After a Psalm with אשׁרי follows one beginning with אשׁרי; so that two Psalms with אשׁרי close the First Book of the Psalms, which begins with אשׁרי. Psa 41:1-13 belongs to the time of the persecution by Absalom. Just as the Jahve- Psa 39:1-13 forms with the Elohim- Psa 62:1-12 a coherent pair belonging to this time, so does also the Jahve- Psa 41:1-13 with the Elohim-Psalm 55. These two Psalms have this feature in common, viz., that the complaint concerning the Psalmist's foes dwells with especial sadness upon some faithless bosom-friend. In Psa 41:1-13 David celebrates the blessing which accompanies sincere sympathy, and depicts the hostility and falseness which he himself experiences in his sickness, and more especially from a very near friend. It is the very same person of whom he complains in Ps 55, that he causes him the deepest sorrow - no ideal character, as Hengstenberg asserts; for these Psalms have the
