TITLE. A Psalm and Song at the Dedication
of the House of David; or rather, A Psalm; a Song of Dedication
for the House. By David. A song of faith since the house of
Jehovah, here intended, David never lived to see. A Psalm of
praise, since a sore judgment had been stayed, and a great sin
forgiven. From our English version it would appear that this
Psalm was intended to be sung at the building of that house of
cedar which David erected for himself, when he no longer had to
hide himself in the Cave of Adullam, but had become a great
king. If this had been the meaning, it would have been well to
observe that it is right for the believer when removing, to
dedicate his new abode to God. We should call together our
Christian friends, and show that where we dwell, God Dwells, and
where we have a tent, God has an altar. But as the song refers
to the temple, for which it was David's joy to lay by in store,
and for the site of which he purchased in his later days the
floor of Ornan, we must content ourselves with remarking the
holy faith which foresaw the fulfilment of the promise made to
him concerning Solomon. Faith can sing—
"Glory to thee for all the grace
I have not tasted yet."
Throughout this Psalm there are indications
that David had been greatly afflicted, both personally and
relatively, after having, in his presumption, fancied himself
secure. When God's children prosper one way, they are generally
tried another, for few of us can bear unmingled prosperity. Even
the joys of hope need to be mixed with the pains of experience,
and the more surely so when comfort breeds carnal security and
self confidence. Nevertheless, pardon soon followed repentance,
and God's mercy was glorified. The Psalm is a song, and not a
complaint. Let it be read in the light of the last days of
David, when he had numbered the people, and God had chastened
him, and then in mercy had bidden the angel sheathe his sword.
On the floor of Ornan, the poet received the inspiration which
glows in this delightful ode. It is the Psalm of the numbering
of the people, and of the dedication temple which commemorated
the staying of the plague. DIVISION. In Ps 30:1-3, David
extols the Lord for delivering him. Ps 30:4-5 he invites the
saints to unite with him in celebrating divine compassion. In Ps
30:6-7 he confesses the fault for which he was chastened, Ps
30:8-10 repeats the supplication which he offered, and concludes
with commemorating his deliverance and vowing eternal praise.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. I will extol thee. I will have high
and honourable conceptions of thee, and give them utterance in
my best music. Others may forget thee, murmur at thee, despise
thee, blaspheme thee, but "I will extol thee, "for I
have been favoured above all others. I will extol thy name, thy
character, thine attributes, thy mercy to me, thy great
forbearance to my people; but, especially will I speak well of
thyself; "I will extol thee, "O Jehovah; this shall be
my cheerful and constant employ. For thou hast lifted me up.
Here is an antithesis, "I will exalt thee, for thou hast
exalted me." I would render according to the benefits
received. The Psalmist's praise was reasonable. He had a reason
to give for the praise that was in his heart. He had been drawn
up like a prisoner from a dungeon, like Joseph out of the pit,
and therefore he loved his deliverer. Grace has uplifted us from
the pit of hell, from the ditch of sin, from the Slough of
Despond, from the bed of sickness, from the bondage of doubts
and fears: have we no song to offer for all this? How high has
our Lord lifted us? Lifted us up into the children's place, to
be adopted into the family; lifted us up into union with Christ,
"to sit together with him in heavenly places." Lift
high the name of our God, for he has lifted us up above the
stars. And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. This
was the judgment which David most feared out of the three evils;
he said, let me fall into the hand of the Lord, and not into the
hand of man. Terrible indeed were our lot if we were delivered
over to the will of our enemies. Blessed be the Lord, we have
been preserved from so dire a fate. The devil and all our
spiritual enemies have not been permitted to rejoice over us;
for we have been saved from the fowler's snare. Our evil
companions, who prophesied that we should go back to our old
sins, are disappointed. Those who watched for our halting, and
would fain say, "Aha! Aha! So would we have it!" have
watched in vain until now. O happy they whom the Lord keeps so
consistent in character that the lynx eyes of the world can see
no real fault in them. Is this our case? let us ascribe all the
glory to him who has sustained us in our integrity.
Verse 2. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou
hast healed me. David sent up prayers for himself and for
his people when visited with the pestilence. He went at once to
head quarters, and not roundabout to fallible means. God is the
best physician, even for our bodily infirmities. We do very
wickedly and foolishly when we forget God. It was a sin in Asa
that he trusted to physicians and not to God. If we must have a
physician, let it be so, but still let us go to our God first of
all; and, above all, remember that there can be no power to heal
in medicine of itself; the healing energy must flow from the
divine hand. If our watch is out of order, we take it to the
watchmaker; if our body or soul be in an evil plight, let us
resort to him who created them, and has unfailing skill to put
them in right condition. As for our spiritual diseases, nothing
can heal these evils but the touch of the Lord Christ: if we do
but touch the hem of his garment, we shall be made whole, while
if we embrace all other physicians in our arms, they can do us
no service. "O Lord my God." Observe the
covenant name which faith uses—"my God."
Thrice happy is he who can claim the Lord himself to be his
portion. Note how David's faith ascends the scale; he sang
"O Lord" in the first verse, but it is "O Lord my
God, "in the second. Heavenly heart music is an ascending
thing, like the pillars of smoke which rose from the altar of
incense. I cried unto thee. I could hardly pray, but I
cried; I poured out my soul as a little child pours out its
desires. I cried to my God: I knew to whom to cry; I did not cry
to my friends, or to any arm of flesh. Hence the sure and
satisfactory result—Thou hast healed me. I know it. I
am sure of it. I have the evidence of spiritual health within me
now: glory be to thy name! Every humble suppliant with God who
seeks release from the disease of sin, shall speed as well as
the Psalmists did, but those who will not so much as seek a
cure, need not wonder if their wounds putrefy and their soul
dies.
Verse 3. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from
the grave. Mark, it is not "I hope so; "but it is,
"Thou hast; thou hast; thou hast"—three times
over. David is quite sure, beyond a doubt, that God has done
great things for him, whereof he is exceeding glad. He had
descended to the brink of the sepulchre, and yet was restored to
tell of the forbearance of God; nor was this all, he owned that
nothing but grace had kept him from the lowest hell, and this
made him doubly thankful. To be spared from the grave is much;
to be delivered from the pit is more; hence there is growing
cause for praise, since both deliverances are alone traceable to
the glorious right hand of the Lord, who is the only preserver
of life, and the only Redeemer of our souls from hell.
