in which (like the רשׁע, Psa 10:6) he thought himself to be immoveable, with the God-ward trust he has now gained in the school of affliction. Instead of confiding in the Giver, he trusted in the gift, as though it had been his own work. It is uncertain, - but it is all the same in the end, - whether שׁלוי is the inflected infinitive שלו of the verb שׁלי (which we adopt in our translation), or the inflected noun שׁלו (שׁלוּ) = שׁלו, after the form שׂחוּ, a swimming, Eze 47:5, = שׁלוה, Jer 22:21. The inevitable consequence of such carnal security, as it is more minutely described in Deu 8:11-18, is some humbling divine chastisement. This intimate connection is expressed by the perfects in Psa 30:8, which represent God's pardon, God's withdrawal of favour, which is brought about by his self-exaltation, and the surprise of his being undeceived, as synchronous. העמיד עז, to set up might is equivalent to: to give it as a lasting possession; cf. Ch2 33:8, which passage is a varied, but not (as Riehm supposes) a corrupted, repetition of Kg2 21:8. It is, therefore, unnecessary, as Hitzig does, to take ל as accusatival and עז as adverbial: in Thy favour hadst Thou made my mountain to stand firm. The mountain is Zion, which is strong by natural position and by the additions of art (Sa2 5:9); and this, as being the castle-hill, is the emblem of the kingdom of David: Jahve had strongly established his kingdom for David, when on account of his trust in himself He made him to feel how all that he was he was only by Him, and without Him he was nothing whatever. The form of the inflexion הררי, instead of הרי = harri, is defended by Gen 14:6 and Jer 17:3 (where it is הררי as if from הרר). The reading להדרי (lxx, Syr.), i.e., to my kingly dignity is a happy substitution; whereas the reading of the Targum להררי, "placed (me) on firm mountains," at once refutes itself by the necessity for supplying "me."