My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted, and you delivered them.
They cried to you, and were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
“He trusts in Yahweh. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.
I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.
Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 1. My God! The first verse contains two remarkable…
1. My God! The first verse contains two remarkable sentences, which, although apparently contrary to each other, are yet ever entering into the minds of the godly together. When the Psalmist speaks of being forsaken and cast off by God, it seems to be the complaint of a man in despair; for can a man have a single spark of faith remaining in him, when he believes that there is no longer any succor for him in God? And yet, in calling God twice his own God, and depositing his groanings into his bosom, he makes a very distinct confession of his faith. With this inward conflict the godly must necessarily be exercised whenever God withdraws from them the tokens of his favor, so that, in whatever direction they turn their eyes, they see nothing but the darkness of night. I say, that the people of God, in wrestling with themselves, on the one hand discover the weakness of the flesh, and on the other give evidence of their faith. With respect to the reprobate, as they cherish in their hearts their distrust of God, their perplexity of mind overwhelms them, and thus totally incapacitates them for aspiring after the grace of God by faith. That David sustained the assaults of temptation, without being overwhelmed, or swallowed up by it, may be easily gathered from his words. He was greatly oppressed with sorrow, but notwithstanding this, he breaks forth into the language of assurance, My God! my God! which he could not have done without vigorously resisting the contrary apprehension “Ce qu il ne pouvoit faire si non en resistant vivement a la apprehension contraire.” — Fr.
We see then the source from which proceeded this exclamation, My God! my God! and from which also proceeded the complaint which follows immediately after, Why hast thou forsaken me? Whilst the vehemence of grief, and the infirmity of the flesh, forced from the Psalmist these words, I am forsaken of God; faith, lest he should when so severely tried sink into despair, put into his mouth a correction of this language, so that he boldly called God, of whom he thought he was forsaken, his God. Yea, we see that he has given the first place to faith. Before he allows himself to utter his complaint, in order to give faith the chief place, he first declares that he still claimed God as his own God, and betook himself to him for refuge. And as the affections of the flesh, when once they break forth, are not easily restrained, but rather carry us beyond the bounds of reason, it is surely well to repress them at the very commencement. David, therefore, observed the best possible order in giving his faith the precedency - in expressing it before giving vent to his sorrow, and in qualifying, by devout prayer, the complaint which he afterwards makes with respect to the greatness of his calamities. Had he spoken simply and precisely in these terms, Lord, why forsakest thou me? he would have seemed, by a complaint so bitter, to murmur against God; and besides, his mind would have been in great danger of being embittered with discontent through the greatness of his grief. But, by here raising up against murmuring and discontent the rampart of faith, he keeps all his thoughts and feelings under restraint, that they may not break beyond due bounds. Nor is the repetition superfluous when he twice calls God his God; and, a little after, he even repeats the same words the third time. When God, as if he had cast off all care about us, passes over our miseries and groanings as if he saw them not, the conflict with this species of temptation is arduous and painful, and therefore David the more strenuously exerts himself in seeking the confirmation of his faith. Faith does not gain the victory at the first encounter, but after receiving many blows, and after being exercised with many tossings, she at length comes forth victorious. I do not say that David was so courageous and valiant a champion as that his faith did not waver. The faithful may put forth all their efforts to subdue their carnal affections, that they may subject and devote themselves wholly to God; but still there is always some infirmity remaining in them. From this proceeded that halting of holy Jacob, of which Moses makes mention in Genesis 32:24; for although in wrestling with God he prevailed, yet he ever after bore the mark of his sinful defect. By such examples God encourages his servants to perseverance, lest, from a consciousness of their own infirmity, they should sink into despair. The means therefore which we ought to adopt, whenever our flesh becomes tumultuous, and, like an impetuous tempest, hurries us into impatience, is to strive against it, and to endeavor to restrain its impetuosity. In doing this we will, it is true, be agitated and sorely tried, but our faith will, nevertheless, continue safe, and be preserved from shipwreck. Farther, we may gather from the very form of the complaint which David here makes, that he did not without cause redouble the words by which his faith might be sustained. He does not simply say that he was forsaken by God, but he adds, that God was far from his help, in as-much as when he saw him in the greatest danger, he gave him no token to encourage him in the hope of obtaining deliverance. Since God has the ability to succor us, if, when he sees us exposed as a prey to our enemies, he nevertheless sits still as if he cared not about us, who would not say that he has drawn back his hand that he may not deliver us? Again, by the expression, the words of my roaring, the Psalmist intimates that he was distressed and tormented in the highest degree. He certainly was not a man of so little courage as, on account of some slight or ordinary affliction, to howl in this manner like a brute beast. “Et de faict, il n’estoit point de si petit courage, que pour quelque real leger il hurlast ainsi comme une beste brute.” — Fr. “The original word [for roaring] properly denotes the roaring of a lion, and is often applied to the deep groaning of men in sickness. See among other places, Psalm 32:3; 38:9.” — Bishop Mant.
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As our Savior Jesus Christ, when hanging on the cross, and when ready to yield up his soul into the hands of God his Father, made use of these very words, (Matthew 27:46,) we must consider how these two things can agree, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and that yet he was so penetrated with grief, seized with so great mental trouble, as to cry out that God his Father had forsaken him. The apparent contradiction between these two statements has constrained many interpreters to have recourse to evasions for fear of charging Christ with blame in this matter. “Pour crainte de charger Christ de ce blasme.” — Fr.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 Or, the hind of the morning: and this was…
Or, the hind of the morning: and this was the name of some common song.
Here appeareth that horrible conflict, which he sustained between faith and desperation.
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Being tormented with extreme anguish.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–12 Psa 22:1 « To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth…
Psa 22:1 « To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. » My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring?
Upon Aijeleth Shahar] On, The morning hart or stag; such a one as the huntsman severs out in the morning from the rest, to hunt for that day. It showeth, saith one, David’s and Christ’s early and incessant persecution and hunting (by those dogs, Psa 22:16) till they came to their kingdoms. David had his share of sharp afflictions, doubtless, when he penned this psalm: witness that graphic description of his greatest grief in all parts and powers of body and soul, Psa 22:14-16, &c. But his mind and thoughts were by God’s Holy Spirit carried out to Christ’s most dolorous and inexpressible sufferings; to the which all his were but as flea bitings, as the slivers or chips of Christ’s cross; and this was no small mitigation of his misery. When the Jews offered our Saviour gall and vinegar he tasted it, but would not drink. The rest he left for his people, and they must pledge him, filling up that which is behind of his sufferings, Col 1:24, though for a different end, as for exercise, example, trial, witness of truth, &c.
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Ver. 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? David had prayed, "O forsake me not utterly," Psa 119:8. In part and for a time be knew God might forsake him, to his thinking at least. But what saith Austin? Non deserit Deus etiamsi descrere videatur; non deserit etiamsi deserat, God forsaketh not his, though he seem sometimes to do so; he leaveth them sometimes, but forsaketh them never; as in an eclipse, the earth lacks the light of the sun, but not the influence thereof. David could at the same time call God his God thrice over, which are words of faith, and do plainly evince that this desertion under which he groaned was neither absolute nor real, but only that he was in a great distress and perplexity; so that he did believe, and yet not believe (Plato, though a heathen, could say that a man may do so). See the like Psa 31:22 Jon 2:4; see the note there. Our Saviour, in his deepest distress on the cross, when coping and conflicting with the wrath of his heavenly Father, who (beside the wrath of men and rage of devils in that three hours’ darkness especially) fought against him with his own bare hand, he suffered more than can be imagined, took up this pathetic exclamation, and, as some think, repeated this whole psalm. Then it was that he felt in soul and body the horror of God’s displeasure against sin, for which he had undertaken. Then it was that the Deity (though never separated from his humanity, no, not in death, when soul and body were sundered for a season) did ησυχαζειν, as a Father speaketh, suspend for a time the influence of its power, and lie hidden, as it were, neque vires suas exserebat, not putting forth its force, as formerly. Hilary hath a good note upon this part of Christ’s passion: Habes conquerentem relictum se esse, &c., Here thou hast him complaining as forsaken of God; this showeth him to have been a man: but withal thou hast him promising paradise to the penitent thief; this speaketh him God.
Why art thou so far from, &c.] I roar and am not relieved, as to ease: God will have his people feel what an evil and bitter thing sin is, Jer 2:19, and therefore he holdeth them presently long upon the rack. Christ also, under the deep sense of our sins, for which he suffered, offered up prayers, with strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from death, Heb 5:7.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–12 My God; whom, notwithstanding thy forsaking me, I heartily…
My God; whom, notwithstanding thy forsaking me, I heartily love, and in whom I trust; who art my Friend and Father, though now thou frownest upon me.
My God; the repetition notes the depth of his distress, which made him cry so earnestly, and the strugglings of his faith with his fears and sorrows.
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Why hast thou forsaken me, i.e. left me in the hands of malicious men, withdrawn the light of thy countenance, and the supports and comforts of thy Spirit from me, and filled me with the terrors of thy wrath, so that I am ready to sink under my burden? This was in part verified in David, but much more fully in Christ, who applies these words to himself, Mat 27:46.
From the words of my roaring, i.e. from regarding, or pitying, or answering my strong prayers, and lamentable outcries, forced from me by my intolerable distresses and miseries.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 11 Some think they find Christ in the title of…
Some think they find Christ in the title of this psalm, upon Aijeleth Shahar - The hind of the morning. Christ is as the swift hind upon the mountains of spices (Sol 8:14), as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, to all believers (Pro 5:19); he giveth goodly words like Naphtali, who is compared to a hind let loose, Gen 49:21. He is the hind of the morning, marked out by the counsels of God from eternity, to be run down by those dogs that compassed him, Psa 22:16. But others think it denotes only the tune to which the psalm was set. In these verses we have,
I. A sad complaint of God's withdrawings, Psa 22:1, Psa 22:2.
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1. This may be applied to David, or any other child of God, in the want of the tokens of his favour, pressed with the burden of his displeasure, roaring under it, as one overwhelmed with grief and terror, crying earnestly for relief, and, in this case, apprehending himself forsaken of God, unhelped, unheard, yet calling him, again and again, "My God," and continuing to cry day and night to him and earnestly desiring his gracious returns. Note, (1.) Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; when their evidences are clouded, divine consolations suspended, their communion with God interrupted, and the terrors of God set in array against them, how sad are their spirits, and how sapless all their comforts! (2.) Even their complaint of these burdens is a good sign of spiritual life and spiritual senses exercised. To cry out, "My God, why am I sick? Why am I poor?" would give cause to suspect discontent and worldliness. But, Why has though forsaken me? is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. (3.) When we are lamenting God's withdrawings, yet still we must call him our God, and continue to call upon him as ours. When we want the faith of assurance we must live by a faith of adherence. "However it be, yet God is good, and he is mine; though he slay me, yet I trust in him; though he do not answer me immediately, I will continue praying and waiting; though he be silent, I will not be silent."
2. But is must be applied to Christ: for, in the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was upon the cross (Mat 27:46); probably he proceeded to the following words, and, some think, repeated the whole psalm, if not aloud (because they cavilled at the first words), yet to himself. Note, (1.) Christ, in his sufferings, cried earnestly to his Father for his favour and presence with him. He cried in the day-time, upon the cross, and in the night-season, when he was in agony in the garden. He offered up strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him, and with some fear too, Heb 5:7. (2.) Yet God forsook him, was far from helping him, and did not hear him, and it was this that he complained of more than all his sufferings. God delivered him into the hands of his enemies; it was by his determinate counsel that he was crucified and slain, and he did not give in sensible comforts. But, Christ having made himself sin for us, in conformity thereunto the Father laid him under the present impressions of his wrath and displeasure against sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief, Isa 53:10. But even then he kept fast hold of his relation to his Father as his God, by whom he was now employed, whom he was now serving, and with whom he should shortly be glorified.
II. Encouragement taken, in reference hereunto, Psa 22:3-5. Though God did not hear him, did not help him, yet, 1. He will think well of God: "But thou art holy, not unjust, untrue, nor unkind, in any of thy dispensations. Though thou dost not immediately come in to the relief of thy afflicted people, yet though lovest them, art true to thy covenant with them, and dost not countenance the iniquity of their persecutors, Hab 1:13. And, as thou art infinitely pure and upright thyself, so thou delightest in the services of thy upright people: Thou inhabitest the praises of Israel; thou art pleased to manifest thy glory, and grace, and special presence with thy people, in the sanctuary, where they attend thee with their praises. There thou art always ready to receive their homage, and of the tabernacle of meeting thou hast said, This is my rest for ever." This bespeaks God's wonderful condescension to his faithful worshippers - (that, though he is attended with the praises of angels, yet he is pleased to inhabit the praises of Israel), and it may comfort us in all our complaints - that, though God seem, for a while, to turn a deaf ear to them, yet he is so well pleased with his people's praises that he will, in due time, give them cause to change their note: Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him. Our Lord Jesus, in his sufferings, had an eye to the holiness of God, to preserve and advance the honour of that, and of his grace in inhabiting the praises of Israel notwithstanding the iniquities of their holy things. 2. He will take comfort from the experiences which the saints in former ages had of the benefit of faith and prayer (Psa 22:4, Psa 22:5): "Our fathers trusted in thee, cried unto thee, and thou didst deliver them; therefore thou wilt, in due time, deliver me, for never any that hoped in thee were made ashamed of their hope, never any that sought thee sought thee in vain. And thou art still the same in thyself and the same to thy people that ever thou wast. They were our fathers, and thy people are beloved for the fathers' sake," Rom 11:28. The entail of the covenant is designed for the support of the seed of the faithful. He that was our fathers' God must be ours, and will therefore be ours. Our Lord Jesus, in his sufferings, supported himself with this - that all the fathers who were types of him in his sufferings, Noah, Joseph, David, Jonah, and others, were in due time delivered and were types of his exaltation too; therefore he knew that he also should not be confounded, Isa 50:7.