Verse 4. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his.
"Join my song; assist me to express my gratitude." He
felt that he could not praise God enough himself, and therefore
he would enlist the hearts of others. Sing unto the Lord, O
ye saints of his. David would not fill his choir with
reprobates, but with sanctified persons, who could sing from
their hearts. He calls to you, ye people of God, because ye are saints:
and if sinners are wickedly silent, let your holiness constrain you
to sing. You are his saints—chosen, blood bought,
called, and set apart for God; sanctified on purpose that you
should offer the daily sacrifice of praise. Abound ye in this
heavenly duty. Sing unto the Lord. It is a pleasing
exercise; it is a profitable engagement. Do not need to be
stirred up so often to so pleasant a service. And give thanks.
Let your songs be grateful songs, in which the Lord's mercies
shall live again in joyful remembrance. The very remembrance of
the past should tune our harps, even if present joys be lacking.
At the remembrance of his holiness. Holiness is an
attribute which inspires the deepest awe, and demands a reverent
mind; but still give thanks at the remembrance of it.
"Holy, holy, holy!" is the song of seraphim and
cherubim; let us join it—not dolefully, as though we trembled
at the holiness of God, but cheerfully, as humbly rejoicing in
it.
Verse 5. For his anger endureth but a moment.
David here alludes to those dispensations of God's providence
which are the chastisement ordered in his paternal government
towards his erring children, such as the plague which fell upon
Jerusalem for David's sins; these are but short judgments, and
they are removed as soon as real penitence sues for pardon and
presents the great and acceptable sacrifice. What a mercy is
this, for if the Lord's wrath smoked for a long season, flesh
would utterly fail before him. God puts up his rod with great
readiness as soon as its work is done; he is slow to anger and
swift to end it. If his temporary and fatherly anger be so
severe that it has need be short, what must be the terror of
eternal wrath exercised by the Judge towards his adversaries? In
his favour is life. As soon as the Lord looked favourably
upon David, the city lived, and the king's heart lived too. We
die like withered flowers when the Lord frowns, but his sweet
smile revives us as the dews refresh the field. His favour not
only sweetens and cheers life, but it is life itself, the very
essence of life. Who would know life, let him seek the favour of
the Lord. Weeping may endure for a night; but nights are
not for ever. Even in the dreary winter the day star lights his
lamp. It seems fit that in our nights the dews of grief should
fall. When the Bridegroom's absence makes it dark within, it is
meet that the widowed soul should pine for a renewed sight of
the Well beloved. But joy cometh in the morning. When the
Sun of Righteousness comes, we wipe our eyes, and joy chases out
intruding sorrow. Who would not be joyful that knows Jesus? The
first beams of the morning brings us comfort when Jesus is the
day dawn, and all believers know it to be so. Mourning only
lasts to morning: when the night is gone the gloom shall vanish.
This is adduced as a reason for saintly singing, and forcible
reason it is; short nights and merry days call for the psaltery
and harp.
Verse 6. In my prosperity. When all his foes
were quiet, and his rebellious son dead and buried, then was the
time of peril. Many a vessel founders in a calm. No temptation
is so bad as tranquillity. I said, I shall never be moved.
Ah! David, you said more than was wise to say, or even to think,
for God has founded the world upon the floods, to show us what a
poor, mutable, moveable, inconstant world it is. Unhappy he who
builds upon it! He builds himself a dungeon for his hopes.
Instead of conceiving that we shall never be moved, we ought to
remember that we shall very soon be removed altogether. Nothing
is abiding beneath the moon. Because I happen to be prosperous
today, I must not fancy that I shall be in my high estate
tomorrow. As in a wheel, the uppermost spokes descend to the
bottom in due course, so it is with mortal conditions. There is
a constant revolution: many who are in the dust today shall be
highly elevated tomorrow; while those who are now aloft shall
soon grind the earth. Prosperity had evidently turned the
psalmist's head, or he would not have been so self confident. He
stood by grace, and yet forgot himself, and so met with a fall.
Reader, is there not much of the same proud stuff in all our
hearts? let us beware lest the fumes of intoxicating success get
into our brains and make fools of us also.
Verse 7. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my
mountain to stand strong. He ascribed his prosperity to the
Lord's favour—so far good, it is well to own the hand of the
Lord in all our stability and wealth. But observe that the good
in a good man is not unmingled good, for this was alloyed with
carnal security. His state he compares to a mountain, a molehill
would have been nearer—we never think too little of ourselves.
He boasted that his mountain stood strong, and yet he had
before, in Psalm 29, spoken of Sirion and Lebanon as moving like
young unicorns. Was David's state more firm than Lebanon? Ah,
vain conceit, too common to us all! How soon the bubble bursts
when God's people get conceit into their heads, and fancy that
they are to enjoy immutability beneath the stars, and constancy
upon this whirling orb. How touchingly and teachingly God
corrected his servant's mistake: Thou didst hide thy face,
and I was troubled. There was no need to come to blows, a
hidden face was enough. This proves, first, that David was a
genuine saint, for no hiding of God's face on earth would
trouble a sinner; and, secondly, that the joy of the saint is
dependent upon the presence of his Lord. No mountain, however
firm, can yield us rest when our communion with God is broken,
and his face is concealed. However, in such a case, it is well
to be troubled. The next best thing to basking in the light of
God's countenance, is to be thoroughly unhappy when that bliss
is denied us.
"Lord, let me weep for nought for sin!
And after none but thee!
And then I would—O that I might,
A constant weeper be!"
