Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 30:6
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
6. Render with R.V.
As for me, I said in my prosperity.
The word translated prosperity includes the idea of careless security, resulting from uninterrupted good fortune. Comp. Pro 1:32; and for the carnal pride that is apt to spring from prosperity, see Deu 8:10 ff; Deu 32:15; Dan 4:27 ff.
I shall never be moved ] Forgetting his dependence upon God, and approaching perilously near the godless man’s self-confident boast (Psa 10:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6, 7. The Psalmist relates his own experience of the truth stated in the preceding verse. His presumption had required the correction of chastisement.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved – I shall never be visited with calamity or trial. This refers to a past period of his life, when everything seemed to be prosperous, and when he had drawn around him so many comforts, and had apparently made them so secure, that it seemed as if they could never be taken from him, or as if he had nothing to fear. To what precise period of his life the psalmist refers, it is now impossible to ascertain. It is sufficient to say, that men are often substantially in that state of mind. They have such vigorous constitutions and such continued health; their plans are so uniformly crowned with success; everything which they touch so certainly turns to gold, and every enterprise so certainly succeeds; they have so many and such warmly attached friends; they have accumulated so much property, and it is so safely invested – that it seems as if they were never to know reverses, and they unconsciously suffer the illusion to pass over the mind that they are never to see changes, and that they have nothing to dread. They become self-confident. They forget their dependence on God. In their own minds they trace their success to their own efforts, tact and skill, rather than to God. They become worldly-minded, and it is necessary for God to teach them how easily he can sweep all this away – and thus to bring them back to a right view of the uncertainty of all earthly things. Health fails, or friends die, or property takes wings and flies away; and God accomplishes his purpose – a purpose invaluable to them – by showing them their dependence on Himself, and by teaching them that permanent and certain happiness and security are to be found in Him alone.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 30:6-12
In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
The conditions and acts of life, the springs of solemn issues
These verses may be taken as indicating the tendencies of certain conditions and actions in human life.
I. Here is human prosperity leading to presumption. The writers experience agrees with that of Job (Job 29:18). Also with the experience of the rich man in the Gospel, who said, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
1. This tendency implies moral per-versify. Our religious feelings should get purer and stronger as our mercies abound. Sad it is, therefore, to see prosperity leading to presumption and impiety.
2. This tendency should modify our desire for wealth. Worldly wealth, at best, is only a temporary good, and often an evil in disguise.
II. Here is affliction leading to prayer.
1. The description of affliction. It is the hiding of Gods face.
2. The nature of his prayer.
(1) Vehement (1Ch 21:16-17).
(2) Argumentative. He reasons with the Almighty (verse 9).
He means that his destruction would be of no service to the Almighty, but that his preservation might be.
III. Here is prayer leading to deliverance. In answer to earnest prayer, the Great Father has ever given to the suffering suppliant beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
1. God removes suffering. Thou hast put off my sackcloth.
2. God gives happiness. And girded me with gladness.
IV. Here is deliverance leading to praise.
1. This was the purpose of his deliverance. To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee. He was delivered that he might praise.
2. This was the influence of his deliverance. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever. (Homilist.)
The proper improvement of prosperity and adversity
The subject of the psalmists complaint in these words is a common weakness, incident to human nature; a too great confidence in the day of prosperity, and excessive dejection in a time of trouble.
I. what it is that chiefly contributes to this extreme diversity of temper under the varying scenes of life.
1. It is sometimes owing, in a good measure, to the native turn and temper of the mind. Some are of so soft and flexible a make, that they are soon impressed: almost everything affects them too much.
2. That which chiefly contributes to this great reverse of temper under the vicissitudes of life, I conceive to be an excessive fondness for earthly enjoyments. Did we not set our hearts upon these things, we should meet with fewer disappointments from them.
3. Our ignorance, or inconsideration of the true nature of present things, as
(1) unsatisfying;
(2) uncertain.
4. A want of faith, which would teach us to look beyond these things to the final issue of the great all-wise Disposer of them.
II. what dangerous consequences attend such an inequality of mind.
1. It lays us exposed to all the temptations of that state of life, into which Providence hath brought us.
(1) A man that is secure, carnal and confident in prosperity, lies wholly exposed to all the snares and temptations incident to that state of life: which are such as these; pride, worldly-mindedness, self-indulgence, vanity, avarice, intemperance, contempt of others, self-sufficiency, oppression, irreligion, or, at least, a great indifference to sacred things.
(2) A succumbency and dejection of mind in adversity lays us exposed to all the dangers and temptations of float condition. And the sins, to which men are most inclined in this state of life, are envy at the prosperity of others, murmuring, impatience, discontent, uncharitableness, passion, fearfulness and despair.
2. It deprives us of all the advantages we might derive from these states.
(1) An elate and careless frame of mind in prosperity deprives us of the chief benefits that might accrue to us from thence: or, in other words, it prevents our blessings from being sanctified. For how can those blessings be sanctified to us which we are not thankful for? And how can we be thankful for those blessings for which we are forgetful of our dependence on Providence?
(2) An excessive grief and despondency in tribulation is attended with effects no less detrimental; as it deprives us of all those advantages we might reap from our troubles. Afflictions are often sent as the greatest mercies; to make us more meek, resigned, patient, humble, holy and heavenly minded; to purify our hearts, wean us from the world, and mortify our sensual affections; and to revive and cultivate a spiritual, watchful and dependent frame of mind. But how can afflictions be sanctified to these happy purposes, when the mind is tossed with tempestuous sorrow, or faints under the stroke, incapable of forming one right), or regular reflection?
III. what considerations are most proper to balance the passions, and give us a self-possession under all providential occurrences.
