John Calvin Commentary Psalms 30

I will extol you, O Jehovah! As David had been brought, as it were, from the grave to the life-giving air, he promises to extol the name of God. It is God who lifts us up with His own hand when we have been plunged into a profound gulf; and therefore it is our duty, on our part, to sing His praises with our tongues.

By the foes who, he says, found no reason to rejoice over him, we may understand both domestic and foreign enemies. Although wicked and evil-disposed persons flattered him with servile adulation, they at the same time cherished secret hatred against him, and were ready to insult him as soon as an opportunity arose.

In the second verse, he concludes that he was preserved by the favor of God, offering as proof of this that when he was at the very point of death he directed his supplications to God alone, and that he immediately felt he had not done so in vain.

When God hears our prayers, it is proof that allows us to conclude with certainty that He is the author of our salvation and of the deliverance we obtain. As the Hebrew word רפא, rapha, signifies to heal, interpreters have been led, by this consideration, to restrict it to sickness.

But it is certain that rapha sometimes signifies to restore, or to set up again. Since it is also applied to an altar or a house when they are said to be repaired or rebuilt, it may appropriately mean any deliverance here. The life of man is in danger in many other ways than merely from disease. We also know it is a common figure of speech in the Psalms to say that David was restored to life whenever the Lord delivered him from any grievous and extreme danger.

Therefore, for amplification, he immediately adds, You have brought up my soul from the grave. He considered that he could not sufficiently express in words the magnitude of the favor God had bestowed on him unless he compared the darkness of that period to a grave and pit. David had been forced to throw himself hastily into such a hiding place to protect his life until the flame of insurrection was quenched.

As one restored to life, therefore, he proclaims that he had been marvelously delivered from present death, as if he had been restored to life after he had been dead. And assuredly, sacred history shows how completely he was overwhelmed with despair on every side.

Sing unto Jehovah. To better testify his gratitude, David calls upon all the saints to join with him in singing the praises of God; and under one class, he describes the whole body. As he had been preserved beyond all expectation, and by this instance had been instructed concerning God’s continual and infinite goodness towards all the godly, he breaks forth into this exhortation, in which he includes the general deliverance of the whole church as well as his own. He recounts not only what God had been to himself, but also how bountifully and promptly he is accustomed to assist his people. In short, confirmed by one particular instance, he turns his thoughts to the general truth.

The meaning of the Hebrew term חסידים, chasidim—which we have translated meekness, and by which David often describes the faithful—has already been shown in Psalm 16. Their heavenly adoption should move them to the practice of beneficence, so that they may imitate their Father’s disposition, who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good (Matthew 5:45).

There is nothing in which men resemble God more truly than in doing good to others. The memorial of his holiness, in the second clause of the verse, may refer to the tabernacle, as if David had exhorted all the children of God to go before the ark of the covenant, which was the memorial of God’s presence. The Hebrew letter ל, lamed, often denotes a place. However, I readily subscribe to the opinion of those who think that memorial signifies the same thing as name; for God has certainly rendered himself worthy of remembrance by his works, which are a bright representation of his glory, the sight of which should stir us up to praise him.

For his anger is only for a moment. It is beyond all controversy that life is opposed here to for a moment, and consequently signifies long continuance, or the constant progress of time from day to day. David thus intimates that if God at any time chastises his people, he not only mitigates the rigor of their punishment, but is immediately appeased, and moderates his anger; whereas he prolongs his kindness and favor for a long time.

And, as I have already observed, he chose rather to couch his discourse in general terms, than to speak particularly of himself, that the godly might all perceive that this continued manifestation of God’s favor belongs to them. We are thus taught, however, with how much meekness of spirit, and with what prompt obedience he submitted his back to God’s rod.

We know that from the very first bloom of youth, during almost his whole life, he was so tried by a multiplied accumulation of afflictions, that he might have been accounted miserable and wretched above all other men; yet in celebrating the goodness of God, he acknowledges that he had been lightly afflicted only for a short period, and as it were in passing.

Now, what inspired him with such great meekness and equanimity of mind was that he put a greater value on God’s benefits, and submitted himself more quietly to the endurance of the cross, than the world is accustomed to do.

If we are prosperous, we devour God’s blessings without feeling that they are his, or, at least, we indolently allow them to slip away. But if anything sorrowful or adverse befalls us, we immediately complain of his severity, as if he had never dealt kindly and mercifully with us.

In short, our own fretfulness and impatience under affliction make every minute an age; while, on the other hand, our repining and ingratitude lead us to imagine that God’s favor, however long it may be exercised towards us, is but for a moment. It is our own perversity, therefore, in reality, that hinders us from perceiving that God’s anger is but of short duration, while his favor is continued towards us during the whole course of our life.

Nor does God in vain so often declare that he is merciful and gracious to a thousand generations, long-suffering, slow to anger, and ready to forgive. And as what he says by the prophet Isaiah has a special reference to the kingdom of Christ, it must be daily fulfilled:

“For a small moment have I afflicted thee, but with everlasting mercies will I gather thee,” (Isaiah 54:7).

