Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 41:4
I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
4. I said ] Or, I, even I, have said. This has been and is my prayer. Psa 41:10 seems to imply that the sickness is not yet a thing of the past.
be merciful ] Be gracious (Psa 4:1; &c.).
heal my soul ] The soul is the man’s whole ‘self;’ the living personality which results from the union of spirit and flesh. See Oehler’s Old Test. Theology, 70. The bodily sickness is the sign and symptom of spiritual disease: he would fain be healed of both. Cp. Psa 6:2-3; Jer 17:14.
for I have sinned against thee ] Cp. Psa 51:4; Psa 31:10 He has offended against God; the chastisement comes from Him; and He alone can heal. Cp. Hos 6:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 6. The foregoing sketch of the blessedness of the compassionate man serves to introduce the Psalmist’s description of his own case, partly as a foil and contrast to the heartless treatment he is experiencing, partly because he feels that he can himself plead for a share in the mercy promised to the merciful.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I said, Lord – I said in my sickness, or in the trial referred to in the psalm. I called on God to be merciful to me when others had no mercy; to be near to me when others turned away; to save me when pressed down with disease on account of my sins. All that follows relates, like this passage, to what occurred when he was sick; to the thoughts that passed through his mind, and to the treatment which he then experienced from others.
Be merciful unto me – In forgiving my sins, and restoring me to health.
Heal my soul – In restoring my soul to spiritual health by forgiving the sin which is the cause of my sickness; or it may mean, Restore my life – regardng his life as (as it were) diseased and in danger of extinction. The probability, however, is that he had particular reference to the soul as the word is commonly understood, or as designating himself; heal, or restore me.
For I have sinned against thee – Regarding his sin as the cause of his sickness. See the notes at Psa 38:3-5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 41:4
I said, Lord be merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.
An excellent prayer
I. He confesses that he is a sinner. The law brings the conviction of sin, but the greatest sin of all is unbelief.
II. He counts sin the disease of the soul–heal my soul. Sin affects the soul as disease the body.
III. He views God as the only physician–Lord, heal my soul We cannot heal our own soul; nor can any creatures. The sooner we see and feel this the better. But the Lord heals: by His stripes we are healed.
IV. He is also persuaded that nothing but mercy in God will induce him to heal his soul. Here is the only source of our hope. (W. Jay.)
A singular plea in prayer
I. A prayer.
1. Lord, be merciful unto me.
(1) It may–I dare say did–mean, at least in part, Mitigate my pains. When grieved with sore physical pain, you will find that the quiet resignation, holy patience, and childlike submissiveness which enable you just to pray, Lord, be merciful unto me, will often bring a better relief to you than anything that the most skilled physician can prescribe.
(2) He must have meant also, Forgive my sins. It is a blessed prayer, and I charge you never to cease from using it in the sense that our Lord taught it to His disciples,! Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
(3) I think that David also meant, Fulfil thy promises. Thou hast said of the man who considers the poor, The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Lord, be merciful unto me, and deliver me in the time of my trouble, Thou hast said, The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive. Lord, be merciful unto me, preserve me, and keep me alive. Thou hast said that Thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies; Lord, be merciful unto me, and guard me from my foes. Thou wilt strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Lord, be merciful unto me, and strengthen me. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness; Lord, make my bed.
2. Heal my soul. David does not pray, Heal my eye; heal my foot; heal my heart; heal me, whatever my disease may be; but he goes at once to the root of the whole matter, and prays, Heal my soul.
(1) Heal me, Lord, of the distress of my soul.
(2) Lord, heal my soul of the effect of sin.
(3) Heal me of my tendency to sin.
II. A confession. I have sinned against Thee.
1. It is a confession without an excuse.
2. It is a confession without any qualification. He does not say, Lord, I have sinned to a certain extent; but, still, I have partly balanced my sins by my virtues, and I hope to wipe out my faults with my tears. No; he says, I have sinned against Thee, as if that were a full description of his whole life.
3. It is without affectation. I like a man, when he makes a confession of sin, not to be carried away into the use of proud expressions without meaning, but to speak with judgment, and to acknowledge and confess only what is true. This is the excellence of Davids confession, that he owns to what no sinner will ever admit till the grace of God makes him do it: I have sinned against Thee.
III. A plea. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul. Why? For I have sinned against Thee. That is a very remarkable way of pleading, but it is the only right one.