1. Let us often think of the natural inconstancy of all earthly things.
(1) Are there not a thousand secret and unforeseen ways, whereby the hand of God can suddenly take from us all cur earthly comforts, or our capacity to enjoy them? How vain, then, is a confident spirit in a day of prosperity.
(2) Are our souls involved in darkness? and our minds disconsolate, and bowed down, under the pressure of some grievous affliction? let us remember, that the day succeeds the night (Psa 30:5). Time cures all our earthly sorrows; and grace alleviates them. Let this sanctify, what that will entirely remove.
2. Let us look forward to the end of things, and endeavour to familiarize to ourselves the thoughts of futurity.
3. Let us ever keep our eye fixed on God, as the all-wise and sovereign Disposer of these things; and remember, that whatever befalls us, comes either by His permission or direction.
4. Leg us think how much we offend our Maker by indulging in that weak unguarded temper now described.
5. Let us consider how much we lose the relish of our mercies by being too secure and fond of them in prosperity; and how we increase our load by sinking under it in adversity.
6. Let us learn to be more cautious in prosperity, and more composed in adversity, and endeavour after more equanimity in both. (J. Mason, M. A.)
The perils of prosperity
For quaintly said of the elder Pitt that he fell up-stairs when he was elevated to the peerage. Many a man cannot stand going up higher.. He becomes haughty, proud; he affects dignity, he lords it over Gods heritage; he becomes too big with conscious superiority. Like Jeshurun, he waxes fat and kicks. He falls up-stairs; up, not down. (A. S. Pierson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.] Peace and prosperity had seduced the heart of David, and led him to suppose that his mountain-his dominion, stood so strong, that adversity could never affect him. He wished to know the physical and political strength of his kingdom; and, forgetting to depend upon God, he desired Joab to make a census of the people; which God punished in the manner related in 2Sa 24:1-17, and which he in this place appears to acknowledge.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I thought myself past all danger of further changes, forgetting my own frailty, and the uncertainty of all worldly things.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6, 7. What particular prosperityis meant we do not know; perhaps his accession to the throne. In hisself-complacent elation he was checked by God’s hiding His face(compare Psa 22:24; Psa 27:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And in my prosperity,…. Either outward prosperity, when he was settled in his kingdom, and as acknowledged king by all the tribes of Israel, and had gotten the victory over all his enemies, and was at rest from them round about; or inward and spiritual prosperity, having a spiritual appetite for the word, being in the lively exercise of grace, growing in it, and in the knowledge of Christ; favoured with communion with God, having flesh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy, corruptions being subdued, the inward man renewed with spiritual strength, and more fruitful in every good word and work. This being the case,
I said, I shall never be moved; so in outward prosperity men are apt to sing a requiem to themselves, and fancy it will always be thus with them, be in health of body, and enjoying the affluence of temporal things, and so put away the evil day in one sense and another from them; and even good men themselves are subject to this infirmity,
Job 29:18; and who also, when in comfortable frames of soul, and in prosperous circumstances in spiritual things, are ready to conclude if will always be thus with them, or better. Indeed they can never be moved as to their state and condition with respect to God; not from his heart, where they are set as a seal; nor out of the arms of Christ, and covenant of grace; nor out of the family of God; nor from a state of justification and grace; but they may be moved as to the exercise of grace and discharge of duty, in which they vary; and especially when they are self-confident, and depend upon their own strength for the performance of these things, and for a continuance in such frames, which seems to have been David’s case; and therefore he corrects himself, and his sense of things, in Ps 30:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 30:7-8) David now relates his experience in detail, beginning with the cause of the chastisement, which he has just undergone. In (as in Psa 31:23; Psa 49:4) he contrasts his former self-confidence, in which (like the , Psa 10:6) he thought himself to be immoveable, with the God-ward trust he has now gained in the school of affliction. Instead of confiding in the Giver, he trusted in the gift, as though it had been his own work. It is uncertain, – but it is all the same in the end, – whether is the inflected infinitive of the verb (which we adopt in our translation), or the inflected noun ( ) = , after the form , a swimming, Eze 47:5, = , Jer 22:21. The inevitable consequence of such carnal security, as it is more minutely described in Deu 8:11-18, is some humbling divine chastisement. This intimate connection is expressed by the perfects in Psa 30:8, which represent God’s pardon, God’s withdrawal of favour, which is brought about by his self-exaltation, and the surprise of his being undeceived, as synchronous. , to set up might is equivalent to: to give it as a lasting possession; cf. 2Ch 33:8, which passage is a varied, but not (as Riehm supposes) a corrupted, repetition of 2Ki 21:8. It is, therefore, unnecessary, as Hitzig does, to take as accusatival and as adverbial: in Thy favour hadst Thou made my mountain to stand firm. The mountain is Zion, which is strong by natural position and by the additions of art (2Sa 5:9); and this, as being the castle-hill, is the emblem of the kingdom of David: Jahve had strongly established his kingdom for David, when on account of his trust in himself He made him to feel how all that he was he was only by Him, and without Him he was nothing whatever. The form of the inflexion , instead of = harri, is defended by Gen 14:6 and Jer 17:3 (where it is as if from ). The reading (lxx, Syr.), i.e., to my kingly dignity is a happy substitution; whereas the reading of the Targum , “placed (me) on firm mountains,” at once refutes itself by the necessity for supplying “me.”
