Psalm 41:9

Verse 9. Which did eat of my beard. If the same sentiment prevailed among the Hebrews, which prevails at the present day among the Bedouin Arabs, of sacred regard to the person and property of one with whom they have eaten bread and salt, the language is very forcible. Hath lifted up his heel: a metaphor drawn from the horse, which attacks with its heel. This language may well have been used by our Saviour, in John 13:18 , in the way of rhetorical illustration or emphasis. George R. Noyes, D.D.

Verse 9. Hath lifted up his heel against me. In this phrase he seems to allude to a beast's kicking at his master by whom he is fed, or the custom of men's spurning at or trampling upon those that are cast down on the ground, in a way of despite and contempt. Arthur Jackson.

Verse 9. Hath lifted up his heel against me; i.e., hath spurned me, hath kicked at me, as a vicious beast of burden does; hath insulted me in my misery. Daniel Cresswell.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 7-12. On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.

Verse 9. The treachery of Judas.