Read Psalm 41 at Bible Gateway.
Psa 41 forms a chiastic structure:
Psa 41:1-13
1a) Psa 41:1-2a, Blessed is he who considers the poor;
1b) Psa 41:2b, You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies;
1c) Psa 41:3, You will strengthen him and sustain him;
1d) Psa 41:4, LORD, be merciful to me;
central axis) Psa 41:5-9, David’s enemies plot evil against him;
2d) Psa 41:10, LORD, be merciful to me;
2c) Psa 41:11, My enemy does not triumph over me;
2b) Psa 41:12, You uphold me and set me before Your face forever;
2a) Psa 41:13, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.
The central axis prophesies of Messiah, with King David as the type. The enemies of the king (of Messiah) speak evil against him, and wish for and plot his death — even his familiar friend, a prophecy about Judas Iscariot. But this is something amazing!
And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it. Psa 41:6
What is the lie that Messiah’s enemy speaks of Him?
“An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.” Psa 41:8
The enemy actually believed this, I think: that if he could just kill the Promised Seed, he would nullify the prophecy given by God in the Garden in Gen 3:15, that the Promised Seed would bruise his head. But this is the amazing part: it was a lie, that if the Promised Seed lay down in death, He would rise up no more. He rose from the dead! He is the Promised Seed, after all — when seeds are put in the ground, what to do they do? SPRING TO LIFE!
God is so awesome and wonderful! He even prophesied of Messiah’s death and resurrection, when He created the laws that govern our physical universe!
Leave a Reply