PSALM 30

Psalm 30

As a fan of structural analysis, I am happy to present a case where two (or even three) layouts are possible.

This is the way David A. Dorsey presents it:

a. 30:1, promise of praise, “rejoice”

 b. 30:2-3, report of appeal to God and rescue from the pit, “I cried… gone down” 

  c. 30:4-5, Statement of Yahweh’s favor (birshono)

   d. 30:6, Expression of confidence

  c’. 30:7, Statement of Yahweh’s favor (birshono)

 b’. 30:8-10, report of appeal to God and rescue from the pit, “I cried… gone down”

a’. 30:11-12, promise of praise, “joy”

Then in the footnote 23 Dorsey refers to Alden, “Chiastic Psalms”, 22 who presents nine part pattern.   

I see the parallel structure in the psalm:

a. 30:1, You drawn me up

 b. 30:2, I cried

  c. 30:3, You brought my soul from Sheol, go down to the pit

   d. 30:4, Sing praises and give thanks

    e. 30:5, His anger for a moment, His favor from a lifetime – turning point!

a’. 30:6-7, I shall not be moved by Your favor

 b’. 30:8, To You, O LORD, I cry

  c’. 30:9-10, death, going down to the pit

   d’. 30:11-12, Sing praise and give thanks    

I think, when Jesus was talking to His disciples about His death and resurrection referring to the Law of Moses (Torah), Prophets, and Psalms (Lk. 24:44-46), He was referring and/or using this psalm. One of the few that presented the picture of the One who ended up in Sheol, but YHWH brought “my soul” from it. So, it is not a death prevention psalm, it is a psalm of restoration (30:3).

This leads to singing of praises to YHWH and giving thanks to the His holy name. This demands a pause and slow reading. Think about this:

who represents (or wears) His holy name? Jesus – John 17:11-12.

Also, thanksgiving in Greek is eucharist.

Uniting these two points together we can say that Service of the Sacrament – is an act of thanksgiving of His holy name, the name of the One Who paid for our release from the fear of death with His own life. He descended into hell (cp. Apostle’s creed), He knows “firsthand” what death is all about but being sinless “death could not hold Him”, trotting a path for our re-union with the Creator.

This is even more reassured in v. 7 – He, the Creator, sustains our lives. Without Him we are dismayed.

But He is gracious and merciful, which is revealed in the following:  

vv. 8-12 We have two parts:

a. 8-10 – confessional part, when we cry for help

b. 11-12 – reversal part:  mourning into dancing

            Sackcloth into clothe of gladness

Concluding with glory, praise, and thanksgiving forever!

As a result, we can confidently say with the psalmist, described by Dr. Luther:

6. In My abundance I said, I shall never be moved. This can also be understood in the manner of that apostolic word: “Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more” (Rom. 6:9). And thus “abundance” signifies the glory of resurrection, where every kind of salvation beyond the prior life has abounded in Him. And because of this abundance He says that He will never be moved, that is, He will no longer die. And this is because the LORD God in His good pleasure “gave to My beauty (that is, beauty to humanity through the glory of the resurrection) “strength” not to die. See also Ps. 93:1: “The LORD has reigned, clothed with beauty; the LORD is clothed with strength” (LW, 10:138).