Verse 8. I cried to thee, O Lord. Prayer is the
unfailing resource of God's people. If they are driven to their
wit's end, they may still go to the mercyseat. When an
earthquake makes our mountain tremble, the throne of grace still
stands firm, and we may come to it. Let us never forget to pray,
and let us never doubt the success of prayer. The hand which
wounds can heal: let us turn to him who smites us, and he will
be entreated of us. Prayer is better solace than Cain's building
a city, or Saul's seeking for music. Mirth and carnal amusements
are a sorry prescription for a mind distracted and despairing:
prayer will succeed where all else fails.
Verse 9. In this verse we learn the form and method of
David's prayer. It was an argument with God, an urging of
reasons, a pleading of his cause. It was not a statement of
doctrinal opinions, nor a narration of experience, much less a
sly hit at other people under pretence of praying to God,
although all these things and worse have been substituted for
holy supplication at certain prayer meetings. He wrestled with
the angel of the covenant with vehement pleadings, and therefore
he prevailed. Head and heart, judgment and affections, memory
and intellect were all at work to spread the case aright before
the Lord of love. What profit is there in my blood, when I go
down to the pit? Wilt thou not lose a songster from thy
choir, and one who loves to magnify thee? Shall the dust
praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Will there not be
one witness the less to thy faithfulness and veracity? Spare,
then, thy poor unworthy one for thine own name sake!
Verse 10. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me.
A short and comprehensive petition, available at all seasons,
let us use it full often. It is the publican's prayer; be it
ours. If God hears prayer, it is a great act of mercy; our
petitions do not merit a reply. Lord, be thou my helper.
Another compact, expressive, ever fitting prayer. It is suitable
to hundreds of the cases of the Lord's people; it is well
becoming in the minister when he is going to preach, to the
sufferer upon the bed of pain, to the toiler in the field of
service, to the believer under temptation, to the man of God
under adversity; when God helps, difficulties vanish. He is the
help of his people, a very present help in trouble. The two
brief petitions of this verse are commended as ejaculations to
believers full of business, denied to those longer seasons of
devotion which are the rare privilege of those whose days are
spent in retirement.
Verse 11. Observe the contrast, God takes away the
mourning of his people; and what does he give them instead of
it? Quiet and peace? Aye, and a great deal more than that. Thou
hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. He makes their
hearts to dance at the sound of his name. He takes off their
sackcloth. That is good. What a delight to be rid of the
habiliments of woe! But what then? He clothes us. And how? With
some common dress? Nay, but with that royal vestment which is
the array of glorified spirits in heaven. Thou hast girded me
with gladness. This is better than to wear garments of silk
or cloth of gold, bedight with embroidery and bespangled with
gems. Many a poor man wears this heavenly apparel wrapped around
his heart, though fustian and corduroy are his only outward
garb; and such a man needs not envy the emperor in all his pomp.
Glory be to thee, O God, if, by a sense of full forgiveness and
present justification, thou hast enriched my spiritual nature,
and filled me with all the fulness of God.
Verse 12. To the end—namely, with this view
and intent—that my glory—that is, my tongue or my
soul—may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. It
would be a shameful crime, if, after receiving God's mercies, we
should forget to praise him. God would not have our tongues lie
idle while so many themes for gratitude are spread on every
hand. He would have no dumb children in the house. They are all
to sing in heaven, and therefore they should all sing on earth.
Let us sing with the poet:
"I would begin the music here,
And so my soul should rise:
Oh for some heavenly notes to bear
My passions to the skies."
O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
"I will praise him in life; I will praise him in death;
I will praise him as long as he lendeth me breath;
And say when the death dew lays cold on my brow,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, it is now."
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Title. "A Psalm and Song, "etc. It is
thought that when these two words of Psalm and Song are
both put in the title of a Psalm, it is meant that the sound of
instruments was to be joined with the voice when they were sung
in the Temple, and that the voice went before when it is
said Song and Psalm, and did come after when it is
said Psalm and Song. John Diodati.
Title. At the dedication of it. (tybh tknx) The
original word (Knx) signifies initiari, egkainizein, rei
novae primam usurpationem. So Cocceius, to initiate, or the
first use that is made of anything. It was common, when any
person had finished a house and entered into it, to celebrate it
with great rejoicing, and keep a festival, to which his friends
are invited, and to perform some religious ceremonies, to secure
the protection of heaven. Thus, when the second temple was
finished, the Priests and Levites, and the rest of the
captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with joy, and
offered numerous sacrifices. Ezr 6:16. We read in the New
Testament Joh 10:22, of the feast of the dedication
appointed by Judas Maccabaeus, in memory of the purification and
restoration of the temple of Jerusalem, after it had been
defiled and almost laid in ruins by Antiochus Epiphanes; and
celebrated annually, to the time of its destruction by Titus, by
solemn sacrifices, music, songs, and hymns, to the praises of
God, and feasts, and everything that could give the people
pleasure, for eight days successively. Josephus Ant. 1:7. Judas
ordained, that "the days of the dedication should be kept
in their season, from year to year, with mirth and
gladness." 1 Mac 4:59. And that this was customary, even
amongst private persons, to keep a kind of religious festival,
upon their first entrance into a new house, appears from the
order of God De 20:5, that no person who had built a new house
should be forced into the army, "if he had not dedicated
the house, "i.e., taken possession of it according
to the usual ceremonies practised on such occasions; a custom
this that hath more or less prevailed amongst all nations. Thus
the Romans dedicated their temples, their theatres, their
statues, and their palaces and houses. Suet. Octav. c. 43. p 13;
c. 31. p 9. Samuel Chandler.
Title. The present Psalm is the only one that is
called a shir, or song, in the first book of the Psalms, i.e.,
Psalms 1-41. The word (ryv) shir is found in the titles
of Psalms 45, 46, 48, 65, 68, 75, 83, 87, 88, 92, 108, 120, 134.
Psalm 18 is entitled, "a shirah (or song) of
deliverance from his enemies, "and the present shir
may be coupled with it. Christopher Wordsworth.
