Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Psalm 41 The Psalmist's affliction A. Maclaren, D. D. The central mass of this psalm describes the singer as suffering from two evils: sickness and treacherous friends. This situation naturally leads up to the prayer and confidence of the closing strophe (vers. 10-12). But its connection with the introductory verses (1-3) is less plain. A statement of the blessings ensured to the compassionate seems a singular introduction to the psalmist's pathetic exhibition of his sorrows. It is to be observed, however, that the two points of the psalmist's affliction are the two from which escape is assured to the compassionate, who shall not be "delivered to the desire of his enemies," and shall be supported and healed in sickness. Probably, therefore, the general promises of verses 1-3 are silently applied by the psalmist to himself; and he is comforting his own sorrow with the assurance which in his humility he casts into impersonal form. He has been merciful, and believes, though things look dark, that he will obtain mercy. There is probably also an intentional contrast with the cruel exacerbation of his sufferings by uncompassionate companions, which has rubbed salt into his wounds. He has a double consciousness in these opening verses, inasmuch as he partly thinks of himself as the compassionate man and partly as the "weak" one who is compassionated. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) The right and wrong treatment of the afflicted Homilist. I. THE RIGHT TREATMENT OF THE AFFLICTED. 1. Its nature. To consider the poor, in a scriptural and true sense, is — (1) To honour their nature as men. (2) To promote their rights as citizens. (3) To alleviate their woes as sufferers. (4) To appreciate their work as servants.Poor though they be, they are children of the same great Father, and endowed with the high attribute of moral intelligence. Poor though they be, they have their rights as citizens of the same state, and they have done more to help on the world than any other class of men. They work our mines, construct our fleets, build our cities, fight our battles, write some of our best books, and invent many of the most useful and ornamental arts. 2. The happiness of the right treatment.(1) "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Such a man is blessed in the service he renders. The exercise of benevolence is the source of our chiefest joy. "It is more blessed to give than to receive."(2) But the writer specifies certain advantages which are bestowed in addition to this (vers. 1-3). II. THE WRONG TREATMENT OF THE AFFLICTED (vers. 4-13). Under this ill-treatment — 1. He had a consciousness of his own sins (ver. 4). (1) Great afflictions often awakes a sense of sin. (2) Under a consciousness of his own sins he appeals for mercy. "Lord, be merciful unto me." 2. He deeply felt the wicked conduct of his enemies (vers. 5-9). (1) They desired his death. (2) They plot his ruin. 3. He directs his heart to the great God (vers. 10-13). (1) He prays. (2) He confesses. (3) He worships. It is well when all our trials and varied experiences end thus. ( Homilist. ) The blessedness of considering the case of the poor T. Chalmers, D. D. There is an evident want of congeniality between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the Christian. Now, so long as this wisdom has for its object some secular advantage, I yield it an unqualified reverence. If in private life a man be wise in the management of his farm, or his fortune, or his family; or if in public life he have wisdom to steer an empire through all its difficulties, and to carry it to aggrandizement and renown — the respect which I feel for such wisdom as this is most cordial and entire, and supported by the universal acknowledgment of all whom I call to attend to it. Let me now suppose that this wisdom has changed its object — that the man whom I am representing go exemplify this respectable attribute, instead of being wise for time, is wise for eternity — that he labours by the faith and sanctification of the Gospel for unperishable honours — what becomes of your respect for him now? Are there not some of you who are quite sensible that this respect is greatly impaired, since the wisdom of the man has taken so unaccountable a change in its object and in its direction? Men do not respect a wisdom which they-do not comprehend. They may love the innocence of a decidedly religious character, but they do not much, if at all, venerate its wisdom. The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man. And all that has now been said of wisdom is applicable, with almost no variation, to another attribute of the human character, and which I would call "lovely." I mean — benevolence. But that which the world admires, and that which is truly Christian, are vastly different. The benevolence of the world — with its poetical sentiment — the Christian may not understand; that of the Christian, with its self-denial and enduring of "hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," the world does not understand. It is positively nauseated by the poetical amateur. And the contrast does not stop here. The benevolence of the Gospel is not only at antipodes with that of the visionary sons and daughters of poetry, but it even varies in some of its most distinguishing features from the experimental benevolence of real and familiar life. The fantastic benevolence of poetry is now indeed pretty well exploded; and in the more popular works of the age there is a benevolence of a far truer and more substantial kind substituted in its place — the benevolence which you meet with among men of business and observation — the benevolence which bustles and finds employment among the most public and ordinary scenes; and which seeks for objects, not where the flower blows loveliest, and the stream, with its gentle murmurs, falls sweetest on the ear; but finds them in its every-day walks, goes in quest of them through the heart of the great city, and is not afraid to meet them in its most putrid lanes and loathsome receptacles. Now, it must be acknowledged that this benevolence is of a far more respectable kind than poetic sensibility, which is of no use because it admits of no application. Yet I am not afraid to say, that, respectable as it is, it does not come up to the benevolence of the Christian; and is at variance, in some of its most capital ingredients, with the morality of the Gospel. For time, and the accommodations of time, form all its subject, and all