1. It is such a plea as no self-righteous man would urge. The Pharisee keeps to this strain, Lord, be merciful unto me, for I have been obedient, I have kept thy law. O foolish, self-righteous man, do you not see that you are shutting the door in your own face? You say, in effect, Be merciful unto me, for I do not need any mercy.
2. This is such a plea as a carnal reasoner could not urge, for he could not spy out any reason or argument in it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sins disease
I. Sin is a soul disease.
1. Of the understanding.
2. Of the affections.
3. Of the conscience.
4. Of the will.
II. God alone can heal it.
1. We must feel our malady, and–
2. Our impotence.
3. We must recognize His power, and–
4. Trust His mercy. (W. W. Whyte.)
The inveterateness of sin
Sin, we are told, is a survival; and that reverses and explodes all the traditional Christian theology. It is, they say, the effort of some past condition to assert itself when its day is over. It may be even a belated virtue which was once a true formula, under which we succeeded in securing our existence. For it has become a vice, in that it would hold us down at a lower level than that which lies open to us. It haunts us with strange and awful memories, it imprisons us with instinctive hopes which we should have forgotten and overgrown; it strikes against its own institution. It has old refuges in the blood and tissue, from out of which it refuses to be wrung. It has a dim, end-of-the-world impulse to appeal to. No wonder it is hard to beat it under. It carries on its subterranean war like the pagan deities of old, beneath the surface triumphant still. That is sin, according to this interpretation. Sin is the shadow cast out of the past; it reveals the law, out of which we have climbed to the new day. Still it sucks us down, and menaces, and defiles; but its death is sure; the future is against it; its sentence has gone out. There may be many a disloyal recrudescence of its ancient mischief; there will be strange moments when a sort of atavism will enable it to occupy lost ground; there may be even partial degradations, in which the higher will succumb to the lower. But the whole trend of life is upward, and under this sin will sink and disappear, for life is not a fail, but a rise, sin is that which is for ever being left behind. Now, of course, if this is the true account of sin, we had better wipe out the entire Bible story. Let us consider what that would mean. It would not be merely an abandonment of some obsolete dogma, nor would it be to realize all real living facts over against some blind authority. Rather it would mean the surrender of the widest, and deepest and most prolonged accumulation of human experience in the things of the living spirit that the world has ever known. Is there any statement more completely falsified by every scrap that we know of our own inward life than the one which pronounces that sin is the merest survival? That is just the sort of illusion with which we all begin, and which all further experience explodes. We fancy at first that sin is a misfortune, an accident, a weak surrender, to some invading and hostile attack. We never lived it, we are not of that sort, we know our own rightness of intention, our innate goodness in our best self. We will face and wipe off this wrong which has besmirched us. It is so unworthy of us and so unlike us. And now we have confessed and repented and we are ourselves again. We shall be stronger when next assailed. These will die away of themselves. How futile! how ignorant! how wrong! The old, old story repeats itself; the relapse recurs with strange regularity; the moral strength just breaks at the crisis when it ought to stand. Always the thing, somehow, is too much for it; always we do again that very thing that we had forsworn for ever. Why the strange persistent failure? Why this tremor at the heart? Why is the hand still put out to pluck that which we know to be forbidden? Why do the feet turn again down the paths which lead to death? Again it is the old cause–the thing that I ought to do I do not; the thing that I would not, that I do. And does this mean that we have not got at the root of the matter, that it is not the outside accident which we hope, that it is a monotonous revelation of a wrong that works by a regular law? It is I and not something that is upon me that is responsible for this disorder. Why cannot I do what I want? I, who seem to myself so inherently good, so thoroughly well-meaning, so far above these degradations, so resolute in my determination? I am somehow guilty. O miserable man that I am! O my God, it is I that have sinned against Thee and done this evil in Thy sight. Your sin will not disappear of itself. You will never grow out of it; it is too deep, too intimate, too personal for that. It will reappear within when you have expelled it from without. You are powerless. But you have the witness in yourself that sin and you can never agree. Sin is not your true life, but your death, and in the strength of that inner weakness you have force and right to appeal to; that invincible love that only waits for your appeal to find its entry. Have mercy upon me, O God, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee. Lift that cry, and the answer is in your ears in the Person of Jesus Christ our Saviour: I will, be thou clean. (Canon Scott Holland.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me] I need thy mercy especially, because I have sinned against thee, and my sin is a deadly wound to my soul; therefore heal my soul, for it has sinned against thee.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My soul, i.e. either,
1. Myself, to wit, my body. So it is a double synecdoche. And the soul is so taken Psa 16:10. Or,
2. My soul properly so called; which is said to be healed, when it is pardoned and purged, as 2Ch 30:20; Isa 53:5, compared with 1Pe 2:24; Mat 13:15, compared with Mar 4:12; Jam 5:16. So he strikes at the root of his misery, and prays for the removal of the sin of his soul, as the cause of the disease of his body.