Title. As by offering the first fruits to God they
acknowledged that they received the increase of the whole year
from him, in like manner, by consecrating their houses to God,
they declared that they were God's tenants, confessing that they
were strangers, and that it was he who lodged and gave them a
habitation there. If a levy for war, therefore, took place, this
was a just cause of exemption, when any one alleged that he had
not yet dedicated his house. Besides, they were at the same time
admonished by this ceremony, that every one enjoyed his house
aright and regularly, only when he so regulated it that it was
as it were a sanctuary of God, and that true piety and the pure
worship of God reigned in it. The types of the law have now
ceased, but we must still keep to the doctrine of Paul, that
whatsoever things God appoints for our use, are still
"sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 1Ti 4:4-5.
John Calvin.
Whole Psalm. Calmet supposes it to have been made by
David on the dedication of the place which he built on the
threshing floor of the Araunah, after the grievous plague
which had so nearly desolated the kingdom. 2Sa 24:25 1Ch 21:26.
All the parts of the Psalm agree to this: and they agree to this
so well, and to no other hypothesis, that I feel myself
justified in modelling the comment on this principle alone. Adam
Clarke.
Whole Psalm. In the following verses I have
endeavoured to give the spirit of the Psalm, and to preserve the
frequent antitheses.
I will exalt thee, Lord of hosts,
For thou'st exalted me;
Since thou hast silenced Satan's boasts,
I will therefore boast in thee.
My sins had brought me near the grave,
The grave of black despair;
I looked, but there was none to save,
Till I looked up in prayer.
In answer to my piteous cries,
From hell's dark brink I am brought:
My Jesus saw me from the skies,
And swift salvation wrought.
All through the night I wept full sore,
But morning brought relief;
That hand, which broke my bones before,
Then broke my bonds of grief.
My mourning he to dancing turns,
For sackcloth joy he gives,
A moment, Lord, thine anger burns,
But long thy favour lives.
Sing with me then, ye favoured men,
Who long have known his grace;
With thanks recall the seasons when
Ye also sought his face.
—C. H. S.
Verse 1. I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast
lifted me up. I will lift thee up, for thou hast lifted me
up. Adam Clarke.
Verse 1. Thou hast lifted me up. (yntyld) The
verb is used, in its original meaning, to denote the
reciprocating motion of the buckets of a well, one
descending as the other rises, and vice versa; and is
here applied with admirable propriety, to point out the various
reciprocations and changes of David's fortunes, as described in
this Psalm, as to prosperity and adversity; and particularly
that gracious reverse of his afflicted condition which he now
celebrates, God having raised him up to great honour and
prosperity; for having built his palace, he "perceived that
the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had
exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake." 2Sa
5:12. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 2. Thou hast healed me. (wnakdt) The verb
is used, either for the healing of bodily disorders Ps 103:3, or
to denote the happy alteration of any person's affairs, either
in private or public life, by the removal of any kind of
distress, personal or national. Ps 107:20 Isa 19:22. So in the
place before us: "Thou hast healed me, "means,
Thou hast brought me out of my distresses, hast restored my
health, and rendered me safe and prosperous. Under Saul, he was
frequently in the most imminent danger of his life, out of which
God wonderfully brought him, which he strongly expresses by
saying, "Thou hast brought up my soul from Hades: thou
hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit."
I thought myself lost, and that nothing could prevent my
destruction, and we can scarce help looking on the deliverance
thou hast vouchsafed me otherwise than as a kind of restoration
from the dead: Thou hast revived me, or recovered me to
life, from amongst those who go down to the pit;
according to the literal rendering of the latter clause. Samuel
Chandler.
Verse 4. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his.
If it were to sing of another thing, I should require the whole
quire of God's creatures to join in the singing; but now that it
is to sing of God's "holiness, "what should
profane voices do in the concert? None but "saints,
"are fit to sing of "holiness, "and specially
of God's holiness; but most specially with songs of holiness. Sir
Richard Baker.
Verse 4. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his.
As God requires outward and inward worship, so a spiritual frame
for inward worship may be forwarded by the outward composure.
Gazing drowsiness hinders the activity of the soul, but the
contrary temper furthers and helps it. Singing calls up the soul
into such a posture, and doth, as it were, awaken it: it is a
lively rousing up of the heart. Singing God's praise is a work
of the most meditation of any we perform in public. It keeps the
heart longest upon the thing spoken. Prayer and hearing pass
quick from one sentence to another; this sticks long upon it.
Meditation must follow after hearing the word, and praying with
the minister—for new sentences, still succeeding, give not
liberty, in the instant, well to muse and consider upon what is
spoken; but in this you pray and meditate. God hath so ordered
this duty, that, while we are employed in it, we feed and chew
the cud together. "Higgaion, "or "Meditation,
"is set upon some passages of the Psalms, as Ps 9:16. The
same may be writ up the whole duty, and all parts of it; namely,
"Meditation." Set before you one in the posture to
sing to the best advantage: eyes lifted to heaven, denote his
desire that his heart may be there too; he hath before him a
line or verse of prayer, mourning, praise, mention of God's
works; how fairly now may his heart spread itself in meditation
on the thing, while he is singing it over! Our singing is
measured in deliberate time not more for music than meditation.
He that seeks not, finds not, this advantage in singing
Psalms—hath not yet learned what it means. John Lightfoot,
1675.
