This psalm, ascribed to David, has, in its general design and spirit, a strong resemblance to Ps. 38. The occasion on which it was composed is not certainly known; but, like that, it seems to have been when the author was suffering under bodily sickness, not improbably brought on him by mental sorrows caused by the ingratitude of his friends, or by those nearly related to him in life. it is certain that his bodily sufferings were either caused or aggravated by the neglect of his friends; by their cold treatment of him; by their ingratitude toward him; by the reports which they circulated in regard to him. See Psalm 38:11-12; compare Psalm 41:5-9. It was this unkindness certainly which greatly increased his suffering, and which probably gave occasion to the psalm. Who the persons were that thus treated him with neglect and coldness cannot now be ascertained; nor is it necessary to know who they were in order to appreciate the meaning and the beauty of the psalm. Their conduct is so accurately and so feelingly described, that it would be no particular advantage to be made acquainted with their names.
The case, therefore, in the psalm is that of one who is sick; who is forsaken by his friends; who is subjected to unkind remarks alike when they are with him and when absent from him; of one, therefore, whose only refuge is God, and who looks to him for sympathy.
According to this view, the psalm may be conveniently divided into four parts:
I. The psalmist dwells on the blessed character of one who does show compassion or kindness to the poor and the suffering; the blessedness of the man who is merciful, Psalm 41:1-3. This is evidently a reflection forced upon him by the opposite conduct of those whom he supposed he might have regarded as his friends, and to whom he had a right to look for sympathy and kindness. In his own mind, therefore, he contrasts their actual conduct with the character of the truly kind and merciful man, and is led, in few words, to describe the happiness which would follow if proper kindness were shown to the poor and the afflicted. He says that the effect of such conduct would be:
(a) that the Lord would deliver such an one in the time of trouble, Psalm 41:1;
(b) that the Lord would preserve him alive, Psalm 41:2;
(c) that he would be blessed upon the earth, Psalm 41:2;
(d) that the Lord would not deliver him to the will of his enemies, Psalm 41:2;
(e) that he would strengthen him on the bed of languishing, and would make his bed in his sickness, Psalm 41:3.
II. An appeal to God for mercy, and for restoration to health, with an humble confession that it was for his own sin that he was suffering; and with a purpose not to attempt to justify himself, or to say that he had not deserved this at the hand of God, Psalm 41:4. He makes no complaint of God, much as he had occasion to complain of his friends.
III. A statement in regard to the manner in which he had been treated in his sickness, Psalm 41:5-9.
(a) His enemies took occasion to speak evil of him, and to utter the wish, in a manner which would be most painful to a sufferer, that he might die, and that his name might perish, Psalm 41:5.
(b) If they came to see him in his sickness, instead of speaking words of kindness and comfort, they spoke only "vain" and unmeaning words; they sought occasion to gratify their own malignity by finding something in his manner, or in his language, which they could repeat to his disadvantage, Psalm 41:6.
(c) All that hated him took occasion now to conspire against him, to lay together all that they individually knew or could say that would be injurious to him, and to urge their individual causes of complaint against him in a general statement in regard to his character, Psalm 41:7.
(d) They especially sought to injure him by reporting that a disease clave to him which was the result of sin, perhaps of an irregular life, and that there was no prospect that he would be again restored to health; that the hand of God was upon him, and that he must sink to the grave, Psalm 41:8.
(e) All this was aggravated by the fact that his own familiar friend, some one who had enjoyed his confidence, and had partaken of the hospitality of his table, had abused his friendship, and was found among his detractors and calumniators, Psalm 41:9.
IV. An earnest invocation of the mercy of God, and an expression of the confident assurance of his favor, closes the psalm, Psalm 41:10-13.
This psalm, like Ps. 38, which it so much resembles, is one that will be always eminently useful to those who are visited with sickness, and who, at the same time, are deprived of the sympathy in their sufferings which the afflicted so much need and desire, and who, instead of sympathy, are subjected to detraction and calumny - their enemies taking advantage of their condition to circulate unfavorable reports in regard to them, and their heretofore professed friends withdrawing from them, and uniting with their calumniators and detractors. Such cases may not be very common in the world, but they occur with sufficient frequency to make it proper that, in a book claiming to be inspired, and designed to be adapted to all times and all classes of people, they should be referred to, and that we should be told what is the true source of consolation in such troubles. Indeed, a book professing to come from God would be defective in the highest degree if such a case were not provided for, and if suitable instructions for such an occasion had not been furnished by precept, or example, or both. On the phrase in the title, "To the chief Musician," see the notes on the title to Psalm 4:1-8.

