A thanksgiving for recovery from an almost fatal sickness, and a reflection on the lessons which it was sent to teach. Cp. Psalm 119:67. The Psalmist praises Jehovah for preserving his life in answer to his prayer (Psalm 30:1-3), and calls upon the godly to join him in thanksgiving (Psalm 30:4-5). He goes on to relate his own experience of God’s mercy. In prosperity he had grown presumptuous, till God withdrew His favour, and trouble came (Psalm 30:6-7). Then he pleaded that his life might be spared (Psalm 30:8-10): his prayer was answered; his life was prolonged that he might praise Jehovah, and in thanksgiving will he employ the remainder of his days (Psalm 30:11-12).

The Psalm is entitled, A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House; a Psalm of David (R.V.): and this title has generally been supposed to refer to the occasion for which the Psalm was written. But commentators are not agreed whether the House means the Temple or David’s Palace. The term dedication is used of a house (Deuteronomy 20:5), or city walls (Nehemiah 12:27), as well as of sacred things and places (Numbers 7:10 ff.; 1 Kings 8:63; Ezra 6:16-17). Some refer it to David’s palace in Zion (2 Samuel 5:11), and suppose that he had recently recovered from a severe illness: others to the dedication of the site of the Temple (1 Chronicles 21:26; 1 Chronicles 22:1) after the great Plague, regarding the allusions to sickness in the Psalm as not literal but figurative of the anguish which the king felt for the sufferings of his people.

But it is most probable that the title does not refer to the occasion of the Psalm at all, but to its liturgical use at the Dedication of the Second Temple (Ezra 6:16), or in later times at the Feast of the Dedication, to which it is assigned in the Talmudic treatise Sopherim. Comp. the title of Psalms 92, and of 29 in the LXX. The title appears to be a composite one. The words A Song at the Dedication of the House are inserted awkwardly between A Psalm and of David. The Feast of the Dedication (John 10:22) was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus in b.c. 165, to commemorate the purification of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the erection of the new altar of burnt-offering (1Ma 4:52 ff.; 2Ma 10:1 ff.).

But it does not follow that the Psalm was written for either of these occasions. More probably it was already familiar, and was selected as appropriate to the circumstances. The very existence of the nation had been at stake; it had been suddenly and unexpectedly freed from a crushing tyranny and as it were restored to life; and this Psalm supplied it with fitting language in which to give thanks for its deliverance. The experience of the individual had been repeated in that of the nation.

This thanksgiving corresponds to the prayer of Psalms 6. Comp. Psalm 30:2 b with Psalm 6:2 b; Psalm 30:5 a with Psalm 6:1 a; Psalm 30:7 b with Psalm 6:2-3; Psalm 6:10; Psalm 30:9 with Psalm 6:5. Hezekiah’s prayer (Isaiah 38:10-20) seems to contain reminiscences of it; comp. especially Isaiah 38:18-20 with Isaiah 38:9 ff.

1. I will extol thee] Or, exalt, as the word is rendered in Exodus 15:2; Psalm 34:3; Isaiah 25:1; &c. The same word is used of God’s exalting men to high estate (1 Samuel 2:7), or lifting them up out of danger into safety (Psalm 9:13; Psalm 27:5); and man’s return is to exalt God by proclaiming His supreme exaltedness.

thou hast lifted me up] R.V., thou hast raised me up, a peculiar word, meaning literally, thou hast drawn me up, from the depths of trouble, or the pit of Sheol.

and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me] His death would have been the occasion for the triumph of his enemies. For the malignant delight of enemies enhancing the bitterness of misfortune see Psalm 35:19; Psalm 35:24 ff.; Psalm 38:16; Lamentations 2:17.

1–3. Thanksgiving for deliverance from death in answer to prayer.

2. healed me] Best taken literally of restoration from sickness.

3. So desperate was his sickness that his recovery was as life from the dead, a veritable resurrection from the grave.

from the grave] R.V. from Sheol. See note on Psalm 6:5. Cp. 1 Samuel 2:6.

thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit] Better, thou hast restored me to life from among them that go down to the pit. He was already as good as dead, when Jehovah raised him up again. Cp. Psalm 9:13; Psalm 88:4 ff. This is the reading of the Kthîbh, which is supported by the LXX and Syr., and by Psalm 28:1. The A.V. that I should not go down follows the Qrç, which is supported by the Targ. and Jer., but involves an anomalous grammatical form, and gives a less vigorous sense.

4. Sing] Sing praise (R.V.); or, sing psalms.

saints] See note on Psalm 4:3.

at the remembrance of his holiness] Lit. to the memorial of his holiness, and so virtually, as R.V., to his holy name. For His name is that which brings to remembrance all that He is and does. See Exodus 3:15; and cp. Psalm 97:12; Psalm 122:4. It is here called the memorial of his holiness, because the mercy and faithfulness which the Psalmist is celebrating are rays out of the light of holiness. Cp. Psalm 33:21.