Verse 5. His anger. Seeing God is often angry
with his own servants, what cause have those of you who fear
him, to bless him that he is not angry with you, and that you do
not feel his displeasure! He sets up others as his mark against
which he shoots his arrows; you hear others groaning for his
departure, and yet your hearts are not saddened as theirs are;
your eyes can look up toward heaven with hope, whilst theirs are
clouded with a veil of sorrow; he speaks roughly to them, but
comfortable words to you; he seems to set himself against them
as his enemies, whilst he deals with you as a loving friend; you
see a reviving smile on his face and they can discern nothing
there but one continued and dreadful frown. O admire, and for
ever wonder at the sovereign, distinguishing grace of God. Are
you that are at ease better than many of his people that are now
thrown into a fiery furnace? Have you less dross than they? Have
they sinned, think you, at a higher rate than you have ever
done? He is angry with them for their lukewarmness, for their
backsliding; and have your hearts always burned with love? Have
your feet always kept his way and not declined? Have you never
wandered? Have you never turned aside to the right hand or to
the left? Surely you have; and therefore, what a mercy is it,
that he is not angry with you as well as with them...Do not
presume for all this; for though he is not angry yet with you,
he may be so. This was the fault of David: "In my
prosperity I said, I shall never be moved; "but it
immediately follows, "Thou didst hide thy face, and I
was troubled." The sun shines now upon you, the candle
of the Lord does refresh your tabernacle; but you may meet with
many storms, and clouds, and darkness before you come to your
journey's end. The disciples were once greatly pleased with the
glory of the transfiguration; and during the delightful
interview between Christ, and Moses, and Elias, they thought
themselves as in heaven; but a cloud came and obscured the
preceding glory, and then the poor men were afraid. It is true
the anger of God endured but for a moment; but even that
moment is very sad, and terrible beyond expression. Weeping
endureth for a night; but it may be a very bitter and
doleful night for all this. It is a night like that of the
Egyptians: when they arose they saw all their firstborn slain,
and there was a hideous universal cry and mourning throughout
all the land. So this night of the anger of the Lord may destroy
all our comforts, and make the firstborn of our strength, the
confidence and pleasure of our hopes to give up the ghost. Timothy
Rogers.
Verse 5. In his favour is life. Let us see
wherein the weight of the blessing and cursing of sheep and
goats doth lie. Is it not the gift of eternal life that is our
happiness in heaven; but as David saith, "in his favour
is life." If a damned soul should be admitted to the
fruition of all the pleasures of eternal life without the favour
of God, heaven would be hell to him. It is not the dark and
horrid house of woe that maketh a soul miserable in hell, but
God's displeasure, ite maledicti. If an elect soul should
be cast thither, and retain the favour of God, hell would be an
heaven to him, and his joy could not all the devils in hell take
from him; his night would be turned into day. Edward Marbury.
Verse 5. As an apprentice holds out in hard labour and
(it may be) bad usage for seven years together or more, and in
all that time is serviceable to his master without any murmuring
or repining, because he sees that the time wears away, and that
his bondage will not last always, but he shall be set at large
and made a freeman in the conclusion: thus should everyone that
groaneth under the burden of any cross or affliction whatsoever,
bridle his affections, possess his soul in patience, and cease
from all murmuring and repining whatsoever, considering well
with himself, that the rod of the wicked shall not always rest
upon the lot of the righteous; that weeping may abide at
evening, but joy cometh in the morning; and that troubles
will have an end, and not continue for ever. John Spencer.
Verse 5. How often have we experienced the literal
truth of that verse, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
cometh in the morning! How heavily does any trouble weigh on
us at night! Our wearied nerve and brain seem unable to
bear up under the pressure. Our pulse throbs, and the fevered
restless body refuses to help in the work of endurance.
Miserable and helpless we feel; and passionately weep under the
force of the unresisted attack. At last sleep comes. Trouble,
temptation, whatever it be that strives to overcome us, takes
the one step too far which overleaps its mark, and by sheer
force drives our poor humanity beyond the present reach of
further trial. After such a night of struggle, and the heavy
sleep of exhaustion, we awake with a vague sense of trouble. Our
thoughts gather, and we wonder over our own violence, as
the memory of it returns upon us. What was it that seemed so
hopeless—so dark? Why were we so helpless and despairing?
Things do not look so now—sad indeed still, but
endurable—hard, but no longer impossible—bad enough perhaps,
but we despair no more. Weeping may endure for a night, but
joy cometh in the morning. And so, when life with its
struggles and toils and sins, bringing us perpetual conflict,
ends at last in the fierce struggle of death, then God
"giveth his beloved sleep." They sleep in Jesus, and
awake to the joy of a morning which shall know no wane—the
morning of joy. The Sun of Righteousness is beaming on them.
Light is now on all their ways. And they can only wonder when
they recall the despair and darkness, and toil, and violence of
their earthly life, and say, as they have often said on earth,
"Weeping has endured only for the night, and now it
is morning, and joy has come!" And our sorrows, our doubts,
our difficulties, our long looks forward, with despair of
enduring strength for so long a night of trial—Where are they?
Shall we not feel as is so beautifully described in the words of
one of our hymns—
"When in our Father's happy land
We meet our own once more,
Then we shall scarcely understand
Why we have wept before."
—Mary B. M. Duncan, 1825-1865.
Verse 5. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
cometh in the morning. Their mourning shall last but till
morning. God will turn their winter's night into a summer's day,
their sighing into singing, their grief into gladness, their
mourning into music, their bitter into sweet, their wilderness
into a paradise. The life of a Christian is filled up with
interchanges of sickness and health, weakness and strength, want
and wealth, disgrace and honour, crosses, and comforts, miseries
and mercies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourning; all honey
would harm us, all wormwood would undo us; a composition of both
is the best way in the world to keep our souls in a healthy
constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul
that the south wind of mercy, and the north wind of adversity,
do both blow upon it; and though every wind that blows shall
blow good to the saints, yet certainly their sins die most, and
their graces thrive best, when they are under the drying,
nipping north wind of calamity, as well as under the warm,
cherishing south wind of mercy and prosperity. Thomas Brooks.
Verse 5. Joy cometh in the morning. The godly
man's joy cometh in the morning, when the wicked man's
goeth; for to him "the morning is even as the shadow of
death." Job 24:17. He is not only afraid of reproof and
punishment, but he grieves and suffers sufficiently, though
nobody should know of his actions, for the impair and loss, and
misspence of his strength and his time and his money. Zachary
Bogan.
Verse 5. In the second half of the verse weeping
is personified, and represented by the figure of a wanderer, who
leaves in the morning the lodging, into which he had entered the
preceding evening. After him another guest arrives, namely, joy.
E. W. Hengstenberg.
Verse 5. The princely prophet says plainly, heaviness
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. As
the two angels that came to Lot lodged with him for a night, and
when they had dispatched their errand, went away in the morning;
so afflictions, which are the angels or the messengers of God.
God sendeth afflictions to do an errand unto us; to tell us we
forget God, we forget ourselves, we are too proud, too self
conceited, and such like; and when they have said as they were
bid, then presently they are gone. Thomas Playfere.