III. The complaint renewed of another grievance, and that is the contempt and reproach of men. This complaint is by no means so bitter as that before of God's withdrawings; but, as that touches a gracious soul, so this a generous soul, in a very tender part, Psa 22:6-8. Our fathers were honoured, the patriarchs in their day, first or last, appeared great in the eye of the world, Abraham, Moses, David; but Christ is a worm, and no man. It was great condescension that he became man, a step downwards, which is, and will be, the wonder of angels; yet, as if it were too much, too great, to be a man, he becomes a worm, and no man. He was Adam - a mean man, and Enosh - a man of sorrows, but lo Ish - not a considerable man: for he took upon him the form of a servant, and his visage was marred more than any man's, Isa 52:14. Man, at the best, is a worm; but he became a worm, and no man. If he had not made himself a worm, he could not have been trampled upon as he was. The word signifies such a worm as was used in dyeing scarlet or purple, whence some make it an allusion to his bloody sufferings. See what abuses were put upon him. 1. He was reproached as a bad man, as a blasphemer, a sabbath-breaker, a wine-bibber, a false prophet, an enemy to Caesar, a confederate with the prince of the devils. 2. He was despised of the people as a mean contemptible man, not worth taking notice of, his country in no repute, his relations poor mechanics, his followers none of the rulers, or the Pharisees, but the mob. 3. He was ridiculed as a foolish man, and one that not only deceived others, but himself too. Those that saw him hanging on the cross laughed him to scorn. So far were they from pitying him, or concerning themselves for him, that they added to his afflictions, with all the gestures and expressions of insolence upbraiding him with his fall. They make mouths at him, make merry over him, and make a jest of his sufferings: They shoot out the lip, they shake their head, saying, This was he that said he trusted God would deliver him; now let him deliver him. David was sometimes taunted for his confidence in God; but in the sufferings of Christ this was literally and exactly fulfilled. Those very gestures were used by those that reviled him (Mat 27:39); they wagged their heads, nay, and so far did their malice make them forget themselves that they used the very words (Mat 27:43), He trusted in God; let him deliver him. Our Lord Jesus, having undertaken to satisfy for the dishonour we had done to God by our sins, did it by submitting to the lowest possible instance of ignominy and disgrace.
IV. Encouragement taken as to this also (Psa 22:9, Psa 22:10): Men despise me, but thou art he that took me out of the womb. David and other good men have often, for direction to us, encouraged themselves with this, that God was not only the God of their fathers, as before (Psa 22:4), but the God of their infancy, who began by times to take care of them, as soon as they had a being, and therefore, they hope, will never cast them off. He that did so well for us in that helpless useless state will not leave us when he has reared us and nursed us up into some capacity of serving him. See the early instances of God's providential care for us, 1. In the birth: He took us also out of the womb, else we had died there, or been stifled in the birth. Every man's particular time begins with this pregnant proof of God's providence, as time, in general, began with the creation, that pregnant proof of his being. 2. At the breast: "Then didst thou make me hope;" that is, "thou didst that for me, in providing sustenance for me and protecting me from the dangers to which I was exposed, which encourages me to hope in thee all my days." The blessings of the breasts, as they crown the blessings of the womb, so they are earnests of the blessings of our whole lives; surely he that fed us then will never starve us, Job 3:12. 3. In our early dedication to him: I was cast upon thee from the womb, which perhaps refers to his circumcision on the eighth day; he was then by his parents committed and given up to God as his God in covenant; for circumcision was a seal of the covenant; and this encouraged him to trust in God. Those have reason to think themselves safe who were so soon, so solemnly, gathered under the wings of the divine majesty. 4. In the experience we have had of God's goodness to us all along ever since, drawn out in a constant uninterrupted series of preservations and supplies: Thou art my God, providing me and watching over me for good, from my mother's belly, that is, from my coming into the world unto this day. And if, as soon as we became capable of exercising reason, we put our confidence in God and committed ourselves and our way to him, we need not doubt but he will always remember the kindness of our youth and the love of our espousals, Jer 2:2. This is applicable to our Lord Jesus, over whose incarnation and birth the divine Providence watched with a peculiar care, when he was born in a stable, laid in a manger, and immediately exposed to the malice of Herod, and forced to flee into Egypt. When he was a child God loved him and called him thence (Hos 11:1), and the remembrance of this comforted him in his sufferings. Men reproached him, and discouraged his confidence in God; but God had honoured him and encouraged his confidence in him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–12 My God, my God,.... God is the God of…
My God, my God,.... God is the God of Christ as he is man; he prepared a body for him, an human nature; anointed it with the oil of gladness; supported it under all its sorrows and sufferings, and at last exalted it at his own right hand:, and Christ behaved towards him as his covenant God; prayed to him, believed in him, loved him, and was obedient to him as such; and here expresses his faith of interest in him, when he hid his face from him, on account of which he expostulates with him thus, "why hast thou forsaken me?" which is to be understood, not as if the hypostatical or personal union of the divine and human natures were dissolved, or that the one was now separated from the other: for the fulness of the Godhead still dwelt bodily in him; nor that he ceased to be the object of the Father's love; for so he was in the midst of all his sufferings, yea, his Father loved him because he laid down his life for the sheep; nor that the principle of joy and comfort was lost in him, only the act and sense of it; he was now deprived of the gracious presence of God, of the manifestations of his love to his human soul, and had a sense of divine wrath, not for his own sins, but for the sins of his people, and was for a while destitute of help and comfort; all which were necessary in order to make satisfaction for sin: for as he had the sins of his people imputed to him, he must bear the whole punishment of them, which is twofold the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense; the former lies in a deprivation of the divine presence, and the latter in a sense of divine wrath, and both Christ sustained as the surety of his people. This expostulation is made not as ignorant of the reason of it; he knew that as he was wounded and bruised for the sins of his people, he was deserted on the same account; nor as impatient, for he was a mirror of patience in all his sufferings; and much less as in despair; for, in these very words, he strongly expresses and repeats his faith of interest in God; see Psa 22:8; and also Isa 50:6. But this is done to set forth the greatness and bitterness of his sufferings; that not only men hid their faces from him, and the sun in the firmament withdrew its light and heat from him, but, what was most grievous of all, his God departed from him. From hence it appears that he was truly man, had an human soul, and endured sorrows and sufferings in it; and this may be of use to his members, to expect the hidings of God's face, though on another account; and to teach them to wait patiently for him, and to trust in the Lord, and stay themselves upon their God, even while they walk in darkness and see no light;
why art thou so far from helping me? or from my salvation; from saving and delivering him out of his sorrows and sufferings? not that he despaired of help; he firmly believed he should have it, and accordingly had it: but he expostulates about the deferring of it. He adds,
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and from the words of my roaring? which expresses the vehemency of his spirit in crying to God, the exceeding greatness of his sorrows, and his excruciating pains and sufferings: this is what the apostle means by his "strong crying and tears", Heb 5:7; or "the words of my roaring are far from my salvation"; there is a great space or interval between the one and the other, as Gussetius (u) observes.
(u) Comment. Ebr. p. 788.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 7, 12 It is confessed that David was a type of…
It is confessed that David was a type of Christ, and that many passages of the Psalms, though literally understood of David, yet had a further and mystical reference to Christ. But there are some other passages, which were directly, and immediately intended for, and are properly to be understood of the Messiah; though withal there may be some respect and allusion to the state of the penman himself. And this seems to be the state of this psalm, which is understood of the Messiah, by the Hebrew doctors themselves, and by Christ himself and by his apostles. And there are many passages in it, which were literally accomplished in him, and cannot be understood of any other. In this psalm David speaks of the humiliation of Christ, ver. 1-21. Of the exaltation of Christ, ver. 22-31. To the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A psalm of David. Title of the psalm. Shahar - This was the title of some musical instrument, name, or song, which was usually sung in the morning.
My God - Who art my friend and father, though now thou frownest upon me. The repetition denotes, the depth of his distress, which made him cry so earnestly. Forsaken - Withdrawn the light of thy countenance, the supports and comforts of thy spirit, and filled me with the terrors of thy wrath: this was in part verified in David, but much more fully in Christ. Roaring - My out-cries forced from me, by my miseries.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 Under great affliction and distress, the psalmist prays unto
PSALM XXII
Under great affliction and distress, the psalmist prays unto
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God, 1-3;
appeals to God's wonted kinkiness in behalf of his people, 4, 5;
relates the insults that he received, 6-8;
mentions the goodness of God to him in his youth, as a reason
why he should expect help now, 9-11;
details his sufferings, and the indignities offered to him,
12-18,
prays with the confidence of being heard and delivered, 19-24;
praises God. and foretells the conversion of the nations to the
true religion, 25-31.
NOTES ON PSALM XXII
The title of this Psalm, To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David, has given rise to many conjectures. The words אילת השחר aiyeleth hashshachar are translated in the margin, "the hind of the morning;" but what was this? Was it the name of a musical instrument? or of a tune? or of a band of music? Calmet argues for the last, and translates "A Psalm of David, addressed to the Musicmaster who presides over the Band called the Morning Hind." This is more likely than any of the other conjectures I have seen. But aiyeleth hashshachar may be the name of the Psalm itself, for it was customary among the Asiatics to give names to their poetic compositions which often bore no relation to the subject itself. Mr. Harmer and others have collected a few instances from D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale. I could add many more from MSS. in my own collection:-thus Saady calls a famous miscellaneous work of his Gulisstan, "The Country of Roses," or, "The Rose Garden:" and yet there is nothing relative to such a country, nor concerning roses nor rose gardens, in the book. Another is called Negaristan, "The Gallery of Pictures; " yet no picture gallery is mentioned. Another Beharistan, "The Spring Season; " Bostan, "The Garden;" Anvar Soheely, "The Light of Canopus;" Bahar Danush, "The Garden of Knowledge; " Tuhfit Almumeneen, "The Gift of the Faithful," a treatise on medicine; Kemeea Isadut, "The Alchymy of Life; " Mukhzeen al Asrar, "The Magazine of Secrets;" Sulselet al Zahab, "The Golden Chain; " Zuhfit al Abrar, "The Rosary of the Pious:" Merat al Asrar, "The Mirror of Secrets; " Durj ul Durar, "The most precious Jewels;" Deru Majlis, "The Jewel of the Assembly;" Al Bordah, "The Variegated Garment;" a poem written by Al Basiree, in praise of the Mohammedan religion, in gratitude for a cure which he believed he received from the prophet who appeared to him in a dream. The poem is written in one hundred and sixty-two couplets, each of which ends with [Arabic] mim, the first letter in the name of Mohammed.
Scarcely one of the above titles, and their number might be easily trebled, bears any relation to the subject of the work to which it is prefixed, no more than Aijeleth Shahar bears to the matter contained in the twenty-second Psalm. Such titles are of very little importance in themselves; and of no farther use to us than as they serve to distinguish the different books, poems, or Psalms, to which they are prefixed. To me, many seem to have spent their time uselessly in the investigation of such subjects. 2Sa 1:18.
On the subject of the Psalm itself, there is considerable diversity of opinion:
1. Some referring it all to David;
2. Others referring it all to Christ; and,
3. Some, because of the application of several verses of it to our Lord in his sufferings, take a middle way, and apply it primarily to David, and in a secondary or accommodated sense, to Christ.
Of this opinion was Theodore of Mopsuestia. who gave a very rational account of his own plan of interpretation; for which he was condemned by the second council of Constantinople or fifth OEcumenic council. Grotius and others have nearly copied his plan; and I think, with a little correction, it is the only safe one. That several parts of it relate to David, primarily, there is very little reason to doubt; that several passages may be applied by way of accommodation to our Lord, though originally belonging to and expressing the state of David, may be piously believed; and that it contains portions which are direct prophecies of our Lord's passion, death, and victory, appears too evident to be safely denied. On this plan I propose to treat it in the following paraphrase; keeping it as near to the Gospel standard as I can. Dr. Delaney supposes the Psalm to have been written by David when he was at Mahanaim, the very place where God appeared to Jacob in his distress. See Ge 32:2. And on this supposition the third, fourth, and fifth verses may be easily and strikingly illustrated: Our fathers trusted in thee; why may not I? Thou didst deliver THEM; why may not I expect deliverance also? THEY cried unto thee, trusted in thee, and were not confounded; I cry until thee, trust in thee; and why should I be confounded? For thou art the same God, thou changest not; and with thee there is no respect of persons. Thus David encouraged himself in the Lord; and these considerations helped to sustain him in his painful exercises and heavy distresses.
Verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?] Show me the cause why thou hast abandoned me to my enemies; and why thou seemest to disregard my prayers and cries? For a full illustration of this passage, I beg the reader to refer to Clarke's note on "Mt 27:46".
The words of my roaring?] שאגתי shaagathi, The Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, AEthiopic, and Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, make use of terms which may be thus translated: "My sins (or foolishness) are the cause why deliverance is so far from me." It appears that these versions have read שגגתי shegagathi, "my sin of ignorance," instead of שאגתי shaagathi, "my roaring:" but no MS. extant supports this reading.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11 Psa 22:1. My God, my God, why hast thou…
Psa 22:1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? — In these words Christ, when hanging on the cross, complained, that he was deprived, for a time, of the loving presence and comforting influence of his heavenly Father: and St. Matthew and St. Mark give us the very expressions which he used, Eli, Eli; or, as St. Mark has it, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. It is perhaps worthy of notice here, that sabachthani is not a Hebrew word; the Hebrew word being עזבתני, gnazabtani; and from hence it appears most likely that our Saviour used that dialect which was most commonly understood by the Jews in his time; and which, it is probable, was a mixed dialect, composed of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. Agreeably to this supposition, it may be further observed, that Eloi, Eloi, as St. Mark expresses our Saviour’s words, were more nearly Chaldee. Christ, it must be well observed, “was not ignorant of the reason why he was afflicted. He knew that all the rigours and pains which he endured on the cross were only because the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and God laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isa 53:5-6. The words then imply, that he had done nothing to merit the evils which he suffered. This is the meaning of the question here, Why hast thou forsaken me? as also of that in Psa 2:1, Why do the heathen rage?” &c. The repetition of the words, my God, my God, denotes the depth of his distress, which made him cry so earnestly. From the words of my roaring — From regarding, pitying, or answering my fervent prayers and strong cries, forced from me by my miseries. This latter clause seems to refer to Christ’s prayer in the garden.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–12 My God, my God - These are the very…
My God, my God - These are the very words uttered by the Saviour when on the cross Mat 27:46; and he evidently used them as best adapted of all the words that could have been chosen to express the extremity of his sorrow. The fact that he employed them may be referred to as “some” evidence that the psalm was designed to refer to him; though it must be admitted that this circumstance is no conclusive proof of such a design, since he might have used words having originally another reference, as best fitted to express his own sufferings. The language is abrupt, and is uttered without any previous intimation of what would produce or cause it. It comes from the midst of suffering - from one enduring intense agony - as if a new form of sorrow suddenly came upon him which he was unable to endure. That new form of suffering was the feeling that now he was forsaken by the last friend of the wretched - God himself. We may suppose that he had patiently borne all the other forms of trial, but the moment the thought strikes him that he is forsaken of God, he cries out in the bitterness of his soul, under the pressure of anguish which is no longer to be borne. All other forms of suffering he could bear. All others he had borne. But this crushes him; overpowers him; is beyond all that the soul can sustain - for the soul may bear all else but this. It is to be observed, however, that the sufferer himself still has confidence in God. He addresses him as his God, though he seems to have forsaken him: “My God; My God.”
Why hast thou forsaken me? - Why hast thou abandoned me, or left me to myself, to suffer unaided and alone? As applicable to the Saviour, this refers to those dreadful moments on the cross when, forsaken by people, he seemed also to be forsaken by God Himself. God did not interpose to rescue him, but left him to bear those dreadful agonies alone. He bore the burden of the world’s atonement by himself. He was overwhelmed with grief, and crushed with pain, for the sins of the world, as well as the agonies of the cross, had come upon him. But there was evidently more than this; “what” more we are unable fully to understand! There was a higher sense in which he was forsaken of God, for no mere physical sufferings, no pains of dying even on the cross, would have extorted this cry. If he had enjoyed the light of his Father’s countenance; if these had been merely physical sufferings; if there was nothing else than what is apparent to our view in the record of those sufferings, we cannot suppose that this cry would have been heard even on the cross.
