Psalm 41:4
I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
I said, Lord, be merciful unto me,....
See Gill on "Psalms 40:11";
heal my soul; not that it was diseased with sin in such sense as the souls of other men are; but it is to be understood as a petition for comfort while bearing the sins of others, and which Christ as man stood in need of when in the garden and on the cross; so healing signifies comfort in trouble, as in Isaiah 57:18;
for I have sinned against thee; or "unto thee", or "before thee", as the Targum; not that any sin was committed by him in his own person, but he having all the sins of his people on him, which he calls his own, Psalms 40:12; he was treated as a sinner, and as guilty before God,
Isaiah 53:12; and so the words may be read, "for I am a sinner unto thee" {u}; I am counted as one by thee, having the sins of my people imputed to me; and am bound unto thee, or under obligation to bear the punishment of sin; or thus, "for I have made an offering for sin unto thee" {w}, so the word is used, Leviticus 6:26; and so it might be rendered in Leviticus 5:7; and perhaps may be better rendered so in Leviticus 4:3; and be understood, not of the sin of the anointed priest, but of his offering a sacrifice for the soul that sinned through ignorance,
Psalms 41:2, which offering is directed to: and then the sense here is, heal me, acquit me, discharge me, and deliver me out of this poor and low estate in which I am; for I have made my soul an offering for sin, and thereby have made atonement for all the sins of my people laid upon me; and accordingly he was acquitted and justified, 1 Timothy 3:16.
{u} Kl "tibi", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.
{w} "Obtuli sacrificium pro peccato", Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 249, 923.