Psalm 41
13 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 73×2Matthew 26×2Proverbs 19×1Proverbs 14×12 Corinthians 9×1Jeremiah 45×1
Summary
Chapter summary
The close of Book I. 'Blessed is he that considereth the poor: Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil.' Enemies whisper against the sick man, awaiting his name's perishing; even 'mine own familiar friend, who did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me': Jesus cites it of Judas at the table (John 13:18). 'Raise me up, that I may requite them.' The doxology seals the book: 'Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 41The history
"If he come to see me, he speaketh vanity." Visiting the sick was an expected duty in Israel, and the visitor was supposed to bring comfort and intercession. Here the visitor comes to gather intelligence — his heart collects wickedness and he goes outside and tells it. The sickroom was the one place a rival could see how bad it really was.
"Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Eating together created obligation in that world. To share bread and salt at a man's table was to enter his protection and owe him loyalty; treaties were ratified over meals, and a host who harmed a guest, or a guest who harmed a host, had broken something everyone regarded as sacred.
"Lifted up his heel" pictures either a kick delivered by someone standing over you, or the sole of the foot shown as a gesture of contempt — showing the underside of the foot is still an insult across much of that region. Either way it is the act of someone who no longer counts you as a person.
The psalm's last verse is not part of the song. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen" is the doxology that closes Book One of the Psalter; four of these markers divide the collection into five books, an arrangement Israel's editors made deliberately.
What it meant to them
The psalm opens by blessing the man who considers the poor — and then shows a sick man whom nobody considered. First hearers were meant to feel the gap and decide which one they were.
Jesus later quoted verse 9 at the last supper, applying it to Judas, and pointedly stopped short of the words about repaying them.
Sources cited
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 41
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 41. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 9 · A picture of Christ · Quoted here
'hath lifted up his heel against me': Jesus, on Judas.
John 13:18→I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’
MannaFest topical index
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.