Day 88

Psalm 41 part 2  

Notice that all the benefits of vs11-12 are in the present tense. David did not believe that God would bring them to him; he believed that he had them already. 

V13 is an end not only to this Psalm but to the entire first book of the Psalms. Here Yahweh is honoured as the covenant God of Israel. It was fitting for him to end the song with his eyes on the LORD, not upon himself or his enemies. Our enemy at the moment may be Covid19 but you can rest your head on three pillows tonight: infinite power, infinite love and infinite wisdom. 

The five books are as follows: 

Book 1 – Psalms 1 to 41 (41 Psalms). 

Book 2 – Psalms 42 to 72 (31 Psalms). 

Book 3 – Psalms 73 to 89 (17 Psalms). 

Book 4 – Psalms 90 to 105 (17 Psalms). 

Book 5 – Psalms 106 to 150 (44 Psalms). 

These five books, compiled by Ezra after the Babylonian Captivity, follow the First five books of the Bible (The Pentateuch). Ezra, a highly educated man, had worked as a scribe in the Persian court. He is one of the great unsung men of faith in the OT. His compilation was still being used liturgically nearly 500yrs later when Jesus arrived. 

Each of the five books ends with a doxology; an outburst of praise, clinched by a double Amen (here and at 72:19; 89:52), an Amen and Hallelujah (106:48) or, finally, what is virtually a double Hallelujah (150:6), indeed a whole psalm of doxology. From everlasting to everlasting! The LORD is to be praised as the eternal God, stretching from eternity past to eternity future. 

The word everlasting in Hebrew means ‘the vanishing point.’ The idea is that the God of Israel is Yahweh from the past which is beyond human knowledge, to the future which is equally so. To us, the great truth is made clearer in the words of Jesus: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” Rev 22:13 

The Message Bible puts Ps41:13 like this: Blessed is God, Israel’s God,   always, always, always.Yes. Yes. Yes.