Our condition in this world, I confess, involves us in such wretchedness, and we are harassed by such a variety of afflictions, that scarcely a day passes without some trouble or grief. Moreover, amid so many uncertain events, we cannot be otherwise than full of daily anxiety and fear. Wherever, therefore, people turn, a labyrinth of evils surrounds them.

But however much God may terrify and humble his faithful servants with manifold signs of his displeasure, he always sprinkles them with the sweetness of his favor to moderate and assuage their grief. If, therefore, they weigh his anger and his favor in an equal balance, they will always find it verified that while the former is but for a moment, the latter continues to the end of life. Indeed, it goes beyond it, for it would be a grievous mistake to confine the favor of God within the boundaries of this transitory life.

And it is unquestionably certain that none but those whose minds have been raised above the world by a taste of heavenly life really experience this perpetual and uninterrupted manifestation of the divine favor, which enables them to bear their chastisements with cheerfulness. Paul, accordingly, that he may inspire us with invincible patience, refers to this in 2 Corinthians 4:17:

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.”

In the meantime, it should be observed that God never inflicts such heavy and continued chastisements on his people without frequently mitigating them and sweetening their bitterness with some consolation. Whoever, therefore, directs his mind to meditation on the heavenly life will never faint under his afflictions, however long continued; and, comparing them with the exceeding great and manifold favors of God towards him, he will put such honor on the latter as to judge that God’s goodness, in his estimation, outweighs his displeasure a hundred-fold.

In the second clause, David repeats the same thing figuratively: Weeping will lodge in the evening, and rejoicing shall come in the morning. He does not simply mean that the affliction would be only for one night, but that if the darkness of adversity should fall upon the people of God, as it were, in the evening, or at the setting of the sun, light would soon after arise upon them, to comfort their sorrow-stricken spirits.

The essence of David’s instruction is that if we were not too headstrong, we would acknowledge that the Lord, even when he appears to overwhelm us for a time with the darkness of affliction, always seasonably provides matter for joy, just as the morning arises after the night.

And in my tranquillity I had said. This is the confession which I previously 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. It is as if David had said, "When fortune smiled upon me on every side, and no danger appeared to cause fear, my mind sank, so to speak, 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 up on the saints when they indulge themselves in their prosperity and, so to speak, wallow on their dunghill. Hence Jeremiah (Jeremiah 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 only a small crime, yet we can gather from its punishment how much it displeases God; nor will we wonder at this when we consider the root from which it springs and the fruits which it bears.

As innumerable deaths 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, so to speak, tossed here and there; and yet, as if they did not belong to the human race, they imagine that they will always continue stable and not liable to 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 prompt or move them to do so? The children of God also have a pious security of their own, which preserves their minds in tranquillity amid the troublesome storms of the world; like David, who, although he had seen the whole earth made to shake, yet leaning upon the promise of God, was right to hope for 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 prepare themselves to endure them, are every hour prepared to receive wounds, shake off their sluggishness, 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 but 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 recently afflicted with a severe 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 (2 Chronicles 32:24). By this we are taught to be on our guard when in prosperity, so that Satan may not bewitch us with his flatteries.

The more bountifully God deals with anyone, the more carefully he ought 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 in their luxuries and excesses, insolently scoff at all God’s judgments. But, a weakening 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.

O Jehovah! of your good pleasure. This verse describes the difference that exists between the confidence founded on the word of God and the carnal security that springs from presumption. True believers, when they rely on God, are not, for that reason, neglectful of prayer. On the contrary, looking carefully at the multitude of dangers that surround them, and the numerous instances of human frailty they witness, they take warning from them and pour out their hearts before God.

The prophet now failed in duty in this matter because, by anchoring himself on his present wealth and tranquility, or spreading his sails to the prosperous winds, he did not depend on the free favor of God in such a way as to be ready at any time to resign into God's hands the blessings that He had bestowed on him.

The contrast should be observed between the confidence of stability that arises from the absence of trouble and that which rests on the gracious favor of God. When David says that strength was established to his mountain, some interpreters explain it as referring to Mount Zion. Others understand it to mean a stronghold or fortified tower, because in ancient times fortresses were usually built on mountains and lofty places.

I understand the word metaphorically to signify a solid support, and therefore readily admit that the prophet alludes to Mount Zion. David thus blames his own folly because he did not consider, as he should have, that there was no stability in the nest that he had formed for himself, but in God’s good will alone.

You have hidden your face. Here he confesses that after he was deprived of God’s gifts, this served to purge his mind, as if by medicine, from the disease of perverse confidence. A marvelous and incredible method indeed, that God, by hiding His face and, as it were, bringing on darkness, should open the eyes of His servant, who saw nothing in the clear light of prosperity.

Thus, it is necessary for us to be violently shaken to drive away the delusions that both stifle our faith and hinder our prayers, and that absolutely stupefy us with a soothing infatuation. If David needed such a remedy, let us not presume that we are endowed with such a good state of heart that we do not need the experience of want to remove this carnal confidence from us—a confidence that is, as it were, an unhealthy excess that would otherwise suffocate us. Therefore, we have no reason to wonder that God often hides His face from us, since the very sight of His face, even when it shines serenely upon us, makes us so miserably blind.