seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 41[a]For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
2 The Lord protects and preserves them—
they are counted among the blessed in the land—
he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed
and restores them from their bed of illness.
the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
2 The Lord protects and preserves them—
they are counted among the blessed in the land—
he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed
and restores them from their bed of illness.
4 I said, “Have mercy on me, Lord;
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die and his name perish?”
6 When one of them comes to see me,
he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he goes out and spreads it around.
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies say of me in malice,
“When will he die and his name perish?”
6 When one of them comes to see me,
he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he goes out and spreads it around.
7 All my enemies whisper together against me;
they imagine the worst for me, saying,
8 “A vile disease has afflicted him;
he will never get up from the place where he lies.”
9 Even my close friend,
someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
has turned(b) against me.
they imagine the worst for me, saying,
8 “A vile disease has afflicted him;
he will never get up from the place where he lies.”
9 Even my close friend,
someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
has turned(b) against me.
10 But may you have mercy on me, Lord;
raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 Because of my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever.
raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 Because of my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever.
13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
a. Psalm 41:1 In Hebrew texts 41:1-13 is numbered 41:2-14.
b. Psalm 41:9 Hebrew has lifted up his heel
Wow... The commentaries make it seem like David had a lot of illness and despair. David was a musician.... he sang the blues .... a lot.....
Now the songs he sang had a lot of meaning. David loved God. He was defending the reputation of Israel when he knocked Golliath over with a stone. He was standing up for the Name of God when he didn't kill Saul in the cave.... he merely took a snip of his robe to show how loyal he was to Saul. He was standing up for the Name of God while he sang to Saul to keep him sane. So... since David was so close to God.... his songs have a God centered theme. I think the title of this bluesy song.... "Oh I lost my best friend".....
This is from the easy English site.
David was ill. He tells us this in verse 4. He says it is because he had broken God’s rules. We think that this was when he sent Uriah to die, so that he might marry Uriah’swife. The story is in 2 Samuel 11:6-17.
When David was ill, many people came to visit him. David thought that they were his friends. They were not. They were looking for bad things to say about David. They wanted him to die so that there would be a new king. The new king would be Absalom, one of David’s sons. You will find the story in 2 Samuel 15-18.
One of David’s visitors was his best friend. This is in verse 9. We do not know who the "best friend" was, but we do know that he was an unkind friend. Like the other visitors, he only came to find bad things to say about David.
Jesus repeated verse 9 just before he died. Our translation is from the Hebrew Bible. This is the Bible that the Jews still use. But 200 years before Jesus came to the earth they made another translation. It was in Greek. This was the Bible Jesus used in John 13:18. That is why the words are not the same. The unkind friend that Jesus had was Judas.
But there was also a good visitor. It was the LORD God. The psalm makes him sound like a nurse that made David well again. This was the Jews’ way of saying that God helped David.
Study Psalm 41 in 5 parts:
Verses 1 - 3a: What the LORD will do for people that are kind to the poor. (3a means the first part of verse 3.)
Verses 3b – 4: David prays to the LORD. David thinks that God will do these things for him because David is kind to the poor and ill.
Verses 5 – 9: David writes about his unkind friends.
Verses 10 – 12: David finishes his prayer.
Verse 13: Words put in by the people that made the Book of Psalms. The words finish the First Book of Psalms, numbers 1 - 41.
Verse 1: "when life is difficult" is "in the day of trouble" in Hebrew.
Verse 2: "where he lives" is "on the earth" in Hebrew.
Verse 3: This is "you will change all his bed when he is ill" in Hebrew. We have put what we think that it means.
Verse 4: "have mercy" is an English way to say "do not hurt me even though you ought to hurt me".
Verse 5: "people forget his name" probably means "his family all die so that nobody remembers them".
Verse 7: "worse things happen to me" means "that I will not only be ill but die".
Verse 8: "death-wish" in Hebrew is "Belial". This is a name for the Devil, God’s enemy. David knew, as we know, that nobody can put a death-wish on people that obey God.
Verse 9: "lifted up his heel" is how the Jews said "was very unkind to me", or "kicked me".
Verse 10: As David was king it was his job to repay them, or hurt them, because they were bad.
Personally.... I think the murder of Uriah really plagued David. I think the death of Bathsheba's baby hung on him too. After reading from Genesis, I have noted several times how women were treated in David's day. They were property.... I'm of the opinion that even if Bathsheba wanted to be with David.... it was not safe for her to turn him down. He was, after all, a very powerful king. I'm sure the seduction/rape of Bathsheba weighed heavy on him as well.
Maybe he spent so much time composing the blues.... people got tired of it and left him to his music.... which led to "well my best dog just died" kind of songs.
Did he prophesy about the coming Jesus [as a lot of commentaries mention]? I'm not so sure that he predicted it.... It says Jesus quoted him. I'm pretty sure any song about goodness and mercy could be attributed to Jesus.... but David was a very smart king... who took care of the poor... stood up for the right thing..... for the most part.... so, IMHO it's not so much that David predicted Jesus.... just that Jesus respected David.... in spite of what happened to Bathsheba, Uriah, and the baby.
