Psalms of David

This is it, the last song in the first book of Psalms. Like the Psalms towards the end of this first book, it is Messianic, Jesus himself quoted it as referring to himself, but also a lament. That laments are often prophetic in the Bible is not to be underestimated.

Psalms in Book 1 (Psalms 1 to 41) are primarily personal songs, so I will look at how they apply to us personally. Social and communal aspects of life and work do not come in until the later books of Psalms.

The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:

Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

41 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
    In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
² the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³ The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.

⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
    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 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,
    while his heart gathers iniquity;
    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.

⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.
⁸ They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;
    he will not rise again from where he lies.”

⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

¹⁰ But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹ By this I know that you delight in me:
    my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹² But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
    and set me in your presence for ever.
¹³ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Psalm 41 ESVUK [with paragraph breaks added by me to reveal the structure.]

“The ancient blues music of the Jewish people.” is how the Psalms were described in a recent “Pause for Though” section of the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 recently. I like it. I have previously said that Biblical laments are similar to the blues in that neither is about trying to work up the bad vibes and both have a positive aim of getting out of your bad situation.

I have looked at Rabbinic sources online, to see a Jewish interpretation of Psalm 41, and all I have found is literal interpretations of David being ill when he wrote this. Whether this is a literal sickness or using it to make a point, this psalm is Wisdom literature like the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we will need to look at the song structure.

The song is a chiasm. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a form used in nearly all of the Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. The psalm has three sections that repeat and a central section. I am starting from this centre part and working outwards.

The middle section: Verses 7 and 8, are the ones that speak of David’s enemies gloating over his suffering with some sickness. The sickness could be real, the social reformer and Member of Parliament William Wilberforce had a long history of sicknesses over the 20 years he faced opposition as he sought to abolish the slave trade and slavery in Britain and her colonies, possibly due to stress. We know that David faced opposition to his reign, even losing the crown for a time due to a coup led by his son Absolom. Sickness is used as a sign of the Messiah healing people through his own suffering in Psalm 38 and Isaiah 53 and points to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

Around this central section is one that speaks in the singular about an enemy (verse 6) and a former friend who has betrayed him (verse 9). At his last supper with his Disciples, Jesus identified himself as the suffering man and the friend who became a betrayer as Judas Iscariot, when after washing his disciples’ feet as a servant would he said, ” But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ” (John 13:10.) [full chapter for context.] In only a few words (33 words in Hebrew) this short song takes us through the Betrayal, Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus,

The rest of Psalm 41 talks about David’s enemies in the plural. The next section, working outwards. verses 4 to 5 and 10, have “O Lord, be gracious to me” in common, which is the obvious link but there is another link of David’s enemies wanting him dead and David wanting to be restored so that he can take revenge. The problem with revenge is that it makes you like your enemies, and they have won. It is better for you if you do not become like them. Leave revenge to God. This section acts as a link between the first section and the centre and also between the centre and the first section reprise.

The main theme of Psalm 41 can be found in the longer portion that bookend the song. People who look after the poor are worthy of praise. It brings into mind Jesus telling us that how we treat other is equal to how we treat God. Don’t let people deceive you by saying that the poor means anything other than the poor. God’s love for all people means we should be lifting up the least privileged in our society. God wants us to spread his love to all people. It is not just evangelism, that is very important, but how we treat other people is just as important.

In the Sermon on the Plain Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,” and also, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6: 20 & 24.) Mary’s song of praise whilst pregnant with Jesus and visiting Elizabeth said this in the prophetic song of praise we call the Magnificat, “he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:53.) In a synagogue in Nazareth Jesus summed up his role with this passage from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4: 18-19.)

All these quotes are from Luke’s Gospel. Luke, of course, goes on to show that Jesus came primarily to give himself sacrificially for the sins of all, it takes up a large part of his telling Jesus’ story, but in the early Chapters he sets out God’s and Jesus’ concern for the poor, underprivileged and powerless. It isn’t because God does not reward the rich, the rich already have their reward.

So what happens when we put the Psalm back together? We find that there are discrepancies between the sections. Verse 4 talks about David feeling that his sickness is because of his sins, yet the previous verse makes it clear that sickness is not punishment from God, God sustains him or her on their sickbed. Sick people are not being punished, disabled people are not being punished either, neurodivergent people are not lesser humans, LGBT+ people are fully human. All of these are equal members of the kingdom of God, Jesus accepts all who come to him as they are.

So David is able to say, “I know that you delight in me,” not because God has kept him out of trouble but because God goes with those he loves through their trouble. Because of this knowledge that we are in the presence of God even when we are opposed or ill, we can praise God who sustains us. God is with those he loves in the best of times and the worst of times.

The doxology, a liturgical formula of praise to God, in the last verse, serves as a fitting end to Psalm 41, it belongs here as it concludes the chiasm, but also as a doxology to the first book of psalms. God is beside us, God walks along with us, he is worthy of praise from all eternity past to eternity to come.

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