Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 30:11
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
11. Better, Thou didst turn didst loose and gird. He looks back to the moment when his prayer was answered.
mourning dancing ] The gestures of sorrow and joy are contrasted, for mourning means literally the beating of the breast ( planctus). Cp. Lam 5:15. In place of the sackcloth which was the mourner’s garb, gladness clothes him like a festal garment. Cp. Isa 61:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11, 12. Prayer answered: life prolonged, and its purpose.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 Psa 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 Isa 3:24, note; Job 16:15, note; and Mat 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 Mat 5:38-41.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 30:11-12
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.
Easter joy
Here is described a change, complete, and more or less sudden, from sadness to joy. David has escaped a danger which had brought him very near to death; and now he is thankful and exultant. His words are in keeping with what Christians feel, as they pass from the last days of Holy Week into the first hours of Easter. If Easter is associated predominantly with any one emotion, it is with that of joy. And thus, ever since, the Church of Christ has laboured to make the Easter festival, beyond all others, the feast of Christian joy. All that nature and art could furnish has been summoned to express, so far as outward things may, this overmastering emotion of Christian souls worshipping at the tomb of their Risen Lord. All the deliverances of Gods ancient people, from Egypt, from Assyria, from Babylon, are but rehearsals of the great deliverance of all on the Resurrection morning; and each prophet and psalmist that heralds any of them, sounds in Christian ears some separate note of the Resurrection hymn. And this, the joy which fills the soul of the believing Church on Easter Day, has some sort of echo in the world outside; so that those who sit loosely to our faith and hope, and who worship rarely, if ever, before our altars, yet feel that good spirits are somehow in order on Easter morning. For their sakes, as for our own, let us try to take the emotion to pieces, as we find it in a Christian soul; let us ask why it is so natural for Christians to say, this day, with David, Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.
I. The first reason, then, for this Easter joy is the triumph and satisfaction enjoyed by our Lord himself. We follow Him in the stages of His sufferings and death. We sympathize reverently with the awful sorrows of our Adorable Lord and Friend; and thus we enter, in some far-off way, into the sense of triumph, unspeakable and sublime, which follows beyond it. It is His triumph; that is the first consideration; His triumph, who was but now so cruelly insulted and tortured. It is all over now; by a single motion of His Majestic Will, He is risen. And we, as we kneel before Him, think, first of all, of Him. It is His joy which inspires ours; it turns our heaviness into joy, and puts off our sorrow and girds us with gladness. Do I say this is the case? Perhaps it were more prudent to say that it ought to be. For in truth the habit of getting out of and forgetting our miserable selves in the absorbing sense of the beauty and magnificence of God, belongs rather to ancient than to modern Christianity. To those old Christians God was all, man nothing, or well-nigh nothing. Theirs was a disinterested interest in God. With us, we are too prone to value God, not so much for His own sake as for ours. Be it yours to show that my misgiving is unwarranted. You know that pure sympathy with an earthly friends happiness loaves altogether out of consideration the question whether it contributes anything to your own; and in like manner endeavour to say to-day to your Heavenly Friend: It is because Thou, Lord Jesus, hast vanquished Thine enemies, hast overcome death, and hast entered into Thy glory, that Thou hast turned my Lenten heaviness into joy, and put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
II. because of the sense of confidence with which Christs resurrection from the dead invigorates our grasp of Christian truth. The mind loves to rest truth on a secure basis. This is what the old Roman poet meant by saying that the man was really happy who had attained to know the causes of things. The chemist who has at last explained the known effect of a particular drug, by laying bare, upon analysis, an hitherto undiscovered property in it; the historian who has been enabled to show that the conjecture of years rests on the evidence of a trustworthy document; the mathematician on whom has flashed the formula which solves some problem that has long haunted and eluded him; the anatomist who has been able to refer what he had hitherto regarded as an abnormal occurrence to the operation of a recognized law;–these men know what joy is. Now, akin to the joy of students and workers is the satisfaction of a Christian when he steadily dwells on the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian Creed is like a tower which rears towards heaven its windows and pinnacles in successive stages of increasing gracefulness. We lavish our admiration first on this detail of it, and then on that; and, while we thus study and admire, we dwell continuously in its upper stories, till at last perhaps a grave question occurs or is suggested to us. What does it all rest upon? What is the foundation-fact on which this structure has been reared in all its august and fascinating beauty? What fact, if removed, would be fatal to it? And the answer is–our Lords Resurrection is one such fact. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead. Yes; it is here, beside the empty tomb of the Risen Jesus, that Christian faith feels itself on the hard rock of fact; here we break through the tyranny of matter and sense, and rise with Christ into the immaterial world; here we put a term to the enervating alternation of guesses and doubts which prevails elsewhere, and we reach the frontier of the absolutely certain. And we can but answer, Truly, Lord Jesus, by Thy Resurrection Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy: Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and gilded me with gladness.