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There is evidently some sense in which it was true that the dying Saviour was given up to darkness - to mental trouble, to despair, “as if” He who is the last hope of the suffering and the dying - the Father of mercies - had withdrawn from him; as if he were personally; a sinner; as if he were himself guilty or blameworthy on account of the sins for which he was making an expiation. In some sense he experienced what the sinner will himself experience when, for his own sins, he will be at last forsaken of God, and abandoned to despair. Every word in this wonderful exclamation may be supposed to be emphatic. “Why.” What is the cause? How is it to be accounted for? What end is to be answered by it? “Hast thou.” Thou, my Father; thou, the comforter of those in trouble; thou, to whom the suffering and the dying may look when all else fails. “Forsaken.” Left me to suffer alone; withdrawn the light of thy countenance - the comfort of thy presence - the joy of thy manifested favor. “Me.” Thy well-beloved Son; me. whom thou hast sent into the world to accomplish thine own work in redeeming man; me, against whom no sin can be charged, whose life has been perfectly pure and holy; why, now, in the extremity of these sufferings, hast thou forsaken me, and added to the agony of the cross the deeper agony of being abandoned by the God whom I love, the Father who loved me before the foundation of the world, Joh 17:24. There is a reason why God should forsake the wicked; but why should he forsake his own pure and holy Son in the agonies of death?
Why art thou so far from helping me? - Margin, from my salvation. So the Hebrew. The idea is that of one who stood so far off that he could not hear the cry, or that he could not reach out the hand to deliver. Compare Psa 10:1.
And from the words of my roaring - The word used here properly denotes the roaring of a lion, Job 4:10; Isa 5:29; Zec 11:3; and then the outcry or the groaning of a person in great pain, Job 3:24; Psa 32:3. It refers here to a loud cry for help or deliverance, and is descriptive of the intense suffering of the Redeemer on the cross. Compare Mat 27:50; Luk 23:46.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 22
Psalms 22
To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David
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1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou nearest not;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy,
O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee:
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered:
They trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn:
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him:
Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb:
Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb:
Thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me:
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax;
It is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me:
The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones:
They look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them,
And cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord:
O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword;
My darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth:
For thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him;
All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;
And fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Neither hath he hid his face from him;
But when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
They shall praise the Lord that seek him:
Your heart shall live forever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:
And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s:
And he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship:
All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him:
And none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him;
It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness
Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition. With respect to the Title, vid. Introduction.—The Psalm begins with calling upon God, which manifests itself directly as an anxious cry of one severely troubled and presents itself as an anxious inquiry for the reason of his being forsaken by God (Psa_22:1), in which condition the sufferer finds himself externally, though internally he is closely united to God; for his loud and persevering cry for deliverance has not yet had a hearing (Psa_22:2). This, however, is contrary to the nature of God (Psa_22:3), and the experience of the fathers (Psa_22:4-5). The misery of the sufferer who is now almost crushed, is the more painful and inconceivable, that together with his sad condition, his trust in God, which is well known to the people, is made the object of bitter scorn (Psa_22:6-8). Though scorned, he recognizes and asserts his communion with God as proved to him from his birth (Psa_22:9-10). On this very account he again lifts up the cry of prayer for deliverance from nearer and greater peril of death (Psa_22:11), which he now describes at first according to its external fearfulness (Psa_22:12-13), and then according to its effects upon his person (Psa_22:14-15), and finally according to its speedy accomplishment already explained by his enemies (Psa_22:16-18). The prayer itself is then uttered according to its essential subject (Psa_22:19-21), and closes in a form which includes the assurance of its being heard. The consequence of this will be the praise of God in the congregation of the brethren by the mouth of the delivered one, (Psa_22:22-24), who will fulfil the vows now uttered (Psa_22:25), from which again salvation will arise forever for those who fear God and share therein (Psa_22:26). The latter will consist likewise of converted heathen (Psa_22:27), in whom God will vindicate His sovereignty (Psa_22:28), all of whom however He feeds, because they serve Him (Psa_22:29), and thereby preserves from generation to generation the seed of the servants of God (Psa_22:30), and causes it to grow into a people of God, in which is proclaimed what He has done for them (Psa_22:31). Thus a close and compact train of thought is given, which rises from the straits of personal affliction not only to the heights of assurance of faith in a sure deliverance by God, but advances to the sublime vision of sure salvation in God, for those out of all nations, who are converted to God. In this vision there is so little evidence of a later composition, that rather the Judaistic particularism is later, whilst the prophecies of the blessing of all nations in the seed of Abraham belonged already to the patriarchal period. Just so with the language of the Psalm. Delitzsch has shown not a few correspondences with Davidic Psalms 8 Böhl reminds us of the fact that in yomâm, Psa_22:2, we have an ancient Hebrew accusative ending afterwards lost, which is according to Oppert (Journ. Asiat., 1857) frequent in the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, as well as the accusative ending in ûth used already in the Pentateuch which is seen in the two hapaxlegom., אֱיָלוּת, Psa_22:19, and ענוּת, Psa_22:24. A historical reference to the conduct of the pious as opposed to the rebels in the Maccabean times (Olsh.) or to that of the Jewish people in exile in their affliction by the heathen (Isaki, Kimchi, De Wette, Ewald),9 can no more be proved than the composition by the prophet Jeremiah in the days of his ill-treatment and subsequent deliverance (Jer_37:11 sq.) shortly before the destruction of Judah, whence the prospect of a new generation, and the entirely different tone of the Psalm in the former and latter halves is to be explained (Hitzig); or indeed its composition by the king Hezekiah in the time of his distress and deliverance from Sennacherib (Jahn). The structure of the strophes, verses, and lines, likewise, in part very dissimilar in length and rythm, leads not to the time of the transition from the concise into the loose style, or to a writer of less poetic talent and skill, but argues rather against the supposition of mere literary labor, or of a free poetical conception or composition, especially if we estimate the fact, that all is treated individually and in personal terms, and is referred to actual events and experiences.
Its Messianic Character.—If now we ask to what person, and to whose circumstances, sentiments, and character, the words here spoken are entirely appropriate, the answer can only be, to king David for the most part, yet almost still more to Jesus which is Christ. This is so generally recognized that it is unnecessary to adduce the particular features which fully justify it. The more difficult question, however, is this, whether these are only analogies, which have naturally occasioned a comparison of the fate and words of Jesus with the present description, and rendered their application to Him possible, without doing violence to the text (Mat_27:35; Mat_27:43; Mat_27:46; Mar_15:34; Joh_19:23 sq.; Heb_2:11 sq.) He who merely grants this, will soon be convinced that he cannot stop here. For the relation between the Biblical David and David’s son consists not in mere particular resemblances, but in a thorough-going relationship, and is founded not in accidental criticisms, or in connections of one’s own choosing, which are then spun out further in scholastic forms; but in the government of God in history. In this connection the Psalm must at least be regarded as typical; and indeed we are not allowed to think either of the personification of the people of Israel by an unknown poet (De Wette, Olsh.), or to insert between Christ and David the ideal person of the righteous (Hengst.), for the references are entirely concrete and individual.10 But even this definition does not suffice. The question still remains to be answered, whether the Psalm is to be regarded as merely typical, or typical-prophetical, or merely prophetical, that is directly and immediately Messianic. In the first case David speaks not at all of the Messiah, but of himself and his own adventures—of the effects and consequences connected with them; and the typical reference of these words would be only subsequently in the congregation. This supposition is opposed by the circumstance, that in the life of David, whilst the time of the persecution by Saul might afford the historical foundation for such expressions (Calv., Venem., Thol., et al.), yet no circumstances known to us, not even 1Sa_23:25 sq. (von Hofmann), in themselves justify such complaints and such hopes as those here expressed. Moreover, the supposition of a poetical summary of his experience by the much tried king in the evening of his life, finds its refutation in the individual characteristics of the Psalm already repeatedly mentioned. The pure historical interpretation (Paulus, Eckermann, De Wette, Hupfeld, Hitzig, and in part Hofmann) which at most makes it a mere type, which according to Kurtz, was discovered only after its fulfilment by the writers of the New Testament, is entirely unsatisfactory. So likewise the merely prophetical or direct Messianic interpretation of the ancient synagogue, which regards the Hind of the morning directly as the name of the Shekinah, and as a symbol of the approaching redemption, so likewise the orthodoxy of the ancient church, which referred each and all literally and properly to Christ alone, excluding David.11 For that ancient interpretation that it is the Messiah Himself who speaks, is inconsistent with the character of the Psalm, which is throughout of the Old Testament and lyrical, and there is not a syllable to show that any other person is to be regarded as speaking in the place of the Psalmist. And the new phase of this interpretation, that the author has transported himself into the person of Christ, speaking from Him in the first person (J. D. Mich., Knapp, Clauss, et al.) is in part merely the inversion of the formula of this stand-point, partly a half-way attempt to reconcile the historical and Messianic interpretations. For a mere external union of both interpretations whereby some portions are referred to David, others to the Messiah, according as the individual features of the description suit the one or the other (Rudinger, Venema, Dathe) would not satisfy us any more than the acceptance of a double sense, a historical and a Messianic (Stier). The first mentioned attempt, namely, destroys the unity of the text and its references, but the last mentioned supposition destroys the unity of its meaning. It is necessary therefore to define the typical Messianic interpretation (Melancthon, Calvin, Grot., Cleric, Umbreit, Thol., Keil) more accurately as typical prophetical. Then there is not wrought into the text by the Holy Spirit a Messianic sense unknown to the Psalmist himself, in a form of words which has found its real fulfilment in the history of Jesus; but David in the Spirit, that is speaking as a prophet has regarded himself as a type of the Messiah and prophesies even on this account, because he speaks as such. But then the composition cannot fall into as early a period of David’s life as the time of the persecution by Saul, to which with a corresponding fundamental idea, even, Delitzsch and Böhl still refer. With much greater probability we might think of the time of the flight from Absalom to the wilderness (Rudinger), and the danger of losing throne and life connected therewith. I prefer, however, the circumstances to which Psalms 18 refer, with its conclusion which has a Messianic character. The prophetic character of this Psalm is expressly brought out in Joh_19:24, together with the prophetical character of the Psalmist. Mat_27:35. The typical character of the Psalm is moreover confirmed by the fact that Jesus on the cross speaks partly from the circumstances described in this Psalm (Joh_19:28; Joh_19:30), partly prays, lamenting in the words which begin this Psalm (Mat_27:46; Mar_15:34); yet not in words of exactly the same sound, but in the Aramaic dialect, accordingly not as a quotation, moreover not merely as applied to Himself, but as language entirely appropriated. Only on the ground of this actual appropriation could ver 22 of this Psalm be treated in Heb_2:11, as the words of Christ Himself. It is easy to understand, how Luther in interpreting this Psalm, remained three days and nights shut up on bread and salt, entirely inaccessible.12
Str. I. Psa_22:1. My God, etc.—The Sept. has read êlî êlaî = my God upon me, namely look. Then afterwards there came into the text of this Greek translation, which is followed by the Vulgate, the marginal gloss ὁ θεὸς as the first word. However, the citations of the New Testament and the other ancient translations show, that the reading of the Hebrew text is the correct one. The repetition shows the depths of the anxiety (1Ki_18:37; 2Ki_4:19; Jer_4:10) and the urgency of the inquiry, which is not to be regarded as an inquiry of impatience and of the flesh near to despair (Hupf.). nor indeed as an exact inquiry for the reasons, demanding information and account (Hengst.). Nor does it show that in the height of suffering the speaker has lost the recollection, why he thus suffers (Böhl), but it is an anxious inquiry of the soul, lamenting (Calvin) and troubled, which suffers more under the inconsistency, that a man who is internally dependent upon God can appear as externally separate from God and given up by Him, than by earthly and temporal affliction. There is no contradiction of Psa_16:10, here; for the abandonment is not asserted as an abiding fact, but is expressed as an experience of a momentary condition. Only in this sense could Jesus appropriate these words in the pain of His death upon the cross. That He alone has reason and right to them (Berl. Bib., Stier) is an exaggerated assertion. Luther correctly says: “All the sayings of this Psalm are not said to every one since all have not the same gifts and all have not the same sufferings.” Respecting lamáh as Oxytone vid. Hupf. on Psa_10:1.—Far from my help (are the) words of my cry!—That fact is expressed from which the preceding anxious question arose, and which is in contradiction to the previous history of Israel as the following verses show, namely, that the prayers of the pious man have not found a hearing. The enallage numeri is no more against this explanation, than the circumstance, that in Psa_22:11; Psa_22:19, and frequently elsewhere, mention is made of God’s being afar off. If we abandon this construction already followed by the ancient translations [A. V. likewise], then this construction offers itself as the most correct, which regards the words “far from my help,” as in apposition to the preceding “forsaken,” accordingly as part of the lamentation and question, whereupon it would then be stated with the independent clause “words of my cry,” that all that precedes constitutes the contents of the lamentation (Aben Ezra, Olshausen, Hupfeld). But such a statement in the form of narration has little agreement with the tone of the Psalm in other respects. Most recent interpreters after Isaki, Calv., Ruding., Cleric., supply the preposition min (=from) and regard the latter half of this line as in apposition to the former half. It is most natural then to regard both lines of the verse as a connected lamentation. For in interpreting the second line of the verse as an independent clause; far from my help, from the words of my lamentation, namely, art Thou (or more clearly putting that which is supplied at the beginning: Thou art, etc.), אַתָּה could hardly be missing. Should we, however, suppose an independent continuation of the inquiry (Kimchi, Rosenm., Böhl), then we ought to expect the repetition of the interrogative particle. The supposition of a new question: Art Thou perhaps afar off? (Venema), is still less suitable to the context. But against this entire construction, not to mention its modifications are the following principal reasons: 1). That in accepting it the most natural and almost unavoidable connection of words would lead to taking the expression “the words of my cry,” merely as an explanatory apposition to the words which immediately precede: “my help” which would give an entirely incorrect thought. 2). In order to avoid this interpretation, it is not sufficient merely to supply the preposition “from,” but either “far from” or “and from” must be required, especially in Hebrew where it is still more indispensable. Isaki indeed adds this, but it is not in the text. 3). Finally the thought, that God Himself is no longer reached by the words of him who cries out to Him in prayer, so great is His distance from Him, is entirely unbiblical, and cannot be explained over again by the thought of his prayers failing to be heard, which is the very thought that our explanation finds here. Hitzig on this account would change the reading here, because he accepts the continued influence of the preposition min, but very properly denies, that such unlike ideas as help and words could be regarded as being in the same line without a repetition of the min. He puts as the original reading מִשַּׁוְעָתִי = from my cry, which has been changed by a copyist, who had in mind Psa_20:5; Psa_21:1; Psa_21:5, into מִישּׁוּעָתִי=from my help. Such an error in copying is possible, yet it is unnecessary here. This explanation likewise is in contradiction with the text: “with the words” (Stier) which would demand בְדִבְרֵי to which Kimchi adds the explanatory clause “although Thou hearest.” The mention of words, indicates that the cry was not inarticulate and is the more necessary, as the cry is designated with the Hebrew expression for the roaring of a lion (Psa_22:13; Isa_5:29; Job_4:10), which when used of human lamentation expresses the strength and violence of its utterance (Job_3:24; Psa_32:3; Psa_38:9). The translation of the Sept. and Vulgate, “transgressions” may be referred to an interchange of two letters (א with ג) in the Hebrew word. The translation of the Syr., “folly” is connected with its false interpretation of the entire clause, since it finds in the foolish words of the sufferer the reason of the refusal of Divine help.
