Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 30:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 30:9. What profit is there in my blood — My being cut off will not magnify thy mercy. Let not the sword, therefore, come against me. If spared and pardoned, I will declare thy truth; I will tell to all men what a merciful and gracious Lord I have found. Hear, therefore, O Lord; Psalms 30:10.

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

DAVID'S EARNEST SUPPLICATIONS

"I cried to thee, O Jehovah; And unto Jehovah I made my supplication; 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 Jehovah, and have mercy upon me; Jehovah, be thou my helper."

"What profit is there in my blood" (Psalms 30:9). This means, "What benefit to God is there in my death?" Dummelow, and many others have commented on this to the effect that, "This verse shows how little the future life counted in Old Testament thought."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 341. We do not believe such comments are justified.

As Barnes said, "It must be admitted that the ancient saints knew much less about the hope of eternal life than Christians have in the New Testament, and that they sometimes spoke in such language as that which we have here, due to their despondency; but, upon other occasions they expressed their belief in a future state and their expectation of happiness in a coming world."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), Vol. 1, pp. 51,52.

Abraham lifted the sacrificial knife against Isaac, "Accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead" (Hebrews 11:19); and many of the Old Testament saints suffered all kinds of hardships, even torture, "that they might obtain a better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35). David himself gave us Psalms 16:10; and there is no doubt at all that Psalms 23:6 speaks of eternal life. Furthermore, Job gave us that soul-cheering line immortalized in Handel's Messiah, "I know that my Redeemer liveth…. and that after death, I shall see God" (Job 19:25-26)."

We might add that expressions of Old Testament writers expressing such dread of death are still duplicated by the thoughts even of Christians facing the awful extremities of suffering and death.

"Shall the dust praise thee" (Psalms 30:9)...In these verses, David shows that, "His prayer for God's saving his life was not for the sake of worldly possessions and enjoyment, but for the praise and glory of God."F. Delitzsch, Old Testament, Vol. V, p. 378.

"David does not here speak of death in general, as if Old Testament saints had no hope beyond the grave, but of the kind of death where God hides his face in displeasure. For such a death, there is indeed no hope beyond the tomb."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 470.

"Have mercy upon me… be my helper" (Psalms 30:10). Here we feel that David has thoroughly abandoned all over-confidence in himself and that he now relies solely upon the merciful approval of God. "One feels that at this point, the chastisements have fully accomplished their purpose, and that the psalmist is shaken completely out of his false feeling of `security.'"H. C. Leupold, p. 255.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

What proof is there in my blood - That is, What profit or advantage would there be to thee if I should die? What would be “gained” by it? The argument which the psalmist urges is that he could better serve God by his life than by his death; that his death, by removing him from the earth, would prevent his rendering the service which he might by his life. The same argument is presented also in Psalms 6:5 (see the notes at that verse), and is found again in Psalms 88:10-12, and in the hymn of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38:18-19. See the notes at that passage. The prayer used here is to be understood, not as a prayer at the time of the composition of the psalm, but as that which the psalmist employed at the time when he thought his mountain stood strong, and when God saw suitable to humble him by some calamity - perhaps by a dangerous illness, Psalms 30:6-7.

When I go down to the pit? - To the grave; or, If I should go down to the grave. See the notes at Psalms 30:3.

Shall the dust praise thee? - That which turns to dust; the lifeless remains. See the notes at Psalms 6:5.

Shall it declare thy truth? - Can a lifeless body stand up in defense of the truth, or make that truth known to the living? This shows on what his heart was really set, or what was the prevailing desire of his soul. It was to make known the truth of God; to celebrate his praise; to bring others to an acquaintance with him. It cannot be denied that the statement here made is founded on obscure views, or on a misconception of the condition of the soul after death - a misconception which we are enabled to correct by the clearer light of the Christian religion; but still there is a truth here of great importance. It is, that whatever we are to do for making known the character and perfections of God on earth - for bringing others to the knowledge of the truth, and saving their souls - is to be done before we go down to the grave. whatever we may do to honor God in the future world - in the vast eternity on which we enter at death - yet all that we are to do in this respect on earth is to be accomplished before the eyes are closed, and the lips are made mute in death. We shall not return to do what we have omitted to do on earth; we shall not come back to repair the evils of an inconsistent life; we shall not revisit the world to check the progress of error that we may have maintained; we shall not return to warn the sinners whom we neglected to warn. Our work on earth will be soon done - and done finally and forever. If we are to offer prayer for the salvation of our children, neighbors, or friends, it is to be done in this world; if we are to admonish and warn the wicked, it is to be done here; if we are to do anything by personal effort for the spread of the Gospel, it is to be done before we die. Whatever we may do in heaven, these things are not to be done there, for when we close our eyes in death, our personal efforts for the salvation of men will cease for ever.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

9.What profit is there in my blood? Some explain the verse after this manner: What will it avail me to have lived, unless thou prolongest my life till I shall have finished the course of my vocation? But this exposition seems too strained, especially as the term blood here signifies death, not life: as if David had said, What profit wilt thou derive from my death? This interpretation is farther confirmed by the following clause, where he complains that his lifeless body will then be useless for celebrating the praises of God. And he seems expressly to mention the truth of God, to intimate that it would be unsuitable to the character of God to take him out of the world by an untimely death, before God had accomplished the promise which he had made to him concerning his future heir. As there is a mutual relation between God’s promises and our faith, truth is, as it were, the medium by which God openly shows that he does not merely make liberal promises to us in words, to feed us with empty hopes, and afterwards to disappoint us. Moreover, to obtain a longer life, David draws an argument from the praises of God, to celebrate which we are born and nourished: as if he had said, For what purpose hast thou created me, O God! but that through the whole course of my life I may be a witness and a herald of thy grace to set forth the glory of thy name? But my death will cut short the continuance of this exercise, and reduce me to eternal silence. A question, however, arises here, Does not, it may be said, the death of true believers glorify God as well as their life? We answer, David speaks not simply of death, but adds a circumstance which I have already treated of in the sixth Psalm. As God had promised him a successor, the hope of living longer being taken from him, he had good reason to be afraid lest this promise should be frustrated by his death, and was therefore compelled to exclaim, What profit is there in my blood? It highly concerned the glory of God that he should be preserved alive, until by obtaining his desire, he should be able to bear witness to God’s faithfulness in completely fulfilling his promise to him. By inquiring in the end of the verse, Shall the dust praise thee? he does not mean that the dead are altogether deprived of power to praise God, as I have already shown in the sixth Psalm. If the faithful, while encumbered with a burden of flesh, exercise themselves in this pious duty, how should they desist from it when they are disencumbered, and set free from the restraints of the body? It ought to be observed, therefore, that David does not professedly treat of what the dead do, or how they are occupied, but considers only the purpose for which we live in this world, which is this, that we may mutually show forth to one another the glory of God. Having been employed in this exercise to the end of our life, death at length comes upon us and shuts our mouth.

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

2. The reason for David’s discipline 30:6-10

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David had prayed for the Lord to be gracious to him. He had based his request on the fact that, if God allowed him to die, he would not be able to glorify the Lord with his public praises any longer. Consequently, David would not be able to honor God among His people. David based his petition on the glory of God, not on his own selfish desires (cf. James 4:2-3).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

What profit [is there] in my blood?.... Should that be shed, and he die by the hands of his enemies, through divine permission: death is not profitable to a man's self by way of merit; it does not atone for sin, satisfy justice, and merit heaven; even the death of martyrs, and of such who shed their blood, died in the cause of Christ, and for his sake, is not meritorious; it does not profit in such sense: there is profit in no blood but in the blood of Christ, by which peace is made, pardon procured, and redemption obtained. Indeed death is consequentially profitable to good men; it is an outlet of all sorrows and afflictions, and the inlet of joy and happiness; it is the saints' passage to heaven, and upon it they are immediately with Christ, and rest from their labours: nor is there profit in the blood of the saints to them that shed it; for when inquisition is made for it, vengeance will be taken on them who have shed it, and blood will be given them to drink, as will be particularly to antichrist: nor is there any profit in it to the Lord himself; which seems to be what is chiefly designed, since it is used by the psalmist as an argument with him in prayer, that he might not be left by him, and to his enemies, so as to perish, since no glory could accrue to God by it from them; they would not give him thanks for it, but ascribe it to themselves, and say their own hand had done it; so far, the psalmist suggests, would his death be from being profitable to God, that it would rather be a loss to the interest of religion; since he had not as yet fully restored religion, and settled the pure worship of God in order, and made the preparations for the building the house of God he intended. God may be glorified in the death of his people; either by their dying in the faith of interest in him; or by suffering death for his name's sake; but, in a strict sense, there is nothing either in life or death in which man can be profitable unto God; see Job 22:2; some understand this of life; because the life is in the blood: as if the sense was, of what advantage is life to me? it would have been better for the if I had never been born, had had no life and being at all, if I must for ever be banished from thy presence, and go down to the pit of hell, which they suppose is designed in the following phrase;

when I go down to the pit; though the grave seems rather to be meant, and the former sense is best;

shall the dust praise thee? that is, men, whose original is dust, being reduced to dust again, as the body at death, when laid in the grave, and corrupted there, is; this lifeless dust cannot praise the Lord: the soul indeed dies not with the body; nor does it sleep in the grave with it; nor is it unemployed in heaven; but is continually engaged in the high praises of God: but the sense of the psalmist is, that should he die, and be buried, and be reduced to dust, he should no more praise the Lord in the land of the living, among men, to the glory of divine grace and goodness; so that this revenue of his glory would be lost. Shall it declare thy truth? either the truth of the Gospel, which lies in the word of God; or rather the faithfulness of God in the performance of his promises; see Psalms 40:10.

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.