III. And because of the assurance it gives of our own resurrection. Paganism could only guess and speculate as to the immortality of the soul. It is the Gospel which gives certainty; it has unveiled the immortality of man in his completeness, in body and in soul. Thus shall we recognize our friends in heaven, for they shall wear there the features and the expression which they wore on earth. All men shall rise with their bodies. Joyfully, therefore, do we think of the blessed dead. (Canon Liddon.)
Girded me with gladness.—
Elevation of feeling
For the expression and manifestation of the state in which we are, God has made a rich provision of power. The forehead, the eye, the mouth, the whole face, the hands, the arms, the gait, and especially the voice, are so many instruments and agents of expression; and we are not true to ourselves, we are false to our condition, we are disloyal to God, when we clothe ourselves with a uniform reticence and unexpressiveness of demeanour. The clouds drop their blackness and appear brilliantly coloured and gorgeously gilded when the sun shines on them. The sea casts off its leaden hue and is covered with crisped smiles when the storm is over. The battle-field absorbs the blood which, in the day of war, is spilt on its bosom, and exhibits lovely flowers, or verdant pasture, or golden corn. The earth casts off her winterly attire and puts on her summerly vestments when the time of the singing of birds has come. In like manner there is in human life and experience the turning of mourning into dancing; the putting off of sackcloth and the girding with gladness. (S. Martin.)
Praise continuous
One summer day I watched a lark rise from a field, and I listened with almost rapture to its unequalled song. The bird rose in successive stages, singing while rising and singing while resting, and the last ascent it made caused it to appear like a speck on the blue sky, an almost imperceptible spring of sweet music in the heavens. Nothing appeared wanting to complete the scene but the opening of the heavenly gates to receive this minister of song, that its sacrifice of sweetest sounds might be laid on the altar of God. But while thinking of this consummation the bird began to descend, falling rapidly in successive stages until near the earth, and then flying horizontally until it was lost in its nest. Does not the ascent and descent of this favourite songster represent our praise to God? Our glory is not always silent. We do sometimes sing praise to our God, and we rise into glorious elevations of feeling and of thought. But if we rise high in the morning, we fall low before noon; if we ascend on the Lords day, we sink low on other days. A day will come in which there shall be a final putting off of sackcloth, and a final girding with gladness; and in that day silence shall be broken for ever, and our eternal life shall be one eternal psalm and service of praise. (S. Martin.)
.
Psa 31:1-24
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 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;” 2Sa 24:16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Having related his prayer, he now declares the gracious answer which God gave him.
Put off my sackcloth, i.e. given me occasion to put off that sackcloth, which they used to wear in times of mourning. See Est 4:1; Psa 35:13; Isa 32:11; Joe 1:13.
With gladness; either with garments of gladness or rejoicing; or with joy, as with a garment surrounding me on every side; as he is for the like reason said to be girded with strength, Psa 18:32.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. sackclothwas used, evenby kings, in distress (1Ch 21:16;Isa 37:1) but “gladness,”used for a garment, shows the language to be figurative.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 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, Ge 37:34;
and girded me with gladness; by these phrases the same thing is signified as before; see Isa 61:3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 30:12-13) In order to express the immediate sequence of the fulfilling of the prayer upon the prayer itself, the otherwise (e.g., Psa 32:5) usual of conjunction is omitted; on cf. the echoes in Jer 31:13; Lam 5:15. According to our interpretation of the relation of the Psalm to the events of the time, there is as little reason for thinking of 2Sa 6:14 in connection with , as of 1Ch 21:16 in connection with . In place of the garment of penitence and mourning (cf. , Isa 3:24) slung round the body (perhaps fastened only with a cord) came a girding up ( , synon. Psa 65:13, whence , ) with joy. The designed result of such a speedy and radical change in his affliction, after it had had the salutary effect of humbling him, was the praise of Jahve: in order that my glory ( for = , as in Psa 7:6; Psa 16:9; Psa 108:2) may sing Thy praises without ceasing ( fut. Kal). And the praise of Jahve for ever is moreover his resolve, just as he vows, and at the same time carries it out, in this Psalm.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
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, (2Co 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, (2Sa 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 Jon 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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Thou hast turned for me.This verse gives the answer to the prayer. Mourning is literally beating the breast, and therefore dancing forms a proper parallelism; or else, according to one derivation of the word, machl would suggest piping. (See margin, Psa. 149:3; Psa. 150:4; see Smiths Bible Dictionary, under Dance; and Bible Educator, vol. ii., p. 70; and comp. Note to Son. 6:13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Dancing This is not to be taken literally. “Dancing, here, is poetical of joy, or shouts of joy thanksgiving and songs.” Hupfeld. See this usage in Jer 31:4; Jer 31:13; Lam 4:15. This sense is confirmed by the parallel word “gladness,” in next hemistich. The Hebrews, especially the women, sang responsively and danced upon great festive occasions, as in Exodus 15; Judges 5; 1Sa 18:6-7; 2Sa 6:14 ; 2Sa 6:16; but dancing was never permanently attached to their religious worship. See notes on Psa 42:4; Psa 149:3
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
His Final Praise And Thanksgiving Because He Had Been Delivered ( Psa 30:11-12 ).