Psa_22:2. My God, I cry for whole days and Thou dost not answer, and through the night, and calmness I (have) not.—Hitzig finds in êlohaî an accusative of the object, “my God I call.” Of those who accept the usual interpretation of it as a vocative, some (Olsh., Hupf., Böhl,) regard it as the subject of the cry of prayer, but the majority as the direct invocation of God Himself which commences anew the sigh of prayer. To limit it to one day and one night of suffering, (Bade) is the more unnatural, since Heb_5:7, shows that not even the crying of Jesus is to be limited to that mentioned in Mat_27:46.13 The calmness is, according to the constant use of this Hebrew word, the silence of resignation in contrast with murmuring and complaining. Since the sufferer has thus far received neither help nor answer, this silence is not yet allotted to him. The explanation of it as: hushing up, quieting, stilling (Stier, Hupf., Delitzsch), has no sufficient warrant in language or in fact; still less the interpretation: rest through the cessation of sufferings (De Wette, Köster). The Chald. has correctly: silence. The Vulgate incorrectly after the Sept.: and not to my folly. The Syr. and Arab. are entirely different: and thou wilt not lay hold of me.
Str. II. Psa_22:3. Enthroned above the praises.—The translation “Inhabitant of the praises” (De Wette) [A. V. Thou that inhabitest,] is likewise possible according to the language. Then God the Holy One would be designated as the subject of the praises. The Sept. and Vulg. interpret it in a similar way, though they regard Him rather as the object of the praises, and their translation differs in other respects, thus: But Thou dwellest in the sanctuary, Thou praise of Israel. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Flamin, et al. depending on the Hebrew text, translate: Enthroned as the praise (Aquil. ὔμνος), that is, as He who is praised in Israel’s songs of praise. The translation “The enthroned of the songs of praise” (Hengst.) [that is, upon the songs of praise] is related to the preceding, but explained otherwise, that is tehilloth is regarded not as a metonymy, not as in opposition to yôscheb, but as a genitive. The Syriac has the correct translation. This expression is parallel to and founded on the well-known predicate of God: throned above or upon the cherubim especially in Psa_80:1; Psa_99:1, in the present form. But we must not conclude either from this or from the circumstance that the songs of praise (Psalms 78, Exo_15:11; Isa_63:7,) usually resounded in the sanctuary (Isa_64:11), that we must here retain the reference to the temple, where Israel’s songs of praise ascended as the clouds of incense, and likewise formed a throne for God (Aben Ezra, Calv., Ruding, Gesen., Hupf., et al.). The following verses demand rather an interpretation broader and independent of the temple service. Moreover the cherubim, as is well known, are not confined to the temple. Still less, is the explanation incola laudentium Israelitarum, justified by this enlargement of the idea.
Str. III. Psa_22:6. Worm, as an indication of the most extreme degradation and helplessness with the secondary idea of contempt, so likewise Job_25:5, sq.; Isa_41:13, in which respect David compares himself, 1Sa_25:15, with a dead dog and a flea. With the following words [and no man] correspond the expression Isa_53:3, ceasing from men [A. V. rejected of men]; we must likewise compare Isa_49:7; Isa_52:14, with reference to the servant of Jehovah.
Psa_22:7. Opening wide the mouth is regarded as a sign of hostile contempt, as a gesture of insulting, sneering scorn (Psa_35:21; Job_16:10), here expressed as bursting open and gaping by means of the lips. This is weakened by the Sept. and Vulg. into a speaking with the lips, by Jerome inexactly restored, as letting the lips hang. The shaking of the head (Psa_44:14; Psa_109:25; 2Ki_19:21; Job_16:4; Lam_2:15), designates the situation of the sufferer as helpless (Mat_27:39), and is as a gesture of denial an expression of ironical pity, as likewise the shaking of the hand (Zep_2:15), is a gesture of scorn. It is unnecessary to suppose a consent to the sufferings, which is glad to injure, and to find here a nodding of the head as an expression of assent. (Gesen., Baihinger, Thol., De Wette).
Psa_22:8. Roll upon Jehovah, [A. V. He trusted on the Lord.]—Similar words follow the gestures of scorn. But it has nothing to do with religious scorn (De Wette), but with scoffing at the sufferer, who is regarded as irredeemably lost and as forsaken by God. His assurance that God is well pleased with him is regarded by his opponents as idle pretense and despicable boasting, for which they may scoff at him, on this very account that he is abandoned by God. It is not necessary to suppose a saying of the sufferer which is called out to him in irony (Hengst). The Sept. and the Syr. have taken the first word as a finite verb, the former in the signification: he has hoped, the latter: he has trusted [so A. V.]. Jerome likewise translates, confugit ad. The verb is then taken as reflexive=roll one-self, that is yield one-self, give one-self over to or trust on some one. The perfect, which Stier et al. regard as necessary on account of Mat_27:42 sq., is then either so regarded that גֹל is taken as infin. constr. and this for the infin. absol., which then might be put instead of the finite verb (De Wette after more ancient interps.); or the reading is taken at once as גַל (Ewald), J. D. Mich. (Orient. Bibl. 11:208) even גָּל from גִּיל=גּוּלlætatus est. But the parallel passages Psa_37:5; Pro_16:3, decide that the reading of the text must be regarded as the imperative without its object (Psa_55:22). This is ironical counsel, (Cleric.) from which there is a sudden change to the third person (Hupfeld) with a malicious side glance (Delitzseh), whilst at the same time with these words the back is turned to the sufferer (Böhl). It is thus not necessary to think of the infin. absol. used for the imperative (Hitzig).—The subject of the last clause of this verse is not the sufferer (The Rabbins, Rosenm., Baihing., Tholuck) but God (Calvin and moat interps.); for the Hebrew expression occurs only of the dealings of God with man and not conversely. In Psa_91:14, cited by Rosenm. in favor of his view, a different word is used. The scorn is still further sharpened (Geier) by the conjunction “because” [A. V. seeing]. In Mat_27:43, “if” is used, it is true, but not as a citation. To translate by “if” in this passage likewise with the Syr., is not justified by the remarks of Hitzig at least, that the speakers neither knew that He would save the sufferer, nor indeed that He had pleasure in him. The words are scoffing it is true, yet such that they judge themselves, because they pervert and distort the earnestness of the fact, that there has been between God and this sufferer at all times a relation of love, which showed itself on the one part as protection and help in life, on the other part as resignation and trust. Hence the connection with the following verse by the affirmative כִּי. This is not in contradiction with the fact that at the close of Psa_22:15 God Himself is addressed as the one who lays the sufferer in the dust of death. God is not thereby placed alongside of the enemies, but this feature serves very particularly to make noticeable the typical character of this Psalm. It belongs to the sufferings of the servant of Jehovah that notwithstanding his innocence, his sufferings are represented as belonging to his calling and not as merely caused by his enemies but likewise as brought about by God.
Str. IV. Psa_22:9. [Perowne: “Faith turns the mockery of his enemies into an argument of deliverance. They mock my trust in Thee—yea I do trust in Thee; for Thou art He,” etc.—C. A. B.].—Made me careless on the breast of my mother.—I have chosen this expression because the hiphil of בטח can mean “make to lie securely” as well as “to make trustful,” and there is no reason to accept exclusively the former (Venema, Rosenm., De Wette, Gesen., Hupf.), which would render prominent the secure and comfortable condition of the suckling under the protection of God on the mother’s breast; or the latter (Chald. and most interpreters), which emphasizes the early time of the trust wrought by God in the suckling. A trust to the mother’s breast (Hitzig), however, is not said nor meant, but on the mother’s breast to God, and it is psychologically the less assailable, as Jewish mothers were accustomed to suckle their children until their third year. Too much, however, is sought in the expressions, if it is found noteworthy, that the sufferer speaks only of his mother and at the same time hints at the beginning of his life as in poverty (Delitzsch14) or if an allusion is found to the taking up of the regenerate in the bosom of the Father as a sign of recognition and adoption (Gen_16:2; Gen_50:23; Job_3:12), with reference to the thought, that God treats him as a Father (Cleric., J. H. Mich., Hengst.).
Str. V. Psa_22:12. Bashan designates, in ‘the narrower geographical sense, originally the northern part of the land on the other side of the Jordan, the basaltic table land between Hermon and Jarmuk, which contains only pasture land; in the wider original political sense (Deu_3:13; Jos_12:4), which then had become geographical (Hupf.), at the same time the northern Gilead even to the Jabbok (the present ‘Aglûn) with mountains of many peaks (Psa_68:16), embracing dense oak forests (Isa_2:13 Eze_27:6; Zec_11:2) and fat pastures (Mic_5:14; Jer_5:19). Comp. Burckhardt, Reisen in Syrien, p. 396 sq., 419.—The rams and bulls of Bashan serve at times as figures of the people of Israel and especially of its distinguished men (Deu_32:14; Eze_39:18; Amo_4:1; comp. Psa_6:1), who have become luxurious, proud and godless by their prosperity. Moreover, the bulls, and especially the buffalos (instead of which Luther, after the Sept., Vulg., et al., incorrectly puts unicorns), are likewise partly figures of the full feeling of power (Num_23:22; Psa_29:6; Isa_34:7) and victorious strength (Deu_33:17; Job_39:12), partly figures of rage and ill nature (Robinson, Bib. Researches, II. 412 [Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 146.—C. A. B.]), and hence a designation of mighty enemies, with the prophetical secondary idea of ungodly enemies of Jehovah (Hupfeld). In Psa_22:21, their horns are particularly mentioned as fearful weapons, whilst their gaping is, in Psa_22:13, the sign of their voracity. This forms the transition to the comparison with lions, introduced by an apposition merely (comp. the examples by Kimchi), which roar when they behold their prey before falling upon it (Psa_104:21; Amo_3:4).
[Str. VI. Psa_22:14. I am poured out like water.—Barnes: “The sufferer now turns from his enemies, and describes the effect of all these outward persecutions and trials on himself. The meaning in this expression is, that all his strength was gone. It is remarkable that we have a similar expression, which is not easily accounted for, when we say of ourselves that we are as weak as water.” An expression similar to this occurs in Jos_7:5 : “The hearts of the people melted, and became as water, Lam_2:19; Psa_58:7.”—My bones are out of joint.—Perowne: “Have separated themselves, as of a man stretched upon the rack.”—Wax.—The heart, which melts away under the consuming power of his distress, is compared to wax. So the mountains at the appearing of God, Psa_97:5, and the ungodly before the Divine presence, Psa_68:2.