its exercise, lit labours, and often with success, to provide for its object a warm and a well-sheltered tenement; but it looks not beyond the few little years when the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, when the soul shall be driven from its perishable tenement, and the only benevolence it will need will be that of those who have directed it heavenwards. The one minds earthly things, the other has its conversation in heaven. That which is the chief motive in the heart of the worldly philanthropist are but mere accessories in the heart of the Christian. All will applaud the benevolence of a Howard, but only the Christian will feel enthusiasm for the apostleship of Paul, who in the sublimer sense accomplished the liberty of the captive and brought them that sat in darkness out of the prison house. And hence it is that notwithstanding missionary zeal has ever been the pioneer for civilization, yet because the missionary labours for the eternal salvation of the heathen, the cry of fanaticism is raised against them, and they are regarded by men of the world with prejudice and disgust. Therefore we are to note the way in which the Bible enjoins us to consider the poor. Our text does not say, Commiserate the poor, for if it said only this it would leave them to the precarious provision of mere impulsive sympathy. Feeling is but a faint and fluctuating security. Fancy may mislead it. The sober realities of life may disgust it. Disappointment may extinguish it. Ingratitude may embitter it. Deceit, with its counterfeit representations, may allure it to the wrong object. The Bible, then, instead of leaving the relief of the poor to the mere instinct of sympathy, makes it a subject for consideration — Blessed is he that considereth the poor — a grave and prosaic exercise I do allow, and which makes no figure in those high-wrought descriptions, where the exquisite tale of benevolence is made up of all the sensibilities of tenderness on the one hand, and of all the ecstasies of gratitude on the other. But the poor have souls and need to be saved, and all benevolence, however necessary and praiseworthy, that ignores this deepest need, is but partial and incomplete. ( T. Chalmers, D. D. ) The duty of considering the poor G. Horns. It requires wisdom to understand the constitution of things, but the more a man understands the more he will approve. The inequalities of mankind, and the consequent state and condition of the poor, is one of those subjects which most of all perplex the mind. Such inequality is an undoubted fact, and has ever and everywhere been so. But when a good man beholds this, and sees his own affluence and the other's indigence, he will reason that the Divine intent was that he should supply his brother's need. The inequality of nature should be rectified by religion. Now, let the rich think that what they give to the poor is thrown away, or given to them who can make no return. For to the poor, under God, the rich owe all their wealth. They are the workers and producers of the wealth which the rich only consume. Is society composed only of the noble and opulent? Did you ever hear, or read, of one that was so composed? It could not subsist for a week. As the members of it would not work, they could not eat. Of what value were your estates in the country, if the poor did not cultivate them? Of what account the riches of the nobleman, or the gentleman, if they must want the comforts, the conveniences, and even the necessaries of life? "The king himself is served by the field;" and, without the labours of the husbandman, must starve in his palace, surrounded by his courtiers and guards. The world depends, for subsistence, on the plough, the sickle, and the flail! Mankind, in short, constitute one vast body, to the support of which every member contributes his share; and by all of them together, as by so many greater and lesser wheels in a machine, the business of the public is carried on, its necessities are served, and its very existence is upholden. From hence it appears that the inequality of mankind is not the effect of chance, but the ordinance of Heaven, by whose appointment, as manifested in the constitution of the universe, some must command, while others obey; some must labour, while others direct their labours; some must be rich, while others are poor. The Scripture inculcates the same important truth, and the inference to be deduced from it — "The poor shall never cease," etc. ( Deuteronomy 15:11 ). Such is the method directed by Heaven of balancing the account between the different orders of men. What, then, will be the first consideration of a rich man when he sees a poor man? If he have a clear head, and a good heart, will he not reason in some such manner as this?" God has given the earth for the support of all. While I abound, why does this man want? Plainly, that we may bear one another's burdens; that my abundance may supply his need, may alleviate his distress, may help to sustain the affliction under which he groans: that I may take off his load of woe, and he take off the superfluity of my wealth; that so the stream, now broken and turbid, may again find its level, and flow pure and tranquil. If I do not act thus, may not the poor justly complain, and would not the fault be mine?" And if the rich man refuse to help the poor, it is but natural to ask whence came this inequality? It was not from the rich man's merit or the poet's demerit. It has been permitted that the poor may learn resignation, and the rich be taught charity, and the right employment of the good things vouchsafed to them. "It is more blessed to give than to receive;" let the rich remember this, and the end of their being made rich is answered. And let the rich man remember, too, that had it pleased God, he would have been poor, and it may please Him that he shall he so. He then will need that which now he is recommended to give. Such changes do occur. But whether in your case they do or not, if your riches do not leave you, yet in a little while you must leave them. Death waits to strip you of them all. They wilt only avail you then as you have employed them well now. In the Gospel we must seek full information as to this duty. Our blessed Lord became poor to make us rich, and has thus for ever obliged us to consider the poor. But how are we to obey these precepts? Let charity rule in the heart, and it will not need to be told how much it should give. But for rules take these: — 1. Let each lay aside a due proportion of his income for charities. 