The blessedness of the man who is merciful to the poor, Psalm 41:1-3. The psalmist complains of his enemies, and prays for support, Psalm 41:4-10; and blesses God for having heard his prayer, and preserved him from his adversaries, Psalm 41:11, Psalm 41:12. A fine doxology closes the Psalm, Psalm 41:13.
The title as before. The Syriac says it was "A Psalm of David, when he appointed overseers to take care of the poor." The Arabic says, "It is a prophecy concerning the incarnation; and also of the salutation of Judas." It appears to me to have been written on the same occasion as the three former, and to relate to David's malady and cure, and the evil treatment he had from his enemies during his affliction. Our Lord, by accommodation, applies the ninth verse to the treachery of Judas, John 13:18; but as to any other direct reference to Christ, or his history, I believe the Psalm has none.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 41
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. In this psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and concerning Judas Iscariot, as runs part of the title in the Syriac version; and in the Arabic version it is called a prophecy concerning the incarnation, and the salutation of Judas; and certain it is that Psalm 41:9 is to be understood of him, and of his betraying Christ into the hands of his enemies, since it is cited and applied to him by our Lord himself, John 13:18; so that having such a sure rule of interpretation, we may safely venture to explain the whole psalm of Christ, which treats both of his humiliation and exaltation; for it neither agrees with David wholly, nor with Hezekiah, to whom some ascribe it, as Theodoret remarks.

(Psalm 41:1-4) God's care for his people.
(Psalm 41:5-13) The treachery of David's enemies.

Complaint of a Sufferer of Being Surrounded by Hostile and Treacherous Persons
After a Psalm with אשׁרי follows one beginning with אשׁרי; so that two Psalm with אשׁרי close the First Book of the Psalm, which begins with אשׁרי. Psalm 41:1-13 belongs to the time of the persecution by Absalom. Just as the Jahve- Psalm 39:1-13 forms with the Elohim- Psalm 62:1-12 a coherent pair belonging to this time, so does also the Jahve- Psalm 41:1-13 with the Elohim-Psalm 55. These two Psalm have this feature in common, viz., that the complaint concerning the Psalmist's foes dwells with especial sadness upon some faithless bosom-friend. In Psalm 41:1-13 David celebrates the blessing which accompanies sincere sympathy, and depicts the hostility and falseness which he himself experiences in his sickness, and more especially from a very near friend. It is the very same person of whom he complains in Ps 55, that he causes him the deepest sorrow - no ideal character, as Hengstenberg asserts; for these Psalm have the most distinctly impressed individual physiognomy of the writer's own times. In Ps 55 the poet wishes for the wings of a dove, in order that, far away from the city, he might seek for himself a safe spot in the wilderness; for in the city deceit, violence, and mischief prevail, and the storm of a wide-spread conspiracy is gathering, in which he himself sees his most deeply attached friend involved. We need only supplement what is narrated in the second Book of Samuel by a few features drawn from these two Psalm, and these Psalm immediately find a satisfactory explanation in our regarding the time of their composition as the period of Absalom's rebellion. The faithless friend is that Ahithophel whose counsels, according to 2-Samuel 16:23, had with David almost the appearance of being divine oracles. Absalom was to take advantage of a lingering sickness under which his father suffered, in order to play the part of the careful and impartial judge and to steal the heart of the men of Israel. Ahithophel supported him in this project, and in four years after Absalom's reconciliation with his father the end was gained. These four years were for David a time of increasing care and anxiety; for that which was planned cannot have remained altogether concealed from him, but he had neither the courage nor the strength to smother the evil undertaking in the germ. His love for Absalom held him back; the consciousness of his own deed of shame and bloodshed, which was now notorious, deprived him of the alacrity essential to energetic interference; and the consciousness of the divine judgments, which ought to follow his sin, must have determined him to leave the issue of the conspiracy that was maturing under his very eyes entirely to the compassion of his God, without taking any action in the matter himself. From the standpoint of such considerations, Psalm 41:1-13 and 55 lose every look of being alien to the history of David and his times. One confirmation of their Davidic origin is the kindred contents of Psalm 28:1-9.
Jesus explains (John 13:18) that in the act of Judas Iscariot Psalm 41:10 is fulfilled, ὁ τρώγων μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ τὸν ἄρτον, ἐπῆρεν ἐπ ̓ ἐμε ̓ τὴν πτέρναν αὐτοῦ (not following the lxx), and John 17:12; Acts 1:16 assume in a general way that the deed and fate of the traitor are foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures, viz., in the Davidic Psalm of the time of Absalom - the treachery and the end of Ahithophel belong to the most prominent typical features of David's affliction in this second stage of persecution (vid., Hofmann, Weissagung und Erf@fcllung, ii. 122).