Psa_22:15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd.—Barnes: “The meaning here is, that his strength was not vigorous like a green tree that was growing and that was full of sap, but it was like a brittle piece of earthenware, so dry and fragile that it could be easily crumbled to pieces.”—And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.—Barnes: “The meaning here is, that his mouth was dry, and he could not speak. His tongue adhered to the roof of his mouth so that he could not use it—another description of the effects of intense thirst. Comp. Joh_19:28.”—And Thou layest me in the dust of death (A. V., Thou hast brought me).—Hupfeld, Ewald, Perowne and Alexander: Thou wilt bring me or lay me. Moll and Delitzsch and Hitzig: Thou stretchest me, or Thou layest me to bed in. Perowne: “Death must be the end, and it is Thy doing, Thou slayest me. So does the soul turn from seeing only the instruments of God’s punishments to God who employs these instruments. Even in the extremity of its forsakenness it still sees God above all. We are reminded of Peter’s words, ‘Him, being delivered according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Str. VII. Psa_22:16. [For dogs have compassed me.—Barnes: “Men who resemble dogs; harsh, snarling, fierce, ferocious.”—The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me.—Barnes: “That is, they have surrounded me; they have come around me on all sides so that I might not escape. So they surrounded the Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane when they arrested Him and bound Him; so they surrounded Him when on His trial before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate; and so they surrounded Him on the cross.”—C. A. B.].—Piercing through my hands and my feet.—This does not refer directly to the experience of Jesus upon the cross (Reinke with many of the more ancient interpreters). Moreover the remark of Gesenius, that the body of enemies is indeed pierced through, but not their hands and feet, does not suit. For the expression refers primarily and directly to the dogs (Böhl), which have been just mentioned as figurative of the band of the wicked which surround the sufferer, as they in other passages likewise are symbols of fierceness and impudence with the subordinate idea of impurity, which, however, does not lead to external heathen enemies (De Wette). These are here regarded by some (Symmach., Theodoret) as at once the pack of hounds of the hunter. In the Orient the dogs, which are half wild, and usually rove about in troops, are especially wicked and dangerous. They not only devour corpses (2Ki_9:35; Jer_15:3), but likewise attack travellers. In Persia even the sick and aged were set out to be devoured by dogs (Strabo).15 It is characteristic that they are accustomed at first to gnaw off the flesh of the hands and feet and head (Œdmann vermischte Samml. V. 23, sq.). If now the much disputed word כָּאֲרִי is regarded after Pococke (notæ miscell. after Maimonidis porta Mosis) as an abbreviated plural of the participle of כּאר, related to כּוּר (vid. more in detail Stier, Reinke, Böhl), which even Winer, De Wette, Gesen. (in Lehrgeb. p. 526) grant as possible, it is not necessary to change the reading itself in order to gain this sense which agrees entirely with the context, whose typical prophetical meaning is the less to be overlooked as the servant of Jehovah is said to be pierced in Isa_53:5 likewise,16 yes Jehovah in him (Zec_12:10), and it is easy for the original simple meaning of the word, “dig, bore,” as in the Arabic and Greek, to pass over into the special meaning, or if it is here to be entirely vindicated, it corresponds likewise with the nearest historical connection (to the teeth and claws of the dogs) as the prophetical reference. It is therefore unnecessary to suppose a boring fast (or indeed to make spell-bound, which the Midrash even regards as with magical characters), whereby David would be given in the hands of his enemies weaponless and without power of escape (Delitzsch), which sense others (at last Ewald, at first Aquila in the second edition of his translation, and then Symmach. and Jerome) find in the signification, “bind, fetter,” which is given to the word and which can be proved in the Arabic and Syriac. In the first edition Aquila had: “they soiled,” or likewise, “they marred,” that is, by bloody wounds. But the signification of digging and boring through has been found in the word not only by the Vulgate and Pesch., but likewise by the Septuagint before Christ. The ancient translations, however, all have a finite verb. Possibly they have merely resolved the Hebrew participle, which though accepted by many, by Rosenm., Hengst., Hupf., et al., after the example of Verbrugge (Observ Phil., 1730), is yet hotly contested, for it is at the farthest merely necessary to change the vowel points of the present text, which in the ancient MSS. indeed are altogether missing, and instead of כָּאֲרִי read כָּארֵי, in order to set aside the objections to our interpretation which are most worthy of consideration. But they have perhaps really had the reading כָּאֲרוּ before them, which still occurs in two unsuspected Codd. and is no more to be derived from Christian influence (Hupf.), than the received reading from Jewish (Calmet). On the other hand the form כּרוּ is found only in a late Cod., as a marginal gloss only afterwards added. Of especial importance is the remark of the little Masora, that כָּאֲרִי in the two passages (Psa_22:16; Isa_38:13) in which this form occurs, is in two different meanings. In the passage in Isaiah, however, the meaning “as the lion” is undoubted. The view, which in recent times has become the most prevailing, that this translation is to be applied to our passage likewise, has accordingly, no ancient authority for it, neither Christian, nor Jewish. For the Chald. originates not only from a relatively later period (Jahn, Einleitung I.), but inserts the word “biting” as explanatory and as a paraphrase. Thereby the verb which is lacking in the translation “as the lion,” is gained, and the entire inappropriateness of the comparison, when the verb “inclose” is taken from the preceding clause or supplied, is to some extent lost sight of. For it is well known that it is the habit of the lion to cast himself upon his prey with a spring, and with one blow to dash it down or pull it to the ground, but not to encompass its “hands and feet,” which does not take place with the tail even, with which it is said to make a circle (Kimchi). And it is very evident that the appeal to the fact that at times hands and feet mean the whole body or the person (Gesen., Hupf.) does not explain anything, but only puts the difficulty in stronger light. But even the interpolation of the Chald. is partly entirely arbitrary and unjustified, partly more adapted to conceal for the moment than to really set aside the objectionableness and inappropriateness of the comparison. Since the definite article is used, the inappropriateness of the comparison in the translation, “the band of the wicked enclosed me, as the lion, at my hands and at my feet,” is just as striking as the fact which is especially emphasized (Luther, Calv. et al., likewise De Wette and Olsh.), that it is just as vain as it is an unjustifiable attempt to wish to do away with the objection by putting the point of comparison merely in the rage (Hengst.), or in the unsparing and fierce haste (Hitzig) of the lion-like enemies, and to find by an explanation which displaces the words, the meaning that the sufferer is so entirely surrounded by the crowd of his enemies, who are fierce as the lion and strong, or is so clasped on his hands and feet (Köster), that he can neither defend himself with his hands nor flee away with his feet (many since Aben Ezra, likewise Hengst. and Hupf., which last prefer the acceptance of a double accusative to the repetition of the verb). The same objections apply to the other verbs which have been supplied: to crush (Saadia), and: they threaten (Gesen.). But that the enemies are not described as like the lion at the hands and feet (Hengst., previous interpretation, but since taken back), is just as evident as the impossibility of taking the disputed word as an accusative (Paul. in his Clavis), which would suddenly compare the sufferer, who was lying as a worm in the dust, to a lion beset round about with dogs. From the inflexible feeling of the untenableness of all these interpretations arises likewise the proposal to close the clause with “lion,” but to regard hands and feet as objects of “count” (Mendelssohn), an interpretation which can be explained only as a desperate expedient. If now the lion is indeed called אֲרִי (Num_24:9; Isa_38:13; Eze_22:25; Amo_5:19), yet the reasons, as has been shown, which have been given by many interpreters for finding it in this disputed word are still less convincing, especially as in this Psalm the lion is mentioned twice (Psa_22:13; Psa_22:21) under the only name which is used elsewhere in the Psalms, אַרְיֵה.
Psa_22:17. I can tell all my bones.—[Perowne: “Before ‘all my bones are out of joint.’ Hence it would seem that the body was racked by some violent torture; not merely emaciated by starvation and suffering. And thus in his utter misery he is a gazing-stock to them that hate him; ‘they look upon me,’ i.e., with malicious satisfaction at my sufferings,” vid., Isa_52:14; Isa_53:2-3.—C. A. B.] In ancient psalters the counting of the members is treated as an act of the enemies in accordance with the Sept. and Vulgate.
Psa_22:18. They part my garments.—His death seems so much the more unavoidable, that his garments are treated as belonging to one already dead, as possessions without an owner (v. Hofmann). The outer garments consisting of many pieces were divided, the under garment which was the immediate covering of the body was divided by lot. So Joh_19:23 sq. This language is not of mere design (Rosenm., Jahn) but of fact, to which the entire description leads (Hengst.). If we cannot point to anything of the kind in the life of David, that does not alter the fact or justify us in explaining the clothing in the sense of property (Hupf.). The prophetical element comes out with the more prominence from the type.
Str. VIII. Psa_22:19. My strength.—God is designated by the nomen. abstr. of איָל as the essence and source of the strength of life (Psa_38:4). The Sept. and Vulgate (the Syr. likewise) with a different division of the members of the verse, translate. Thou wilt not remove Thy help from me.
Psa_22:20. From the sword. from the power of the dog.—It does not follow from the remarks upon Psa_22:16 that we must translate, “paw of the dog.” This would correspond only with the figures which immediately precede and follow (Delitzsch) and is not opposed by the fact that this paw (Lev_11:27) is called כּף. For in 1Sa_17:37, יד is used of lions and bears. But since this last word is used elsewhere in the general meaning of power (Geier), yes, since the hand of the flame (Isa_47:14) and the hands of the sword (Job_5:20) are spoken of, as Isa_1:20, the mouth of the sword; this general interpretation is to be preferred, the more as in the first member of the verse the sword is likewise not figurative, as Luk_2:15, of heart-piercing woe (Sachs), but yet likewise not literal, but is to be taken in the general sense as indicating violent death, as Job_27:14; Jer_43:11.
My solitary one.—The soul as life is, according to some interpreters, designated as the only one (Exo_20:2; Exo_20:12; Jdg_11:34; Psa_35:17), that is, as that which is not present as double, and therefore is irreparable (Gesen., Hitzig, Delitzsch, et al.), yet without the secondary idea of valuable, dear, and beloved, which is improperly brought in, in the strongest way in the English Bible [“my darling,” both here and in Psa_35:17.—C. A. B.] Others (Jerome, Luther, Calvin, Geier, Stier, Hupfeld [Alexander]) prefer the idea of solitary, forsaken, with reference to Psa_25:16; Psa_68:6; comp. Psa_142:4; Joh_16:23.17
Psa_22:21. Save me from the jaws of the lion.—Some, without sufficient reason, find in the singular, “of the lion,” a reference to the devil, the arch enemy who stands behind all the assaults upon the servants and children of God (Theodoret, Stier).—And from the horns of the buffålo, (yes) Thou answerest me.—The Sept., Syr., Arab., do not regard the closing word as a verb, but as a noun = my lowliness. But already the Chald. and Jerome refer the word as a verb to his being heard. The form of the preterite and its position at the close make the transition to the following section; and include the assurance that the prayer will be heard (Geier), yet not necessarily in the deliverance which had already taken place, or had often been experienced at previous times (Kimchi), especially as the verb has the fundamental meaning of answering. Since now in Psa_20:6 a similar construction designates God’s answer from heaven, the prevailing interpretation of the closing clause of this verse: “Hear me against the horns of the buffalo,” or “save me from the horns of the buffalo by hearing me,” with the supposition of a pregnant construction, as Isa_38:17; Jer_15:2; Psa_30:4; Psa_68:19; Psa_118:5, appears the more objectionable, the more difficult it would be in this very connection of the words in question, and the less properly the fact that the preterite in connection with the imperative can be taken in an optative sense is to be vindicated here, where the preterite stands at the close of a clause of urgent supplication, whilst the following clause expresses thankfulness and vows on the basis of the hearing of the prayer, and then describes the grand consequences resulting therefrom. But it does not follow from this that the וְ is either to be taken as adversative, or the clause must be regarded as relative, so that the experience of previous help from great dangers, figuratively represented by the horns of the buffalo, served as motive of the prayer (Kimchi, Hupfeld). The supposition of a sudden break in the construction is much easier (Stier, Hengst.), by which would be expressed the contrast to the lamentation, Psa_22:2, and the turn of thought which is now made, which is to be marked by a dash and an inserted yes, since it is not advisable, contrary to the received text, to wish to take the word as the grammatical antecedent (Venema) of the following verse, although it certainly is presupposed by it (Hupfeld) [“Perowne: “Before it had been, ‘Thou answerest not,’—now at the most critical moment Faith asserts her victory, ‘Thou hast answered.’ See the same sudden transition, the same quick assurance that prayer has been heard, Psa_6:9; Psa_20:7; Psa_26:12; Psa_28:6; Psa_31:22. The vows and thanksgiving which follow are a consequence of this assurance.”—C. A. B.]
Str. IX. Psa_22:22-23. [Perowne: “So or therefore will I tell. (Obs. the form with ה paragog. as marking a consequence from what precedes) ‘My brethren = the congregation = ye that fear Jehovah;’ Psa_22:23, i.e., the whole nation of Israel, as follows. In Psa_22:23 the singer calls upon the Church (קָהָל = ἐκκλησία) to praise God. In Psa_22:24 he gives the reason for this exhortation; the experience, viz., of God’s mercy, and truth, and condescension, chiefly to himself, though not to the exclusion of others. For God is not like the proud ones of the earth. He does not despise the afflicted.”—C. A. B.]
Str. X. Psa_22:24. The affliction of the afflicted.—This nomen. abstr., owing to a false derivation, is rendered by the Sept., Vulg., Peschitò, Chald., as prayer, or cry, and by Jerome as modestia. [Perowne: “The same word is used with Messianic reference, Isa_53:4; Isa_53:7; Zec_9:9.—He hath not hid (comp. Psa_10:1; Psa_13:1). … When he cried He heard. What a contrast between Psa_22:1-2! Very remarkable is this confident acknowledgment of God’s goodness in hearing prayer.”—C. A. B.]
Str. XI. Psa_22:25. From Theo (comes) my praise in the great congregation.—The song of praise has as its subject the deliverance by God, and on this account takes its departure, or its origin from God, who naturally, at the same time, remains as the object of the praise (Psa_22:22). [So Perowne: “From Thee, not (as A. V.) of Thee, as if God were the object only of his praise. It is God Himself who has put this great subject of praise into his heart; and into his mouth. The will and the power to praise as well as the deliverance comes from Him. Comp. Psa_118:23, where the construction is precisely the same ‘from Jehovah is this.’ ”—C. A. B.]—My vows will I pay.—It follows from the following verse, “they shall eat,” that the reference is to bringing, after the deliverance, the thank-offering, which was vowed during the trouble (Lev_7:16). This was partaken of as a sacrificial meal with the legal assistance of the Levites (Lev. 12:18; 14:26) and in company with invited friends (Pro_7:14, Josephus’ Jewish War, Psa_6:9; Psa_6:3), after that the sprinkling of the blood and the presentation of the fat pieces had taken place at the altar. Since now in reference to the tithes, Deu_14:29; Deu_26:12, and at the harvest feast, Deu_16:11, an invitation of widows, orphans, and the poor, to participate in the meal, was prescribed, the reference to the wretched can so much the less appear strange in connection with the typical prophetical character of the Psalm; since even in sacrificial meals the participation of others than those legally invited was not excluded (Deu_33:19; 1Sa_9:13; 1Sa_9:22). From the earliest times, therefore, most Christian interpreters have referred this passage to the Lord’s Supper, often directly and exclusively, which is indeed improper. Others have gone to the contrary extreme (Cleric., Venema, Rosenm., v. Hofmann, Hupf.), partly by denying and partly by effacing the reference to the Shelamim offering, and have taken the eating, and becoming satisfied as merely a usual formula of prosperity and refreshment, and interpreted the thank-offering in the spiritual sense = songs of thanksgiving. Others suppose a merely spiritual participation under the figure of a meal (Umbreit, Tholuck, Hengst., Böhl, Bade). This much may be said, however, that the sensuous partaking and the material advantages were not the chief things in the sacrificial meals themselves, and that all offerings in the meaning of the law should be fulfilled with a disposition corresponding to them; that on this account the expression of thanks should excite a pious joy, and nourish and strengthen the spiritual life; and that in consequence of this even the song of thanksgiving itself can be designated as a sacrifice (Heb_13:15), and many expressions in the Old Testament, as in this Psalm, so likewise in Psa_50:14; Psa_50:23; Psa_61:5; Psa_61:8; Psa_69:30-32, and frequently are in a transition state from the narrower to the wider meaning, and from the proper to the figurative sense, as then the vow likewise not only refers to sacrifice (Psa_54:7; Psa_116:14) but likewise to the confession of Jehovah as deliverer (Jon_2:10). Moreover, independent of the reference to sacrifice, the general preservation and strengthening of the life against hostile attacks are designated as a feeding by Jehovah (Psa_23:5), and this, again applied to the spiritual life, regarded as eating the word of God (Jer_15:16; comp. Eze_3:1-3), and referred to the refreshment and satisfaction of men in the kingdom of God, is described as a meal prepared by God (Isa_25:6 sq.)
Psa_22:26. The afflicted shall eat.—The afflicted are not those who are poor in this world’s goods in a general sense, but the pious who are oppressed in the world. These are now called aniyim, now anavim. In the former word the external affliction is more prominent, in the latter the internal affliction. The servant of Jehovah belongs among these sufferers first of all (Isa_53:4; Isa_53:7; Zec_9:9).
Str. XII. Psa_22:27. Shall remember and turn unto Jehovah.—An important passage to characterize the heathen in their relation to God, whom they have forgotten (Psa_9:17), but to whom they will turn again, because Jehovah will vindicate His royal right to all nations (Gen_18:25; Psa_96:10; Psa_99:1; Zec_14:9), when the proclamation of the Divine deliverance by Him who suffered as no other one suffered, comes to them. “The conversion of the nations by that preaching will be thus the realization of the kingdom of God.” (Delitzsch). The promises to the patriarchs (Gen_12:3; Gen_28:14; comp. Psa_18:18; Psa_22:18; Psa_26:4) form the foundation of this view. Here likewise the prophetical moment in the type is very manifest, and even in its expressions the discourse assumes the character of prophecy. The connection with the previous clause is so exceedingly loose that v. Hofmann denies the connection of thought that has been given, and finds merely the reference to this thought, what He is, a God who has heard the prayer, namely, the Ruler of the world to whom the worship of all nations is due. But Hupfeld, besides, leaves room for doubt, whether this conclusion belonged originally to this Psalm, because such an effect of the deliverance of the poet, and its proclamation upon the minds of the heathen, would have been too much to expect, and too fantastic. The ancient interpreters have, on this account, referred all to Christ, only they do not do justice to the intermediate members of the thought. Some interpreters (Hengstenberg, Reinke), have sought to restore the close connection of the clauses, which is missing, by translating “consider” = take to heart, instead of “remember” or “think of.” This is just as unsatisfactory as unnecessary, like the proposal to take the verbs as jussive (Böhl) as directly connected with the preceding wish. Psa_22:19 even is sufficient to show the connection.