Prayer and Praise. 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 (Psa 30:6; Psa 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, v. 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 (v. 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, v. 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 (Phil. ii. 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?” Ps. xliv. 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, v. 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, Heb. iv. 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, v. 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, v. 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 Sam. xxiii. 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. 6. And in my tranquillity I had said. This is the confession which I formerly mentioned, in which David acknowledges that he had been justly and deservedly punished for his foolish and rash security, in forgetting his mortal and mutable condition as a man, and in setting his heart too much on prosperity. By the term tranquillity, he means the quiet and flourishing state of his kingdom. Some translate the Hebrew word שלוה, shiluah, which we have rendered tranquillity, by abundance, in which sense it is often used in other places; but the word tranquillity agrees better with the context; as if David had said, When fortune smiled upon me on every side, and no danger appeared to occasion fear, my mind sunk as it were into a deep sleep, and I flattered myself that my happy condition would continue, and that things would always go on in the same course. This carnal confidence frequently creeps upon the saints when they indulge themselves in their prosperity, and so to speak, wallow upon their dunghill. (632) Hence Jeremiah (Jer 31:18) compares himself to a wild bullock before the Lord tamed him and accustomed him to the yoke. This may at first sight appear to be but a small crime, yet we may gather from its punishment how much it is displeasing to God; nor will we wonder at this when we consider the root from which it springs and the fruits which it bears. As deaths innumerable continually hover before our eyes, and as there are so many examples of change to awaken us to fear and caution, those must be bewitched with devilish pride who persuade themselves that their life is privileged above the common lot of the world. They see the whole earth jumbled together in undistinguishing variety, and its individual parts in a manner tossed hither and thither; and yet, as if they did not belong to the human race, they imagine that they shall always continue stable and liable to no changes. Hence that wantonness of the flesh, with which they so licentiously indulge their lusts; hence their pride and cruelty, and neglect of prayer. How indeed should those flee to God, who have no sense of their need to instigate or move them to that? The children of God have also a pious security of their own, which preserves their minds in tranquillity amidst the troublesome storms of the world; like David, who, although he had seen the whole world made to shake, yet leaning upon the promise of God, was bound to hope well concerning the continuance of his kingdom. But although the faithful, when raised aloft on the wings of faith, despise adversity, yet, as they consider themselves liable to the common troubles of life, they lay their account with enduring them, — are every hour prepared to receive wounds, — shake off their sluggishness, and exercise themselves in the warfare to which they know that they were appointed, – and with humility and fear put themselves under God’s protection; nor do they consider themselves safe anywhere else than under his hand. It was otherwise with David, who, when ensnared by the allurements of his prosperous state, promised himself unbroken tranquillity not from the word of God but from his own feelings. The same thing also occurred to the pious King Hezekiah, who, although lately afflicted with a sore disease, as soon as all was well and according to his wish, was hurried by the vanity of the flesh to pride and vain boasting, (2Ch 32:24.) By this we are taught to be on our guard when in prosperity, that Satan may not bewitch us with his flatteries. The more bountifully God deals with any one, the more carefully ought he to watch against such snares. It is not, indeed, probable that David had become so hardened as to despise God and defy all misfortunes, like many of the great men of this world, who, when immersed among their luxuries and surfeitings, insolently scoff at all God’s judgments; but an effeminate listlessness having come over his mind, he became more lukewarm in prayer, nor did he depend on the favor of God; in short, he put too much confidence in his uncertain and transitory prosperity.
(632) “ Qu’ils se mignardent en leur prosperite, et par maniere de dire, croupessent sur leur fumier. — Fr.
(6) And in.Better, But as for me, in, &c. The pronoun is emphatic. The mental struggle through which the psalmist had won his way to this sublime faith is now told in the most vivid manner, the very soliloquy being recalled.
Prosperity.Better, security.
I shall never be moved.Better, I shall never waver. 6. In my prosperity I said Here is stated the moral cause of the personal and national affliction complained of in the psalm. From a comparison of 2Sa 24:1-3 with 1Ch 21:1-3, it is evident that a spirit of pride, and perhaps of foreign military conquest, actuated David in taking a census of the people, and hence it was done through his generals with a detachment of soldiers, and not, as on other occasions, through the priests; certain it is, that it was highly displeasing to God, and even to Joab and the people, and punishable as being a revolt from the true spirit of the theocracy. David himself afterwards acknowledged he had “sinned greatly,” and “done very foolishly.”
He Reminisces On The Complacency That Had Been His When He Was Well And The Shock That His Illness Had Been To Him ( Psa 30:6-7 ).
Psa 30:6-7
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
I will never be moved.
You, YHWH, of your favour,
Had made my mountain to stand strong.
You hid your face,
I was troubled.
In a few short words the Psalmist brings out his own, and man’s complacency. When all is going well men think that nothing can affect them, especially if they are prospering wealthwise. And yet he acknowledges that he had overlooked the fact that it was God Who in His favour and compassion had made his mountain stand strong. This may reflect the strength of Jerusalem, which was David’s city, and that he was secure because God had made him so. Or it may simply indicate that the mountain of his personal life had been made strong. But either way he had grown complacent, had forgotten what he owed to God, and had begun to see himself as invulnerable.
But then God had hidden His face from him, and all his troubles had begun. What a shock it had been to his system. Suddenly he had realised that he was mortal. What an important lesson that is for us all to learn.
Psa 30:6-7. And in my prosperity I said There should not be a full stop at the end of the 6th verse, but after the words stand strong in the 7th; where the next period should begin, Thou didst hide thy face; I was troubled. The word shalev rendered prosperity, denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on the throne, he thought that all his troubles were over, and that he should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; that God had made his mountain so strong that it should never be moved: i.e. had placed him secure from all danger, as though he had taken refuge in an inaccessible mountain; or made his prosperity firm, and no more subject to 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 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 upon it for his dwelling: it was strong by nature, and rendered almost impregnable by the fortifications that 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. To hide one’s face, is to refuse to see, or be seen, by another, and argues displeasure, and a denial of assistance and favour. The Psalmist means, that when God withdrew his protection, displeased with his presumption and the security that he had fondly promised himself, he was immediately disturbed by fresh troubles, and his dream of uninterrupted tranquillity vanished. He refers, I believe, to the two invasions of the Philistines, soon after they found that he had been anointed king over Israel.
