Explanation: In Psalm 141 David asks the LORD to deliver him form falling into sin and to deliver him from his enemies. Today's images depict incense and anointing, two concepts which are prominent in today's Psalm. The occasion is unspecified, but David's wrestling with a sense of his sin, his mention of the reproof of the righteous, the dangerous circumstances which surrounded him, and the hope which he had that his persecutors would learn wisdom, all are in accord with the time after his sin with Bathsheba, his rebuke by Nathan the prophet, his persecution by his son Absalom, and his yearning that no harm would come to Absalom.

          [ THEMATICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY RELATED SCRIPTURES: 2 Samuel 11 - 19. ]

          [ CHRONOLOGY: GENERAL. Patriarchs (Traditional). Judges # 1. Judges # 2. Kings # 1. Kings # 2. Prophets # 1. Prophets # 2. NT # 1. NT # 2. NT # 3. ]

          [ MAPS: Maps # 1. Maps # 2. Maps # 3. Maps # 4. Maps # 5. ]

          [ COMMENTARIES, ETC: GENERAL: Bible Study Tools; Bible Hub: Study Light; Blue Letter Bible // PSALMS: Monergism: Precept Austin: The Treasury of David; John Gill; John Calvin - Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

          [ MUSIC: GENERAL: The Cyber Hymnal // PSALMS: Genevan Psalter (Instrumental). VARIOUS ARTISTS: Psalm 141 - #1. Psalm 141 - #2. Psalm 141 - #3. Psalm 141 - #4. Psalm 141 - #5. Psalm 141 - #6. Psalm 141 - #7. Psalm 141 - #8. Psalm 141 - #9. Psalm 141 - #10. Psalm 141 - #11. Psalm 141 - #12. Chanted (Various Countries): Psalm 141 - #13 (Byzantine Catholic Orthodox - Greek Language). Psalm 141 - #14 (Byzantine Catholic Orthodox - Greek Language). Psalm 141 - #15 (Greek Orthodox). Psalm 141 - #16 (Greek Orthodox). Psalm 141 - #17 (Bulgarian Orthodox Church). ]

     David asks the LORD to be swift to hear him. He asks that his prayer will come before the LORD like incense and that the lifting up of his hands will be like the evening sacrifice. These requests indicate that he was not in God's House, the central place of worship for Israel. Judging from the rest of the Psalm, he may have been fleeing from his enemies. The essence of his request is that one can turn to the LORD with or without sacrifice. This anticipates the words of the Jesus who said, "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24). (1-2). David asks the LORD to set a watch before his mouth and keep the doors of his lips, and to keep his heart from evil so that he does not do evil with evil people and does not eat of their dainties (3-4). Instead, he asks that the righteous will smite him and reprove him because it will be a kindness and will be like anointing oil upon his head. He will not oppose it. But he will oppose his enemies by prayer -- the prayer which, in the first verse, he asked God to accept like incense and the evening sacrifice (5). He is confident that the judges who pronounce their verdicts in favor of the evildoers -- who vindicate them -- will be overthrown, as if they fell in stony places; and then they will listen to David (6). At the present, however, the situation is reversed, and David and his companions are scattered at the grave's mouth as if their bones were sliced and cut asunder (7). Nevertheless, David's eyes are on God; he trusts God; and he asks him not to leave his soul desolate. He asks God to keep him from the snares, nooses, and nets which they have set for him and to allow them to fall into their own nets, while he escapes (8-10).