Psa_22:29. They ate, and all the fat ones of the earth shall prostrate themselves, and before his face all those shall bend the knee who have fallen in the dust, and whosoever cannot keep his soul alive.—The preterite in close connection with the following imperfects (futures) states the participation in the meal as presupposed and as the foundation of their worship and homage of God and the preservation of their own lives, but puts the whole in the time of the reception of the heathen into the communion of the people of God, which is surely to be expected.—In this relation the external position in life and characteristics make no difference. It is for those who in the fat of the earth abound in worldly prosperity and for those who have fallen down in the dust. It is an unfounded assertion, that the last expression must mean the dust of the grave and that therefore either a contrast is expressed of the living and dead, over whom the rule of God extends, in like manner as in Php_2:10 (Muscul., Stier, v. Hofmann, Hupf.), or only a designation of the human race in general as mortals (Flamin., Cleric.). For if it is generally granted that the expression, “sitting or dwelling in the dust,” is a symbol of filth and thence of lowliness, sorrow, affliction, it cannot be doubted that those who have descended from the height of prosperity into such lowliness may be contrasted as those who have fallen in the dust, namely of the earth, with those who are above in the fat of the earth, especially as constantly elsewhere it is made perceptible, as in Psa_22:15, that the reference is to the dust of death or of going down into the pit, death, Sheol (Psa_28:1; Psa_30:3; Psa_88:4; Job_8:9; Job_33:24). Only we must not take the contrast too narrowly, as is usually done, as that of the rich and poor, or of the strong in life and the frail, with which at times the entirely misleading reference is mixed, that the latter by affliction and destitution have been almost bowed down to the grave (Rosenm., De Wette). In the third clause of the verse, moreover, the reference is not to the danger of perishing from hunger, but the definite thought steps forth from the veil of the figure, that it has to do with the preservation of life for every one in the most comprehensive sense. With this interpretation the clause is not a repetition of the previous clause with a change in the turn of expression (most interpreters). No more is it necessary, in order to get an independent thought, to change the divisions of the verse and attach this clause to the following verse as antecedent (Hupf.) in the sense: If one has not remained alive himself, his seed will, etc. But this would give at least a clear idea and could find a support in the text. On the other hand the interpretation which follows is untenable according to its sense and does not correspond with the words. Thus, it is said, there is only one class of persons spoken of in the entire passage, men of distinction as the representatives of the entire people and the thought is expressed, If these have eaten and worshipped and bowed themselves before God, because they were about to die, their seed will, etc., Sept., Syr., Theodotion, Symmach., translate after another punctuation: and my soul lives for him.
Psa_22:30. The seed will serve Him: It will be told of the Lord to the (coming) generation.—Others (finally Delitzsch) translate: A seed, which will serve Him, will be counted to the Lord for a generation [similarly A. V. A seed shall serve Him: it shall be accounted, etc.] But not to mention the destruction of the parallelism the subject of which is further carried out in the next verse, it is likewise doubtful whether this Hebrew word can have the meaning of “count” in the Piel. Besides Psa_22:22 is in favor of our interpretation. The ל before adonai is then as frequently=in reference to. The Sept., has: “my seed,” and in the second member to which it attaches the first word of the following verse: The coming generation will be announced to the Lord.
Psa_22:31. His righteousness.—The righteousness of God which is to be declared from generation to generation is not His virtue in general, still less His goodness (Rosenm.), but likewise not merely the righteousness shown in the deliverance of the pious (De Wette, Hengst.), but with reference to His entire conduct and government, in His keeping afar off from the pious for awhile, especially in His participation in their peril of death (Psa_22:15), which was hard to be understood of His righteousness. The reference is not at all to the righteousness purchased by the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ and acceptable before God.—That He has accomplished it.—The closing word is not absolute (=that He has acted, that is, shown Himself glorious, done well), but pregnant looking back upon the entirety of that which has now been carried out and accomplished according to the decree, as at the close of the narrative of the creation, Gen_2:3. It is scarcely to be doubted, that the last cry of the dying Jesus on the cross, looks back to this passage. The reference back to the righteousness mentioned in the preceding member of the verse is too narrow (Hitzig, “that He has exercised it”), or the explanation: the miracles which He has done (Chald.). It is inadmissible to regard the כּי as a relative with reference to the people considered as the object which He has made (Sept., Vulg., Syr., Jerome). These with the exception of Jerome have added as the closing word: the Lord. So likewise Aquil. and Theodotion. The Vulgate has cœli between annuntiabunt and justitiam which may have wandered from Psalms 1. (Vulgate 49) to this place. “The righteousness of God has come out as an external act of His Omnipotence=Goodness in the work of redemption; and this doctrine is not a philosophical wisdom of the schools, but a transmitted declaration, that the Lord has accomplished an act.” (Umbreit).
[Perowne: “Unnatural as I cannot help thinking, that interpretation is, which assumes that the Psalmist himself never felt the sorrows which he describes, nor the thankfulness which he utters, but only puts himself into the place of the Messiah who was to come,—I hold that to be a far worse error which sees here no foreshadowing of Christ at all. Indeed, the coincidence between the sufferings of the Psalmist and the sufferings of Christ is so remarkable, that it is very surprising that any one should deny or question the relation between the type and antitype.”18—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The pious sometimes experience calamities of such a fearful character, that the impression may arise, that the sufferer has been given up by God and left to his enemies. Then more painful than the oppression of suffering and more terrible than the peril of death, is the painful feeling of the contradiction on the one side between the sufferer’s worth and his lot, particularly his devotion to God, and his being forsaken by God, on the other side between the holy nature of God and His actions. On this account it seems more mysterious and perplexing, the more persevering and fervent the prayer proves to be, though unheard, and the less the present actions of God agree with His usual dealings with His people, which they have experienced and praised at all times. “For although He is the same God, yet He has heard and delivered the fathers who have hoped and cried to Him; but He turns away from and forsakes this one who likewise hopes and cries. It is truly a hard thing which greatly provokes one to despair and cursing, that God treats one differently from another without his being guilty; for he who is perplexed with such a trouble as this, feels such unutterable misery in his conscience.” (Luther).
2. Yet in the truly pious, the anxious question of solicitude for the solution of this inconsistency, and the lament over the incongruity which has become perceptible, may struggle forth from the sighing of the oppressed heart, and take the form of a description of the greatness of its sufferings, but the lamentation does not become a complaint and the trouble does not end in despair, but faith in the holy government of God presses forth through all the anxiety and grief and protects the sufferer, who has been cast down and almost crushed, from sinking in the abyss of despair and ruin; whilst it drives him to cling to Jehovah as his God and Helper, and thereby carries him over the chasm, which seems to open externally between him and his God, and internally threatens to become a difference of experience not to be denied. “Thou art the Holy One, etc., is a corrosive power which must more and more entirely consume the Thou hast forsaken me.” (Hengst.)
3. Yet before, the Divine deliverance, which cannot fail and yet seems to fail, really comes, the suffering increases even to the peril of death and the trouble grows under the trials of faith and patience. These trials become the most dangerous and take the form of temptations when the righteous man, who has often prayed for his people and constantly labored for their good, is not illtreated by foreign enemies, but is cast forth as an outcast by his own people, and when there is added to shame and scorn the heart-rending mockery of the martyr’s trust in God. This trust he has shown from his youth and has experienced in its blessings from childhood, though now it is most sorely attacked whether as a foolish delusion or an idle pretence, whilst at the same time his cherished conviction has always been that he as righteous, is chosen of Jehovah, an object of His good pleasure and of the especial care of God.
4. The remembrance of the peace and carelessness, and security of earliest youth and reflection upon the power and goodness of God wonderfully exhibited in the birth and care of man, even as a suckling, are especially touching comforting and cheering amid the afflictions, cares and struggles of an advanced life. “This miracle has become common by its frequency, but if unthankfulness did not close our eyes with blindness, every birth world fill us with astonishment, and so likewise every preservation of a child in his tender youth, who at his very first entrance into the world is awaited with a hundredfold death” (Calvin). “Experience” likewise teaches us “that we think of this tender, joyous, lovely work of God, and under the hard bites of the Divine wrath and the rod of God, have a refuge and refresh ourselves with the sweet and delightful milk of the womb, of the motherly heart and all those most tender mercies which have been shown to the age of childhood. In order that, as it is commanded us to remember the good days when it fares badly with us, so likewise we may not forget the great grace and benefits of God which He has shown to us from our youth, when we are anxious and in need, and that when we suffer as men, we may likewise think of what we have received of God as children” (Luther).
5. When the hand of God is found to be the power working in the very depths of the sufferings which we have had to bear and which have finally laid us in the dust of death, the bitterness of the experience of suffering is thereby intensified on the one side, yet the believing hope in a final hearing and deliverance is essentially strengthened on the other. Yet it is very hard to hold fast to both at the same time and in their true relation in the soul, especially when a proper and strong feeling of innocence is roused, and yet the prospect of deliverance has as well as disappeared; and when the soul still holds fast to God, and cries out to him in the distance, yet the troubled look perceives only the nearness of its enemies, but does not see God drawing near to help. “As often as this darkness takes possession of the souls of believers some unbelief is always intermingled, which does not let it arise at once into the light of the new life. But in Christ in a wonderful manner both of these were united, the terror of God’s curse and the patience of faith, thus calming all emotions so that they rested under the sovereignty of God” (Calvin).
6. As the prayer precedes the deliverance, so it is followed by thanksgiving; and the vow of thanksgiving is already connected with the prayer in the certainty of the hearing of the prayer. Instead of the anxious cry, which in contrast with the praises of Israel, previously sounded from the mouth of the innocent and horribly tortured victim, the song of praise of the delivered, is in future to resound in the assembly of his brothers, and the whole congregation is to hear, to their own edification, the declaration of the great and wonderful things that God has done to this one who was so afflicted and utterly lost. “God makes it exceeding agreeable so that all the godly must love and praise Him, that His eyes alone see and are turned upon the troubled and poor, and the more despised and forsaken a man is, the nearer and more gracious God is to him” (Luther).
7. The congregation is not merely to hear in devout and loving sympathy, what God has done to one of its members and to learn the word of the glad tidings of his deliverance by joining in his thanksgiving and praise. Its members externally and internally afflicted, like the delivered sufferer, who has previously called them “his brethren” (Heb_2:11 sq.), are to have their hearts refreshed by the festival which has been prepared by him and at which they are to be his guests, which according to his wish is to endure forever. The sufferings of a servant of God like this, as well as his deliverance, transcend in their blessed effects his own person, and the circle of his immediate relatives; both have an importance and agency in the history of redemption, at first for Israel and then likewise for the heathen, since it has to do not merely with carnal relationship, but with spiritual resemblance and relation with the spread of the kingdom of God in the world, with the preservation and increase of the congregation of the Lord from all nations.
8. The heathen are, it is true, people who have forgotten God, but they have not been forgotten by God. Non igitur sic erant oblilæ istæ gentes Deum, ut ejus nec commemoratæ recordarentur (Augustine, de trin. 14, 13). With their need of redemption is associated their capability of redemption, but the word of the completed redemption and the invitation to participate in its blessings comes to both according to the purpose of God and in His time (1Ti_2:4-6). And this invitation, which is unlimited by the external relations of men and is to be published to all, will be successful. Those who share in the festival meal offered to them, will recognize the royal right of God to all nations, and will personally, as men converted to Him, fulfil the homage and worship which is due to Him.
9. All this, however, will not be limited to a single generation, but will fulfil itself from generation to generation. There will always be a seed to serve the Lord, and transmit to children and children’s children, even to the invisible distance, the declaration of the fact that the Lord has accomplished it and what He has accomplished. Thus there is opened for the sufferer on the border of the grave not only a prospect of personal deliverance, but likewise a view of the connection of his sufferings, and their effect and end, with the everlasting refreshment of his fellow believers, and with the conversion of the heathen; and this is finally enlarged to the contemplation and the expression of the assurance that these gracious and saving effects will extend over the entire world and exhibit themselves powerfully through all time. The particularism of the Old Testament is thus done away with within itself, and the prophetical element breaks forth from the historical form of David as undeniably typical. Compare Exegetical and Critical.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The greatest trouble in all sufferings is trouble of soul; nothing helps against this but prayer and trust in God.—Even the true children of God may be pained by the feeling that they are forsaken of God, when answer to prayer has long been delayed, especially in peril of death, yet this feeling is only transient.—Whoever does not give up God, even when his trouble of body and pain of soul has advanced to the highest point, soon has the experience that God has not forsaken him.—God may, it is true, delay His help, yet it does not fail, but it always comes at the right time.—When the help ardently implored tarries even the soul of the righteous has a feeling that God is afar off, yet he is not internally estranged from God, but seeks Him still more ardently.—In times of trouble perseverance in faith is very much strengthened: 1) by looking at the holiness of God; 2) by remembering the Divine care always exercised, partly over the fathers, partly over his own person; 3) by the prospect of the Divine blessings which go forth from these sufferings for others likewise.—He who before his deliverance not only cries but prays will after his deliverance not only be glad but thankful.—What hast thou promised and vowed to God in trouble? and how hast thou kept it?—The sufferings of the righteous are according to the Divine purpose not only to be of advantage to the present congregation but likewise to the heathen throughout the entire world.—God will spread abroad His kingdom through the whole world, and vindicate His royal prerogative over all nations. Who is His righteous servant, by whom He accomplishes such things?—However great the apostasy from God may be in the world, yet a righteous seed remains to Him, preserved through all generations, to do homage to Him and serve Him.—The promise of redemption, which has been purchased by the sufferings and triumph of the righteous servant of God, is likewise for the heathen, who not only need it, but are capable of receiving it.—The declaration of what the Lord has accomplished, is the very best thanks for His benefits and the most efficient means to bring about the recognition of His glory and the extension of His name and His kingdom.