2Sa 5:17; 2Sa 5:25. In this unexpected distress, he cried unto the Lord, and in his supplication said as in Psa 30:9-10. Chandler.
DISCOURSE: 543 Psa 30:6-12. 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. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made 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 Lord, and have mercy upon me! Lord, be thou my helper! Thau hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 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.
AMONGST all the friends of vital godliness it is supposed that Christian experience is well understood: but it is a lamentable truth, that those in general who think themselves best acquainted with it, are exceedingly mistaken with respect to some of its most important parts. The distinctive offices of faith and unbelief, of confidence and fear, are by no means clearly defined in the minds either of ministers or people; on the contrary, they are often so confounded as to produce very serious evils; for by the misconceptions respecting them many are instructed to shun what God approves, and to cultivate what he abhors. For instance; A persuasion that we are Gods elect people, and that we are in no danger of perishing, is recommended by many as the root and summit of Christian faith; whilst a fear lest we should have deceived ourselves, or should ultimately perish, is characterized as an evil heart of unbelief: and thus, a godly jealousy over ourselves is discouraged as a sin, and an unfounded confidence respecting our state is encouraged as a virtue. These mistakes arise partly from a blind following of human authorities, and partly from being confined by the trammels of human systems. To have just views on these subjects is of great importance both for ministers and people; for ministers, that they may know how to discriminate between good and evil in their flocks; and to the people, that they may form such an estimate of themselves as God himself forms of them. I.
His carnal security
[There being to all appearance perfect tranquillity in his kingdom, David conceived that no evil could arise to disturb his repose: and it seems that a similar confidence was also indulged by him in reference to his spiritual enemies. This is, indeed, the common effect of long continued prosperity: but it is a state of mind highly displeasing to God. We are dependent creatures: and ought at all times to feel, that whatever we have, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature, is but lent to us from hour to hour, according to the good pleasure of Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being. The very continuance of our lives should be regarded in this view so that we should never think of what we will do in the next year, or even on the morrow, without an express reference to God as the sovereign controller of all events [Note: Jam 4:13-15.]. Job himself erred exceedingly in this respect, when he said, I shall die in my nest [Note: Job 29:18.]. The same sense of dependence on God must more especially be maintained in reference to our spiritual life. The very chief of the Apostles, no less than we, needed to preserve upon his mind a consciousness, that, without incessant vigilance and care, he might, after having preached to others, himself become a cast-away. However confident any man may be that he stands firm, it becomes him to take heed lest he fall [Note: 1Co 10:12.]. And so far is this frame of mind from being, as religious people are apt to fancy it, an effect of legality and unbelief, it is pronounced by God himself as most pleasing to him, and beneficial to us; for blessed is the man that feareth always [Note: Pro 28:14.].
It is worthy of observation, that David ostensibly acknowledged God as the author of his security: Thou by thy favour hast made my mountain to stand strong: but it is evident that his confidence was not really in God, so much as in his situation and circumstances, which had to all appearance a stability on which he might rely. And thus it is with those amongst ourselves who have fallen into a state of carnal security: they profess to depend on God; but their want of holy fear demonstrates, that their confidence is in something which they themselves possess, and which they consider as affording a just ground for the dismission of vigilance and jealous apprehension.
Davids relaxation of this salutary fear was followed by]
II.
His spiritual dereliction
[To punish this undue security, God withdrew from David in some measure the protection of his providence, and the comforts of his grace: he suffered Absalom to carry into effect his traitorous conspiracy against him; and he left David without those heavenly consolations which under former trials he had been wont to experience: Thou didst hide thy face from me, says David, and I was troubled. Now such rebukes must be expected by all who forget their dependence upon God. Verily he is a God that hideth himself; and by the dispensations of his providence and grace he marks his indignation against the backslidings of his people. We doubt not but that his withdrawment of many temporal blessings from us is a punishment for our idolatrous attachment to them, and dependence upon them. It was for this that he sent a worm to destroy Jonahs gourd; and for this he required the soul of him who thought he had much goods laid up for many years. We doubt not also but that the experience of every child of God will more or less attest the same in reference to the withdrawment of his presence from them. In proportion as any have become less vigilant, they lose those manifestations of the Divine presence which in the seasons of holy fear they were privileged to enjoy. Nor is it a mere privation of joy which they experience on such occasions; there is a perturbation of mind arising from a sense of the Divine displeasure, and a painful apprehension lest they should never be restored to the favour of their God. Davids trouble, as arising from this source, was of a very overwhelming nature [Note: Psa 77:2-4.]: and woe be to those who wantonly provoke God to inflict it on them [Note: Deu 32:20.].
In what way he sought deliverance from this trouble, we see by,]
III.
His fervent prayers
[He cried unto the Lord, and (as it is in the Prayer-book translation) gat him to his Lord right humbly. How he pleaded with God, may be seen in our text; and in this he affords an excellent pattern for us under similar circumstances. His plea is to this effect; Lord, withdraw not thyself from me for ever: it is through thy help alone that I can ever recover the state from which I am fallen; and without such a recovery I can never bring any glory to thy name. O leave me not in the wretched state into which I am fallen. This also is a point which we conceive to be of exceeding great importance for the due regulation of our own minds, and for the right counselling of those who are under the hidings of Gods face. IV.
