Bible Commentaries

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble"— Psalm 41:1

The Psalmist is here talking experimentally. He recalls the treachery of some who professed to be his friends, and he pours a eulogy upon those whose honour and sympathy he had tested in a crucial hour. There is nothing to show who wrote the Psalm 41:6

The poet is thus recalling his personal experience. His mind is set upon one particular individual, and this is the result of his study of that case. "To see me" is a common expression amongst ourselves; it refers to seeing a sick person, or seeing one who is in difficult circumstances, or seeing a man by particular invitation. The picture drawn by the poet is a very common one. He has unfortunately sent for a man who does not understand his case. The man is full of words; he can dilate upon the events of the time; he can ask many questions; he can be ostentatiously officious and meddlesome; but all is vanity, a veering wind, a mere noise in the air. The person sent for was destitute of the quality of sympathy. He did not know the ministry of silence. He did not understand that by a mere look, tender, lingering, and sympathetic, he could heal a human heart. Being a newsmonger he brought in the news of the day, which is a sure proof that he would carry the news of the day away with him. "When he goeth abroad, he telleth it:" then; is nothing sacred to the mere talker; there is a disease of words, a gossip which could pry and prattle about the most mysterious and tragical experiences of the heart. The man referred to by the poet talked all the while about himself, or only made such inquiries as would give importance to himself when he went away from the scene of conference. The text teaches us how important it is to entrust ourselves in trying moments only to those who are rich in Christian wisdom and sympathy. Few men know how to visit the sick. Those who are in Christ Jesus ought to be able to take rich Christian sympathy to sick chambers, and to make houses beautiful with instances of divine revelation and promise and comfort. It should not be beneath the greatest to visit the humblest. The supposition of the poet is that the person here spoken of is visiting "the poor" referred to in the first verse. The temptation is to over-ride the poor; to make a false use of strength in the presence of the poor; to bear down upon and discourage the poor; such persons should never be sent to minister to souls that are in distress. The piety of Christ's Church is not to be roughshod. The saints are to study the gentlest courtesy and grace of manner. They are to act "as becometh saints."