Verses 5-10. When a man's heart is set upon the
creatures, there being thorns in them all, therefore if he will
grasp too much of them, or too hard, he shall find it. God's
children are trained up so to it, that God will not let them go
away with a sin; if they be too adulterously affected, they
shall find a cross in such a thing. You may observe this in the
thirtieth Psalm; there you may see the circle God goes in with
his children. David has many afflictions, as appeareth by the
fifth verse: I cried, and then God returned to me, and joy came.
What did David then? "I said, I shall never be moved:"
his heart grew wanton, but God would not let him go away so:
"God turned away his face and I was troubled." At the
seventh verse he is, you see, in trouble again: well, David
cries again, at the eighth and tenth verses, and then God turned
his mourning into joy again. And this is to be his dealing you
shall find in all the Scriptures; but because we find his
dealing set so close together in this Psalm, therefore I name
it. John Preston, D.D. (1587-1628), in "The
Golden Scepter held forth to the Humble."
Verse 6. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be
moved. Our entering upon a special service for God, or
receiving a special favour from God, are two solemn seasons,
which Satan makes use of for temptation...We are apt to get
proud, careless, and confident, after or upon such employments
and favours; even as men are apt to sleep or surfeit upon a full
meal, or to forget themselves when they are advanced to honour.
Job's great peace and plenty made him, as he confesseth, so
confident, that he concluded he should "die in his
nest." Job 29:18. David enjoying the favour of God in a
more than ordinary measure, though he was more acquainted with
vicissitudes and changes than most of men, grows secure in his
apprehension that he "should never be moved; "but
he acknowledgeth his mistake, and leaves it upon record as an
experience necessary for others to take warning by, that when he
became warm under the beams of God's countenance, then he was
apt to fall into security; and this it seems was usual with him
in all such cases—when he was most secure he was nearest some
trouble or disquiet. "Thou didst hide thy face"—and
then to be sure the devil will show him his—"and I was
troubled." Enjoyments beget confidence; confidence
brings forth carelessness; carelessness makes God withdraw, and
gives opportunity to Satan to work unseen. And thus, as armies
after victory growing secure, are oft surprised; so are we oft
after our spiritual advancements thrown down. Richard Gilpin.
Verse 6. In my prosperity. (ywlvg) The word
denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent
prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on
the throne, he thought all his troubles were over, and that he
should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; and that God"had
made his mountain so strong, as that it should never be moved;
"i.e., placed him as secure from all danger as though
he had taken refuge upon an inaccessible mountain; or made his
prosperity firm, and subject to no more alteration, than a
mountain is liable to be removed out of its place; or, raised
him to an eminent degree of honour and prosperity; a mountain,
by its height, being a very natural representation of a very
superior condition, remarkable for power, affluence, and
dignity. He had taken the fortress of Mount Sion, which was
properly his mountain, as he had fixed on it for his
dwelling. It was strong by nature, and rendered almost
impregnable by the fortifications he had added to it. This he
regarded as the effect of God's favour to him, and promised
himself that his peace and happiness for the future should be as
undisturbed and unshaken as Mount Sion itself. Samuel
Chandler.
Verse 6. In my prosperity. Prosperity is more
pleasant than profitable to us. Though in show it look like a
fair summer, yet it is indeed a wasting winter, and spendeth all
the fruit we have reaped in the harvest of sanctified
affliction. We are never in greater danger than in the sunshine
of prosperity. To be always indulged of God, and never to taste
of trouble, is rather a token of God's neglect than of his
tender love. William Struther.
Verse 7. It is rare to receive much of this world, and
not as the prodigal to go afar off; it is hard to keep close to
God in prosperity, when we have much of this world to live upon
and content ourselves with; to live upon God, and make him our
content and stay, as if we had no other life nor livelihood but
in him; we are very apt in such a case to contract a carnal
frame, let go our hold of God, discustom ourselves to the
exercise of faith, abate and estrange our affections from God.
See how it was with David: "I said, I shall never be
moved, thou hast made my mountain so strong." I solaced
myself on these outward accommodations, as if I needed no other
support, strength, or content, and there were no fear of a
change; no care now to make God my constant joy and stay, and
reckon upon God only for my portion, and that I must follow him
with a cross, and be conformed to my Saviour, in being crucified
to the world. What comes of this? Thou didst hide thy face,
and I was troubled; namely, because he had too much indulged
a life of sense. Children that are held up by their nurses'
hand, and mind not to feel their feet and ground when the nurses
let them go, they fall, as if they had no feet or ground to
stand upon. Or thus: we are like children, who, playing in the
golden sunshine, and following their sport, stray so far from
their father's house, that night coming upon them ere they are
aware, they are as it were lost, and full of fears, not knowing
how to recover home. The world steals away our hearts from God,
gives so few opportunities for the exercise of the life of
faith, and such advantages to a life of sense, wears off the
sense of our dependence on God, and need thereof, so that when
we are put to it by affliction, we are ready to miscarry ere we
can recover our weapon or hold. Faith is our cordial Ps 27:13;
now if it be not at hand (as in health, when we have no need of
it, it use to be) we may faint ere we recover the use of it. Elias
Pledger's Sermon in "The Morning Exercises," 1677.
Verse 7. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was
troubled. What soul can be deserted and not be afflicted?
Certainly his absence cannot but be lamented with greatest
grief, whose presence the soul prizes above all earthly joy;
when the evidence of salvation is obscured, the light of God's
countenance darkened, the comforts of the Spirit detained, then
the heavens appear not so clear, the promises taste not so
sweet, the ordinances prove not so lively, yea, the clouds which
hang over the soul gather blackness, doubts arise, fears
overflow, terrors increase, troubles enlarge, and the soul
becomes languishingly afflicted, even with all variety of
disquietments. Robert Mossom.
Verse 7. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was
troubled. A believer puts on the sackcloth of contrition,
for having put off the garment of perfection. As the sugar loaf
is dissolved, and weeps itself way, when dipped in wine; so do
our hearts melt under a sense of divine love. William Secker.
