Psalms 41:1-3

Blessing Is Pronounced On The One Who Considers The Sick King In His Illness, And A Prayer Is Made For The Deliverance And Recovery Of The Sick King (Psalms 41:1).

Psalms 41:1

‘Blessed is he who considers the weak,

YHWH will deliver him in the day of evil.

YHWH will preserve him,

And will keep him alive,

And he will be blessed on the earth.

And do not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

YHWH will support him on the couch of languishing,

You have turned his lying down in his sickness.'

This first section of the book of Psalms commenced with a declaration of blessedness, on those who meditate in God's Instruction day and night, and here it ends with a description of the blessedness of those who give consideration to the weak. We may think in terms of, ‘blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy' (Matthew 5:7).

That David sees himself as one of the weak and needy has already come out in Psalms 40:17, so that in the first instance it is David who is in mind. He was clearly going through a severe illness, severe enough for his enemies to hope that it would bring about his end.

God's blessing on those who consider the weak and helpless is considered to be threefold:

· He will deliver him in the day of evil so that he might escape the worst of that evil, in the same way as he himself seeks to deliver the weak and helpless from evil.

· He will preserve him and keep him alive, just as he seeks to keep alive the weak and helpless.

· Such a one will be blessed on the earth, because he has been a blessing.

‘And do not deliver him to the will of his enemies. YHWH will support him on the couch of languishing. You have turned his lying down in his sickness.' This may be seen as continuing the thought of the first line (with lines 2-5 being seen as an interjection), thus being a prayer for the weak and helpless that he might not be delivered to the will of his enemies, and confidently asserting YHWH's support for him on his sick bed, and declaring that the illness has turned so that he will soon now recover from his sickness. Or the sixth line may be seen as a prayer for the one being blessed, and a request that he too might be helped when he is ill.

Thus we have here a prayer of gratitude for the aid provided to a person in their illness by those who have their interests at heart, which includes the desire that they might be blessed. Such people were very important in David's case because they were maintaining the kingdom and keeping his throne safe.