His speedy recovery
[Many there are who go mourning almost all their lives. And wherefore? Is it that God arbitrarily, and without occasion, hides his face from them? No: it is owing to this very thing which we have been speaking of, namely, their restraining prayer before God, and not using the proper means of regaining his favour. Indeed many are brought into absolute despair by the very means which they use to remove their apprehensions: they go to the consideration of Gods secret decrees, when they should be mourning over their miscarriages, and imploring pardon for Christs sake. Hence they are led to argue thus: If an elect vessel, how could I be in such darkness and distress? But I am in this darkness, therefore God has not elected me; and there is no hope for me. But behold the effect of humiliation and contrition! See how speedily God returned to the soul of his servant, in answer to his fervent supplications! The prayers were scarcely offered, before David was enabled to say, Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. And thus would it be with all of us, if we would pursue the method which this holy man adopted. God delighteth in the prosperity of his servants: and, as a parent feels relief to his own soul when he can return in love to his offending child, so does God, when he can again lift up the light of his countenance on those, from whom he has been constrained for a season to withhold it [Note: See Jer 13:27 and Psa 81:13-16.]. The fathers reception of his prodigal son is a sure and delightful specimen of the favour which all will experience, as soon as ever they are brought to the footstool of Divine grace with cries for mercy in the all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ. The testimony of David in this very psalm shall be confirmed in you: His anger endureth but a moment: in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning [Note: ver. 5.].
The speedy restoration of Gods favour to him immediately drew forth,]
V.
His grateful acknowledgments
[To bring him back to a state of holy peace and joy was the very end for which God so graciously renewed to him the expressions of his love: it was, says David, to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. He calls his tongue his glory, because that is the member by which above all he could glorify his God: and he determines instantly to employ it in his praise: O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Blessed resolution! O that every one of us would instantly adopt it! O that God would inspire us with grace sufficient to carry it into execution . It is in order to bring all to this, that we have been so particular in the foregoing statement. It is vith a view to this that we so earnestly recommend humiliation before God under seasons of darkness, rather than an attention to abstract points which tend only to foster a delusion. Humility, and contrition, and a believing application of the blood of Christ to our souls, can never deceive us; but, on the contrary, must infallibly lead to songs of praise and thanksgiving: if we sow in tears, we must reap in joy. Only observe the process, and see how connected are all the links of the chain: in prosperity, we have relapsed into carnal confidence, and provoked God to leave us in a state of spiritual dereliction: alarmed and humbled by his frowns, we betake ourselves to fervent prayer, imploring mercy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and through the unbounded grace of God we experience a speedy recovery; and from thenceforth have our mouths filled with grateful acknowledgments to the God of our salvation. We only add to this, that the deeper is our humiliation on account of sin committed, the more speedy and exalted will be our joys on account of deliverance vouchsafed.]
Address
1.
To those who are walking with God
[What shall we say! Even if you were as eminent as ever David was, we should think it right to guard you against the conceit, that you were in no danger of being moved. In relation to all that you possess of temporal things, we would inculcate this salutary lesson, Let those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who weep be as though they wept not, and those who rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and those who buy as though they possessed not, and those that use this world, as not abusing it. Every thing must be held as from God, and for God, to be disposed of according to his sovereign will and pleasure. And in reference to every thing of a spiritual nature, we would recommend a constant sense of our entire dependence upon God, saying, Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Some will confound this with unbelief: but it differs from unbelief as much as humility from pride: in truth, it is the very root of faith; for it is only in proportion as we feel our liability to fall, that we shall look truly and constantly to Christ for strength. Be weak as new-born infants in yourselves, and God will keep beneath you his everlasting arms, and perfect his own strength in your weakness.]
2.
To those who have declined from him
[Many in a state of declension are ready to imagine that God has arbitrarily and without any particular cause withdrawn himself from them. But it may well be doubted whether in any case God ever dealt thus with any of his creatures. Our blessed Lord, when he cried, My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me? was suffering the punishment due to those whose iniquities had been laid on him. And Job, whose expression, I shall die in my nest, we have before noticed, had evidently a measure of carnal confidence which wanted to be mortified and subdued. With the exception of his case we are not aware of any thing that bears even the appearance of arbitrary proceeding on the part of God: the constant tenor of his acting is that which was proclaimed to Asa, The Lord is with you, while ye be with him: if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you [Note: 2Ch 15:2.]. Learn then to trace your sin in your punishment: and, if you cannot find the immediate cause of his withdrawment from you. pray to him, with Job, Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. The prayer which David offered under such circumstances [Note: Psa 143:1-8.], will assuredly, if offered up in faith, bring down upon you the blessings of peace and joy. This God himself has promised [Note: Isa 57:16-18.] and you may be as fully assured of its accomplishment to your soul, as the promise and oath of God can make you [Note: Isa 54:7-10. with Heb 6:17-18.] ]
The children of God have a chequered state, and feel the changes. And, no doubt, with an eye to the wilderness condition of God’s people, these things are said. They who live in a moveable tent will not have always the same plain ground, or the same favourable aspect.
Psa 30:6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
Ver. 6. And in my prosperity I said ] Or, in my tranquillity. Then it was that he was overgrown with security; as was also Job, Job 29:18-20 ; See Trapp on “Job “29:18” See Trapp on “Job “29:19” See Trapp on “Job “29:20” Job 9:18 . How many have burnt their wings about Job’s candle? Job 29:3 , saith one. Oh the hazard of honour! damage of dignity! how soon are we broken upon the soft pillow of ease! Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane, are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes when cold; so do sin and Satan’s temptations on the best hearts, when dissolved and dispirited by prosperity: watch therefore. Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dung hill was a conqueror.
