To the chief musician, a psalm of David
41
📚Blessed is he whoconsiders the poor.
The LORD will deliver him
in time of trouble.
41:1 We have in this psalm also a word fulfilled in the experience of the Lord Jesus (v 9). However it is very plain that the whole psalm does not refer to Him because v 4 is a confession of personal sin (see note 40:12). The weak or poor have a special place in God’s heart and should have in ours also (Ps 82:3-4; Ex 22:25; 23:11; Lev 19:10; Prov 14:21; Luke 6:20; Gal 2:10; Jam 2:5). Blessed are those who help them. It is very instructive to trace through the Psalms those whom God declares are blessed (see note at Ps 1:1-2).⚜
2 📚The LORD will preserve him
and keep him alive;
and he will be blessed
on the earth.
And you will not hand him over
to the will of his enemies.
3 📚The LORD will strengthen him
on the bed of illness.
You will transform all his bed
in his sickness.
41:3 Sickness may come to even the most trusting and faithful believers (1 Kings 15:23; Job 2:7; Isa 38:1; Gal 4:13; Phil 2:26-27; 1 Tim 5:23; 2 Tim 4:20). But see here Who will be both doctor and nurse to them. Compare Ps 103:3; Ex 15:26.⚜
4 📚I said, “LORD, be merciful to me.
Heal my soul 📖, for I have sinned
against you”.
5 📚My enemies speak evil of me,
“When will he die,
and his name perish?”
6 📚And if one of them
comes to see me,
he speaks falsehood.
His heart gathers evil to itself.
When he goes out,
he tells it.
7 📚All who hate me whisper together
against me.
They plot harm against me.
8 📚“An evil disease”, they say,
“clings to him,
and now that he is lying down
he will never get up again”.
41:8 See Ps 71:10-11; Isa 53:4. His enemies accused Christ of blasphemies and declared Him worthy of destruction (Matt 26:65-66).⚜
9 📚Even my own familiar friend,
whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
has lifted up his heel
against me.
41:9 In David’s case this probably refers to Ahitophel (2 Sam 15:12, 31; 2 Sam 16:15, 20-23). It was fulfilled in the life of the Lord Jesus by the betrayal of Judas (Matt 26:23; John 13:18). Observe that the Lord Jesus quoted only a part of this verse. He did not use the words “friend in whom I trusted”, because He never trusted Judas. He knew from the beginning what Judas was like and what he would do (John 6:64, 70, 71).⚜
10 📚But you, O LORD,
be merciful to me,
and raise me up,
that I may repay them.
41:10 He prays for something his enemies said was impossible (v 8). However this may have been fulfilled in David’s case it was gloriously fulfilled in Christ at His resurrection. On “repay” see Ps 2:12; Isa 65:6; note at Num 31:2. The enemies of God will be rewarded according to their deeds.⚜
11 📚By this I will know that
you are pleased with me:
because my enemy does not triumph
over me.
41:11 See Ps 37:23; 147:11. If God is pleased with us it little matters what men think of us. So Paul in Gal 1:10; 1 Thess 2:4.⚜
12 📚And as for me, you uphold me
in my integrity,
and set me before your face forever.
13 📚Blessed be the LORD
God of Israel from everlasting
to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.