2. Practise economy with a view to charity; retrench expenditure on luxury and indulgence for this end. 3. Then, in giving, give work rather than money where the poor would work if they could. Where they would not, let them be made to work. Such is true kindness to them. ( G. Horns. ) Considering the poor , M. F. Sadler, M. A. When God commends us, or encourages us to consider the poor and needy, He commands and encourages us to do that for our fellow-creatures which we, as poor and needy dependants on His bounty, ask Him to do for us. He was not satisfied with death and the cross only, but He took up with becoming poor also, and a stranger, and a beggar, and naked, and with being thrown into prison, and undergoing sickness, that so, at least, He might call thee off [from covetousness]. If thou wilt not requite Me (He says) as having suffered for thee, show mercy on Me for My poverty; and if thou art not minded to pity Me for My poverty, do for My disease be moved, and for My imprisonment be softened. And if even these things make thee not charitable, for the easiness of the request comply with Me; for it is no costly gift I ask, but bread and lodging, and words of comfort. But if even after this thou still continuest unsubdued, still, for the kingdom's sake, be improved for the rewards which I have promised. Hast thou, then, no regard even for these? Yet still, for very nature's sake, be softened at seeing Me naked; and remember that nakedness wherewith I was naked on the cross for thee; or if not this, yet that wherewith I am now naked through the poor .... I fasted for thee; again I am hungry for thee .... of thee, that owest Me the requital of benefits without number, I make not request as of one that oweth, but crown thee as one that favoureth Me, and a kingdom do I give thee for these small things .... I delivered thee from most galling bonds; but for me it is quite enough if thou wilt but visit me when in prison. ( Chrysostom . )They, then, who even in out poor, low way, are conformed, or beginning to be conformed, to God's mind in considering — that is, in searching out, compassionating, and relieving — distress have that in them which must be the source of blessedness, because they have that in them which is the source of happiness (I speak, of course, after the manner of men) to the Divine Mind; for God rejoices over His works. He rejoices in diffusing life and happiness; and when one province of His fair creation became marred and ruined by sin, and He extended mercy to it, then He delighted in that mercy. We then when, notwithstanding miserable deficiencies and shortcomings, we compassionate those in distress, and relieve their wants, even here enter somewhat into the very joy of God. And there is no Christian grace to the exercise of which God has in His Word so frequently or so emphatically promised a reward in the world to come. ( M. F. Sadler, M. A. ) On Christian care for the poor J. Baldwin Brown, B. A. Judaism stood alone among ancient religions, Christianity stands alone among modern, in the inculcation of earnest, solemn, anxious consideration for the poor. And for the same reason. They both try to look on the world as the God who made it looks on it, and to share the burden of its want and its woe which is pressing on His heart. In nothing is the unity of Scripture more beautiful, more conspicuous, than in this great thought about the poor. Perhaps it is the grandest evidence of its inspiration. Christ deemed it the crowning glory of His kingdom ( Matthew 11:5 ). I. THE MOTIVE TO CONSIDERATION OF THE POOR. I do not mean the reasons — they are abundant, but the motive. For the reasons and the motive power are, alas! widely different. The reasons are abundant for upright, godly conduct. A man is tempted to selfish, sensual, knavish action. There are ten thousand reasons why he should forbear, not one why he should yield. Every drop of his blood, every beat of his heart, every fibre of his nerve, could it speak, would cry out against it. His whole being, body, soul, and spirit, is against it. The whole structure of the universe is against it. God's face, God's hand, are against it. But he does it and faces it all. So here the reason is one thing; the power which makes the reason effective, which touches, moves, compels the conduct, is from a yet deeper spring. The fundamental element in the motive to care for the poor, is the revelation that the poor are the care of God. However man came to it, he has come to a god-like nature. The strongest influence which you can bring to bear on him is the revelation of the mind of God. There is something in him which moves him to imitation. The child's nature and passion, the cry of his spirit, Father, Father, tends to take shape in acts sympathetic with God. II. THE KIND OF CONSIDERATION DEMANDED. 1. Set plainly before the mind's eye the terrible inequalities of gifts, possessions, culture, advantages, and all that makes the outward joy of life. We like to escape from it. The blessing is for the man who faces it; who in his comfortable home, with art, music, dress, amusement, luxurious appliances, carriages, and food, will set before his face the life of the millions to whom all this is as far off as the stars. Who will think of the laundress shut up in a hot, fetid room, standing over a tub or an ironing-board, four or five young children clinging round her, and one ill up-stairs; but who dares not stop, who must work on lest they starve. Or poor parents watching a fair child dear to them as yours to you, and pining daily for the nourishing food and sea air, but which they are utterly unable to give. The man who considers the poor will keep this in sight while he enjoys God's blessings. 2. He will not believe that God meant life to be anything like this. The heathen says that this is God's ordinance, and it is impious to interfere. But the Christian is quite sure God meant nothing like this. 3. He will say, It is a solemn part of my duty to mend it. God leaves it with us, not because He does not care, but because He cares so intensely. He will have us see to it. It is society's most pressing, most sacred, most blessed work, to consider the poor; to be always meditating, planning, and working at what aims at the extinction of the bitterness of poverty from the world. It is not mere giving. Some do most who give nothing, who have nothing to give. It is the mind and the heart to think and to care which first need to be cultivated; the feeling that it is base and selfish to enjoy our advantages, comforts, and luxuries, while we abstain from systematic thoughtful effort to bridge over the chasm which separates the classes, and to make less bitter the lot of the poor. III. THE BLESSING IN WHICH IT FRUITS. "He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." Many may feel that this is a far-away matter — The Lord will repay. They see nothing tangible here; brave words, no more. To me it seems the reality of realities. I see something very intangible in the best of worldly securities; who is to secure them? While this is real, solid, enduring, as the order of the world. 