Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 30:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 30:11. Thou hast turned - my mourning into dancing — Rather into piping. I have not prayed in vain. Though I deserved to be cut off from the land of the living, yet thou hast spared me, and the remnant of my people. Thou hast taken away my sackcloth, the emblem of my distress and misery, and girded me with gladness, when thou didst say to the destroying angel, when he stood over Jerusalem ready to destroy it: "It is enough, stay now thy hand;" 2 Samuel 24:16.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 30:0 The danger of self-confidence

Feelings expressed in this psalm may have arisen from David’s personal experience, but they also reflect Israel’s experience during events leading up to the dedication of the temple (see heading to the psalm). Enemies may try to destroy, but no matter how bad the situation appears, it is never hopeless. There may be troubles, but God’s deliverance will follow as surely as day follows night (1-5).
Recalling the experience, the psalmist outlines some lessons it taught him. Prosperity and security had led to self-confidence, and God’s shattering intervention was necessary to remind him that his security depended solely on God’s grace (6-7). Being brought near to death he cried out, asking what would God gain by killing him. If he was dead, how could he then praise God and serve him (8-10)? Now that God has rescued him, sadness is replaced by joyful celebration, and anxiety is replaced by humble thanksgiving (11-12).

God’s desire for praise

Often in the Psalms there are statements where God himself is the one who is urging people to praise him. The psalmists, realizing how much God desires worship, use it as a reason to persuade him to save them from their troubles. If he allows them to die, they will no longer be able to bring him the praise he seeks (e.g. Psalms 30:9).

It may seem at first that God is like a vain, self-centred person who demands that others be continually telling him how great he is. However, a closer look at the matter will show that this is not the case. In one of the psalms where God urges people to praise him (Psalms 50:14,Psalms 50:23), he also makes it clear that in no way is he in need of people’s religious contributions (Psalms 50:12-13). God has no selfish craving for people’s attention.

Whatever people enjoy, whether it be nature, art, friend or lover, their enjoyment increases when they talk about it and praise it to others. When they are able to praise the object of enjoyment directly to itself (as in the case of a lover), their enjoyment increases further. Likewise as people praise God, their enjoyment of him is increased. Or, to put it another way, God gives more of himself to people as they worship him. Their acts of praise and worship become not only offerings to God, but also the means by which God offers himself to them. By calling upon people to praise him, God is inviting them to enjoy him to the full.

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

SUDDEN RELIEF, ABOUNDING JOY, PRAISE GOD FOREVER

"Thou hast turned for me; my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and be not silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever."

"Thou hast turned" (Psalms 30:11). What had happened so quickly? The explanation is in 2 Samuel 24:18, which records how God sent the Prophet Gad to David with word that the plague was ended.

"Thou hast loosed my sackcloth" (Psalms 30:11). "That the king had clothed himself in sackcloth upon this occasion is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 21:16,"The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 219. the same being another evidence that this psalm is tied to that event.

"That my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent" (Psalms 30:12). Perhaps the RSV should be followed here, where the rendition is, "That my soul may praise thee, and not be silent."

Adam Clarke preferred the rendition in KJV, which is followed in our version (American Standard Version). He interpreted it to mean that the wealth, splendor, and glory of David's kingdom were here pledged by the king to be employed in praising the Lord. "Once my glory sang praise to itself; now it shall be employed for another purpose; it shall give thanks to God and never be silent."Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (London: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), Vol. III, p. 316. There is the possibility that the older versions are correct.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thou hast turned for me - In my behalf. That is, God had heard his prayer; he had brought his troubles to an end; he had caused his sorrows to be succeeded by correspondent joy.

My mourning into dancing - Joy, exultation, every expression of rejoicing, had been made to succeed his deep sorrows. Compare Psalms 30:5. It was this which he commemorated at the dedication of his house; this joy succeeding scenes of sorrow that he now called to remembrance as he entered the place which he had reared for a permanent abode. The contrast of his circumstances now - in a palace, with every comfort of plenty and peace around him - with his former circumstances which had been so sad, made it proper for him thus to celebrate the goodness of God.

Thou hast put off my sackcloth - That which I wore, or had girded around me, as an emblem of sorrow, or in the time of my mourning. See Isaiah 3:24, note; Job 16:15, note; and Matthew 11:21, note.