Verse 7. (last clause). No verse can more
plainly teach us that glorious and comforting truth on which the
medieval writers especially love to dwell, that it is the
looking, or not looking, of God upon his creature, that forms
the happiness or the misery of that creature; that those secret
springs of joy which sometimes seem to rise up of themselves,
and with which a stranger intermeddleth not, are nothing but
God's direct and immediate looking on us; while the sorrow for
which we cannot assign any especial cause—call it melancholy,
or low spirits, or by whatever other name—is nothing but his
turning away his face from us. John Mason Neale.
Verse 7. (last clause). Is spiritual desertion
and the hiding of God's face matter of affliction, and casting
down to believers? Yes, yes; it quails their hearts, nothing can
comfort them. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
Outward afflictions do but break the skin, this touches the
quick; they like rain fall only upon the tiles, this soaks into
the house; but Christ brings to believers substantial matter of
consolation against the troubles of desertion; he himself was
deserted of God for a time, that they might not be deserted for
ever. John Flavel.
Verse 7. (last clause). If God be thy portion,
then there is no loss in all the world that lies so hard and so
heavy upon thee as the loss of thy God. There is no loss under
heaven that doth so affect and afflict a man that hath God for
his portion, as the loss of his God. David met with many a loss,
but no loss made so sad and so great a breach upon his spirit as
the loss of the face of God, the loss of the favour of God: "In
my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy
favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst
hide thy face, and I was troubled." The Hebrew word (lhn)
bahal signifies to be greatly troubled, to be sorely
terrified, as you may see in that 1Sa 28:21. "And the woman
came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled." Here is
the same Hebrew word bahal. Saul was so terrified,
affrighted, and disanimated with the dreadful news that the
devil in Samuel's likeness told him, that his very vital spirits
so failed him, that he fell into a deadly swoon. And it was even
so with David upon God's hiding of his face. David was like a
withered flower that had lost its sap, life, and vigour, when
God had wrapped himself up in a cloud. The life of some
creatures lieth in the light and warmth of the sun; and so doth
the life of the saints lie in the light and warmth of God's
countenance. And, as in an eclipse of the sun, there is a
drooping in the whole frame of nature, so when God hides his
face, gracious souls cannot but droop and languish, and bow down
themselves before him. Many insensible creatures, some by
opening and shutting, as marigolds and tulips, others by bowing
and inclining the head, as the solsequy (the early name of the
sunflower) and mallow flowers, are so sensible of the presence
and absence of the sun, that there seems to be such a sympathy
between the sun and them, that if the sun be gone or clouded,
they wrap up themselves or hang down their heads, as being
unwilling to be seen by any eye but his that fills them: and
just thus it was with David when God had his face in a cloud. Thomas
Brooks.
Verse 8. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord
I made supplication. Bernard, under a fiction, proposes a
fable well worthy of our beholding: therein the kings of Babylon
and Jerusalem, signifying the state of the world and the church,
always warring together; in which encounter, at length it fell
out, that one of the soldiers of Jerusalem was fled to the
castle of Justice. Siege laid to the castle, and a multitude of
enemies entrenched round about it, Fear gave over all hope, but
Prudence ministered her comfort. "Does thou not know,
"saith she, "that our king is the King of glory; the
Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in battle? Let us
therefore despatch a messenger that may inform him of our
necessities." Fear replies, "But who is able to break
through? Darkness is upon the face of the earth, and our walls
are begirt with a watchful troop of armed men, and we, utterly
inexpert in the way into so far a country." Whereupon
Justice is consulted. "Be of good cheer, "saith
Justice, "I have a messenger of especial trust, well known
to the king and his court, Prayer by name, who knoweth to
address herself by ways unknown in the stillest silence of the
night, till she cometh to the secrets and chamber of the King
himself." Forthwith she goeth, and findeth the gates shut,
knocketh again, "Open, ye gates of righteousness, and be ye
opened, ye everlasting doors, that I may come in and tell the
King of Jerusalem how our case standeth." Doubtless the
trustiest and most effectual messenger we have to send is
Prayer. If we send up merits, the stars in heaven will disdain
it, that we which dwell at the footstool of God dare to presume
so far, when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his
sight. If we send up fear and distrustfulness, the length of the
way will tire them out. They are as heavy and lumpish as gads of
iron; they will sink to the ground before they come half way to
the throne of salvation. If we send up blasphemies and curses,
all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselves
against us. The sun and the moon will rain down blood; the fire,
hot burning coals; the air, thunderbolts upon our heads. Prayer,
I say again, is the surest ambassador; which neither the
tediousness of the way, nor difficulties of the passage, can
hinder from her purpose; quick of speed, faithful for
trustiness, happy for success, able to mount above the eagles of
the sky, into the heaven of heavens, and as a chariot of fire
bearing us aloft into the presence of God to seek his
assistance. John King.
Verse 9. What profit is there in my blood, when I
go down to the pit? Implying that he would willingly die, if
he could thereby do any real service to God, or his country. Php
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, saith he, wilt thou sell one of "thine own people for
nought, and not increase thy wealth by the price?" Ps
44:12. Matthew Henry.
Verse 9. What profit is there in my blood, etc.
The little gain that the Lord would have by denying his people
in the mercies they request, may also be used as a plea in
prayer. David begs his own life of God, using this plea, What
profit is there in my blood? So did the captive church plead
Ps 44:12; "Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not
increase thy wealth by their price." So then, poor saints
of God when they come and tell the Lord in their prayers that
indeed he may condemn, or confound, or cut or cast them off; he
may continue to frown upon them; he may deny such and such
requests of theirs, for such and such just causes in them; but
what will he gain thereby? He may gain many praises, etc., by
hearing them, and helping them; but what good will it do him to
see them oppressed by the enemies of their souls? or what
delight would it be to him to see them sighing and sinking, and
fainting under sad pressures, etc.? this is an allowed and a
very successful kind of pleading. Thomas Cobbet.
