Raise me up - Restore me from this sickness, that I may requite them. This has also been applied to our Lord; who, knowing that he must die, prays that he may rise again, and thus disappoint the malice of his enemies. read more
By this I know that thou favorest me - If thou hadst not been on my side, I had perished by this disease; and then my enemies would have had cause to triumph. This also has been applied to our Lord; and Calmet says it is the greatest proof we have of the divinity of Christ, that he did not permit the malice of the Jews, nor the rage of the devil, to prevail against him. They might persecute, blaspheme, mock, insult, crucify, and slay him; but his resurrection confounded them; and by it he... read more
Thou upholdest me - I am still enabled to show that my heart was upright before God. Settest me before thy face for ever - Thou showest that thou dost approve of me: that I stand in thy presence, under the smiles of thy approbation. This also has been applied to our Lord, and considered as pointing out his mediatorial office at the right hand of God. read more
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel - By all these circumstances and events glory shall redound to the name of God for ever; for the record of these things shall never perish, but be published from one generation to another; and it has been so. From everlasting, and to everlasting - העולם ועד מהעולם mehaolam vead haolam ; From the hidden time to the hidden time; from that which had no beginning to that which has no end. To which he subscribes, Amen and Amen. Fiat, fiat - Vulgate. ... read more
Verse 7 7.All they that hate me whisper together against me. Here he seems generally to include both classes of his enemies; those who sought to oppress him in an open manner, and in the character of avowed enemies; and those who, under the pretense of friendship, attempted to do the same thing by deceit and stratagem. Accordingly, he says that all of them took counsel together about his destruction, just as we know that wicked men hold much secret consultation respecting their intended deeds... read more
Verse 8 8.An evil deed of Belial cleaved fast to him. From this verse it appears that they had thus conspired together for his destruction, on the ground that they regarded him as a wicked man, and a person worthy of a thousand deaths. The insolence and arrogance which they manifested towards him proceeded from the false and wicked judgment which they had formed concerning him, and of which he made mention in the beginning of the psalm. They say, therefore, that an evil deed of Belial holds him... read more
Verse 9 9.Even the man of my peace. As the very height of all his miseries, David here declares that he had found the same treachery in some one, or, indeed, in many of his greatest friends. For the change of number is very frequent in the Hebrew language, so that he may speak of several individuals as if they were only one person. Thus the meaning would be: Not only the common people, or strangers of whom I had no knowledge or acquaintance, but my greatest friends, nay, even those with whom I... read more
Verse 10 10Do thou, O Jehovah I have mercy upon me. From a consideration of the wrongful cruelty of his enemies, he again takes encouragement to pray. And there is included in what he says a tacit contrast between God and men; as if he had said, Since there is to be found no aid or help in the world, but as, on the contrary, a strange degree of cruelty, or secret malice, every where prevails, be thou, at least, O Lord! pleased to succor me by thy mercy. This is the course which ought to be... read more
Verse 11 11By this I know that I have been acceptable to thee David now proceeds to the exercise of thanksgiving; unless, indeed, by altering the tense of the verb, we would rather with some read this verse in connection with the preceding, in this way: In this I shall know that thou favorest me, if thou suffer not my enemies to triumph over me; but it suits much better to understand it as an expression of joy on account of some deliverance which God had vouchsafed to him. After having offered... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 41:9
Mine own familiar friend - This is either a direct prophecy of the treachery of Judas, or it is a fact in David's distresses which our Lord found so similar to the falsity of his treacherous disciple, that he applies it to him, John 13:18 . What we translate mine own familiar friend, שלומי איש ish shelomi , is the man of my peace. The man who, with the לך שלום shalom lecha , peace be to thee! kissed me; and thus gave the agreed-on signal to my murderers that I was the person whom... read more