And girded me with gladness - Instead of a girdle of sackcloth he had been clothed in a festive dress, or with such a dress - girded with an elegant girdle - as was worn on joyous and festive occasions. See the notes at Matthew 5:38-41.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

11.Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing. David concludes the psalm as he had begun it, with thanksgiving. He affirms that it was by the help and blessing of God that he had escaped safe; and he then adds, that the final object of his escape was, that he might employ the rest of his life in celebrating the praises of God. Moreover, he shows us that he was not insensible or obdurate under his afflictions, but mourned in heaviness and sorrow; and he also shows that his very mourning had been the means of leading him to pray to God to deprecate his wrath. Both these points are most worthy of our observation, in order, first, that we may not suppose that the saints are guilty of stoical insensibility, depriving them of all feeling of grief; and, secondly, that we may perceive that in their mourning they were exercised to repentance. This latter he denotes by the term sackcloth. It was a common practice among the ancients to clothe themselves with sackcloth when mourning, ⁽⁶³³⁾ for no other reason, indeed, than that like guilty criminals, they might approach their heavenly Judge, imploring his forgiveness with all humility, and testifying by this clothing their humiliation and dissatisfaction with themselves. ⁽⁶³⁴⁾ We know also that the orientals were addicted beyond all others to ceremonies. We perceive, therefore, that David, although he patiently submitted himself to God, was not free from grief. We also see that his sorrow was “after a godly sort,” as Paul speaks, (2 Corinthians 7:10;) for to testify his penitence he clothed himself with sackcloth. By the term dancing, he does not mean any wanton or profane leaping, but a sober and holy exhibition of joy like that which sacred Scripture mentions when David conveyed the ark of the covenant to its place, (2 Samuel 6:16.) If we may conjecture, however, we may gather from this, that the great danger of which David speaks in this psalm is by some improperly restricted to sickness, as it was very improbable that he would put on sackcloth when he was confined to a sick-bed. This, indeed, would not be a sufficient reason of itself, but in a doubtful case, as this is, it is not destitute of force. David therefore means, that, laying aside his mourning apparel, he returned from a state of heaviness and sorrow to joy; and this he ascribes to the grace of God alone, asserting that he had been his deliverer.

(633) This custom was not confined to the Israelites. It was practiced also among the heathen nations. An instance of this is recorded in Jonah 3:5. It appears from Plutarch, that this was also sometimes practiced among the Greeks. The Hebrew word for sackcloth is שק, sak; and it is remarkable that the word sak exists in various languages, denoting the same thing. It shows the unaffected character of real sorrow, leading men to neglect the adorning of their persons, when we find several nations manifesting it by wearing the same dismal garb, and employing a word of the same sound to express it.

(634) “Ne monstrant qu’abjection et desplaisanee d’eux-mesmes. —Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 30:1-12

I will extol thee, O LORD; for you have lifted me up, and you've not made my foes to rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried unto you, and you healed me. O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave: you have kept me alive, that I should not go down into the pit. Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but for a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning ( Psalms 30:1-5 ).

Now, when you go through the psalms and you come to a psalm like this, rather than just read it, I think that you ought to just do it. When you are reading through the psalms and David says, "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His," I think you ought to just sing unto the Lord. You know, just spend a little... if he says to do it, then we ought to do it. And then when he said, "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness," then you ought to give thanks unto the Lord. When he says, "Praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness," then we ought to praise the Lord. In other words, I think the psalms ought to be enacted, rather than just read and think, "Oh, isn't that beautiful. Yes, oh, isn't that nice, sing unto the Lord. Oh, yes, that's wonderful, you know." But when you are reading them through, just go ahead and follow the exhortations. As you get to an exhortation, follow it, and you will find that the psalms will really become very meaningful to you. As you follow the exhortations of the psalms, it is a blessed experience. When you are encouraged to do something, do it, and you will really be blessed.

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Oh, how glorious it is when God brings us through the trial, brings us out onto the other side. We come out into the victory and again into the glorious joy of the Lord. We go through the trials of weeping, we go through these experiences of difficulty, and we can't see the hand of God. We don't know the way of the Lord. And we spend the time weeping, in prayer, travail, our soul travailing unto God. All night in travail, but as the morning comes, and God begins to shower forth His love and His plan and His purpose, oh what joy we get when God brings us through that night of hardship. As we have wept and travailed, and then we come out on the victory side and see the glorious victory of the Lord.

