Introduction
A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.
This psalm is a thanksgiving on the recovery from some severe affliction which had threatened imminent death. That affliction was not the treachery of false friends, nor the conspiracy of enemies, nor war, but evidently a judgment of God. It is not necessary to suppose a personal sickness, though the writer’s life and kingdom were both imperilled. (See notes on Psalms 30:2-3; Psalms 30:6-7.) The moral cause of his affliction is hinted in Psalms 30:6. It seems, therefore, safer, following competent authority, to place this psalm at the date of 2 Samuel 24:18-25. The threshingfloor of Araunah the site of the future temple of Solomon called “the house of Jehovah” in 1 Chronicles 22:1, (see note on title,) was the summit surface of Mount Moriah.
The divisions of the psalm are four: Psalms 30:1-5 contain praise for the author’s deliverance; Psalms 30:6-7, the moral cause and depth of his affliction; Psalms 30:7-10, his prayer; Psalms 30:11-12, the renewed acknowledgment of the answer of his prayer, with pledges of unceasing praise.
TITLE:
Psalm and song Rather, A psalm; a song of the dedication of the house of David. Or, A psalm of David; a song of the dedication, etc., or a psalm-song of the dedication, etc. The difference between the two words is uncertain and practically unimportant. Mizmor ( psalm) is a term applied only to sacred songs; while shir ( song) is applied to both sacred and secular. Mizmor-shir, or psalm-song, occurs in titles of Psalms 67, 68, 87, 92. Shir mizmor, or song and psalm, occur in Psalms 48, 66, 83, 88, 108. Shir alone, Psalms 46:0; shir and mizmor, separated, Psalms 65, 75, 76. When in the construct state they should read psalm-song.
Dedication of the house This could not be the dedication of David’s palace, (2 Samuel 5:11-12,) for no such personal affliction as that complained of here immediately preceded that event, nor is the psalm adapted to such an occasion. See introductory note. “The dedication” was that of the threshingfloor of Araunah, or Ornan, on the summit of the rock Moriah, the site and foundation of the subsequent temple of Solomon. See 1 Chronicles 21:18-30, and 2 Samuel 24:18-25
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