For I have sinned against thee: this may be added, either,
1. As a reason or motive to God; Grant this request, for I have sinned, and therefore thy grace in healing me will be more glorious and admirable. Or, for I acknowledge that I have sinned; for the act is oft put for the declaration of it, as Exo 33:13; Psa 51:5. Or,
2. As a reason moving him thus to pray, I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; and great reason I had to say so, for I have sinned against thee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. I saidI asked the mercy Ishow.
heal my soul(ComparePs 30:2). “Sin andsuffering are united,” is one of the great teachings of thePsalms.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I said, Lord, be merciful unto me,….
[See comments on Ps 40:11];
heal my soul; not that it was diseased with sin in such sense as the souls of other men are; but it is to be understood as a petition for comfort while bearing the sins of others, and which Christ as man stood in need of when in the garden and on the cross; so healing signifies comfort in trouble, as in Isa 57:18;
for I have sinned against thee; or “unto thee”, or “before thee”, as the Targum; not that any sin was committed by him in his own person, but he having all the sins of his people on him, which he calls his own, Ps 40:12; he was treated as a sinner, and as guilty before God,
Isa 53:12; and so the words may be read, “for I am a sinner unto thee” u; I am counted as one by thee, having the sins of my people imputed to me; and am bound unto thee, or under obligation to bear the punishment of sin; or thus, “for I have made an offering for sin unto thee” w, so the word is used, Le 6:26; and so it might be rendered in Le 5:7; and perhaps may be better rendered so in Le 4:3; and be understood, not of the sin of the anointed priest, but of his offering a sacrifice for the soul that sinned through ignorance,
Ps 41:2, which offering is directed to: and then the sense here is, heal me, acquit me, discharge me, and deliver me out of this poor and low estate in which I am; for I have made my soul an offering for sin, and thereby have made atonement for all the sins of my people laid upon me; and accordingly he was acquitted and justified, 1Ti 3:16.
u “tibi”, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. w “Obtuli sacrificium pro peccato”, Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 249, 923.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 41:5-7) He, the poet, is treated in his distress of soul in a manner totally different from the way just described which is so rich in promises of blessing. He is himself just such a , towards whom one ought to manifest sympathising consideration and interest. But, whilst he is addressing God in the language of penitential prayer for mercy and help, his enemies speak evil to him, i.e., with respect to him, wishing that he might die and that his name might perish. .hs is as an exception Milra, inasmuch as draws the tone to its own syllable; cf. on the other hand , Isa 32:11 (Hitzig). (prop. extension, length of time) has only become a Semitic interrogative in the signification quando by the omission of the interrogative (common Arabic in its full form Arab. ‘ymta , emata ). is a continuation of the future. In Psa 41:7 one is singled out and made prominent, and his hypocritically malicious conduct described. of a visit to a sick person as in 2Sa 13:5., 2Ki 8:29. is used both with the perf. (Psa 50:18; Psa 63:7; Psa 78:34; Psa 94:18; Gen 38:9; Amo 7:2; Isa 24:13; Isa 28:25) and with the fut. (Psa 68:14; Job 14:14), like quum, as a blending together of si and quando, Germ. wenn (if) and wann (when). In two Rebias come together, the first of which has the greater value as a distinctive, according to the rule laid down in Baer’s Psalterium, p. xiv. Consequently, following the accents, it must not be rendered: “falsehood doth his heart speak.” The lxx, Vulgate, and Targum have discerned the correct combination of the words. Besides, the accentuation, as is seen from the Targum and expositors, proceeds on the assumption that is equivalent to . But why may it not be the subject-notion: “His heart gathereth” is an expression of the activity of his mind and feelings, concealed beneath a feigned and friendly outward bearing. The asyndeton portrays the despatch with which he seeks to make the material for slander, which has been gathered together, public both in the city and in the country.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. I have said, O Jehovah! have mercy upon me. By this verse he shows that in his adversity he did not seek to soothe his mind by flattery, as the greater part of men do, who endeavor to assuage their sorrows by some vain consolation. And, certainly, the man who is guided by the Spirit of God will, when warned of God by the afflictions with which he is visited, frankly acknowledge his sins, and quietly submit to the admonitions of his brethren, nay, he will even anticipate them by a voluntary confession. David here lays down a mark by which he distinguishes himself from the reprobate and wicked, when he tells us that he earnestly entreated that his sin might not be laid to his charge, and that he had sought refuge in the mercy of God. He indeed requests that some alleviation might be granted to him under the affliction which he endured: but he rises to a higher source of relief, when he asks that through the forgiveness of his sins he might obtain reconciliation to God. Those, as we have said elsewhere, invert the natural order of things, who seek a remedy only for the outward miseries under which they labor, but all the while neglect the cause of them; acting as a sick man would do who sought only to quench his thirst, but never thought of the fever under which he labors, and which is the chief cause of his trouble. Before David, therefore, speaks at all of the healing of his soul, that is to say, of his life (104) he first says, Have mercy upon me: and with this we must connect the reason which immediately follows — for I have sinned against thee. In saying so, he confesses that God is justly displeased with him, and that he can only be restored again to his favor by his sins being blotted out. I take the particle כי, ki, in its proper and natural signification, and not adversatively, as some would understand it. He asks then that God would have mercy upon him because he had sinned. From that proceeds the healing of the soul, which he interposes between his prayer and confession, as being the effect of the compassion and mercy of God; for David expects that as soon as he had obtained forgiveness, he would also obtain relief from his affliction.