1. The blessing lies hid in the order of the world. God has made man and the world so that this mind shall be blessed. All men honour, love, and cherish it. It draws forth the best elements of every nature, the sunny side of every heart. 2. The blessing lies deeper and closer, in a warm glow of living joy in his own heart. It is the soul's health, this care for need. There is the glow of health in the soul of the man who cherishes it, which is incomparable with any other sensation; it is the pure joy of life. 3. Deeper still, it lies in the heart and the hand of God. God loves that man, and counts him His friend. God watches that man, and assures his life. In moments of crisis and strain it is as if a Hand came out of the invisible to clasp and upbear him — the Hand which will one day lift him out of the shades of death to that world where he shall hear the welcome, "Come, thou blessed of my Father," etc. ( J. Baldwin Brown, B. A. ) Benevolence Joseph Entwistle. This the most prominent characteristic of our religion. I. THE DUTY OF CONSIDERING THE POOR. It must be performed on Christian principles. Not as did the Pharisees, "to be seen of men." There are several kinds of poor. Inquire, therefore, what it is to consider the poor. It implies sympathy with them; that we should, if possible, visit them; that we should relieve them; that we should seek to do good to their souls. II. THE PRIVILEGE OF CONSIDERING THE POOR. All duty is privilege, for all God requires us to do is for our advantage. God's blessing attends the considering of the poor. "The Lord will preserve him in the day of trouble." See this in the history of Job. ( Joseph Entwistle. ) Considering the poor J. Parker. Poverty is a large word, and requires a large definition. Sickness, weakness, fear, sense of helplessness, sense of desolation — all these may be brought under the definition of poverty. Some men are poor mentally, needing continual suggestion, direction, and recruital of mind. Want of money is the most superficial kind of poverty. It is by no means to be neglected either by the individual or by the state, because through want of money men often perish through lack of other things. When money is taken thus typically, then pennilessness becomes a manifold disorder and weakness. The word rendered "considereth" implies a kindliness of consideration. It is not only a statistical or economical view of social circumstances, it is also a direct and earnest exercise of the heart. The word may also be rendered "he that understands." We cannot understand the poor simply as an intellectual study. No man understands hunger who has not been hungry. There are dictionary interpretations of words which help us but a short way towards their true comprehension. Think of turning to the dictionary to find the meaning of poverty, hunger, sorrow, death! All the words may be neatly and clearly defined in terms, but to understand any one of them we must pass through the experience which it indicates. The blessings of the Bible are always poured upon good-doing. ( J. Parker. ) The sick and needy (for Hospital Sunday C. Voysey. 1. It is urged that free hospitals for the sick poor are not an unmixed good. The same may be said of every existing human institution. Were we to wait for perfection before we would give our support to any philanthropic scheme, philanthropy would die out entirely from the hearts of men from lack of worthy objects. While occasional and substantial help is a great blessing, and one which neither the receiver nor the giver can well spare without loss of pure emotion and without poverty of soul, too much help, or help too readily obtainable, is a great injury, inasmuch as it undermines manliness and self-reliance, destroys that vigour of independence which all toilers in every rank ought to cultivate, and often creates the poverty and misery it is intended to cure. The change cannot be wrought in a day or a year, or in hardly less than a score of years. It must be gradual. Many of the present generation are incurable, their inveterate pauperism cannot be shaken off. It is to the next generation that we must look for a better state of things. The sick and needy will still be at our doors, for many a year to come; men, women and children will still be helpless and perish if we withhold our pity and relief. While poverty lasts we must keep our manhood, our brotherly sympathy, our tender compassion, and by the agency of our splendid hospitals earn the cheap honour of helping to provide for the sick and needy. 2. The second objection is that the money raised is not distributed as equitably as it should be. Still, assuming this, I ask on what reasonable, just, or humane, grounds will you withhold your help from the fund because some of it is misappropriated? Is it reasonable to cripple the healing resources of ten persons who need your help, simply because one person has received help which he did not so much need? Is it just to punish the deserving hospitals for the undeserving? 