Verses 3 and 9 (about the
betrayal by a close friend, having possible correspondences with 35:14) result
in the psalm being read in Jewish tradition as a personal psalm of one
suffering in body and soul. Even Rashi sees this is about real, physical
sickness. For those who argue the psalm should first be seen in the light of
David, verse 9 is seen as a reference to Ahithophel, and verse 10 as alluding
to the true cause of David’s distress which was in not being allowed to build
the Temple.
This personal reading is
paralleled in Christian tradition, where instead of reading the psalm through
the viewpoint of the distress of David it is read through the sufferings of
Christ. The best example is in Jn. 13:18, set in the context of the Last Supper,
where John refers to Jesus using 41:9 as a prophecy about the imminent betrayal
of Judas (‘But it is to fulfil the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has
lifted his heel against me’). The Greek used here is different from the Septuagint—there is a different word for
‘eat’, and ‘bread’ is in the singular—but the specific reference to ‘eating
bread’ becomes an appropriate literal reference to Judas receiving bread from
Jesus during the following Passover meal, Jesus telling Judas to do what he was
going to do, and Judas leaving (Jn. 13:21–30). So, according to John, Jesus
uses Ps. 41:9 (which would probably have some resonance with Ahithophel’s
betrayal of David) but this is to show that he is no longer the victim of
circumstance, as was David, but one who is able to anticipate his own fate.
It is possible that this psalm is
also alluded to in the account of Judas’ betrayal in Mk. 14:17–21. The fact
that this is taking place ‘as it is written of him’ (Mk. 14:21) and that the
reference is to eating and betrayal (verse 18) might suggest that Ps. 41:9 also
shaped the account: Jesus, like the psalmist, is the ‘righteous sufferer’.
Furthermore, in Acts 1:16 Peter’s first sermon refers to scripture being
fulfilled, ‘which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas’: it
is more than likely, given the reference to ‘David’ and hence to the psalms,
that Ps. 41:9 is the ‘prophecy’ referred to here. (Susan Gillingham, Psalms through the Centuries, 3 vols., [Wiley
Blackwell Bible Commentaries; Sussex, U.K.: Wiley Blackwell, 2018], 2:248-49)