(104) “ C’est a dire, de sa vie.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) I said.After the general statement, the poet applies it to his own case, which showed such sadly different conduct on the part of friends from whom more than sympathy might have been expected. The pronoun is emphatic: In my case, I said, etc.
But it is a singular mark of the psalmists sincerity and genuineness that he first looks into his own heart for its evil before exposing that of his friends.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. I said The “I” is emphatic. “As for me, I said,” etc. It stands opposed to “mine enemies speak,” etc., Psa 41:5. The contrast is given by a comparison of Psa 41:1-3 with Psa 41:5-8.
I have sinned Here is a depth of contrition, and an openness of confession, which point unmistakably to the psalmist’s one great sin forgiven, indeed, but always lamented.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Psalmist Acknowledges That His Problems Partly Arise Because Of His Own Sinfulness, And Then Explains To YHWH About The Behaviour Of His Enemies ( Psa 41:4-9 ).
Psa 41:4
‘I said, O YHWH, have mercy on me,
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
Lying on his sick bed the Psalmist has been made to face up to his own sins. And he confesses his sin to God and prays that He will have mercy on him and heal him wholly within. There is nothing like an illness for making us face up to the truth about ourselves.
Psa 41:5-8
My enemies speak evil against me, saying,
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
And if he come to see me,
He speaks falsehood,
His heart gathers iniquity to itself,
When he goes abroad, he tells it.’
‘All who hate me whisper together against me,
Against me do they devise my hurt.
“An evil disease,” say they, “cleaves fast to him,
And now that he lies he will rise up no more.”
He explains to God the behaviour of his enemies towards him;
They are looking forward to his death, constantly asking how soon it will come.
They come to see him, pretending to be loyal, when all the time he knows very well that once they leave his sick room they spread abroad anything that is derogatory to him and continually add to the rumours of his soon demise.
Behind his words there clearly lies a plea that God will observe their behaviour and counteract it.
‘An evil disease.’ Literally ‘a thing of Belial’. They might have intended by this that in their view David was stricken because of his wickedness. Thus his death must be seen as certain.
Psa 41:9
‘Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
Who did eat of my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.’
What grieves him most is that one of his closest friends, to whom he has demonstrated such love and generosity, even inviting him to the king’s g’s table, has taken the part of his enemies and has acted against him.
In Joh 13:18 these words are applied by Jesus to the behaviour of Judas. He was saying that what had happened to David himself, had also now happened to great David’s greater son. It was the fate of all who truly served God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 41:4. Heal my soul As rational conjectures, says Dr. Delaney, are oftentimes useful inlets to knowledge, the candid reader will, I hope, be indulgent to mine, in relation to David’s distemper, (see the note on the title of the 38th psalm,) which I am far from obtruding as a truth; for, after all, possibly, all his psalms upon this head may be no more than figurative descriptions of the state of his mind, sick with sin; nor is this supposition ill-grounded upon the present verse: And, agreeably to this way of thinking, we find sin figured out to us, in the prophetic style, under the ideas of bruises, and wounds, and putrifying sores, Isa 1:6, See on Psa 38:7. We cannot any where introduce more properly the following judicious observations from Bishop Lowth’s 8th Prelection.
