Psalms 30:9 - Exposition

What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit! What advantage wilt thou derive from my death, if thou killest me, either by the plague, which may as well fasten upon me as upon any one else, or by the misery and mental strain of seeing my subjects, my innocent sheep, suffer? God has "no pleasure in the death of him that dieth" ( Ezekiel 18:32 ), and certainly can obtain no profit from the destruction of any of his creatures. Shall the dust praise thee? (comp. Psalms 6:5 ; Psalms 88:10 ; Psalms 115:17 ; Isaiah 38:18 ). In death, so far as the power of death extends, there can be no action; the lips cease to move, and therefore cannot hymn God's praise—the "dust" is inanimate, and, while it remains dust, cannot speak. What the freed soul may do, the psalmist does not consider. Very little was known under the old dispensation concerning the intermediate state. Shall it declare thy truth? The dust certainly could not do this, unless revivified and formed into another living body.