Psalm 41 – The law of reciprocity

Psalm 41 is yet another Psalm of David written to the choir director. In this Psalm David seemed to be sick, yet had to go through treacherous treatment by his enemies. He did not side step the cause of his experience but acknowledge his flaws before God. In this Psalm he was contrasting the treatment he had at the hand of God and those who opposed him. He could be referring to Ahithophel’s betrayal. This once trusted counsellor of his deflected to incite his son Absalom to rebel against him. The account of this is found in 2 Samuel 15. David could be making an inference to him in this Psalm. Yet throughout, David maintained that God remained faithful and would ultimately vindicate him.

In verses 1-3, David was describing himself. In time past, David had shown compassion to the helpless. Hence he was confident that God, who had seen what he had done in the past, would reciprocate his kindness by delivering him. He knew that God would show mercy to him and keep him alive. In fact he would be sustained in his sickness and be restored. Furthermore God would not hand him over to his enemies, so that those who recognized the deliverance of God in his life would know how blessed he was. It pays to be compassionate toward the poor and helpless. God is no man’s debtor. He will recompense the kindness shown to those in need.

While acknowledging his benevolence, David also knew that he was not flawless. He had sinned and the sickness, he reckoned, was the result of divine chastening. Since it was at the hand of God he was undergoing these negative experiences, he requested that God be gracious to him and heal him. David did not pretend as if he was a goody-two-shoes. He acknowledged his sin and sought God’s pardon. Like him we should not be afraid to own up when we have sinned. For after all, God already knows everything in our life. He knows where we have erred. Nothing is kept from God’s sight.   

Verses 5-9 could be a reference to Ahithophel who had betrayed David. He professed to be the king’s friend but had then acted hypocritically. He visited David in his sickness and acted as if he wished him well, but would go out immediately and wished him ill. He would bad-mouth David behind his back, and wished for the king’s death. He, together with others that opposed David, would gossip and spread negatives against him. Everything they did was designing and plotting evil, and his downfall. David was certain that they would come to a bad end and be removed. Verse 9 was quoted by the Lord Jesus. This verse was prophetically fulfilled by Judas Iscariot who was close to Jesus, ate with the Lord, yet betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver.  

The best course of action, as we have learned from David by now, is prayer. That was exactly what he did. He spoke to God about it. He prayed for mercy and for restoration. He was confident of God’s favor and that God would uphold his integrity and deliver him. With that David burst into a doxology. He blessed the Lord, the eternal God of Israel. This is the last Psalm in the first book of Psalms.

David shows us that compassion begets compassion. The law of reciprocity says that like begets like. Thus we must be people of compassion, especially towards those undergoing trying times. While we want to be delivered from our difficult times, we must also be sure to deal with our sin, and those things we did that contributed negatively to our experience.  The law of reciprocity also suggests that sin guarantees consequence. Apart from having a right relationship with God, we need to constantly think right, speak right and act right. The best way to ensure that, would be to carve out of God’s Word divine principles, and to live them out.  This we must do with consistency.