Psalm 30
12 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 143×3Jeremiah 31×2Psalms 25×1Daniel 4×1Psalms 35×12 Kings 20×1
Summary
Chapter summary
A song at the dedication of the house. 'I will extol thee, O Jehovah; for thou hast raised me up', healed, brought up from Sheol, kept alive. The theology of the night and the morning: 'His anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a life-time: weeping may tarry for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.' Prosperity had said 'I shall never be moved'; the hidden face taught otherwise. 'Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing… O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 30The history
Dedicating a building was a real ceremony in Israel, not a formality. The Law even excused a man from military service until he had dedicated his new house. Which house this heading means is not settled — David's cedar palace, or the threshing floor of Araunah that he bought after the plague and set apart for the altar, or the temple itself with the psalm attached later in use. Each reading has defenders; the psalm does not say.
"Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit" is illness language. Israelites buried their dead in rock-cut chambers with a shelf for the body, and the family gathered its bones in a niche once the flesh was gone. Going down was literal.
"Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness" describes a change of clothes as a public statement. Sackcloth was coarse goat-hair cloth, worn next to the skin as a mourning garment, often with ashes on the head; taking it off announced to a whole village that the season of grief was over.
"In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved" is the confession that sets up everything else — a man who had a strong mountain, good years, and a settled kingdom, and mistook the gift for the guarantee.
What it meant to them
Israelites dedicating anything — a house, an altar, a harvest — sang a song that admits the dedicator nearly died and had nothing to boast about.
The line they kept was the measure of the two seasons: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Sources cited
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 30
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 30. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 5 · Written to them
Weeping endures a night, joy cometh in morning
topics/grief→MannaFest topical index
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.