Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Psalms 41:4: “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, heal my soul for I have sinned against you.”
David is calling out to God to be merciful to him. The word “merciful” is “chanan” which means favor or compassion. This is in an imperative form, but also in a qal form so it is sort of a mild command or a plea. Why is David pleading with God for compassion or favor? It is because he has sinned.
We all know that word for sin “chatah” means to miss the make, but it also has the idea of not being totally united with God or keeping your mind on Him. Perhaps here David has let his mind wander, on what we are not sure. However, his focus was taken off of God, by word or deed. Ok, not exactly the greatest sin, certainly not adultery, or murder, yet it does have David at a point that he is pleading with God for mercy.
Obviously there is some penalty associated with this sin. I mean why do we confess our sins to God? Some are afraid of going to a bad place if they don’t believe in eternal security. If they do believe in eternal security they may be afraid that bad things will happen to them. Or maybe that God will not bless them or that they may be punished or chastised.
Stop and consider, why do you try to avoid sin, or when you do miss that mark, why do you seek to get God’s forgiveness? David sought the mercy or compassion of God when he sinned because he needed healing for his soul. Healing for his soul? Do you ever feel like you soul is being healed? The word heal here is “raphel” which means healing, but also can mean forgiveness, quietness or repair. Soul is nephesh which means, breath, life, feelings or desires.
To really understand this Psalm one needs to understand the heart of David. Of course to understand the heart of David is to understand the heart of God for David was a “man after God’s own heart” or one who understood God’s heart.
King Saul was a very religious man, he would fast and pray and do all the religious things. As far as we know he had only one wife and was faithful to her. He worked hard to keep the laws of God yet, when he disobeyed by offering a sacrifice before a battle rather than wait for Samuel, God took his kingdom away. Saul begged Samuel to hear his confession, he wanted to go before all the people to confess his sin, yet Samuel said; “Too, late buddy, God’s not going to forgive you, you lost it.” Then along comes David, he not only commits adultery, but murder on top of it. Yet, when Nathan appears before him and points out his sin, he tells David that God forgave him even before he asked. Now come on, does that sound fair to you? King Saul gets a little anxious about a battle and offers a sacrifice rather than wait for the prophet to do it. After all it was Samuel’s fault, he was late. Yet, just one little act of disobedience and Samuel calls him a toad and blasts him out of the water. David commits adultery and murder, both under Hebrew law are capital offenses, and Nathan says that God forgives him before he even asks.
What is the difference? King Saul sought to confess his sin to save his job. David’s response, however, was “Take not your Spirit from me.” King Saul wanted to save his own gizzard, but David wanted to protect the heart of God. When David sinned he was not torn over fear of the consequences, his soul was wounded over having hurt the God he loved and he needed God’s healing on his soul.
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