לתשובת המינים

Psalms 41:9

Who is the Betrayer?

John 13:18

"Even my ally in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has raised his heel to trample me."

In order to portray the Nazarene as the "suffering servant" Judas provides the perfect antagonist. Part of the Nazarene’s inner circle, he betrays the confidence of his teacher and hands him over to his enemies. The book of John sees this predicted in the 9th verse of Psalm 41.

What does the context of Psalm 41 refer to? The Psalm is a Psalm by David. David describes the kindness God shows to those who contemplate the poor. David relates how God has shown kindness to him. Verse 2 says, "Hashem will preserve him and restore him to life, and he will be happy on earth, and You will not give him over to the desire of his foes." This is in contrast to the application given to verse 9 by John since Judas and his partners were in fact successful in betraying the Nazarene. The fourth verse David describes how he called out to Hashem, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You!" Can Christianity place these words in the mouth of the Nazarene? No, that would be blasphemy. The Nazarene must be sinless in the Christian religion so he can be the unblemished sacrifice for mankind's sin.

This passage can clearly refer to David who authored this Psalm. His life was filled with many enemies. David's own son tried to take his throne from him. Many would have you believe that this refers to the Nazarene, despite the context. Nevertheless, the plain meaning of the text can not refer to him according to Christian theology.