Chapter 141

Ps.141:1. Reason for David, that he should never be in a den,” prayer. Although the proposed psalm is nothing more than a prayer, however, reason is needed in order for us to learn how, when in adversity, we can avoid evil. Ps.141:2. With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice I prayed to the Lord. Ps.141:3. I will pour out my prayer before Him. The psalmist says: I seemed to devote all my thoughts to the Lord. I will declare my sorrow before Him. Striving for the salvation of the soul itself, I offer you prayers, asking you to reduce your sorrows. For You know that I am persecuted unjustly. Ps.141:4. My spirit will never disappear from me. I did this, seeing the excessiveness of the disasters, because I lived close to death itself. And You have known my paths. To say “You have known my paths” is characteristic of someone who firmly trusts in the correctness of the chosen path of life and deeds. Seeing how mental, spiritual enemies arranged for Saul to enter the cave to capture David, he rightly said: “hide[v] the net for me,” which real prayer turned into nothing. For, judging by the human nature, all paths to escape were blocked for the one caught in the cave, and there was no one to deliver or recover his soul. On this path, I walked the wrong way, hiding the net for me. If anyone imagines David in the cave, he will find that this is said very appropriately. Ps.141:5. Looking at the right hand and looking, and don’t know me. Having also placed vices in the way of those who practice virtues, which are the most difficult to guard against, it is as if they have hidden a snare for those who are going to wisdom, that is, wisdom that is not God’s, and they have placed false knowledge in the way of those who seek knowledge. This saying has some similarity with what was said: “in the path, temptations are laid” (Ps. 139:6). It is also possible to understand in a figurative sense the “net” into which one who is not careful falls, as he says: “Look at your right hand.” For to the ambitious there are snares laid at the right hand. Perish the flight from Me, and do not seek my soul. For there was no way to escape from the cave when the entrance to it was occupied by Saul. No one, says David, seeks the salvation of my soul. Ps.141:6. I called to You, Lord. For in Him alone he places the hope of salvation. Ps.141:8. Bring my soul out of prison. He says this as if referring to the cave. Symmachus translates: “bring my soul out of prison.” Confess your name. Since You freed me from this sorrow and from this prison, I will sing songs of thanksgiving. The righteous are waiting for me, Dondezhe reward me. If you get me out of here, rewarding me for my good deeds; then other righteous people, having an example in me before their eyes, and from what happened to me, concluding what will happen to them, will flow to You and offer up prayers to You. You might be interested in: