Psa 41:6 | KingComments | STEP | While the God-fearing in the previous verses puts his trust in God, there are enemies around him who speak against him and wish him to die and his name to perish ( ). The hatred is deep within the enemies. They want and expect that he – that is David and in his following the faithful remnant – will die as soon as possible and that he will be forgotten as soon as possible. Then it will be over and done with his influence forever, for it threatens their position. One of the enemies has come visiting the sick one to see how he is doing. He inquires, but the conversation is about nothing. Meanwhile, he collects false facts, so that he can gossip about them later. In his sickbed the psalmist finds no comforter; on the contrary, his false friends are in fact hostile toward him. The Lord Jesus also experienced that people came to Him with falsity in their hearts ( ; cf. ). They flattered Him and tried to trap Him with trick questions ( ). Their hearts have gathered wickedness; it is a secret repository of deceitful deliberations and mendacious intentions. They have tried to find something to accuse Him of ( ). They have talked to others about their accusations and used them for their depraved plans ( ). The hatred is especially great among the religious leaders of the people. They “whisper together against” Him and over and over again “they devise” against Him his “hurt” ( ). Regularly we read about it in the Gospels that they conspire against Him to put Him to death ( ; ). They see in His sickbed ( ) an occasion for spreading slander about Him. Someone struck by an illness must be out of favor with God. They tell everywhere that “a wicked thing is poured out upon him” ( ). Wicked practices are literally “practices of Belial”. For example, the Lord Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons through the chief of demons, Beelzebub ( ). Before Pilate, He was accused by the chief priests “of many things” ( ; ). Most profoundly, the Lord was affected by the betrayal of Judas, for is about him. This is evident from the Lord’s quotation of this verse in the Gospel according to John, where He applies it to Judas ( ). His deep disappointment about this betrayal is echoed in the word “even” with which the verse begins. He had always lived in peace with Judas, given him His trust and shared His bread with him. Is there anything more painful than being betrayed by someone like that? The Lord Jesus here calls Judas “my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread”. The Lord never did anything evil to Judas, but dealt with him in peace. He gave him His trust, as evidenced by the purse He gave him ( ). The Lord gave him of His bread and shared with him what He had. The Lord’s whole dealings with Judas show that He had good intentions for him. And precisely that man “lifted up his heel against” Him ( ). In , the Lord again ( ) asks God to be gracious to Him and to raise Him up. He knows that Judas’ betrayal is the introduction to His deliverance into the hands of the enemies and that He will be killed by them. Here He asks for His resurrection. Several times the Lord has spoken both of His being delivered and of His death and resurrection ( ). Here He attaches to His resurrection the right to repay His enemies for the evil they have done to Him.

‏ Psalms 41:6

The Enemies

While the God-fearing in the previous verses puts his trust in God, there are enemies around him who speak against him and wish him to die and his name to perish (Psa 41:5). The hatred is deep within the enemies. They want and expect that he – that is David and in his following the faithful remnant – will die as soon as possible and that he will be forgotten as soon as possible. Then it will be over and done with his influence forever, for it threatens their position.

One of the enemies has come visiting the sick one to see how he is doing. He inquires, but the conversation is about nothing. Meanwhile, he collects false facts, so that he can gossip about them later. In his sickbed the psalmist finds no comforter; on the contrary, his false friends are in fact hostile toward him.

The Lord Jesus also experienced that people came to Him with falsity in their hearts (Psa 41:6; cf. Pro 26:24). They flattered Him and tried to trap Him with trick questions (Mt 22:16-18). Their hearts have gathered wickedness; it is a secret repository of deceitful deliberations and mendacious intentions. They have tried to find something to accuse Him of (Jn 8:6). They have talked to others about their accusations and used them for their depraved plans (Mt 26:59-60).

The hatred is especially great among the religious leaders of the people. They “whisper together against” Him and over and over again “they devise” against Him his “hurt” (Psa 41:7). Regularly we read about it in the Gospels that they conspire against Him to put Him to death (Mk 3:6; Mt 12:14 ; Mt 22:15 ; Mt 26:3-4).

They see in His sickbed (Isa 53:3-4 ; 10) an occasion for spreading slander about Him. Someone struck by an illness must be out of favor with God. They tell everywhere that “a wicked thing is poured out upon him” (Psa 41:8). Wicked practices are literally “practices of Belial”. For example, the Lord Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons through the chief of demons, Beelzebub (Mt 12:24). Before Pilate, He was accused by the chief priests “of many things” (Mk 15:3; Lk 23:2).

Most profoundly, the Lord was affected by the betrayal of Judas, for Psa 41:9 is about him. This is evident from the Lord’s quotation of this verse in the Gospel according to John, where He applies it to Judas (Jn 13:18). His deep disappointment about this betrayal is echoed in the word “even” with which the verse begins. He had always lived in peace with Judas, given him His trust and shared His bread with him. Is there anything more painful than being betrayed by someone like that?

The Lord Jesus here calls Judas “my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread”. The Lord never did anything evil to Judas, but dealt with him in peace. He gave him His trust, as evidenced by the purse He gave him (Jn 12:6). The Lord gave him of His bread and shared with him what He had. The Lord’s whole dealings with Judas show that He had good intentions for him. And precisely that man “lifted up his heel against” Him (Mt 26:47-50).

In Psa 41:10, the Lord again (Psa 41:4) asks God to be gracious to Him and to raise Him up. He knows that Judas’ betrayal is the introduction to His deliverance into the hands of the enemies and that He will be killed by them. Here He asks for His resurrection. Several times the Lord has spoken both of His being delivered and of His death and resurrection (Mt 16:21 ; Mt 17:22-23 ; Mt 20:18-19). Here He attaches to His resurrection the right to repay His enemies for the evil they have done to Him.