The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"blessed," Hebrew ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי), O the happinesses of. The psalm opens with an exclamation over a particular kind of man, and to him comes a promise: "the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble."

"considereth," maskil (מַשְׂכִּיל) from sakal, to act wisely, deal thoughtfully. The word is stronger than mere pity: maskil means to deal wisely and attentively, to give thought to another -- not a careless coin tossed to the poor but genuine, thoughtful care.

"the poor," dal (דָּל), the weak, low, helpless. The object of that thoughtful care is the man with nothing to give back. The one who attends to others in their weakness will himself be attended to when weakness comes upon him.

Explanation

This opening beatitude is quietly autobiographical, and you feel it once you read on. The man who blesses those who "consider the poor" and promises they will be helped "in time of trouble" is, in this very psalm, himself the one in trouble, "the LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing" (v3), lying sick and asking, "heal my soul" (v4). David is not writing theory. He cared for the weak in their day of need, and now, weak and bedridden himself, he lays hold of the principle he once practised: the mercy I showed, let it now return to me. It is the same law Jesus would put into a beatitude of His own, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). Kindness to the helpless is not lost; it is stored up, and it comes back to shelter the giver on the day he too is helpless.

Gospel Focus

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor", no one ever considered the poor as Jesus Christ did, and He has made their cause His own. He who was rich became poor for our sakes, "that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9); He preached good news to the poor (Luke 4:18), and He counts kindness shown to the least of His brethren as done to Himself, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). In Christ the beatitude is both fulfilled and deepened: the merciful obtain mercy because mercy itself has a face, and that face is the Saviour who first showed us mercy when we were poor and helpless and had nothing to give. We consider the poor now not to earn God's favour but because we ourselves were the poor whom God considered, "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). So the way to be blessed is the way of our Lord: to look with thoughtful, active care upon the weak, remembering that in serving them we serve Him, and that the God who considered us in our poverty will surely deliver us in our own time of trouble.

Word Study

"familiar friend," Hebrew ish shelomi (אִישׁ שְׁלוֹמִי), "the man of my peace," my closest intimate. David piles up the marks of intimacy to measure the depth of the betrayal. This was no stranger but the man of his peace, his closest confidant.

"in whom I trusted," asher batachti (אֲשֶׁר בָּטַחְתִּי). The second mark: this was one he had opened his heart to, one on whom he had leaned his whole weight.

"did eat of my bread," okhel lachmi (אוֹכֵל לַחְמִי). The third mark: one who shared his table. The betrayer had been fed at the very hand he turned against.

"lifted up his heel," higdil alai aqev (הִגְדִּיל עָלַי עָקֵב), raised the heel to trample or kick. And this man "hath lifted up his heel against me", turned to trample him like a beast that kicks the hand that fed it.

Explanation

Every clause of this verse tightens the knife. Not an enemy, but "the man of my peace"; not a casual acquaintance, but one "in whom I trusted"; and, worst of all, one "which did eat of my bread." In the ancient world to share a man's table was no small thing; bread eaten together sealed a bond of loyalty, a kind of covenant, so that to betray a host after eating his bread was to break something sacred. That is why the betrayal lands so hard: it is not merely a friend turning, but a guest violating the trust of the table. And "lifted up his heel" is the image of a horse that kicks, or a man who tramples what is beneath him, the very one lifted up by the host's kindness now raising his foot to crush him. Scripture is honest that this particular wound, betrayal by an intimate who has eaten your bread, is among the deepest a human heart can suffer, and it does not hide it away but sets it in the prayer book of God's people.

Gospel Focus

"Which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me", the Lord Jesus took these exact words upon His own lips in the upper room, and made David's betrayal a prophecy of His own. On the night He was betrayed, having washed the feet of the twelve, He said, "I speak not of you all... but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me" (John 13:18). Judas was the man of Christ's peace, one of the trusted twelve, who had eaten His bread for three years and dipped in the same dish that very night, and who then went out to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver. The Saviour felt, to the uttermost, the wound this psalm describes, betrayed by an intimate at His own table. Yet even this treachery served the purposes of God: the betrayal by a friend was the road to the cross, where the betrayed One laid down His life for betrayers. And here is the wonder of the gospel: we too, by our sins, have lifted up the heel against the God whose bread we eat, and yet He did not cast us off but died to redeem us. The Christ who was betrayed by a friend welcomes former enemies to His table, and there gives us, in the broken bread, His own body, broken for the very ones who broke faith with Him.

Word Study

"blessed be," Hebrew barukh (בָּרוּךְ), be praised. The psalm ends on a note that soars above the sickbed and the betrayal: "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel." From personal sorrow, David rises to bless God.

"from everlasting, and to everlasting," meha'olam ve'ad ha'olam (מֵהָעוֹלָם וְעַד הָעוֹלָם). The praise is given no boundary at either end. Whatever the length of David's own trouble, the God he blesses stretches from everlasting to everlasting.

"Amen," amen (אָמֵן), truly, so be it, from the root meaning firm, sure, faithful. He seals it with a doubled "Amen, and Amen" -- let it be firm and sure, so be it, so be it.

Explanation

This verse is not really the ending of Psalm 41 alone; it is the ending of something much larger. The Book of Psalms is built in five books, and each of them closes with a doxology just like this one, "Blessed be the LORD... Amen" (compare the seals at Psalm 72:18-19, 89:52, 106:48, and the whole final psalm, 150). Psalm 41 is the first of those five seals, the door shutting on Book One. So when David turns from his own trouble to "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting," he is doing more than ending a prayer; the compilers of the Psalter placed this praise here to teach us how every stretch of the book, and every stretch of a life, is meant to end, not in the sickbed or the betrayal, but in the blessing of the eternal God. The last word over all our troubles is not the trouble but the doubled "Amen."

Gospel Focus

"Amen, and Amen", the sure and faithful "Amen" that seals this psalm has a name in the New Testament, and it is Jesus Christ. He is called "the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Revelation 3:14), for in Him every promise of God is confirmed: "all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). David could seal his praise with "Amen, and Amen" only because God is faithful; we now know that faithfulness embodied in Christ, the living Amen, through whom our own praise rises to the Father. And the "from everlasting, and to everlasting" that this doxology ascribes to God is the very span in which Christ reigns, "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). So the close of Book One lifts our eyes past every present sorrow to the eternal God and His faithful Amen. Whatever sickbed or betrayal we lie under now, the story does not end there; it ends where the psalm ends, in blessing the LORD God who is from everlasting to everlasting, through Jesus Christ, the Amen in whom all His promises are sure. Amen, and Amen.