Psalm 55 · a question people ask
"My companion, and my familiar friend" (55:13). Who was he?
The psalm doesn't say. Its title is "For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David." (55:1), and it names no occasion. The companion is "a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend" (55:13), one with whom "We walked in God’s house with company" (55:14). Later the psalm speaks of "he" who "raises his hands against his friends" and "has violated his covenant" (55:20), and it doesn't say in so many words whether he is the same man. Psalm 41 also speaks of a friend who turned, "my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me" (Psalm 41:9), and the chapter on Psalm 41 asks the same question there. Neither psalm gives a name. These notes don't name the companion, or tie him to anyone the Bible doesn't.
The verses
“For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.”
“For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him. But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God’s house with company.”
“He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant.”
“Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.”