Now I tell you before it come,.... That is, gave them notice of this before hand, that one of them should betray him:that when it is come to pass; and they had seen it fulfilled exactly to a tittle, and according to this Scripture:ye may believe that I am he: the Lord God omniscient, who knows and declares things before they come to pass, just as they do come to pass, which none but the eternal God can do; and that he was the Saviour and Redeemer, the Messiah spoken of and promised, the very person prophesied of, in Psalm 41.
For that whole "psalm" is applicable to Jesus Christ, the true Messiah; in Ps 41:1, the happiness of such is declared, who "consider the poor"; the Messiah, in his low estate of humiliation, who became poor for the sake of his people; in Ps 41:5, his enemies are represented as wishing for his death; their hypocrisy, perfidy, and vile designs upon his life, are aptly described in Ps 41:6, which they executed by suborning false witnesses, bringing a wrong charge, leylb rbd, "a wicked accusation against him", Ps 41:8, which succeeded, to the taking away of his life; and then they are introduced as triumphing over him, lying dead in the grave, whom they believed would never rise more; but in this they were mistaken, for he was raised up again; for which he prays, Ps 41:10, that he might requite them, as he did, by destroying their city, temple, and nation; and the whole is concluded with thankfulness to God, for raising and exalting him, and setting him before his face for ever, Ps 41:11.
There is but one passage in it, which has any difficulty in applying it to Christ, and that is, Ps 41:4, where he is spoken of as having sinned against the Lord; but the words may be rendered thus, "heal my soul", i.
e.