3. The third objection is that persons avail themselves of hospital relief who have no right to the benefit. Of this deplorable fact there can be no doubt. The out-patients' room at the hospital is crowded by persons who can well afford to pay for medical and surgical attendance. Is this abuse of the hospitals a valid objection to our giving them all our support? I venture to say it is not. To destroy a precious and useful thing because some one puts it to a wrong use, or because it has fallen into illegitimate hands, is a manifest folly. If the liberal subscribers to the Hospital Fund were to hand in along with their subscriptions a vigorous protest against the indiscriminate reception of applicants for relief, the abuse would soon be abated, and in time altogether disappear. But not to give is to forfeit your right to be heard; not to support the hospitals is to put yourself out of court and disqualify you from giving evidence. ( C. Voysey. ) Practical sympathy: pity shown more by deeds than words A respectable merchant of London having become embarrassed in his circumstances, and his misfortunes being one day the subject of conversation in the Royal Exchange, several persons expressed the great sympathy they felt for him; whereupon a Quaker who was present said, "I feel five hundred pounds for him, what do you feel?" The blessedness of the benevolent " Where is heaven?" asked a wealthy Christian of his minister. "I will tell you where it is," was the quick reply: "if you will go to the store, and buy £10 worth of provisions and necessaries, and take them to that poor widow on the hillside, who has three of her children sick. She is poor, and a member of the Church. Take a nurse and some one to cook the food. When you get there, read the twenty-third Psalm, and kneel by her side and pray. Then you will find out where heaven is." A despiser of the poor reproved An eminent surgeon was one day sent for by the Cardinal du Bois, Prime Minister of France, to perform a very serious operation upon him. The Cardinal, on seeing him enter the room, said to him, "You must not expect to treat me in the same rough manner that you treat the more miserable wretches at your hospital." "My lord," replied the surgeon, with great dignity, "every one of those miserable wretches, as your eminence is pleased to call them, is a Prime Minister in my eyes, for each is one of God's poor." The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. Psalm 41:3 Sickness A. M. Sadleir. No one who has not felt the pains of sickness can fully appreciate the blessing of health. The lassitude and sufferings of sickness are hard to bear; and yet it is a wholesome discipline, which all of us greatly need. The design of sickness may be threefold. Sometimes it is sent to punish the wicked ( 1 Samuel 5:6 ). Or to try the patience and constancy of the righteous. Or to show forth God's glory ( John 9:3 ; John 11:4 ). I. OUR DUTY TOWARD THE SICK, WHO MAY NEED ASSISTANCE, Those who are well off in life, can have things arranged to suit themselves. The large and well-ventilated room, the comfortable bed with its clean and wholesome linen, the varied delicacies to suit the morbid appetite, the gentle and unwearied attentions of kindred and friends — all this, and more, money may readily command. But there are many who can have no such alleviation to their suffering. The kind physician comes — may God reward at the last day the many visits of mercy which he makes to the afflicted poor. But he leaves directions that the sick man should be kept quiet. Quiet indeed! He may as well command the mill dam to stop its ceaseless roar, or the hard hailstones not to rattle upon the roof. The minister of God arrives. lie asks of the welfare of the sick. He prays for his recovery. His petition in such a case is nothing more nor less than asking God to work a miracle in the sufferer's behalf, because he must be left in "a condition much more likely to make a well man sick, than a sick man well." II. THINK SERIOUSLY OF THE TIME WHEN ALL WILL BE CALLED TO LIE DOWN UPON THE BED OF LANGUISHING. There will be some morning of your lives, when business will be going on in the shops, and on the streets, but you will be far otherwise engaged. And suppose you that the bed of sickness is a convenient or suitable place to arrange your long-neglected account with God? ( A. M. Sadleir. ) The sick man healed A. Maclaren, D. D. The precise meaning of this verse is questioned, some regarding both clauses as descriptive of tender nursing, which sustains the drooping head and smooths the crumpled bedding, while others, noting that the word rendered "bed" in the second clause means properly "lying down," take that clause as descriptive of turning sickness into convalescence. The latter meaning gives it a more appropriate ending to the strophe, as it leaves the sick man healed, not tossing on a disordered bed, as the other explanation does. Jehovah does not half cure. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) I said, Lord be merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. Psalm 41:4 An excellent prayer W. Jay. 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 con

Benson Commentary Psalm 41:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. Psalm 41:1 . Blessed is he that considereth the poor — Or, poor man; that conducts himself wisely and prudently toward him; as ?????? , maschil, properly signifies, that does not rashly and foolishly censure and condemn him, much less insult over him, but considers his case with prudence and tenderness, remembering it may be his own, and therefore pities and helps him; and thus takes the likeliest way to obtain similar pity for himself when in trouble. But the word ?? dal, here rendered the poor, means the weak, sick, or languishing person, as appears by comparing this with Psalm 41:3 , where the mercy which he is supposed to have afforded to him is returned to himself, and with Psalm 41:8 . To conduct ourselves wisely toward such, is to take cognizance of their wants and miseries; to sympathize with them, and judge charitably concerning them; to pity and relieve them according to our power, or to take measures to provide for their relief. The Lord will deliver him — The poor afflicted man. Though his enemies conclude his case to be desperate, Psalm 41:8 , God will confute them and deliver him. Or, rather, the considerer of the poor, the person that visits and relieves him. And so it is a promise of recompense. The wise and merciful man shall find mercy. Psalm 41:2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. Psalm 41:2-3 . The Lord will keep him alive — Hebrew, Will quicken him, that is, revive and restore him. God will either preserve him from trouble, or, if he see that trouble is necessary, or will be useful for him, and therefore suffers him to fall into it, he will raise him out of it. Thou wilt not deliver him, &c. — To the destruction which his enemies earnestly desire and endeavour to effect. Wilt make all his bed in his sickness — Wilt give him ease and comfort, which sick men receive by the help of those who turn and stir up their bed, to make it soft and easy for them. Psalm 41:3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. Psalm 41:4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Psalm 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. Psalm 41:5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? Psalm 41:5-7 . Mine enemies speak evil of me — Designing thereby to grieve my spirit, ruin my