And in my prosperity I said, I will never be moved. LORD, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: when you hid your face, I was troubled. I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made prayer. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O LORD, have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. For you have turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and you've clothed me with gladness; To the end that glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever ( Psalms 30:6-12 ).

Shall we stand.

Now may the Lord be with you and just really bless you during the week. May His Word become your strength and your portion. And may God just really bless you and enrich your life as you've gotten into the Word to study and to learn of Him. May the Lord keep His hand upon you, and may the Lord give you His strength, His peace, His love. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 30

David had emerged from an experience of chastening by the Lord for some sin he had committed, and he praised Him that His anger is temporary but His favor is permanent.

"This psalm is a quite clear example of the thanksgiving song, which Westermann labels as a declarative narrative. [Note: Claus Westermann, The Psalms: Structure, Content, and Message, chs. 2 and 4.] That is, the psalm tells the story of going into the trouble and coming out of the trouble." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 126.]

The title of this psalm is subject to two interpretations. It may mean that the psalmist composed it for the occasion of the dedication of the Lord’s house. This would not be the dedication of Solomon’s temple since David had already died when Solomon dedicated it. It could mean the tent that David erected in Jerusalem to house the ark of the covenant when he brought it into the city (2 Samuel 6:17). Or perhaps this occasion was the dedication of the temple site (1 Chronicles 21:26; 1 Chronicles 22:1). The Lord’s chastening of the king preceded both of these events. The writer referred to this discipline in the psalm. Another possibility is that the title did not refer to the occasion of writing but to those occasions on which the Israelites were to use this psalm in national worship. This seems less likely to me in view of the references to chastening. There is evidence from the Talmud, however, that the Jews recited this psalm during Hanukkah, their commemoration of the rededication of the temple in 165 B.C. [Note: VanGemeren, p. 257.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. David’s thanksgiving for God’s mercy 30:11-12

The psalmist described the change God had brought into his life by restoring him to health in terms of the joyous celebrating that took place at Israel’s annual feasts. He regarded his deliverance as taking place so he could continue praising God as long as he lived (cf. Psalms 30:9), and he vowed to do just that.

When we experience chastening from the Lord for disregarding Him, we should return to him in prayer. If we appeal to Him for mercy so we may change our ways and continue to glorify Him, He may grant us restoration. This deliverance should then lead us to rededicate ourselves to praising Him more consistently the rest of our lives. [Note: See Allen, Lord of . . ., pp. 149-56.]

"Every difficult experience of life-and David had many of them-is an opportunity to have a ’pity party’ or attend a rehearsal for singing in the choirs of heaven! We have a lifetime of grace (Psalms 30:5) to prepare us for an eternity of glory." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 151.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Those hast turned for me my mourning into dancing,.... This, with what follows, expresses the success he had in seeking the Lord by prayer and supplication; there was a sudden change of things, as it often is with the people of God; sometimes they are mourning by reason of sin, their own and others; or on account of afflictions; or because of spiritual decays; or through the temptations of Satan; or, as it was the case of the psalmist now, because of the hidings of God's face; but this mourning is exchanged for joy and gladness when the Lord discovers his pardoning love, revives his work in their souls, takes off his afflicting hand from them, rebukes the tempter, and delivers out of his temptations, and shows himself, his grace and favour;

thou hast put off my sackcloth; which was used in mourning for relations, and in times of calamity and distress, and as a token of humiliation and repentance, Genesis 37:34;

and girded me with gladness; by these phrases the same thing is signified as before; see Isaiah 61:3.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.   7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.   8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.   9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?   10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.   11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;   12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

      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 (Psalms 30:6; Psalms 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,Psalms 30:7; Psalms 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. To-morrow 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 (Psalms 30:8; Psalms 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, Psalms 30:9; Psalms 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 (Philippians 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?" Psalms 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, Psalms 30:10; Psalms 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, Hebrews 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,Psalms 30:11; Psalms 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, Psalms 30:12; Psalms 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 (2 Samuel 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.