Starke: The greatest pain to the troubled soul is not to be sure of the hearing of his prayers.—The ungodly even are often obliged against their will to give the best advice in trouble; for in trouble what is better than to have a Lord to whom we can lament, and who can deliver us.—No shame can more dispirit the soul of a believer than to have his piety mocked, and God’s gracious looking upon him denied.—God is our God from our mother’s womb. O! that He would remain our God even till our last breath.—When we pray for deliverance from trouble we must bring before God a heart which despairs entirely of our own and of all other human help.—Be not afraid of the dust of death; Jesus has prepared it as a couch for you.—As often as you put on or take off your clothes, remember the fall of man and likewise the nakedness of Christ; they will bring you to a knowledge of sin, and keep you from all extravagance in dress.—That is a strength of faith, in the midst of the weakness of death to call the Lord his strength, expect, surely hope, and obtain strength from Him.—The chief reason for praising God in time and eternity is for believers, that the Lord has provided redemption through Jesus, has carried it out, accepted it, and caused it to obtain their salvation.—That which Jesus gained by His bitter sufferings, He gives to His believers to enjoy.—Those who seek God find Him in Christ, the Redeemer of the world, in such a consoling manner, that they can praise Him during their life and rejoice in Him forever.—The limits of the Church and the kingdom of Jesus have no end, but are to extend as far as the world; let us diligently pray, Thy kingdom come.—Great riches and honor do not help to salvation; there must be other riches, other food to satisfy the soul, and all the rich who would be saved must first become poor in spirit.—The poor and despised members of the kingdom of Christ are not always to live in trouble; the time is coming when their afflictions will be exchanged for enduring happiness.—Although the world is full of evil, yet there is a holy seed in it, which serves God.—The chief subject of evangelical doctrine is the making known of the righteousness purchased for us, and appropriated by us; how then can true Christians do otherwise than seek to extend further and further the knowledge of this important truth which they have learned.
Calvin: Whilst violence of pain and weakness of flesh will extort the cry: Why hast Thou forsaken me? faith adds thereto, his God, in order that he may not succumb, thus at the same time improving the invocation of God, who is said to have forsaken him; yes, faith hastens before, so that he already takes refuge in his God before he allows himself to utter the lamentation.—Satan can aim no more deadly shot against our souls, than when he robs us of hope by converting God’s promises into mockery.—Osiander: If we are not always delivered in the way in which we desire it, yet we ought to know with certainty that we are no less truly heard, and a mighty help will soon ensue.—However ungodly and unthankful the world may be, yet we ought not to despair of the Church of God; for God always reserves some who accept the doctrine and do not lack diligence in transmitting it to their posterity.—Renschel: The trouble and dear death of the Lord, are the ground of the salvation which is prepared for the pious.—Selnekker: When trouble comes upon us which seems to be something, the devil strives to induce us not to pray and whispers dangerous and ungodly thoughts. These words alone stand against him: He has not despised, etc. [Psa_22:24].—Menzel: Christ reminds us by the name of brethren: 1) of His love and faithfulness towards us all; 2) of the glory in which He sets us and to which He brings us; 3) of our duty towards Him.—Herberger: Sin must be a very great burden, because it could be atoned for in no other way than by the severe sufferings of Christ.—Whoever hears of the sufferings of Christ should repent.—Baihinger: That is the end of God’s way, that He conducts all the nights of sorrow to a blessed end, and that He is praised on account of His benefits.—The pious sufferer vows to celebrate his deliverance by proclaiming the name of Jehovah.—Tholuck: These are the trials of faith, with which the wicked enemy intensifies the other trials of the body and the soul, when a pious man is given up to the furnace of suffering.—A soul that loves God more than self, would rather take upon itself the floods of shame, than have merely a drop of it fall on the name of his God.—If men are friendly only to that which is high, God is most gracious to that which is low.—Prayer is the weapon with which the bars of the gates of heaven are burst open.—Stiller: The Gospel is the heavenly food, which brings comfort and refreshment; the guests at this heavenly meal are all nations upon the whole earth.—Taube: The first born among many brethren is the Holy One of Israel and its King; that begets in His people trust without presumption. The Holy One of Israel is our brother; that begets humility without despair.—Diedrich: To the same extent as my soul has a share in Christ will it have the experience of this way through the cross to the crown.—The righteous man here in this world is cruelly teanted about like a poor hind; but in God’s eye he is yet so lovely that He finally sends the dawn of deliverance.
[Matt. Henry: Spiritual desertions are the saint’s sorest afflictions.—When we are lamenting God’s withdrawings yet still we must call Him our God, and continue to call upon Him as ours.—When we want the faith of assurance, we must live by the faith of adherence.—The entail of the covenant is designed for the support of the seed of the faithful; He that was our fathers’ God must be ours, and therefore will be ours.—He was Adam., “a mean man,” and Enosh, “a man of sorrow;” but lo Ish, “not a considerable man;” for He took upon Him the form of a servant, and His visage was marred more than any man’s.—The blessings of the breasts, as they crown the blessings of the womb, so they are earnests of the blessings of our whole lives.—When we cannot rejoice in God as our song, yet let us stay ourselves upon Him as our strength, and take the comfort of spiritual supports when we cannot come at spiritual delights.—Seeing we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our wisdom by an obedient faith to commit our souls to Jesus Christ, who is able to save them, and keep them alive forever.—Barnes (Psa_22:8): It is one of the most remarkable instances of blindness and infatuation that has ever occurred in the world, that the Jews should have used this language in taunting the dying Redeemer, without even suspecting that they were fulfilling the prophecies, and demonstrating, at the very time when they were reviling Him, that He was the true Messiah.—Spurgeon: For plaintive expressions uprising from unutterable depths of woe we may say of this Psalm, “there is none like it.” It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of His dying words, the lachrymatory of His last tears, the memorial o His expiring joys. David and his afflictions may be here in a very modified sense, but, as the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he who sees Jesus will probably neither see nor care to see David.—No daylight is too glaring, and no midnight too dark, to pray in; and no delay or apparent denial, however grievous, should tempt us to forbear from importunate pleading.—If prayers be unanswered, it is not because God is unfaithful, but for some other good and weighty reason. We may not question the holiness of God, but we may argue from it, and use it as a plea in our petitions.—Let us wonder when we see Jesus using the same pleas as ourselves, and immersed in griefs far deeper than our own.—Strange mixture! Jehovah delights in Him, and yet bruises Him; is well pleased, and yet slays Him.—Behold the humiliation of the Son of God! The Lord of glory stoops to the dust of death. Amid the mouldering relics of mortality Jesus condescends to lodge!—Never was a man so afflicted as our Saviour in body and soul, from friends and foes, by heaven and hell, in life and death; He was the foremost in the ranks of the afflicted, but all these afflictions were sent in love, and not because His Father despised and abhorred Him. ’Tis true that justice demanded that Christ should bear the burden which as a substitute He undertook to carry, but Jehovah always loved Him, and in love laid that load upon Him with a view to His ultimate glory and to the accomplishment of the dearest wish of His heart. Under all His woes our Lord was honorable in the Father’s sight, the matchless jewel of Jehovah’s heart.—There is relief and comfort in bowing before God when our case is at its worst; even amid the dust of death prayer kindles the lamp of hope.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[8][Delitzsch: “The call of prayer אל־תרחק (Psa_22:11; Psa_22:19; Psa_35:22; Psa_38:21, used Psa_71:12), the name of the soul יחידה (Psa_22:20; Psa_35:17), the designation of quiet and resignation by דומיה (Psa_22:2; Psa_39:2; Psa_72:1; comp. Psa_65:1) are to us, who do not limit the genuine Davidic Psalms with Hitzig to Psalms 3-19 as Davidic peculiarities. In other respects, likewise, there are not lacking similarities with other ancient Davidic Psalms (comp. Psa_22:29 with Psa_28:1, going down to the dust, to the pit, then in later Psalms, as Psa_143:7, in Isaiah and Ezek.) especially those of the time of Saul, as Psalms 69 (comp. Psa_22:26 with Psa_69:32) and Psalms 59 (comp. Psa_22:16 with Psa_59:14”).—C. A. B.]
[9][Perowne: “The older Jewish interpreters felt the difficulty, and thought that the sorrows of Israel in exile were the subject of the singer’s complaint.—Without adopting this view to the full extent, it is so far worthy of consideration that it points to what is probably the correct view, viz., that the Psalm was composed by one of the exiles during the Babylonish captiviy. And though the feelings and expressions are clearly individual, not national, yet they are the feelings and expressions of one who suffers not merely as an individual, but so to speak in a representative character.”—C. A. B.]
[10][Alexander follows Hengstenberg thus: “The subject of this Psalm is the deliverance of a righteous sufferer from his enemies, and the effect of this deliverance on others. It is so framed as to be applied without violence to any case belonging to the class described, yet so that it was fully verified only in Christ, the Head and representative of the class in question. The immediate speaker in the Psalm is an ideal person, the righteous servant of Jehovah, but his words may, to a certain extent, be appropriated by any suffering believer, and by the whole suffering church, as they have been in all ages.”—C. A. B.]
[11][Wordsworth: “The Hind represents innocence persecuted by those who are compared in the Psalm to huntsmen, with their dogs chasing it to death, see Psa_22:16. And the Hind is called the Hind of the morning. Such was Christ at His Passion. He was hunted as a hind; He was the ‘Dayspring from on high;’ He was lovely and pure as the morning; and early in the morning, ‘while it was yet dark,’ His savage hunters thirsted for His death (Mat_26:57; Mat_27:1). Christ, the innocent and spotless Hind, is contrasted in the Psalm with the bulls of Bashan, and the ravening and roaring lion (Psa_22:12-13).”—“The concurrent opinion of all ancient expositors may be summed up in the words of St. Augustine here: ‘Dicuntur hæc in persond Crucifixi; or, as Theodoret expresses it, ‘our Lord Christ speaks in this Psalm as Man, suffering Man, in the name of all human nature;’ and the Church has declared her judgment in this sense, by appointing this Psalm to be used on Good Friday.”—C. A. B.]
[12][Wordsworth thus sums up the Messianic references of the Psalm. “Our Lord adopted the first words of this Psalm, when He was on the cross: ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ (Mat_27:46; Mar_15:34); and St. Jerome justly says, ‘Ex hoc animadvertimus, totum Psalmum a Domino in cruse posito decantari.’ And the Holy Spirit, speaking by two Apostles and Evangelists, St. Matthew (Mat_27:35), and St John (Joh_19:23), applies it to Christ. St. Matthew says, they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, (i.e. in this Psalm Psa_22:18), or, as St. John has it, ‘that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast lots.’ And St. John says. (Joh_19:28), ‘Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled’ (i.e. the Scripture in Psa_22:15), ‘saith I thirst.’ The language of those who persecuted Christ to death, is accurately described in the Psalm. ‘All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, He trusted in the Lord; let Him deliver Him (Psa_22:7-8). Compare the narrative of the Evangelists. ‘They that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads’ (Mat_27:39). It is remarkable that the very words here used in the Septuagint, ἐξεμυκτήρισαν, and ἐκἰνησαν κεφαλήν, are adopted in the Gospels (Mat_27:39; Mar_15:29; Luk_23:35.). ‘They mocked Him, and said, He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him’ (Mat_27:41; Mat_27:43). And the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes Psa_22:22 of this Psalm, and regards it as spoken by Christ: ‘He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee’ (Heb_2:12).”—C. A. B.]
[13][Delitzsch: “When the passion reached its highest point it had already been, preceded by days and nights of such wrestling, and what now was loud, was only the breaking forth of that struggle of prayer which in the second David constantly became more and more violent as he approached the catastrophe.”—C. A. B.]
[14][Delitzsch: “According to Biblical ideas there is in the newly-born child, yes in the unborn child, alive only in the mother’s womb, already a consciousness growing up out of the uttermost depths of unconsciousness (Bib. Psychol. p. 215). Thus when he says in prayer, that he was thrown upon Jehovah from the lap, that is, with all his needs and cares solely and alone referred to Him (Psa_55:22; comp. Psa_71:6) that from the womb Jehovah was his God, there is more contained in this than the pure objective sense, that he grew up in such relation to God. Never in the Old Testament is there any mention of a human father, that is, a genitor of the Messiah, but always only of His mother or she that brings Him forth. The words of the one praying here likewise say, that the beginning of his life, with respect to external circumstances was in poverty, which likewise agrees with the Old Testament and New Testament ideal of Christ,” Barnes agrees with Delitzsch, and is probably correct, thus: “The idea is, that from his earliest years he had been led to trust in God; and he now pleads this fact as a reason why He should interpose to save him. Applied to the Redeemer as a man, it means that in His earliest childhood He had trusted in God; His first breathings were those of piety; His first aspirations were for the Divine favor; His first love was the love of God:” and again, “He had been as it were, thrown early in life upon the protecting care of God. In some peculiar sense He had been more unprotected and defenceless than is common at that period of life, and He owed His preservation then entirely to God. This, too, may have passed through the mind of the Redeemer on the cross. In these sad and desolate moments He may have recalled the scenes of His early life—the events which had occurred to Him in His early years; the poverty of His mother, the manger, the persecution by Herod, the flight into Egypt, the return, the safety which He then enjoyed from persecution in a distant part of the land of Palestine, in the obscure and unknown village of Nazareth.”—C. A. B.]
[15][Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. Psalms 79 : “Every Oriental city and village abounds with troops of hungry and half-savage dogs, which own allegiance rather to the place than to persons, and which wander about the streets and fields, howling dismally at night, and devouring even the dead bodies of men when they can reach them. Their habit is most exactly described by the Psalmist. ‘At evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied’ (Psa_59:14-15). ‘In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood’ (1Ki_21:19). ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat’ (Psa_22:23-24.). Thus cruel, fierce and filthy persons are frequently compared to dogs (Psa_22:10; Php_3:2; Rev_22:15.—The common dog of the towns is the same breed as that of the shepherd, often in India called the Pariah dog, and probably the nearest in appearance to the wild original, not unlike the jackal, with short, sharp-pointed ears, sharp snout, generally a tawny coat and tail, scarcely bushy.”—C. A. B.]
[16][A. V., not so true to the original, has rendered מְחֹלָל, “wounded.”—C. A. B.]
[17][Perowne adopts the former rendering: “My only one. The life is so called either because man has but one life, or because it is the most precious of all things. Comp. Homer’s φιλον κὴρ and Plato’s τιμιοτάτη (ψυχή).” So Wordsworth, though with many forced allusions: “It is a memorable fact, that the masculine yachid occurs three times in one chapter of the historical books of the Old Testament, and in no other part of them; and that chapter is Genesis 22, which relates the sacrifice of Isaac, the only begotten son, whom his father loved, the type of Christ crucified. See Gen_22:2; Gen_22:12; Gen_22:16. It is also a remarkable circumstance that the feminine word yachidah, which is the word used here, occurs only once in the historical books of the Old Testamet; and that passage is the history of the sacrifice of Jephthab’s daughter (Jdg_11:34), on which it has been already observed that she was in several most interesting and beautiful respects a type of the pure human soul of Christ, offering itself a willing sacrifice on the cross. In the Psalms this word is used in another place which foretells the Passion of Christ, Psa_35:17. My darling is explained by the parallelism in both these places as meaning my soul, which is mine as being that which I possess, and which I willingly lay down, as Christ says: ‘No man taketh my life (or soul, ψυχήν) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again’ (Joh_10:17-18). And that soul might well be called yechidah; that is, an only child, and a daughter, on account of its dearness to God (vid. Joh_1:14; Joh_1:18; Joh_3:16; Joh_3:18; 1Jn_4:9). The feminine gender bespeaks intensity of tender feeling and dearness.”—C. A. B.]
