Psalm 41 - Foreshadowing of Salvation Through Faith and Family

For the director of music. A psalm of David.
Psalm 41:1-3

1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak;
the LORD
delivers him in times of trouble.
2 The LORD will protect
him and preserve
his life;
he will bless him in the land
and not
surrender him to the
desire of his foes.
3 The LORD will sustain him on
his sickbed
and
restore him from his bed of illness.

Human kindness and brotherly love is at the heart of God’s message throughout The Bible. This is a point I never want to cease to drive home. What it amounts to is the love members of a family ought to have for one another.

In understanding God’s entire effort in concerning Himself with man, which is to save His Family, I see a lot of imagery and metaphorical use of language in the above three verses from Psalm 41. For example:

…Compare what verse one of Psalm 41 says, with what Jesus says in Matthew 25:40.
“Whatever you did for the least of these brothers
of mine, you did for me”

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells those who call Him ‘Lord’ (not missing the importance of ‘Lord’) who are on His right (the place of honor) that what ever they did for the least of the brothers of Him, they did for Jesus. (“least”, could be weak as in Ps. 41:1. It could also refer to those who have not come to a saving knowledge of Christ. “Brothers” is obvious in what "brothers" means. Jesus is acknowledging an understanding He has in God having created all of mankind to be God’s family.)

Psalm 41:1 speaks of a man concerned with helping the weak. The verse continues to say that the Lord will reward him by delivering him in his time of trouble. Not to exclude the troubles we have in this world. But, I believe this to be metaphorical. Certainly David wrote about God’s hand on him. But, what I want to consider is how this message seems comparible to saying that The Lord will rescue that man from his state of existence, his inability to have a relationship with The Lord in his natural self. Why should we not consider this? The Bible, on various levels will often say one thing and we see that what is being stated often applies to a higher purpose, as well. (We are not excluding the faith we must have in Christ first, when I say we are saved for our charity).

Let’s take an etymological perspective on the Psalm.

The word “deliver” is #4422 in Strong’s Concordance. #4422 references the Hebrew word, ‘Malat’. 'Malat' is a sense of being smooth. I.e. to escape, let slip: to deliver oneself, be delivered, be saved, be set free…etc.

In Greek, (Mt. 6:13) the word is ruomai – to drag out of danger, to rescue, save.

Our relationships to one another are just as important to God as our relationship with God is important to Him.

As I consider what verses 2 and 3 would add to my understanding of verse one, I feel that our enemies as David spoke of are real. Christianity, itself has many enemies who desire to see the Christian faith expunged. So, I can see how verse two would apply to our ‘spiritual’ (even eternal) enemies.

Verse three speaks of being delivered from the death bed. I have to see this as metaphorical because, let’s face it, not one person has outlived the ever present onsloght of illness and the decay of the human body. We will be reduced to helplessness even if we successfully ward off terminal illness. Our bodies will decay and weaken and eventually, we will lay on our death bed. So, let’s look at this verse in light of the most terminal illness we have as human beings. That is, our inability to rescue ourselves from eternal condemnation. God has made a way to restore us from the eternal grip of the grave. He has restored us from our ‘death bed’ through Christ.

Another blogger suggested I should attempt to state what scholars suggest, aside from my own understanding. So, I included Matthew Henry’s commentary on Ps. 41 below.

Matthew Henry Commentary
http://bible.somd.com/henry/H19C041.shtml

Psalm 41 in its entirety

For the director
of music. A psalm of David.
1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak;
the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.
2 The LORD will protect him
and preserve his life;
he will bless him in the land
and not surrender
him to the desire of his foes.
3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed
and restore him from his bed of illness.
4 I said, "O LORD, have mercy
on me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you."
5 My enemies say of me
in malice,
"When will he die and his name perish?"
6 Whenever one comes
to see me,
he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he
goes out and spreads it abroad.
7 All my enemies whisper together against
me;
they imagine the worst for me, saying,
8 "A vile disease has beset
him;
he will never get up from the place where he lies."
9 Even my close
friend, whom I trusted,
he who shared my bread,
has lifted up his heel
against me.
10 But you, O LORD, have mercy on me;
raise me up, that I
may repay them.
11 I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy
does not triumph over me.
12 In my integrity you uphold me
and set me in
your presence forever.
13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
from
everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.