Deeper Commentary
Psa 41:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David- Jeduthun was perhaps "the chief musician" (Ps. 39:1) who was to perform the Psalms or teach them to others (1 Chron. 16:41,42,44; 25:3-6).
Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of
evil- In the context of Ahithophel and Absalom's rebellion,
David would here be asking for blessing upon those who came to his support
with food and sustenance as he fled from Absalom. Barzillai and the others
who were on his side are considered "blessed" by David. Or he may be
reasoning that his goodness to the poor surely meant he ought to be
blessed at this point, a very legalistic view. The
Hebrew for "consider" really means to understand- that’s how it is normally translated. To
be sensitive to the poor, to understand them, to have a heart that bleeds
for them- this is what God seeks in us.
And
yet David appears here to be justifying himself as delivered from his day
of evil because he had been generous to the poor- when in fact David was
saved by grace and not by such good works.
Many
of the Psalms are clearly relevant to David, and yet just as clearly
relevant to Hezekiah and other Kings. Thus Ps. 41 is David’s reflection on
the situation of 2 Sam. 15- but evidently it’s been re-written with
reference to Hezekiah, also afflicted with an “evil disease”; and
Ahithophel’s part in David’s life was played out in Hezekiah’s life by
Shebna (Is. 22:15). It seems apparent they were re-written over time, and
hence have relevance to various historical settings.
Psa 41:2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed
on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies-
As noted on :1, David was preserved by grace and not by the fact he had
been generous to the poor (:1), as he liked to imagine.
Psa 41:3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his
bed of illness- The previous Psalms (Ps. 38-40) have described David
on his bed of apparently terminal sickness after the sin with Bathsheba,
being saved by grace. And he wishes to encourage all men to share in his
path of healing and experience of grace.
Psa 41:4 I said, Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned
against You- "Have mercy" here and in :10 is the term used in David's
plea for forgiveness in Ps. 51:1. The cry for mercy suggests the moral
guilt of the sin with Bathsheba, which had its consequence in David's
mortal sickness with which it seems he was stricken soon afterwards (as in
Ps. 30:8).
Psa 41:5 My enemies speak evil against me: When will he die, and his name
perish?- David's prayers for restoration after the crisis with
Bathsheba do indeed include a bald admission of sin as in :4. But his
prayers seem to spend far more time in asking for deliverance from his
enemies, avoidance of personal shame, and judgment upon them- again
suggesting his repentance was not all it might have been.
Psa 41:6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers
iniquity to itself. When he goes outside, he tells it- The
LXX puts this in the past tense. In the context of Absalom's rebellion,
this would apply most comfortably to Absalom, who is recorded as coming to
see David and then going outside the palace and slandering David to the
men of Israel. This isn't recorded of Ahithophel, although it could be
argued that the person in
view is his "familiar friend" of :9. He doesn't perhaps name Ahithophel
because these Psalms were written whilst he still felt the possibility of
restoring his relationship with Ahithophel and didn't want to openly state
what he knew Ahithophel (Bathsheba's grandfather) was up to. Whilst on his
bed of sickness, it seems Ahithophel visited David, speaking falsehood to
him, and then went outside and slandered him to the world, as in :8.
Psa 41:7 All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the
worst for me- 2 Sam. 12:19 speaks of David's courtiers whispering
about him soon after the sin with Bathsheba. So we can assume that his
courtiers are in view here, caught up in the conspiracy to overthrow him,
putting around the idea that he was too weak to resist any conspiracy
(:8).
Psa 41:8 An evil disease, they say, has afflicted him. Now that he lies he
shall rise up no more- Heb. 'a disease of Belial'. The idea was that
because David had sinned, some kind of supernatural 'devil' or demons had
smitten David and he would die. We notice that David didn't share this
mistaken, paganic view; instead he repeatedly attributes his disease to
Yahweh, and believed that therefore Yahweh could lift it. There is
plenty of evidence that David was sick when fleeing from Absalom. Beds
were brought out for him (2 Sam. 17:28) and three times it is stated that
David was "weary" at this time (2 Sam. 16:14; 17:2,29). Barzillai "had
provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim" (2 Sam. 19:32).
It seems David's condition was known, hence Ahithophel's advice to come
upon David and kill him whilst he was "weary" (2 Sam. 17:2).
Psa 41:9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with
me- The person in view is clearly Ahithophel, David's counsellor, the
"man of my peace" (2 Sam. 15:12), referenced also in Ps. 55:13,14. The
king's counsellor in oriental courts always ate at his table. The Lord's
invitation to all, sinners included, to eat at His table... is therefore a
sublime insight into how radically inclusive He was and is. But
David just doesn't get it, that his "friend" is no longer going to be his
friend if he sleeps with their granddaughter and murders her husband.
Has lifted up his heel against me- Apparently an allusion to how the seed of the woman would strike the seed of the serpent with his heel (Gen. 3:15). Ahithophel was treating David as the seed of the serpent, rather than realizing that a member of the seed of the woman can still sin, be forgiven and remain on the Lord's side rather than that of the serpent.
Psa 41:10 But You, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may
repay them- As noted on :4, the cry for mercy and being raised up
from the bed of sickness was primarily in the context of David's sin with
Bathsheba. But even in that dire situation, David is still thinking of
repaying his enemies. Grace is such a difficult concept to totally grasp,
and the old ways of behaviour-based judgment die so hard. There is
no surprise therefore that Ahithophel kills himself rather than fall into
David's vengeful hands. There is no grace at all in David despite all the
grace shown him.
Psa 41:11 By this I know that You delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t
triumph over me- Tenses in Hebrew aren't exact (unlike in
Greek). Seeing this is a prayer for help (:10),, the idea may be 'I will
now that You delight in me if you save me from my enemies'. This would be
manipulative. David has previously claimed that his only desire is for
forgiveness; whereas here he reveals how desperately he wanted to be saved
from the consequences of those sins. And Nathan's prophetic word had made
it clear that God intended him to suffer those consequences.
Psa 41:12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me in Your
presence forever- He looked forward to eternity as being in God's
presence eternally. His focus was not upon living on a perfected earth,
true as that may be; but rather upon relationship with God.
The Bathsheba Psalms, and those written after that time, clearly reflect how David had a sense of integrity before God. Ps. 41:4,12 is a good example: “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned…as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever”. How could David, David the adulterer and the murderer, speak of his integrity…? Only, surely, because he truly believed in imputed righteousness. Although I have noted the possibility throughout the Psalms that David was perhaps not as repentant as he might have been for his sin. Yet forgiven sinners- and none of us are essentially any different to David- can have genuine integrity before God and men, because of this wonderful thing called imputed righteousness, justification by grace, call it by whatever theological term we like. But the bottom line in practice is that we can have genuine integrity before God and man. Yet, of course, men are no so willing to accept this… those who break that 11th commandment ‘Thou shalt not be caught!’ are very often treated as if they can never have any integrity, and are for ever second class citizens in their community. But this isn’t the way of those who seek to reflect God’s way of dealing with sin.
Psa 41:13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to
everlasting! Amen and amen- David was bidding all people share in his
experience of grace through joining in with his Psalms; he wishes them to
say "Amen and amen" on a personal level, thus personalizing his
experiences to themselves.
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