Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. – Psalm 41:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 27, 2013): Psalm 41

I love the Arthurian legend. I purposefully watch T.V. shows and movies, I read books that desire to somehow relate to the legend. Somehow this story which is set in England 1600 years ago has the ability to step in and identify with my life. And the Arthurian legend provides us with many bad guys and lines of conflict, but the one that I feel the most is the conflict that exists between King Arthur and Guinevere. Depending on the version of the tale you are involved in, the conflict between Arthur and Guinevere arises because of a natural love between Guinevere and Lancelot, or maybe a misunderstanding between Arthur and his queen, or because of a spell that has been placed on Guinevere by Morgana or another enemy of Arthur – but the reason does not really matter. The problem is that no matter what the reason is, there is no conflict that cut deeper than the betrayal of someone by another person that is close to them.

This passage has been seen as Messianic and being a prophecy of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot – in fact Jesus actually quotes this verse at the last supper (John 13:18) – but if this is a Messianic Psalm (meaning a Psalm that alludes to the time of the coming of the Messiah), it is Messianic only on the rebound. As Jesus quotes this Psalm, he is saying that he experientially understood the pain that David felt – he knew the pain that David knew.

As David writes these words, there is absolutely no intention inside of him to speak of the things that would come – this is not about the future. David is speaking of his own past. Specifically, David is remembering the time that his close adviser Ahithophel, the counselor who regularly ate at the king’s table and shared the king’s food and drank of the king’s wine – had betrayed him by supporting Absalom in his son’s rebellion against him. And that was a new kind of pain for David. Not only did the son rebel against the father, but the king’s friend and confidante had joined in the rebellion. And so it is with great pain that David writes these words.

However, we have to acknowledge that the story of Jesus and Judas has many parallels with the story of David and Ahithophel. In both stories the betrayal happens at the hands of a friend – at the hands of one that had shared bread with the one to be betrayed. Both Ahithophel and Judas were known as the trusted ones (Ahithophel was the trusted advisor while Judas was the treasurer for the apostles.) Both joined with forces that were rising against the one that they counseled, both realized the error of their ways at the end of the story – and both men ended their own lives by hanging themselves. But the fact that the betrayer ended their own lives and died at their own hands did not alleviate the pain – in a crazy messed up way it actually heightened it. But all of this is just one more example of how closely Jesus understands our pain.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 53