Psa 30:11
‘You have turned for me my mourning into dancing,
You have loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness,
But then all had changed. The sickness had left him, and he was conscious of a new beginning. His mourning had been turned into dancing, which was certainly not the behaviour of a sickly man. He had been restored to strength. And God had removed his sackcloth, the sign of his mourning, and had instead girded him with gladness. Compare Isa 61:1-3 where the coming of the Anointed Prophet would also introduce such joy and gladness. The Good News of God always brings gladness.
Psa 30:12
To the end that my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent.
O YHWH my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.
And the resulting end of his experience will be that in his own glory as the king, which was the result of God’s goodness to him, he will sing praises to YHWH, and will not be silent. As far as he is now concerned YHWH is his God, and he will give thanks to Him for ever.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 30:11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
Ver. 11. Thou hast turned for me my mourning, &c. ] Sustulisti luctum, et laetitiam attulisti. See Trapp on “ Psa 30:5 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
turned: denoting the act. See “girded”, below.
put off = torn open, or off.
sackcloth. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for the sadness of which it was the sign.
girded: denoting the fact. See “turned”, above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 30:11-12
Psa 30:11-12
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” (Psa 30:11). What had happened so quickly? The explanation is in 2Sa 24:18, which records how God sent the Prophet Gad to David with word that the plague was ended.
“Thou hast loosed my sackcloth” (Psa 30:11). “That the king had clothed himself in sackcloth upon this occasion is mentioned in 1Ch 21:16,” 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” (Psa 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. There is the possibility that the older versions are correct.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 30:11. When dancing is used figuratively it means leaping for joy. Sackcloth was worn in times of distress or danger. God had helped David out of his difficulties and he expressed it by using the contrasting terms of this verse.
Psa 30:12. Glory may sing praise refers to the motive that a good man would have in praising God. It means he would sing praises unto the Lord in order to express the glory he believed to be due to Him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
turned: Psa 30:5, Psa 126:1, Psa 126:2, Gen 37:35, Gen 45:28, 2Ch 20:3, 2Ch 20:9, 2Ch 20:12, 2Ch 20:27, 2Ch 20:28, Est 9:22, Isa 25:8, Psa 30:3, Isa 66:10, Isa 66:11, Joh 16:20, Rev 7:14-17, Rev 21:4
dancing: Psa 149:3, Psa 150:4, 2Sa 6:14, Ecc 3:4, Jer 31:4, Jer 31:13, Jer 31:14
girded: Neh 8:10, Isa 61:3, Isa 61:10, Luk 15:22
Reciprocal: Gen 41:51 – forget 1Ch 15:29 – dancing Neh 12:43 – God Est 9:1 – though it was turned Psa 23:6 – goodness Psa 28:7 – therefore Psa 51:8 – Make Psa 118:15 – voice Psa 119:65 – dealt well Ecc 7:14 – the day Isa 38:9 – writing Isa 38:20 – therefore Jer 52:33 – changed Lam 5:15 – our dance Zec 8:19 – joy Luk 6:21 – ye shall laugh Luk 15:25 – he Luk 17:15 – General Luk 24:52 – with Act 2:26 – my tongue Phi 2:27 – but God Col 3:16 – singing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 30:11. Thou hast turned for me, &c. Having related his prayer, he now declares the gracious answer which God gave him. Thou hast put off my sackcloth Hast given me occasion to put it off, alluding to the sackcloth which they used to wear in times of mourning, and with which possibly, in an humble compliance with the divine providence, David had clothed himself, in his distress; or, perhaps, he speaks figuratively, and only means that God had taken away his sorrow with the causes of it. And girded me with gladness Either with garments of gladness, or rejoicing: or with joy, as with a garment, surrounding me on every side; as Psa 18:32, for a similar reason he is said to be girded with strength.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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. Psa 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 (Psa 30:5) to prepare us for an eternity of glory." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 151.]