[18][Barnes: “The scene in the Psalm is the cross, the Redeemer suffering for the sins of men. The main features of the Psalm relate to the course of thoughts which there passed through the mind of the Redeemer; His sorrow at the idea of being abandoned by God; His confidence in God; the remembrance of His early hopes; His emotions at the taunts and revilings of His enemies; His consciousness of prostrated strength; His feelings as the soldiers pierced His hands and His feet, and as they proceeded to divide His raiment; His prayer that His enemies might not be suffered to accomplish their design, or to defeat the work of redemption; His purpose to make God known to men; His assurance that the effect of His sufferings would be to bring the dwellers in the earth to serve God, and to make His name and His righteousness known to far distant times. I regard the whole Psalm, therefore, as applicable to the Messiah alone: and believing it to be inspired I cannot but feel that we have here a most interesting and affecting account, given long before it occurred, of what actually passed through the mind of the Redeemer when on the cross.”—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 The long distress is evinced by--
The long distress is evinced by--
am not silent--literally, "not silence to me," either meaning, I continually cry; or, corresponding with "thou hearest not," or answerest not, it may mean, there is no rest or quiet to me.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken…
1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me—The quotation of these words by Matthew (Mat_27:46) and Mark (Mar_15:34) decides their application to Christ. The words mark the deepest soul suffering of Christ upon the cross, as “I thirst” expressed the point of his bodily agony. The “why” is not the cry of despair, impatience, or a rebellious heart, but of mystery. Into that mystery, as it applies to Christ, we may not curiously inquire. It was not, however, that the “Only Begotten of the Father” was enduring the wrath of God. He was still the “beloved Son, in whom the Father was well pleased,” and still he confidingly calls him “my God.” Yet he trod “the wine press alone,” (Isa_63:3,) and suffered “the just for the unjust.”
Forsaken—The word simply has the negative signification of to leave, to withdraw from, as Psa_71:11; Isa_54:7, but describes the point of the Saviour’s mysterious complaint, and the depth of his vicarious sufferings. In Mat_27:46 the Saviour uses the Aramaic form, σαβαχθανι, (sabachthani,) given in the Chaldee, שׁבקתני, (shebahktanee,) conformably to the dialect of the Palestine Jews, instead of the Hebrew עזבתני, (‘azabhtanee.)
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Far from helping me—Hebrew, Far from my salvation. By the law of parallelism this is exegetical of forsaken, in the previous line.
Roaring—Better, outcry, or loud complaint.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 1. The expostulation of astonishment and perplexity, not a…
1. The expostulation of astonishment and perplexity, not a demand for explanation. Faith and despair are wrestling in the Psalmist’s mind. Faith can still claim God as ‘my God,’ and does not cease its prayers; despair thinks itself forsaken. So Zion in her exile said, “Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me” (Isa_49:14). Cp. Psa_13:1, Psa_88:14. God is El, and so in Psa_22:10. Cp. Psa_63:1, and note on Psa_5:4.
Christ upon the Cross used the Aramaic version of these words, for Aramaic was His mother tongue. Eli (Mat_27:46) is the Hebrew word, retained in the present text of the Targum: Eloi (Mar_15:34) the Aramaic. The best MSS. have Eloi in Matt. also.
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Why art thou so far &c.] The alternative rendering in R.V. marg., far from my help are the words of my roaring, follows the construction adopted by the LXX, Vulg., and Jer. But it is harsh, even if my help (or my salvation) is taken to mean God Himself (Psa_35:3); and the rendering in the text appears to give the sense correctly. Cp. Psa_10:1; and Psa_22:11; Psa_22:19.
my roaring] The groaning of the sufferer in his distress is compared to the lion’s roar. Cp. Psa_32:3; Psa_38:8.
1–10. The pleading cry of the forsaken and persecuted servant of God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 (1) My God, my God.—Heb., Eli, Eli, lama azavtanî,…
(1) My God, my God.—Heb., Eli, Eli, lama azavtanî, where the Targum paraphrases sabbacthani, the form used by our Saviour on the cross. (See Notes, N. T. Comm., Mat_27:46; Mar_15:34.) The LXX. and Vulgate insert “look upon me.” (Comp. English Prayer Book version.) For the despairing tone comp. Psa_80:14. It suits the whole of pious Israel in her times of trouble even better than any individual.
The second part of the verse is obscure from its lyric conciseness, but the Authorised Version has given the meaning, though sacrificing the rhythm—
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“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,
Far from my aid, from the words of my groaning?”
i.e., far from listening to the words that escape me only in groans.
Roaring.—A word used generally of a lion (Isa_5:29; comp. Jdg_14:5); but also of a man (Psa_38:9). Hitzig’s conjecture, “from my cry,” instead of “from my help,” is very plausible, since it makes the parallelism complete and involves a very slight change. The LXX. and Vulg. have “the words of my offences.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–12 THERE is no psalm which has raised so much…
THERE is no psalm which has raised so much controversy as this. Admitted to be Messianic by the early Hebrew commentators, it is by some understood wholly of David; by others, applied to the Israelite people, or to the pious part of it; by others again, regarded as an ideal representation of the sufferings of the righteous man, and the effects of them; and by one or two eccentric critics, explained as referring to Hezekiah or Jeremiah. Against the view that David means to describe in the psalm his own dangers, sufferings, and deliverance, it is reasonably urged that David was at no time in the circumstances here described he was never without a helper (ver. 11); never "despised of the people" (ver. 6); never stripped of his clothes (ver. 17); never in the state of exhaustion, weakness, and emaciation that are spoken of (vers. 14-17); never pierced either in his hands or feet (ver. 16); never made a gazing-stock (ver. 17); never insulted by having his garments parted among his persecutors, or lots east upon his vesture (ver. 18). The suppositions that the nation is meant, or the pious part of it, or an ideal righteous man, are negatived by the impossibility of applying to them the second portion of the psalm (vers. 22-31), and the consideration that abstractions of the kind suggested belong to the later and not the earlier phases of a nation"s poetry. The only explanation which remains is that traditional in the Christian Church, that David, full of the Holy Ghost, was moved to speak in the Person of Christ, and to describe, not his own sufferings and perils and deliverance, but those of his great Antitype, the Messiah, which were revealed to him in vision or otherwise, and which he was directed to put on record. The close correspondence between the psalm and the incidents of the Passion is striking, and is admitted on all hands, even by Hupfeld, and it is a correspondence brought about by the enemies of the teaching of Christ, the Jews and the Romans. References indicative of the prophetic and Messianic character of the psalm are frequent in the New Testament. Note especially the following: Mat_27:35, 46 Mar_15:34 Joh_19:24 Heb_2:12.
The psalm is composed, manifestly, of two portions the complaint and prayer of a sufferer (vers. 1-21), and a song of rejoicing after deliverance (vers. 22-31). According to some critics, the first of these two portions is also itself divided into two parts each consisting of two strophes (vers. 1-10 and vers. 12-21), which are linked together by a single ejaculatory verse (ver. 11). A further analysis divides each of the three strophes of ten verses into two strophes of five; but there is certainly no,such division in the second strophe of ten, since vers. 16 and 17 are most closely connected together.
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The composition of the psalm by David, though not universally admitted, has in its favour a large majority of the critics. The imagery is Davidical; the sudden transition at ver. 22 is Davidical; the whole psalm "abounds in expressions which occur frequently, or exclusively, in psalms generally admitted to have been composed by David" ("Speaker"s Commentary"). David"s authorship is moreover distinctly asserted in the title, and confirmed by the "enigmatic superscription," which is a Davidical fancy.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Not a cry of despair, but a cry of loving faith, My God, my God Why hast thou for a time withdrawn thyself?" It is remarkable that our Lord"s quotation of this passage does not follow exactly either the Hebrew or the Chaldee paraphrase the Hebrew having azab-thani for sabacthani, and the Chaldee paraphrase metul ma for lama. May we not conclude that it is the thought, and not its verbal expression by the sacred writers, that is inspired? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? It is very doubtful whether our translators have done right in supplying the words which they have added. The natural translation of the Hebrew would be, Far from my salvation are the words of my roaring. And this rendering yields a sufficiently good sense, viz. "Far from effecting my salvation (or deliverance) are the words of my roaring;" i.e. of my loud complaint. Our Lord"s "strong crying and tears" in the garden (Heb_5:7) did not produce his deliverance.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-31. From darkness to light; or, the song of the early dawn.
This is one of the most wonderful of all the psalms. It has gathered round it the study of expositors of most diverse types from those who see in it scarcely aught but a description beforehand of the Messiah"s suffering and glory, to those who see in it scarcely any Messianic reference at all, and who acknowledge only one sense in which even the term "Messianic" is to be tolerated, even in the fact that light gleams forth after the darkness. Both these extreme views should be avoided, and we venture to ask for the careful and candid attention of the reader, as we move along a specific path in the elucidation of this psalm. The title of the psalm is significant; literally, it reads, "To the chief musician or, "precentor upon Aijeleth Shahar or, "the hind of the morning," margin. A Psalm of David" We accent the heading, here and elsewhere "a Psalm of David," unless adequate reason to the contrary can be shown. But what can be the meaning of the expression," the hind of the morning"? A reference to Furst"s Lexicon will be found helpful. The phrase is a figurative one, and signifies, "the first light of the morning." In this psalm we see the light of early morn breaking forth after the deepest darkness of the blackest night. Hence the title given above to this homily. But then the question comes Whose is the darkness, and whose is the light? We reply Primarily, the writer"s, whoever he may have been, whether David or any other Old Testament saint. For the psalm is not written in the third person, as is the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. There is no room here for the question, "Of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" In Isaiah 53 the reference is to another; in this psalm the wail is declared to be the writer"s own. Yet we have to take note of the fact that in the New Testament there are some seven or eight references to this psalm in which its words and phrases are applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are other phrases in the psalm which were literally true of our Lord, but yet are not quoted in the New Testament. We do not wonder at Bishop Perowne"s remark. "Unnatural as I cannot help thinking that interpretation is which assumes that the psalmist himself never felt the sorrows which he describes... I hold that to be a far worse error which sees here no foreshadowing of Christ at all. Indeed, the coincidence between the sufferings of the psalmist and the sufferings of Christ is so remarkable, that it is very surprising that any one should deny or question the relation between the type and the antitype." To a like effect are the devout and thoughtful words of Orelli, "What the psalmist complains of in mere figurative, though highly coloured terms, befell the Son of God in veritable fact. Herein we see the objective connection, established of set purpose by God"s providence, which so framed even the phrasing of the pious prayer, that without knowledge of the suppliant it became prophecy, and again so controlled even what was outward and seemingly accidental in the history of Jesus, that the old prophetic oracles appear incorporated in it." There is no reason to think, on the one hand, that the writer was a mere machine, nor yet, on the other, that he fully knew the far-reaching significance of the words he used. And this leads us to a remark which we make once for all, that there are two senses in which psalms may be Messianic direct and indirect.
1. Direct. In these the reference is exclusively to the Messiah; every phrase is true of him, and of him alone, and cannot be so translated as not to apply to him, nor so that it can, as a whole, apply to any one else. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and also the second and hundred and tenth psalms are illustrations of this.
2. Indirect. In these the first meaning is historical, and applies to the writer himself; hut many phrases therein have a second and far-reaching intent; of these the fullest application is to him who was David"s Son and yet David"s Lord. The psalm before us is an illustration of this indirect Messianic structure; and this not only, perhaps not so much, because in the first writing of the words the Spirit of God pointed forward to Christ, as because our Lord himself, having taken a human nature, and shared human experiences, found himself the partaker of like sorrows with the Old Testament saints, plunged into like horrible darkness, which found expression in the very same words, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mr. Spurgeon, indeed, admits some possible application to David himself, but says that believers will scarcely care to think of his sufferings; they will rather fasten their gaze on those of their Lord. That is true, in a very touching sense. At the same time, we shall lose much of the comfort the psalm is adapted to afford, if we do not look very distinctly at the sufferings of David, in order to see, with equal distinctness, how completely our Lord shared his "brethren"s" sorrows, darkness, and groans, when he took up their burdens and made them his own. Let us therefore deal with this psalm in a twofold outline first, as it applies to the writer; and then as it is taken up by the Lord Jesus, and made his own (with such exceptions as that named in the first footnote below).
I ISRAEL"S KING PASSES THROUGH DEEPEST DARKNESS TO THE LIGHT. Here let us answer by anticipation a remark with which we have frequently met, to the effect that we cannot fasten on any incident in the career of David which would lead to such extreme anguish as that indicated here. Who that has any knowledge of the horrors to which sensitive souls are liable, could raise any difficulty over this? Far more depends on subjective condition than on outward incident. Why, the saints of God now do pass through times of indescribable anguish, of which no outward incident affords even a glimmer of explanation. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness." Let the outer occasion have been whatsoever it may, here at any rate is:
1. A saint in terrible darkness. In the midst of his woe, he remembers his transgressions, and it may have been, as is so often the case, that the writer attributes his anguish to his numberless transgressions (ver. 1, LXX). The details of his intensity of sorrow are manifold.
(1) Prayer rises from his heart day and night without relief (ver. 2).
(2) He is despised (vers. 6-8). His enemies laugh and mock.
(3) His foes, wild, fierce, ravenous, plot his ruin (vers. 12, 13).
(4) His strength is spent with sorrow (ver. 15).
(5) There are eager anticipations of his speedily being removed out of the way (ver. 18).
(6) And, worst of all, it seems as if God, his own God, whom he had trusted from childhood (vers. 9, 10), had now forsaken him, and given him up to his foes. How many suffering saints may find solace in this psalm, as they see how God"s people have suffered before them? Surely few could have a heavier weight of woe than the writer of this plaintive wail! The woe is freely told to God! There may be the stinging memory of bygone sin piercing the soul, still the psalmist cleaves to his God.
(1) The heart still craves for God; even in the dark; yea, the more because of the darkness.
(2) Hence the abandonment is not actual. However dense the gloom may be, when the soul can cry, "My God," we may be sure the cry is not unreciprocated.
(3) Such a cry will surely be heard. Past deliverances assure us of this. Yea, even ere the wail in the dark is over, the light begins to dawn. "One Sunday morning," said Mr. Spurgeon, in an address at Mildmay Hall, June 26, 1890, reported in the Christian of July 4, "I preached from the text, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" I could not tell why I should be made to preach it. I felt while preaching as if I were myself forsaken. On the sabbath evening, there came into the vestry a man of about sixty, whose eyes were bright with a strange lustre. He took my hand, and held it, and cried. He said to me, "Nobody ever preached my experience before. I have now been for years left, deserted, in a horrible gloom of great darkness; but this morning I learned that I was not the only man in the darkness, and I believe I shall get out!" I said, " