Psalm 30

Intro:

These last few weeks you may not have noticed an ongoing theme through our studies in the Psalms since March.

A big thing we’re going to see in is something we’ve seen in onward.

It is: “dwelling in the house of the Lord”

The emphasis on the “house” or “dwelling” of Yahweh is noted where the psalmists hope to find protection and security.

For example, , where David concludes on his Host’s provision, when David speaks of who may stand in the presence of God in , David crying out for the intervention of God in 25:16-21, the expression of love for Yahweh’s dwelling place in 26:8, the psalmist’s earnest seeking to dwell in the house of Yahweh in 27:4–5, the lifting up of one’s hands toward Yahweh’s “holy place” in 28:2, the acknowledgement of all who are in the temple of Yahweh’s glorious kingship in 29:9, and finally the heading linking to the “dedication of the temple.”

This constellation of recurring themes in so many adjacent psalms can hardly be coincidence and must be explored as each psalm is considered.

Read Passage

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Psalm 30

1 I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,

And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

2 O LORD my God,

I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

3 O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;

You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

4 Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,

And give thanks to His holy dname.

5 For His anger is but for a moment,

His favor is for a lifetime;

Weeping may last for the night,

But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

6 Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,

“I will never be moved.”

7 O LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;

You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

8 To You, O LORD, I called,

And to the Lord I made supplication:

9 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

10 “Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me;

O LORD, be my helper.”

11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

12 That my asoul may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Personal Observations:

David experienced an intervention from God from his enemies, v.1

God responded to David’s cries, v. 2

David experienced a great rescue, not only from physical danger, but from spiritual despair, v.3

David evokes his audience to worship, v. 4

v. 5-12 is interesting and distinct from the normal pattern from previous psalms

Context:

a b c d

There are two key motifs (dominant idea or central theme) that provide the substance from which the psalm is built.

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 290). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

The first building block is poetic—a series of contrasts that build on the basic comparison in the psalm between the previous distress and the present deliverance that the psalmist has experienced. These poetic contrasts include:

distress/deliverance; anger/favor; I cried/you healed; night/day; I went down/you raised up; moment/lifetime; mourning/dancing; sackcloth/rejoicing; sing/be silent.

The second building block is thematic—the theme of praise. This theme may seem obvious, but in , praise functions both formally—this is a psalm of praise—and also thematically—this is a psalm about praise.

P1. Praise Drawn Up (v.1-5)

“you have lifted me up” same word for drawing water from a well

David experienced an intervention from God from his enemies, v.1

God responded to David’s cries, v. 2

David experienced a great rescue, not only from physical danger, but from spiritual despair, v.3

David evokes his audience to "sing praise” and “give thanks”, v. 4

P2. Praise Cut Off (v.6-10)

What is at stake is whether the psalmist’s earlier attitude was characterized as appropriate praise of God or inappropriate trust in self.

The psalmist’s point is that he had incorrectly conceived of his prosperity as the result of his own merit rather than as a result of God’s undeserved favor. Thus, when God turned away from the psalmist, he had no leg left to stand on. In the Old Testament, God’s face is a metaphor for God’s favor and protection.

what is at stake is whether the psalmist’s earlier attitude was characterized as appropriate praise of God or inappropriate trust in self

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 295). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

What we do not see is bargaining with God for a positive answer to prayer. Offering God reasons for a prayer to be answered, however, is not the same as bargaining.

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 296). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Previously in the psalm we saw an appeal to God’s faithfulness. By offering supporting reasons for the prayer to be answered, the psalmist strengthens the appeal to God’s fidelity—God should answer the prayer precisely because the psalmist will praise God for God’s fidelity, something that the dust cannot do. The reference to dust, of course, is an allusion to the eventual fate of all mortals, to return to the dust from which we were originally created.

P3. Praise Redeemed (v.11-12)

In the final stanza of the psalm, the poet returns to the present moment and celebrates the reversal that God has accomplished for him. Similar to how the psalm opened, the speech here is praise speech directed to God. The poetic theme of polarities continues, as the psalmist employs three tight phrases to compare the distress of the past with the joy of the present.

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 297). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

In the first phrase, the psalmist contrasts mourning (mispēḏ) with dancing.

In the second phrase, the psalmist contrasts sackcloth with rejoicing. The psalmist here replaces the concrete image of the sackcloth—clothing that a mourner would wear to symbolize humility, repentance, or sorrow—with the abstract concept of rejoicing.

In the third phrase, the psalmist contrasts the silence that would have been his fate had God allowed him to die with the praise that he has been left to sing.

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (pp. 297–298). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

It should be stressed that the positive words in all three of these phrases—dancing (māḥôl), rejoicing (śimḥâ), and sing (zāmar)—all are terms borrowed from the vocabulary of praise. The final line of the psalm is itself a word of praise and the psalmist’s promise to praise God for all his days. Thus the psalm ends by sounding again the keynote of praise that is so central to the psalm’s poetry and meaning.

In v. 4, the psalmist had bid the community to sing (zāmar) and give thanks (yāḏâ) to God. The psalmist repeats those two key words at the end of the psalm, demonstrating his willingness both to take his own advice and live out his promise to God.

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: . In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 298). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.