Psalms 41:4

"I said, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me:

Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

Mine enemies speak evil against me, saying,

When will he die, and his name perish?

And if he come to see me, he speaketh falsehood;

His heart gathereth iniquity to itself:

When he goeth abroad he telleth it."

"O Jehovah, have mercy upon me" (Psalms 41:4). Kidner remarked that, "David got more mercy from God whom he had wronged than from the 'familiar friend' whom he had helped."[7]

"Heal my soul" (Psalms 41:4). Although this is the equivalent of "heal me," "The single pronoun does not convey the rich meaning of the Hebrew,"[8] which refers to both "soul and body." David was particularly in need of such a healing, for it was not long since his double sin of adultery and murder. The severe illness that probably came upon David may have been a divine punishment for his sins, an illness that doubtless hastened and might have caused the formation of Absalom's plot to unseat him.

"Mine enemies speak evil against me" (Psalms 41:5). As Jamieson noted, "We have here a graphic picture of the conduct of a malignant enemy,"[9] The following verse shows that this enemy visited David in his illness, spoke lying words of good will and hopes for his recovery; but he then went out and spread the false news that the king was on his death bed.

"And if he come to see me" (Psalms 41:6). This enemy that came to see David in his illness is thought by some to have been "Ahithophel,"[10] but there is no proof of this; and it is this writer's opinion that it was much more likely to have been David's rebellious son Absalom. Ahithophel was the High Priest and probably would not have had easy access to David's bedchamber; but Absalom, the king's son, would not have been restricted from seeing the king. It is easy enough to understand why David did not name Absalom in this psalm.