Blessed is he. — This general statement of the great law of sympathy and benevolence — fine and noble however we take it — may be explained in different ways, according as we take the Hebrew word dal as poor, with the LXX. and Vulg. (comp. Exodus 30:15), or with the margin, as sick, weak in body (comp. Genesis 41:19), or give it an ethical sense, sick at heart. (Comp. 2 Samuel 13:4.) The context favours one of the two latter, and the choice between them depends on whether we take the author’s sickness to be real or figurative. Psalms 41:3 strongly favours the view that the sickness is physical.
Considereth. — The Hebrew word implies wise as well as kindly consideration. So LXX. and Vulg., “he that understands.”