reputation, and sink my interest. And if he come to see me — If any of mine enemies visit me in my sickness, according to the custom; he speaketh vanity — Or falsehood, pretending sympathy with, and friendship to me, while he is contriving mischief in his heart against me. His heart gathereth iniquity, &c. — Even when he is with me, and pretends a sincere affection for me, his heart is devising evil against me. When he goeth abroad he telleth it — Partly to delight his companions, and partly to encourage them to, and direct them in, their malicious designs against me. They whisper together against me — Secretly defame me, and closely plot against me. Psalm 41:6 And if he come to see me , he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it . Psalm 41:7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. Psalm 41:8 An evil disease, say they , cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. Psalm 41:8-9 . An evil disease cleaveth fast unto him — Hebrew, ??? ????? , debar Belijagnal, a word, or thing of Belial. Literally, says Houbigant, A thing of Belial is poured out upon him, that is, his wickedness is brought round upon, or overflows him. The reproach wherewith they had loaded him, they hoped, would cleave so fast to him, that his name would perish with him, and they should gain their point. Or, their meaning was, The disease, wherewith he is now afflicted, will certainly make an end of him; for it is the punishment of some great, enormous crime, which he will not repent of, and which proves him, however he has appeared, a son of Belial. And now he lieth, he will rise up no more — Seeing God has begun to punish him, he will continue so to do till he destroy him, and then we shall be rid of him, and divide the spoil of his preferments. Yea, mine own familiar friend — Probably he means Ahithophel, who had been his bosom friend, and prime minister of state; in whom he had trusted, as one inviolably firm to him, and on whose advice he had relied much, in dealing with his enemies: which did eat of my bread — With whom he had been very intimate, and whom he had taken to sit at the table with him; nay, whom he had maintained and given a livelihood to, and so obliged both in gratitude and interest to adhere to him; hath lifted up his heel against me — A phrase implying injury joined with insolence and contempt; taken from an unruly horse, which kicks at him that owns and feeds it. He not only deserted, but insulted; opposed and endeavoured to supplant him. Those are wicked indeed, whom no courtesy done them, no confidence reposed in them, will oblige. Although these words were literally fulfilled in David, yet the Holy Ghost, who dictated them, looked further in them, even to Christ and Judas, in whom they received a further and fuller accomplishment; and to whom, therefore, they are applied, John 13:18 . Psalm 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Psalm 41:10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. Psalm 41:10 . But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me — They censure me grievously, and conclude my case to be desperate; but, Lord, do thou vindicate me, and confute them. Raise me up, that I may requite them — Hebrew, ??????? , veashallemah, and I will requite them, that is, punish them for their malicious, perfidious, and wicked practices, which, being now a magistrate, it was his duty to do, for the public good. For he was not to bear the sword in vain, but, being a minister of God, invested with his authority, was to be a revenger, to execute wrath upon those that did evil, Romans 13:4 ; although, when a private person, he was so far from revenging himself that he rendered good for evil, Psalm 35:12-13 . In this prayer of David, that God would raise him up, is included a prophecy of the exaltation of Christ, whom God raised from the dead, that he might be a just avenger of all the wrongs done to him and to his people, particularly by the Jews, whose utter destruction followed not long after. Thus, “the hour is coming when the church shall arise to glory, and all her enemies shall be confounded.” — Horne. Psalm 41:11 By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. Psalm 41:11-12 . By this I know that thou favourest me — Bearest a good will to me, and art resolved to make good thy promises to me, and wilt plead my righteous cause; because mine enemy doth not triumph over me — Because hitherto thou hast supported me, and prolonged my days to the disappointment of his hopes, and designed triumphs. This mercy I thankfully receive as a token of further mercy. Thou upholdest me in mine integrity — As, through thy grace, I have kept my integrity, so thou hast kept me in and with it. Or, thou upholdest me for my integrity; that is, because thou hast seen my innocence, notwithstanding all the calumnies of mine enemies; and settest me before thy face for ever — Hebrew, ??????? , vetatzibeeni, wilt set, confirm, or establish me in thy presence, under thine eye and special care; to minister unto thee, as a king over thy people. And in regard of his posterity, the kingdom was established for ever. Let us learn from hence, if at any time we suffer in our reputation, to make it our chief care to preserve our integrity, and then cheerfully to leave it to God to secure our reputation. We must remember, however, that we cannot hold our integrity any longer than God upholds us in it; for, by his grace we are what we are: if we be left to ourselves we shall not only fall but fall, away. But it may be a comfort to us to know, that, however weak we are, God is able to uphold us in our integrity, and will do it, if we commit the keeping of our souls to him in well doing; and that those whom he now upholds in their integrity, he will set before his face for ever, and make them happy in the vision and fruition of himself. He that endures to the end shall be saved. Psalm 41:12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Psalm 41:13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. Psalm 41:13 . Blessed be the Lord God of Israel — A God in covenant with his people; who has done great and kind things for them, and has more and better in reserve; from everlasting to everlasting — Or, from age to age, as long as the world lasts, and to all eternity. Amen and amen — Amen, especially a double amen, signifies a hearty assent and approbation, and withal an earnest desire of the thing to which it is annexed. And as the Psalms are divided into five books, so each of them is closed with this word: the first here; the second, Psalms 72 : the third, Psalms 89 : the fourth, Psalms 106 : the last in the end of Psalm cl: the doubling of the word shows the fervency of his spirit in this work of praising God. