◄ Psalm 41:5 ►
My enemies say with malice: "When will he die and be forgotten?"
Study Bible
My enemies say with malice:
This phrase highlights the presence of adversaries in the life of the psalmist, traditionally understood to be David. The term "malice" indicates a deep-seated ill will and intent to harm. In the historical context, David faced numerous enemies, including King Saul and his own son Absalom. This reflects the broader biblical theme of the righteous facing opposition, as seen in the lives of other biblical figures like Joseph and Daniel. The presence of enemies is a recurring theme in the Psalms, often symbolizing the spiritual battles faced by believers.

“When will he die and be forgotten?”
This question reveals the depth of the enemies' hostility, wishing not only for the psalmist's death but also for his complete erasure from memory. In ancient Near Eastern culture, memory and legacy were crucial, as they were tied to one's honor and lineage. The desire for someone to be forgotten was akin to wishing for their total obliteration. This sentiment echoes the ultimate defeat of evil, as seen in the prophetic books where the wicked are often portrayed as being cut off and forgotten. Theologically, this can be seen as a type of Christ, who also faced enemies wishing for His death, yet His resurrection ensured His eternal remembrance and victory over sin and death.

Persons / Places / Events
1. David
Traditionally attributed as the author of this psalm, David is expressing his lament over the malice and betrayal he faces from his enemies.

2. Enemies
These are the individuals who harbor ill will towards David, wishing for his downfall and death.

3. Malice
The ill intent and desire for harm that David's enemies express, reflecting the deep-seated animosity they hold.

4. Death and Forgetting
The ultimate wish of David's enemies is not just his physical demise but also the erasure of his legacy and memory.

5. Psalm 41
A broader context of this psalm includes themes of betrayal, divine justice, and the hope for God's deliverance.
Teaching Points
Understanding Malice
Recognize that malice is a deep-seated ill will that can manifest in desires for another's downfall. As Christians, we are called to guard our hearts against such feelings.

Responding to Enemies
Reflect on how David's experience with enemies can inform our response to those who wish us harm. We are encouraged to seek God's justice rather than personal revenge.

The Power of Legacy
Consider the importance of living a life that honors God, ensuring that our legacy is not easily forgotten, even in the face of opposition.

Trust in God's Deliverance
Like David, we can place our trust in God's ability to deliver us from the hands of our enemies and vindicate us in His time.

Prayer for Enemies
Embrace the challenge of praying for those who oppose us, asking God to transform their hearts and bring reconciliation.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the historical context of David's life enhance our comprehension of Psalm 41:5?

2. In what ways can we identify with David's experience of facing malice from others in our own lives?

3. How do the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament challenge us to respond to our enemies differently than the natural human inclination?

4. What steps can we take to ensure that our legacy is one that honors God, even when others wish to see us forgotten?

5. How can we practically apply the principle of leaving vengeance to God in situations where we feel wronged or betrayed?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 55
This psalm also deals with themes of betrayal and the anguish of being opposed by close companions, similar to the enemies in Psalm 41.

2 Samuel 15-17
The account of Absalom's rebellion against David provides a historical backdrop of betrayal and enmity that could parallel the sentiments expressed in Psalm 41.

Matthew 5:44
Jesus' teaching on loving enemies and praying for those who persecute you offers a New Testament perspective on dealing with malice.

Romans 12:19
Paul's exhortation to leave vengeance to God aligns with the trust in divine justice seen in the psalms.
Sermons
A Despiser of the Poor ReprovedPsalm 41:1-13
BenevolenceJoseph Entwistle.Psalm 41:1-13
Considering the PoorM. F. Sadler, M. APsalm 41:1-13
Considering the PoorJ. Parker.Psalm 41:1-13
God's PoorW. Forsyth Psalm 41:1-13
On Christian Care for the PoorJ. Baldwin Brown, B. A.Psalm 41:1-13
Practical Sympathy: Pity Shown More by Deeds than WordsPsalm 41:1-13
The Aggravation and Consolation of Bodily AfflictionC. Short Psalm 41:1-13
The Blessedness of Considering the Case of the PoorT. Chalmers, D. D.Psalm 41:1-13
The Blessedness of the BenevolentPsalm 41:1-13
The Duty of Considering the PoorG. Horns.Psalm 41:1-13
The Psalmist's AfflictionA. Maclaren, D. D.Psalm 41:1-13
The Right and Wrong Treatment of the AfflictedHomilistPsalm 41:1-13
The Sick and Needy (For Hospital SundayC. Voysey.Psalm 41:1-13
Ill Treated by Man, He Flees to GodC. Clemance Psalm 41:4, 10
The Harshness and Treachery of MenC. Clemance Psalm 41:5-9
People
David, Korah, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Dead, Die, Dieth, Enemies, Evil, Haters, Malice, Perish, Perished, Saying, Speak, Wish
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 41:5-6

