Psalms 41
Big idea: Book I ends where it might not have chosen to. The psalm opens generously — blessed is he who considers the poor — and then describes what it is like to be the poor one: sick in bed, visitors who come to gather material, whispering in the corridor, everyone waiting for the death notice. The wound at its centre is verse 9, which Jesus quoted at the Last Supper: my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me. And then, above all of it, the doxology that closes the first book: blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen and amen.
Psalm 41's doxology closes Book I. Book II opens with a different set of poets — the sons of Korah — and a deer looking for water.
41:1–9 — My own familiar friend
Book I closes with a psalm about being visited badly. It opens on the blessing owed to whoever considers the poor, and then the psalmist finds himself in exactly that position — sick, and being considered by people doing arithmetic at his bedside. The detail is merciless: the visitor speaks comfort in the room and carries the report outside. Then verse 9, which Jesus quotes of Judas at the last supper.
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil. 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. 3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. 4 I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.” 5 My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?” 6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. 7 All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me. 8 “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.” 9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.
41:10–13 — Blessed be Yahweh — Book I closes
Four verses, and the last of them is not part of the psalm at all — it is the doxology that closes Book I, one of five that divide the Psalter into books. What precedes it is honest to the point of awkwardness: the request is to be raised up in order to REPAY, which the psalm does not soften. Then the ground of confidence, which is not victory but not being triumphed over.
10 But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. 11 By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me. 12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. 13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).