4, 5. An invitation to the godly to join in thanksgiving, in view of those attributes of Jehovah of which the Psalmist has just had experience. Cp. Psalm 9:11; Psalm 22:23.

5. Literally, For a moment in his anger;

life in his favour:

which is generally explained to mean, as in R.V. marg.,

For his anger is but for a moment;

His favour is for a life-time:

on the ground that the parallelism requires the contrast between a lifetime and a moment. But this is a maimed and inadequate explanation. The parallelism is (as is often the case) incomplete; life is not the antithesis to a moment but to the adversity which comes in Jehovah’s anger. If the thought of the lines were expanded it would be:

For in his anger is adversity for a moment;

In his favour is life for length of days.

The A.V. may therefore be retained as a tolerable paraphrase. Life carries with it the ideas of light and joy and prosperity. Cp. Psalm 16:11; Psalm 21:4; Psalm 36:9.

weeping &c.] Literally;

Weeping may come in to lodge at even,

But in the morning there is singing.

Sorrow is but the passing wayfarer, who only tarries for the night; with dawn it is transfigured into joy, or joy comes to takes its place. Note the natural and suggestive contrast between the dark night of trouble and the bright morn of rejoicing. Cp. Psalm 49:14; Psalm 90:14; Psalm 143:8; and for the truth expressed by the whole verse, which is a commentary on Exodus 34:6-7, see Psalm 103:8 ff.; Isaiah 54:7-8; Micah 7:18; John 16:20; and indeed the whole of the O.T. and N.T.

6. Render with R.V.

As for me, I said in my prosperity.

The word translated prosperity includes the idea of careless security, resulting from uninterrupted good fortune. Comp. Proverbs 1:32; and for the carnal pride that is apt to spring from prosperity, see Deuteronomy 8:10 ff; Deuteronomy 32:15; Daniel 4:27 ff.

I shall never be moved] Forgetting his dependence upon God, and approaching perilously near the godless man’s self-confident boast (Psalm 10:6).

6, 7. The Psalmist relates his own experience of the truth stated in the preceding verse. His presumption had required the correction of chastisement.

7. R.V., Thou, Lord, of thy favour hadst made my mountain to stand strong; lit. hadst established strength for my mountain. Zion, strong by position and art, may be thought of, partly in itself, partly as an emblem of the Davidic kingdom. Fortress and kingdom alike derived their real strength from Jehovah. Cp. 1 Kings 15:4; 2 Chronicles 9:8. But the reading is doubtful. The LXX, Vulg., and Syr. represent, hadst established strength for my majesty. The Targum, which rarely departs from the Massoretic Text, gives hadst made me stand upon strong mountains; a figure for security. Cp. Psalm 18:33; Psalm 27:5.

thou didst hide thy face] Withdrawing the light of thy favour. Then I was troubled (omit and which A.V. inserts): a strong word, expressing the confusion and helplessness of terror, as in Psalm 6:2-3; Psalm 6:10 (A.V. vexed); Psalm 104:29.

8. The tense in the original is inadequately represented by a simple perfect, though its precise force is not easy to define. It may express the frequent repetition of the prayer, or, like a historic present, it may set the action vividly before us as in actual progress (App., Note IV); or possibly throwing himself back into the past, the Psalmist gives the words of his resolution: [I said,] Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call (= Psalm 28:1); yea, unto the Lord (the best attested reading is Adonai) will I make supplication (Psalm 142:1).

8–10. By trouble he learnt whence his strength came, and betook himself to prayer. Psalm 30:9-10 are the words of his prayer.

9. What advantage would it be to Thee to slay me? Nay, Thou wouldest lose Thy servant’s praises. For the form of the question cp. Job 22:3. The same motive is appealed to in Hezekiah’s prayer, Isaiah 38:18-19. Cp. Psalm 6:5; Psalm 88:10 ff; Psalm 115:17. On this gloomy view of death as the interruption of communion with God, see Introd. p. xciii ff.

the dust] Not the dust into which the body is dissolved, but the grave, as in Psalm 22:15; Psalm 22:29.

thy truth] God’s faithfulness (Psalm 25:5), which is the object of the praises of the faithful.

11. Better, Thou didst turn … didst loose … and gird. He looks back to the moment when his prayer was answered.

mourning … dancing] The gestures of sorrow and joy are contrasted, for mourning means literally the beating of the breast (planctus). Cp. Lamentations 5:15. In place of the sackcloth which was the mourner’s garb, gladness clothes him like a festal garment. Cp. Isaiah 61:3.

11, 12. Prayer answered: life prolonged, and its purpose.

12. my glory] My soul, as in Psalm 7:5 (note); Psalm 57:8.

for ever] All the days of my life. See 1 Samuel 1:22 compared with 1 Samuel 1:28. But the Psalmist’s words had a larger meaning than he could as yet know (Revelation 22:3 ff.).