     5202   accusation, false

Psalm 41:5-8

     5868   gossip

Psalm 41:5-9

     5951   slander

Library
Christ Teaching Liberality
If we should attempt to mention all the parables which Jesus spoke, and the miracles which he performed, and the many other lessons which he taught, it would make a long list. As we have done before we can only take one or two specimens of these general lessons which Jesus taught. We have one of these in the title to our present chapter, which is--Christ Teaching Liberality. This was a very important lesson for Jesus to teach. One of the sad effects of sin upon our nature is to make it selfish, …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

Of visions. The Graces Our Lord Bestowed on the Saint. The Answers Our Lord Gave Her for those who Tried Her.
1. I have wandered far from the subject; for I undertook to give reasons why the vision was no work of the imagination. For how can we, by any efforts of ours, picture to ourselves the Humanity of Christ, and imagine His great beauty? No little time is necessary, if our conception is in any way to resemble it. Certainly, the imagination may be able to picture it, and a person may for a time contemplate that picture,--the form and the brightness of it,--and gradually make it more perfect, and so …
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

Question of the Contemplative Life
I. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? S. Thomas, On the Beatific Vision, I., xii. 7 ad 3m II. Do the Moral Virtues pertain to the Contemplative Life? S. Augustine, Of the City of God, xix. 19 III. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? S. Augustine, Of the Perfection of Human Righteousness, viii. 18 " Ep., cxxx. ad probam IV. Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God, or in the Consideration …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

The Beatific vision. (Continued. )
In the Beatific Vision our intellect is glorified, and our thirst for knowledge completely satisfied. Man was created with a thirst for knowledge which can never be satiated in this world. Sin, which greatly weakened and darkened his mental faculties, has not taken away his desire and love for knowledge. And the knowledge which he acquired by eating the forbidden fruit, rather increased than satisfied his thirst. But all his efforts to reach the perfection of knowledge, even in the natural order, …
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

The Difference Between Union and Rapture. What Rapture Is. The Blessing it is to the Soul. The Effects of It.
1. I wish I could explain, with the help of God, wherein union differs from rapture, or from transport, or from flight of the spirit, as they speak, or from a trance, which are all one. [1] I mean, that all these are only different names for that one and the same thing, which is also called ecstasy. [2] It is more excellent than union, the fruits of it are much greater, and its other operations more manifold; for union is uniform in the beginning, the middle, and the end, and is so also interiorly. …
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

Perseverance of Saints.
FURTHER OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 4. A fourth objection to this doctrine is, that if, by the perseverance of the saints is intended, that they live anything like lives of habitual obedience to God, then facts are against it. To this objection I reply: that by the perseverance of the saints, as I use these terms, is intended that, subsequently to their regeneration, holiness is the rule of their lives, and sin only the exception. But it is said, that facts contradict this. (1.) The case of king Saul is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Paschal Meal. Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet.
(Thursday Evening of the Beginning of Friday.) ^D John XIII. 1-20. ^d 1 Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. [Since the second century a great dispute has been carried on as to the apparent discrepancy between John and the synoptists in their statements concerning the passover. The synoptists, as we have seen in the previous section, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

All we Therefore, who Believe in the Living and True God...
18. All we therefore, who believe in the Living and True God, Whose Nature, being in the highest sense good and incapable of change, neither doth any evil, nor suffers any evil, from Whom is every good, even that which admits of decrease, and Who admits not at all of decrease in His own Good, Which is Himself, when we hear the Apostle saying, "Walk in the Spirit, and perform ye not the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: For these are opposed …
St. Augustine—On Continence

A Discourse of Mercifulness
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5:7 These verses, like the stairs of Solomon's temple, cause our ascent to the holy of holies. We are now mounting up a step higher. Blessed are the merciful . . '. There was never more need to preach of mercifulness than in these unmerciful times wherein we live. It is reported in the life of Chrysostom that he preached much on this subject of mercifulness, and for his much pressing Christians to mercy, he was called of many, the alms-preacher, …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Question Lxxxii of Devotion
I. Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Meaning of the Term "Devotion" S. Augustine, Confessions, XIII. viii. 2 II. Is Devotion an Act of the Virtue of Religion? III. Is Contemplation, that is Meditation, the Cause of Devotion? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Causes of Devotion " " On the Devotion of Women IV. Is Joy an Effect of Devotion? Cardinal Cajetan, On Melancholy S. Augustine, Confessions, II. x. I Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act? It is by our acts that we merit. But …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

The Lord's Prayer.
(Jerusalem. Thursday Night.) ^D John XVII. ^d 1 These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven [the action marked the turning of his thoughts from the disciples to the Father], he said, Father, the hour is come [see pp. 116, 440]; glorify thy Son, that the son may glorify thee: 2 even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. [The Son here prays for his glorification, viz.: resurrection, ascension, coronation, etc., …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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