All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
Psalm 41 closes the first book of the Psalms and bears the title A Psalm of David. It gives insight into the shepherd-warrior-poet's experiences keeping his flock, fleeing from Saul whom he spared, being surrounded by treacherous foes, and being marvelously delivered in victory. The verse describes those who hate the speaker whispering together against him and secretly devising his hurt. Such whispering is a stealthy form of hostility that can fuel strife.
The psalm speaks both of David's own experience and of future events concerning Christ, great David's greater Son, and with its surrounding verses it applies to the plotting of the Jews against Christ, the spies placed on his track, and the false reports circulated against him. The verse is instructive, devout, helpful, elevating, and worshipful, showing mistrust of human strength and exaltation of God's power, confidence in God's might and goodness, and assurance of the ultimate overthrow of all wickedness and the triumph of all good. It belongs to a song of human experience that can be brought into the daily tasks and trials of God's children.
Psalm 41 closes the first book of the Psalms and bears the title A Psalm of David. It gives insight into the shepherd-warrior-poet's experiences keeping his flock, fleeing from Saul whom he spared, being surrounded by treacherous foes, and being marvelously delivered in victory. The verse describes those who hate the speaker whispering together against him and secretly devising his hurt. Such whispering is a stealthy form of hostility that can fuel strife.
The psalm speaks both of David's own experience and of future events concerning Christ, great David's greater Son, and with its surrounding verses it applies to the plotting of the Jews against Christ, the spies placed on his track, and the false reports circulated against him. The verse is instructive, devout, helpful, elevating, and worshipful, showing mistrust of human strength and exaltation of God's power, confidence in God's might and goodness, and assurance of the ultimate overthrow of all wickedness and the triumph of all good. It belongs to a song of human experience that can be brought into the daily tasks and trials of God's children.