“The Hebrew laws,” says he, “are very much occupied in discriminating things clean and unclean, in removing and expiating what is foul, polluted, profane; in which ceremonies, as under a veil, the most holy and weighty meanings are couched, as is evident from the thing itself, as well as from many plain and express declarations. Amongst these, certain diseases and infirmities of the body have place; which, however light they may seem to a cursory, appear of great consequence to an attentive reader. It is on this account not to be wondered, that the sacred poets apply these images in expressing the most important matters, when they either lay open the defilement of the human mind, wholly depraved and contaminated; Isa 44:6 or Eze 36:17 or lament the miserable, abject, and most contemptible lot of the virgin, the daughter of Zion, spoiled and made bare: Lam 1:8-9; Lam 1:17; Lam 2:2. Images which, considered in themselves, are truly deformed and hateful; if referred to their true origin, and to religion, are devoid neither of weight nor majesty. Of this kind, or at least analogous to this kind, are those which the royal poet (who in his divine poems generally sustains a character far more august than his own) pours forth full of sorrow and the most ardent affections; when he complains, as in Psalms 38 that he is worn down, and wearied out with punishments and sufferings, and entirely depressed with the most grievous burden of sin, to the support whereof human nature is absolutely unequal: In which passages some have enquired under what disease the writer then laboured; not less absurdly, in my judgment, than if they had sought after the situation and name of the river in which he was plunged, when he says that he was overwhelmed with great floods of waters.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here we find a single person speaking; and from what follows in Psa 41:9 , there can be no hesitation to say it is Christ. Will the Reader pause, and refuse this conclusion, because here is an acknowledgment of sin? I hope not. Jesus had no sin of his own, for he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But as the sinner’s surety, he stood forth with all the sins of his redeemed upon him. He stood, as the high-priest was commanded, on the day of atonement, to lay all the sins of the people upon the scape goat; so Jesus stood with all burden of his people’s sins upon him, and as the Prophet said, the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. As such Christ might well be supposed, in the name of his redeemed to say, ‘Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee!’ Lev 16:21 ; Isa 53:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 41:4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
Ver. 4. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal] Heal me in mercy, and begin at the inside first. Heal my soul of sin, and then my body of sickness; heal me every whit. These, to the end, are the sick man’s words, saith Kimchi. And this is the character of the Lord’s poor man, to whom the foresaid comforts do belong, saith another.
For I have sinned against thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 41:4-9
4As for me, I said, O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.
5My enemies speak evil against me,
When will he die, and his name perish?
6And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood;
His heart gathers wickedness to itself;
When he goes outside, he tells it.
7All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they devise my hurt, saying,
8A wicked thing is poured out upon him,
That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.
9Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
Psa 41:4-9 The logical connection between these strophes is not stated. Possibly the author was a man like the one described in Psa 41:1-3, but his life was in distress and under attack from others. Apparently he recognized that he had sinned (Psa 41:4). Many of the last psalms of Book I (Psalms 1-41) mention a confession or acknowledgment of sin.
There are several problems mentioned.
1. he is sick of body and spirit
2. he has enemies who slander him (Psa 41:5-7)
3. they are planning evil against him (Psa 41:7-8)
4. his enemies were at one time close friends (Psa 41:9; cf. Psa 35:11-16; Psa 55:12-13; Psa 55:20). This is quoted in Joh 13:18 about Judas’ betrayal of Jesus.
Psa 41:7 whisper together This verb (BDB 538, KB 527, Hithpael imperfect) can be used of curses/charms (cf. Psa 58:5; Ecc 10:11; Isa 3:2-3) or it could just be people speaking in a low voice so as not to be heard (cf. 2Sa 12:19) or a low voice in prayer (cf. Isa 26:16).
If it does refer to a curse in this context, Psa 41:8 is the result.
Psa 41:8
NASBa wicked thing is poured out upon me
NKJVan evil disease, they say, clings to him
NRSVthey think a deadly thing has fastened on to him
TEVThey say, ‘He is fatally ill’
NJBa fatal sickness has a grip on him
REBan evil spell is cast on him, they say
The term wicked (BDB 116) later became the title Belial (i.e., Deu 13:13; 2Co 6:15). It was used in several senses, a good sample is in 1Sa 1:16; 1Sa 2:12; 1Sa 25:17.
The usage here seems to be a personification of a disease which they would have seen as being sent by YHWH because of the sin of the psalmist (cf. Job’s three friends). But YHWH’s actions toward him in Psa 41:10-12 show that their statements are lies/slander.