I shall never be moved Psalms
ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN
Psa 10:6 How differently the same things sound when said by different men! Here are three people giving utterance to almost the same sentiment of confidence. A wicked man says it, and it is insane presumption and defiance. A good man says it, having been lulled into false security by easy times, and it is a mistake that needs chastisement. A humble believing soul says it, and it is the expression of a certain and blessed truth. ‘The wicked saith in his heart, I shall not be moved.’ A good man, led astray by his prosperity, said, ‘I shall not be moved,’ and the last of the three put a little clause in which makes all the difference, ‘ because He is at my right hand , I shall never be moved.’ So, then, we have the mad arrogance of godless confidence, the mistake of a good man that needs correction, and the warranted confidence of a believing soul.
I. The mad arrogance of godless confidence.
That is to say, the only explanation of a godless life, unless the man is an idiot, is that there lie beneath it, as formative principles and unspoken assumptions, guiding and shaping it, one or both of these two thoughts: either ‘There is no God,’ or ‘He does not care what I do, and I am safe to go on for evermore in the present fashion.’ It might seem as if a man with the facts of human life before him, could not, even in the insanest arrogance, say, ‘I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.’ But we have an awful power-and the fact that we exercise, and choose to exercise, it is one of the strange riddles of our enigmatical existence and characters-of ignoring unwelcome facts, and going cheerily on as though we had annihilated them, because we do not reflect upon them. So this man, in the midst of a world in which there is no stay, and whilst he saw all round him the most startling and tragical instances of sudden change and complete collapse, stands quietly and says, ‘Ah! I shall never be moved’; ‘God doth not require it.’
That absurdity is the basis of every life that is not a life of consecration and devotion-so far as it has a basis of conviction at all. The ‘wicked’ man’s true faith is this, absurd as it may sound when you drag it out into clear, distinct utterance, whatever may be his professions. I wonder if there are any of us whose life can only be acquitted of being utterly unreasonable and ridiculous by the assumption, ‘I shall never be moved’?
Have you a lease of your goods? Do you think you are tenants at will or owners? Which? Is there any reason why any of us should escape, as some of us live as if we believed we should escape, the certain fate of all others? If there is not, what about the sanity of the man whose whole life is built upon a blunder? He is convicted of the grossest folly, unless he be assured that either there is no God, or that He does not care one rush about what we do, and that consequently we are certain of a continuance in our present state.
Do you say in your heart, ‘I shall never be moved’? Then you must be strong enough to resist every tempest that beats against you. Is that so? ‘I shall never be moved’-then nothing that contributes to your well-being will ever slip from your grasp, but you will be able to hold it tight. Is that so? ‘I shall never be moved’-then there is no grave waiting for you. Is that so? Unless these three assumptions be warranted, every godless man is making a hideous blunder, and his character is the sentence pronounced by the loving lips of Incarnate Truth on the rich man who thought that he had ‘much goods laid up for many years,’ and had only to be merry-’Thou fool! Thou fool!’ If an engineer builds a bridge across a river without due calculation of the force of the winds that blow down the gorge, the bridge will be at the bottom of the stream some stormy night, and the train piled on the fragments of it in hideous ruin. And with equal certainty the end of the first utterer of this speech can be calculated, and is foretold in the psalm, ‘The Lord is King for ever and ever. . . . The godless are perished out of the land.’
II. We have in our second text the mistake of a good man who has been lulled into false confidence.
It is a very significant fact that the word which is translated in our Authorised Version ‘prosperity’ is often rendered ‘security,’ meaning thereby, not safety, but a belief that I am safe. A man who is prosperous, or at ease, is sure to drop into the notion that ‘to-morrow will be as this day, and much more abundant,’ unless he keeps up unslumbering watchfulness against the insidious illusion of permanence. If he yields to the temptation, in his foolish security, forgetting how fragile are its foundations, and what a host of enemies surround him threatening it, then there is nothing for it but that the merciful discipline, which this Psalmist goes on to tell us he had to pass through by reason of his fall, shall be brought to bear upon him. The writer gives us a page of his own autobiography. ‘In my security I said, I shall never be moved.’ ‘Lord! by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide Thy face.’ What about the security then? What about ‘I shall never be moved’ then? ‘I was troubled. I cried to Thee, O Lord!’-and then it was all right, his prayer was heard, and he was in ‘security’-that is, safety-far more really when he was ‘troubled’ and sore beset than when he had been, as he fancied, sure of not being moved.
Long peace rusts the cannon, and is apt to make it unfit for war. Our lack of imagination, and our present sense of comfort and well-being, tend to make us fancy that we shall go on for ever in the quiet jog-trot of settled life without any very great calamities or changes. But there was once a village at the bottom of the crater of Vesuvius, and great trees, that had grown undisturbed there for a hundred years, and green pastures, and happy homes and flocks. And then, one day, a rumble and a rush, and what became of the village? It went up in smoke-clouds. The quiescence of the volcano is no sign of its extinction. And as surely as we live, so sure is it that there will come a ‘to-morrow’ to us all which shall not be as this day. No man has any right to calculate upon anything beyond the present moment, and there is no basis whatever, either for the philosophical assertion that the order of nature is fixed, and that therefore there are no miracles, or for the practical translation of the assertion into our daily lives, that we may reasonably expect to go on as we are without changes or calamities. There is no reason capable of being put into logical shape for believing that, because the sun has risen ever since the beginning of things, it will rise to-morrow, for there will come a to-morrow when it will not rise. In like manner, the longest possession of our mercies is no reason for forgetting the precarious tenure on which we hold them all.
So, Christian men and women! let us try to keep vivid that consciousness which is so apt to get dull, that nothing continueth in one stay, and that we shall be moved, as far as the outward life and its circumstances are concerned. If we forget it, we shall need, and we shall get, the loving Fatherly discipline, which my second text tells us followed the false security of this good man. The sea is kept from putrefying by storms. Wine poured from vessel to vessel is purified thereby. It is an old truth and a wholesome one, to be always remembered, ‘because they have no changes therefore they fear not God .’
