Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 30. According to the title, David composed Psalm 30 for the dedication of the temple (an event that took place after David died, 1 Kings 8:63). The temple does not figure much in the psalm itself, except for the address to fellow worshipers in Ps. 30:4. The theme of the whole psalm is one of personal thanksgiving for God's repeated care and deliverance over the course of a life; the title makes the concrete situation of David's experience the background, and the worshipers can liken their own experiences to his.

30:1-3 Reasons Why I Will Extol. The opening phrase, I will extol you, is followed by three experiences that lead the singer to extol God: deliverance from the attacks of the foes, answered prayer in desperate circumstances, and rescue from impending death. The mention of Sheol and the pit in v. 3 probably indicates that the threatened death would have been death under divine judgment (cf. 28:1).