Psa 41:9 Has lifted his heel against me This act of cultural rejection (notice there is no parallel passage) came after a fellowship/covenant meal (cf. Gen 26:28-30; Gen 31:51-54; Exo 12:18; Exo 24:5; Psa 69:22).
It is possible to see this as
1. an act of aggression/violence against the psalmist (i.e., stomped with the feet)
2. an act of insult expressed by a gesture. In the Middle East it is still a strong insult to show someone the bottom of one’s shoe.
The rejection is all the more poignant because of the apparent friendship between the two of them.
my close friend This is literally man of peace who turned out to be a child of Beliel (Psa 41:8 a).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
be merciful = be gracious, or show favour.
my soul = me.
I have sinned. Christ could say this of those whose sins He was bearing, which were laid upon Him. sinned. Hebrew. chata. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 41:4-6
Psa 41:4-6
“I said, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me:
Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
Mine enemies speak evil against me, saying,
When will he die, and his name perish?
And if he come to see me, he speaketh falsehood;
His heart gathereth iniquity to itself:
When he goeth abroad he telleth it.”
“O Jehovah, have mercy upon me” (Psa 41:4). Kidner remarked that, “David got more mercy from God whom he had wronged than from the ‘familiar friend’ whom he had helped.
“Heal my soul” (Psa 41:4). Although this is the equivalent of “heal me,” “The single pronoun does not convey the rich meaning of the Hebrew, which refers to both “soul and body.” David was particularly in need of such a healing, for it was not long since his double sin of adultery and murder. The severe illness that probably came upon David may have been a divine punishment for his sins, an illness that doubtless hastened and might have caused the formation of Absalom’s plot to unseat him.
“Mine enemies speak evil against me” (Psa 41:5). As Jamieson noted, “We have here a graphic picture of the conduct of a malignant enemy, The following verse shows that this enemy visited David in his illness, spoke lying words of good will and hopes for his recovery; but he then went out and spread the false news that the king was on his death bed.
“And if he come to see me” (Psa 41:6). This enemy that came to see David in his illness is thought by some to have been “Ahithophel, but there is no proof of this; and it is this writer’s opinion that it was much more likely to have been David’s rebellious son Absalom. Ahithophel was the High Priest and probably would not have had easy access to David’s bedchamber; but Absalom, the king’s son, would not have been restricted from seeing the king. It is easy enough to understand why David did not name Absalom in this psalm.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 41:4. David had been good to the poor and therefore had reason to expect the favor of God. His confession of sin did not refer to any specific act that we know of here. The humble servants of God are always willing to acknowledge their weakness.
Psa 41:5. David prayed for the death of his enemies. That was a military age when physical force was often used against an antagonist. However, he never believed in using any unlawful means to defeat even his personal enemies. He wished to have the result come through the Lord, hence his frequent prayer on that subject.
Psa 41:6. This means that when David’s enemy asked for a visit with him it proved to be in hypocrisy. Speaketh vanity means that the conversations the enemy had were empty and not sincere. The real motive he had was to catch something from David about which he could spread some gossip.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Lord: Psa 32:5, Psa 51:1-3
heal: Psa 6:2-4, Psa 103:3, Psa 147:3, 2Ch 30:18-20, Hos 6:1, Jam 5:15, Jam 5:16
Reciprocal: Exo 15:26 – for I am Mat 9:12 – They that be whole Luk 18:13 – God Joh 12:40 – heal
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 41:4. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me He appeals to mercy, as one that knew he could not stand the test of strict justice. The best saints, even those that have been merciful to the poor, have not made God their debtor; but must throw themselves on his mercy. When we are under the rod, we must thus recommend ourselves to the tender mercy of our God. Heal my soul Sin is the sickness of the soul and the soul is healed when, being pardoned by mercy, it is also renewed by grace. And this spiritual healing we should be more earnest for than for bodily health. For I have sinned against thee And, therefore, my soul needs healing: I am a sinner, a miserable sinner; and, therefore, God, be merciful to me. The psalmist does not appear here to refer to any particular gross act of sin, but to his sins in general, which his sickness, and the troubles he met with, set in order before him; and the dread of the consequences of which made him pray, Heal my soul.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. God’s punishment of the treacherous 41:4-9
David continued to address the congregation of Israel, and he presented the alternative to caring for the helpless with its consequences. He did this by relating a personal experience.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
David had been in need of help at some time in the past. Apparently he had sinned and God had punished him with sickness. He then cried out to God for help.