Psalm 41 Series

March 30, 2015

Tom Lowe

Title: PSALM 41

A psalm of David.

Psalm 41 (KJV)

1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

2 The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

4 I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?

6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.

9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

10 But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

11 By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.

13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

Introduction

Psalm’s 38, 39, 40, and 41 all came out of the very same situation. Each of them was concerned with the circumstances which surrounded the rebellion of Absalom against his father David.

Many men have had a rebellious son but not many have sons who have hated them as much as Absalom hated David. No rebellion takes place in a vacuum. Behind Absalom’s rebellion was David’s sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, which continually haunted David’s conscience. These hideous crimes had been forgiven, but the consequences of his actions was something which David had to contend with throughout the remaining years of his life. God will forgive us, but we must still face the music and reap what we have so foolishly sown.

How could David impose the death sentence, required by the Law of Moses, upon Amnon for his wicked seduction of Absalom’s sister, when he himself had been guilty of the wicked seduction of Bathsheba? How could David impose the death sentence, required by the Law of Moses, upon Absalom for the murder of Amnon, when he himself had been guilty of murdering Uriah? So, from that one evil seed the whole Absalom rebellion flowered, flourished, and bore fruit. Truly, what we sow we eventually reap.

Psalm 41 divides into three parts (The last verse is really a final epilogue to the entire first book of psalms.):

I. DAVID’S FEARS (41:1-3)

II. DAVID’S FOES (41:4-9)

III. DAVID’S FAITH (41:10-12)

Commentary

DAVID’S FEARS (41:1-3)

David had good cause to fear, for his circumstances were extremely serious.

1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

Some commentators substitute the word “helpless” for the word “poor.” David was referring to himself and he certainly was not poor. The Hebrew word he used means “dangling” or “slacking” or “letting go.” Sometimes the word is rendered “the weak” or “the sick.” That was David’s condition. So here, “the poor” probably means not so much poor financially as it does poor in health, weakened by sickness.

What happened to David—to the mighty man who could tackle a lion and a bear and in single-handed combat route the giant of Gath? What happened to the warrior-king who never lost a battle and who raised the Hebrew people from a dozen squabbling tribes into an International Power? As the Hebrew of the passage suggests, he had been “letting things go.”

That’s his condition. Matters of state slipped away from him; he no longer had a firm grip on the helm of the kingdom; he was a weakling. That is what sin did for David and what sin will do for everyone. But David was a contrite and a humble man. He was “letting go” in another sense: “let go and let God.” The Lord would deliver him in time of trouble.

And David no doubt based his prayer on the stipulations given in the covenant (Leviticus 26:1-13; Deuteronomy 7:13-16; 28:1-14). He knew that he had no right to claim mercy from the Lord if he himself had not shown mercy to others. But David had fully obeyed the Lord’s rules and had shown mercy to King Saul, to Saul’s grandson Mephibosheth, and to the needy in the land he ruled. (See Matthew 5:7 and Luke 6:37-38) God rewards kindness to the poor (Proverbs 19:17). “Poor” refers to the helpless, the miserable people whose lot was difficult and who depended on the help of others. To “consider” those pitiable people meant being attentive to their needs and assisting them; and teaching them the value of walking in accord with the mind of the Lord. It also meant not judging and blaming them, as Job’s friends blamed him and the disciples blamed the blind man (John 9:1-4). He believed, like other good men of his time that God, by his sickness, was seeking to correct him (Job 36:7-11). We have every reason to believe that David sought to care for the poor and needy in his kingdom and therefore was praying with integrity. In verse one, he referred to himself in the third person, a true mark of his humility before the Lord.