Verse 9. Shall the dust praise thee? Can any
number be sufficient to praise thee? Can there ever be mouths
enough to declare thy truth? And may not I make one—a sinful
one I know—but yet one in the number, if thou be pleased to
spare me from descending into the pit? Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 9. Prayer that is likely to prevail with God
must be argumentative. God loves to have us plead with him and
overcome him with arguments in prayer. Thomas Watson.
Verse 11. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into
dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with
gladness. This might be true of David, delivered from his
calamity; it was true of Christ, arising from the tomb, to die
no more; it is true of the penitent, exchanging his sackcloth
for the garments of salvation; and it will be verified in all
us, at the last day, when we shall put off the dishonours of the
grave, to shine in glory everlasting. George Horne.
Verse 11. Thou hast turned. I do so like the
ups and downs in the Psalms. Adelaide Newton.
Verse 11. Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and
girded me with gladness. I say with the apostle,
"Overcome evil with good, " sorrow with joy. Joy is
the true remedy for sorrow. It never had, never could have any
other. We must always give the soul that weeps reason to
rejoice; all other consolation is utterly useless. Alexander
Rodolph Vinet, D.D., 1797-1847.
Verse 11. Thou hast girded me with gladness. My
"sackcloth" was but a loose garment about me, which
might easily be put off at pleasure, but my "gladness"
is girt about me, to be fast and sure, and cannot leave
me though it would; at least none shall be able to take it from
me. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 12. Even as the Chaldeans formerly measured
their natural day differently from the Israelites; they put the
day first and the night after; but the Israelites, on the
contrary, according to the order that was observed in the
creation; for in the beginning darkness was upon the face of the
deep, and of every one of the six days it is said, "The
evening and the morning were the first day, "etc. So the
times of the world and of the church are differently disposed;
for the world begins hers by the day of temporal prosperity, and
finishes it by a night of darkness and anguish that is eternal;
but the church, on the contrary, begins hers by the night of
adversity, which she suffers for awhile, and ends them by a day
of consolation which she shall have for ever. The prophet in
this Psalm begins with the anger of God, but ends with
his favour: as of old, when they entered into the
tabernacle they did at first see unpleasant things, as the
knives of the sacrifices, the blood of victims, the fire that
burned upon the altar, which consumed the offerings; but when
they passed a little further there was the holy place, the
candlestick of gold, the shewbread, and the altar of gold on
which they offered perfumes; and in fine, there was the holy of
holies, and the ark of the covenant, and the mercyseat and the
cherubims which was called the face of God. Timothy Rogers.
Verse 12. I will give thanks. What is praise?
The rent we owe to God; and the larger the farm the greater the
rent should be. G. S. Bowes, 1863.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Title. House dedication, and how to arrange it.
Whole Psalm. In this ode we may see the workings of
David's mind before, and under, and after, the affliction. 1. Before
the affliction: Ps 30:6.
2. Under the affliction: Ps 30:7-10.
3. After the affliction: Ps 30:11-12.
—William Jay.
Verse 1. (first clause). God and his people
exalting each other.
Verse 1. (second clause). The happiness of
being preserved so as not to be the scorn of our enemies.
Verse 1. The disappointment of the devil.
Verse 2. The sick man, the physician, the night bell,
the medicine, and the cure; or, a covenant God, a sick saint, a
crying heart, a healing hand.
Verse 3. Upbringing and preservation, two
choice mercies; made the more illustrious by two terrible evils,
grave, and pit; traced immediately to the Lord, thou
hast.
Verse 4. Song, a sacred service; saints
especially called to it; divine holiness, a choice
subject for it; Memory, an admirable aid in it.
Verse 5. The anger of God in relation to his people.
Verse 5. The night of weeping, and the morning of
joy.
Verse 5. Life in God's favour.
Verse 5. The transient nature of the believer's
trouble, and the permanence of his joy.
Verse 6. The peculiar dangers of prosperity.
Verses 6-12. David's prosperity had lulled him into a
state of undue security; God sent him this affliction to rouse
him from it. The successive frames of his mind are here clearly
marked; and must successively be considered as they are here
presented to our view. 1. His carnal security.
2. His spiritual dereliction.
3. His fervent prayers.
4. His speedy recovery.
5. His grateful acknowledgments.
—Charles Simeon.
Verse 7. (first clause). Carnal security; its
causes, dangers, and cures.
Verse 7. (last clause). The gracious bemoanings
of a soul in spiritual darkness.
Verse 8., in connection with verse 3 prayer the
universal remedy.
Verse 9. (first clause). Arguments with God for
continued life and renewed favour.
Verse 9. (last clause). The resurrection, a
time in which the dust shall praise God, and declare
his truth.
Verse 10. Two gems of prayer; short, but full and
needful.
Verse 10. Lord, be thou my helper. I see many
fall; I shall fall too except thou hold me up. I am weak; I am
exposed to temptation. My heart is deceitful. My enemies are
strong. I cannot trust in man; I dare not trust in myself. The
grace I have received will not keep me without thee. Lord, be
thou my helper. In every duty; in every conflict; in every
trial; in every effort to promote the Lord's cause; in every
season of prosperity; in every hour we live, this short and
inspired prayer is suitable. May it flow from our hearts, be
often on our lips, and be answered in our experience. For if the
Lord help us, there is no duty which we cannot perform; there is
no foe which we cannot overcome; there is no difficulty which we
cannot surmount. James Smith's Daily Remembrancer.
Verse 11. Transformations. Sudden; complete;
divine, thou; personal, "for me; "gracious.
Verse 11. Holy dancing: open up the metaphor.
Verse 11. The believer's change of raiment: illustrate
by life of Mordecai or Joseph; mention all the garbs the
believer is made to wear, as a mourner, a beggar, a criminal,
&c.
Verse 12. Our glory, and its relation to God's
glory.
Verse 12. The end of gracious dispensations.
Verse 12. Silence—when sinful.
Verse 12. (last clause). The believer's vow and
the time for making it. See the whole Psalm.
WORKS UPON THE THIRTIETH PSALM
Meditations upon the XXX Psalme of David. By Sir
RICHARD BAKER. (See Page 10.)
In Chandler's Life of David (Vol. II., pp. 8-15),
there is an Exposition of Psalm 30.