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 41:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. Psalm 41:1-13 THE central mass of this psalm describes the singer as suffering from two evils: sickness and treacherous friends. This situation naturally leads up to the prayer and confidence of the closing strophe ( Psalm 41:10-12 ). But its connection with the introductory verses ( Psalm 41:1-5 ) is less plain. A statement of the blessings ensured to the compassionate seems a singular introduction to the psalmist’s pathetic exhibition of his sorrows. Cheyne thinks that the opening verses were added by the framer of the collection to adapt the poem to the use of the Church of his own time, and that "the original opening must have been different" (" Orig. of Psalt. ," 246, n.). It is to be observed, however, that the two points of the psalmist’s affliction are the two from which escape is assured to the compassionate, who shall not be "delivered to the desire of his enemies," and shall be supported and healed in sickness. Probably, therefore, the general promises of Psalm 41:1-3 are silently applied by the psalmist to himself; and he is comforting his own sorrow with the assurance which in his humility he casts into impersonal form. He has been merciful, and believes, though things look dark, that he will obtain mercy. There is probably also an intentional contrast with the cruel exacerbation of his sufferings by uncompassionate companions, which has rubbed salt into his wounds. He has a double consciousness in these opening verses, inasmuch as he partly thinks of himself as the compassionate man and partly as the "weak" one who is compassionated. The combination of sickness and treachery is remarkable, especially if the former is taken literally, as the strongly marked details seem to require. The sick man is visited by an insincere sympathiser, who is all eyes to note symptoms of increasing weakness, and all tongue, as soon as he gets out of the sickroom, to give the result, which is to his malice the better the worse it is. Such a picture looks as if drawn from life, and the sketch of the traitor friend seems to be a portrait of a real person. The supporters of the post-exilic date and national interpretation of the psalm have not succeeded in pointing out who the false friends of Israel were, who seemed to condole with, and really rejoiced over, its weakness, or who were the treacherous allies who failed it. The theory of the Davidic origin has in its favour the correspondence of Ahithophel’s treason with the treachery of the trusted friend in the psalm; and, while it must be admitted that there is no mention of sickness in the narrative in 2 Samuel, the supposition that trouble of conscience had brought illness gains some countenance from Psalm 32:1-11 , if it is Davidic, and would naturally explain David’s singular passiveness whilst Absalom was hatching his plot. The psalm may be divided into four strophes, of which, however, the two middle ones cohere very closely. Psalm 41:1-3 give the mercy requited to the merciful; Psalm 41:4-6 , after a brief prayer and confession begin the picture of the psalmist’s sufferings, which is carried on through the next strophe ( Psalm 41:7-9 ), with the difference that in the former the scene is mainly the sick man’s chamber, and in the latter the meeting place of the secret conspirators. Psalm 41:10-12 build on this picture of distress a prayer for deliverance and rise to serene confidence in its certain answer. The closing doxology is not part of the psalm, but is appended as the conclusion of the first book of the Psalter. The principle that God’s dealings with us correspond to our dealings with men, as clouds are moulded after the curves of the mountains which they touch, is no less characteristic of the New Testament than of the Old. The merciful obtain mercy; God forgives those who forgive their brethren. The absoluteness of statement in this psalm is, of course, open to misunderstanding; but the singer had not such a superficial view of his relations to God as to suppose that kindly sympathy was the sole condition of Divine compassion. That virtue, the absence of which added pangs to his pains, might well seem to a sufferer writhing under the bitterness of its opposite the Divinest of all excellences, and worthiest of recompense. That its requital should be mainly considered as consisting in temporal deliverance and physical health is partly due to the characteristics of the Old Testament promises of blessedness, and partly to the psalmist’s momentary needs. We have noted that these are reflected in the blessings promised in Psalm 41:1-3 . The "happy" of Psalm 41:1 is caught up in the abruptly introduced "He shall be counted happy" of Psalm 41:2 which may carry tacit reference to the malicious slanders that aggravated the psalmist’s sufferings, and anticipates deliverance so perfect that all who see him shall think him fortunate. The next clause rises into direct address of Jehovah, and is shown by the form of the negative in the Hebrew to be petition, not assertion, thus strongly confirming the view that "me" lurks below "him" in this context. A similar transition from the third to the second person occurs in Psalm 41:3 , as if the psalmist drew closer to his God. There is also a change of tense in the verbs there: "Jehovah will sustain"; "Thou hast turned," the latter tense converting the general truth expressed in the former clause into a fact of experience. The precise meaning of this verse is questioned, some regarding both clauses as descriptive of tender nursing, which sustains the drooping head and smoothes the crumpled bedding, while others, noting that the word rendered "bed" (A.V. and R.V.) in the second clause means properly "lying down," take that clause as descriptive of turning, sickness into convalescence. The latter meaning gives a more appropriate ending to the strophe, as it leaves the sick man healed, not tossing on a disordered bed, as the other explanation does. Jehovah does not half cure. The second and third strophes ( Psalm 41:4-9 ) are closely connected. In them the psalmist recounts his sorrows and pains, but first breathes a prayer for mercy, and bases it no longer on his mercifulness, but on his sin. Only a shallow experience will find contradiction here to either the former words, or to the later