III. Lastly, we have the same thing said by another man in another key.
The man who clasps God’s hand, and has Him standing by his side, as his Ally, his Companion, his Guide, his Defence-that man does not need to fear change. For all the things which convict the arrogant or mistaken confidences of the other men as being insanity or a lapse from faith prove the confidence of the trustful soul to be the very perfection of reason and common sense.
We may be confident of our power to resist anything that can come against us, if He be at our side. The man that stands with his back against an oak-tree is held firm, not because of his own strength, but because of that on which he leans. There is a beautiful story of some heathen convert who said to a missionary’s wife, who had felt faint and asked that she might lean for a space on her stronger arm, ‘If you love me, lean hard.’ That is what God says to us, ‘If you love Me, lean hard.’ And if you do, because He is at your right hand, you will not be moved. It is not insanity; it is not arrogance; it is simple faith, to look our enemies in the eyes, and to feel sure that they cannot touch us, ‘Trust in Jehovah; so shall ye be established.’ Rest on the Lord, and ye shall rest indeed.
In like manner the man who has God at his right hand may be sure of the unalterable continuance of all his proper good. Outward things may come or go, as it pleases Him, but that which makes the life of our life will never depart from us as long as He stands there. And whilst He is there, if only our hearts are knit to Him, we can say, ‘My heart and my flesh faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. I shall not be moved. Though all that can go goes, He abides; and in Him I have all riches.’ Trust not in the uncertainty of outward good, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
The wicked man was defiantly arrogant, and the forgetful good man was criminally self-confident, when they each said, ‘I shall not be moved.’ We are only taking up the privileges that belong to us if, exercising faith in Him, we venture to say, ‘Take what Thou wilt; leave me Thyself; I have enough.’ And the man who says, ‘Because God is at my right hand, I shall not be moved,’ has the right to anticipate an unbroken continuance of personal being, and an unchanged continuance of the very life of his life. That which breaks off all other lives abruptly is no breach in the continuity, either of the consciousness or of the avocations of a devout man. For, on the other side of the flood, he does what he does on this side, only more perfectly and more continually. ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever,’ and it makes comparatively little difference to him whether his place be on this or on the other side of Jordan. We ‘shall not be moved,’ even when we change our station from earth to heaven, and the sublime fulfilment of the warranted confidence of the trustful soul comes when the ‘to-morrow’ of the skies is as the ‘to-day’ of earth, only ‘much more abundant.’
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 30:6-9
6Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
I will never be moved.
7O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
8To You, O Lord, I called,
And to the Lord I made supplication:
9What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?
Psa 30:6-9 This strophe seems to reflect the fulfillment of the covenant promises of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. YHWH wanted to prosper His people to show the world His character. The psalmist, as a faithful follower, is asserting what YHWH did for him.
1. prospered him
2. gave him stability (i.e., I will never be moved)
3. made him strong (i.e., figure of a mountain; LXX has my majesty)
4. answered his prayers
5. protected him from death so he could praise YHWH’s faithfulness (BDB 54)
The AB (p. 182) sees this strophe as a warning against the sin of overconfidence. The UBS Handbook (p. 282) sees it as his past inappropriate experience. However, I prefer the Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 confidence. The Handbook asserts that this Psalm, like Psalms 29, is a chiastic pattern. If this is true then the middle of the chiasm should be the main truth. But note the middle would be Psa 30:6, which both the UBS Handbook and AB say is an inappropriate experience. You cannot have it both ways!
Psa 30:7 b It is unsure how Psa 30:7 b fits with Psa 30:7 a,c. The two verbs (perfects) describe a settled condition.
1. You hid Your face BDB 711, KB 771, Hiphil perfect, face, refers to personal presence, he felt YHWH had left him, was not available, did not hear his prayers.
2. I was (BDB 224, KB 243, Qal perfect) dismayed BDB 96, KB 111, Niphal participle. This term means disturbed, dismayed, or terrified, cf. Job 4:5; Job 23:15; Psa 6:2-3; Psa 83:17; Psa 90:7; Psa 104:29; Isa 13:8; Isa 21:3; Jer 51:32; Eze 26:18.
The JPSOA sees Psa 30:7 b in contrast to Psa 30:8, YHWH made the psalmist firm as a mighty mountain, but if/when He hid His face, it brought terror. Therefore, he called out to YHWH in prayer (Psa 30:8). Prosperity alone, even covenant prosperity (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28) is not enough! We need God! We need to feel His presence and pleasure! We were created (cf. Gen 1:26-27; Gen 3:8) for fellowship with God. Nothing, nothing else can meet this need!
Psa 30:9 There are two rhetorical questions which, in context, expect a no reply.
dust This (BDB 779) is a figurative expression for death (cf. Psa 22:15; Psa 22:29; Isa 26:19; Isa 29:4) or Sheol/pit. Humans were made of clay/dust (cf. Gen 2:7) and to dust we return at death (cf. Gen 3:19).
will dust praise You? In the OT death was a conscious, but silent, existence (cf. Psa 6:5; Psa 88:11-12; Ecc 9:10; Isa 38:18-19).
Your faithfulness This is amen (BDB 54); see SPECIAL TOPIC: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the Old Testament () .
YHWH is faithful (BDB 54) and loyal (BDB 338) to His covenant. He is the One who does not change (cf. Mal 3:6; Psa 102:27; Jas 1:17; also note Heb 13:8). Our hope, as faithful followers, is in the unchanging, merciful character of YHWH.
I shall, &c. Compare Psa 62:6.
Psa 30:6-7
Psa 30:6-7
DAVID’S CONFESSION OF SIN
“As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.
Then, Jehovah, of thy favor hadst made my mountain to stand strong:
Thou didst hide thy face; I was troubled.”
“I shall never be moved” (Psa 30:6). “His heart was lifted up, and in a spirit of self-glorification, he gave command for the numbering of the people.
“Of thy favor” (Psa 30:7). This is an acknowledgment on David’s part that in those days of prosperity and egotistical pride, he had not been fully conscious that it was God’s favor which had elevated him, not his own ability or skill.
“Thou didst hide thy face” (Psa 30:7). Ah, how quickly life can change! What seems like unending prospects of success and prosperity can change in a single moment to unqualified failure and disaster. “We presume upon health, but God sends sickness; we presume upon friends, but God raises up enemies; we presume upon our reputation, but suddenly Satan takes that away from us; we presume upon our worldly riches; but a fire, a revolution, an earthquake, a war, a hurricane, a misplaced trust, or something else leaves us with nothing!
We may not count upon tomorrow’s following today’s pattern. Maclaren tells us that before the terrible eruption of Vesuvius, the bottom of the crater had immense oak trees that had been growing for centuries. “It would have been difficult to think, looking at them, that they would ever be torn up and whirled aloft in fire by a new outburst.” Men daily need to thank God and to pray for his continued mercies.
This sudden hiding of God’s face shook David out of his attitude of self-confidence and sufficiency and led to his casting himself upon the mercy of God.
“I was troubled” (Psa 30:7). The word here rendered `troubled,’ in Hebrews is `dismayed,’ as in the RSV. “This is a very strong word implying shattering terror.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 30:6. Prosperity refers to the state of security that David felt through the protection from God. He was so assured that he believed he would never be moved.
Psa 30:7. This verse uses words figuratively. Mountain means the highest hopes. As long as David had the favor of God his hopes were “high as a mountain.” In times of great trouble he felt that the face of God had been hid from him.
And: Job 29:18-20, Isa 47:7, Isa 56:12, Dan 4:30, Luk 12:19, 2Co 12:7
I shall: Psa 15:5, Psa 16:8, Psa 119:117
Reciprocal: Gen 32:25 – touched Job 14:19 – destroyest Psa 10:6 – not Psa 102:10 – thou hast Psa 107:39 – they are Ecc 2:1 – said Isa 38:17 – for peace I had great bitterness Dan 4:4 – was Jon 4:7 – prepared Mar 14:31 – he spake Act 2:25 – I should not
Psa 30:6-7. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved I thought myself past all danger of further changes. The word , shalvi, rendered prosperity, denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent, prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on the throne, he thought his troubles were over, and that he should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; that God had placed him secure from all dangers, as though he had taken refuge in an inaccessible mountain, that he had made his prosperity firm, and no more subject to alteration than a mountain is liable to be removed out of its place. By thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou hast firmly settled me in my kingdom, which he calls his mountain, 1st, Because kingdoms are usually called mountains in the prophetical writings, a mountain, by its height, being a very natural representation of a superior condition. 2d, With allusion to mount Zion, the fortress of which he had lately taken, which was properly his mountain, as he had fixed upon it for his dwelling, and had there built his royal palace. All this he regarded as the effect of Gods favour to him, and promised himself that his peace and happiness, for the future, would be as undisturbed and unshaken as mount Zion itself. Thou didst hide thy face Displeased with my presumption, and the security I had fondly promised myself, thou didst withdraw thy favour, protection, and help; and I was troubled My dream of uninterrupted tranquillity vanished; I was quickly brought into fresh troubles, difficulties, and dangers, and saw the vanity of all my carnal confidences. Dr. Chandler thinks he refers to the two invasions of the Philistines, which happened soon after they found he had been anointed king over Israel, 2Sa 5:17. But, perhaps, he speaks chiefly, if not only, of distress of mind arising from a sense of Gods withdrawing the light of his countenance, and showing that he was displeased with him. In this unexpected distress he cried unto the Lord, and in his supplication expressed himself as in the following verses.
30:6 And in my {g} prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
(g) I put too much confidence in my quiet state as in Jer 31:18, 2Ch 32:24-25.
2. The reason for David’s discipline 30:6-10
David had evidently become self-confident and had forgotten his complete dependence on the Lord (cf. Joh 15:5). Prosperity often tempts us with a false sense of our security (cf. Pro 1:32; Jer 22:21), and David slipped here. We should never conclude that, because we are presently experiencing peace and prosperity, these conditions will inevitably continue.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
CAUSE AND CURE OF SPIRITUAL DESERTION
The psalm before us will afford us an occasion for marking the distinctions which we conceive to be so eminently useful, and yet so generally wanted. It is said in the title to have been written at the dedication of Davids house; but we apprehend it was rather at the second dedication of it, after it had been shamefully denied by Absalom. To this period of time, rather than to any other, we are directed by many parts of the psalm. It should seem that about that time the prosperity of David had lulled him into a state of undue security; and that 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:
Now here we see the true, the only, remedy for a soul that has provoked God to depart from it. To have recourse to the doctrines of election and final perseverance under such circumstances, is the way to foster that very disease which God is seeking, by this discipline, to cure. We say not that we are to keep out of sight the promises of God; for beyond a doubt we are to make use of them at all times and on all occasions: but then we are to make use of them, not for the fostering of an unhumbled confidence in God, but for the encouraging of our humiliation before God. We are to be constantly on our guard not to heal our wounds slightly, or to cry, Peace, peace! when there is no peace. We should bear in mind that the humbling of our souls is the very end which God aims at in withdrawing his presence from us: and the more we answer this end, the better: nay, if by the suspension of his favour towards us we be brought to a more earnest crying after him, and to an utter abhorrence of ourselves in dust and ashes, we shall have as much reason to adore him for such discipline, as for the most exalted joys he ever afforded us.
The excellency and efficacy of this remedy may be seen in,]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)