profession of "integrity" ( Psalm 41:12 ). The petition for soul healing does not prove that sickness in the following verses is figurative, but results from the belief that sorrow is the effect of sin, a view which belongs to the psalmist’s stage of revelation, and is not to be held by Christians in the same absolute fashion. If the Davidic origin of the psalm is recognised, the connection of the king’s great sin with all his after sorrows is patent. However he had been merciful and compassionate in general, his own verdict on the man in Nathan’s parable was that he "showed no pity," and that sin bore bitter fruit in all his life. It was the parent of all the sensual outrages in his own house; it underlay Ahithophel’s treachery; it had much to do in making his reign abhorred; it brought the fuel which Absalom fired, and if our supposition is right as to the origin of the sickness spoken of in this psalm, that sin and the remorse that followed it gnawed at the roots of bodily health. So the psalmist, if he is indeed the royal sinner, had need to pray for soul healing first, even though he was conscious of much compassion and hoped for its recompense. While he speaks thus to Jehovah, his enemies speak in a different tone. The "evil" which they utter is not calumny, but malediction. Their hatred is impatient for his death. The time seems long till they can hear of it. One of them comes on a hypocritical visit of solicitude ("see" is used for visiting the sick in 2 Kings 8:29 , and speaks lying condolence, while he greedily collects encouraging symptoms that the disease is hopeless. Then he hurries back to tell how much worse he had found the patient; and that ignoble crew delight in the good news, and send it flying. This very special detail goes strongly in favour of the view that we have in this whole description a transcript of literal, personal experience. There were plenty of concealed enemies round David in the early stages of Absalom’s conspiracy, who would look eagerly for signs of his approaching death, which might save the need of open revolt and plunge the kingdom into welcome confusion. The second strophe ends with the exit of the false friend. The third ( Psalm 41:7-9 ) carries him to the meeting place of the plotters, who eagerly receive and retain the good news that the sick man is worse. They feed their ignoble hate by picturing further ill as laying hold of him. Their wish is parent to their thought, which is confirmed by the report of their emissary. "A thing of Belial is poured out on him," or "is fastened upon him," say they. That unusual expression may refer either to moral or physical evil. In the former sense it would here mean the sufferer’s sin, in the latter a fatal disease. The connection makes the physical reference the more likely. This incurable disease is conceived of as "poured out," or perhaps as "molten on him," so that it cannot be separated from him. Therefore he will never rise from his sick bed. But even this murderous glee is not the psalmist’s sharpest pang. "The man of my peace," trusted, honoured, admitted to the privileges, and therefore bound by the obligations, of hospitality so sacred in the old world, has kicked the prostrate sufferer, as the ass in the fable did the sick lion. The treachery of Ahithophel at once occurs to mind. No doubt many treacherous friends have wounded many trustful hearts, but the correspondence of David’s history with this detail is not to be got rid of by the observation that treachery is common. Still less is it sufficient to quote Obadiah 1:7 where substantially the same language is employed in reference to the enemies of Edom, as supporting the national reference of the present passage. No one denies that false allies may be described by such a figure, or that nations may be personified; but is there any event in the post-exilic history which shows Israel deceived and spurned by trusted allies? The Davidic authorship and the personal reference of the psalm are separable. But if the latter is adopted, it will be hard to find any circumstances answering so fully to the details of the psalm as the Absalomic rebellion and Ahithophel’s treason. Our Lord’s quotation of part of Psalm 41:9 , with the significant omission of "in whom I trusted," does not imply the Messianic character of the psalm, but is an instance of an event and a saying which were not meant as prophetic, finding fuller realisation in the life of the perfect type of suffering godliness than in the original sufferer. The last strophe ( Psalm 41:10-12 ) recurs to prayer, and soars to confidence born of communion. A hand stretched out in need and trust soon comes back filled with blessings. Therefore here the moment of true petition is the moment of realised answer. The prayer traverses the malicious hopes of enemies. They had said, "He will rise no more"; it prays, "Raise me up." It touches a note which sounds discordant in the desire "that I may requite them"; and it is far more truly reverential and appreciative of the progress of revelation to recognise the relative inferiority of the psalmist’s wish to render quid pro quo than to put violence on his words in order to harmonise them with Christian ethics, or to slur over the distinction between the Law, of which the keynote was retribution, and the Gospel, of which it is forgiveness. But the last words of the psalm are sunny with the assurance of present favour and with boundless hope. The man is still lying on his sick bed, ringed by whispering foes. There is no change without, but this change has passed: that he has tightened his hold of God, and therefore can feel that his enemies’ whispers will never rise or swell into a shout of victory over him. He can speak of the future deliverance as if present; and he can look ahead over an indefinite stretch of sunlit country, scarcely knowing whether the furthest point is earth or no. His integrity is not sinless, nor does he plead it as a reason for Jehovah’s upholding, but hopes for it as the consequence of His sustaining hand. He knows that he will have close approach to Jehovah; and though, no doubt, "forever" on his lips meant less than it does on ours, his assurance of continuous communion with God reached, if not to actual, clear consciousness of immortality, at all events to assurance of a future so indefinitely extended, and so brightened by the sunlight of God’s face, that it wanted but little additional extension or brightening to be the full assurance of life immortal. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.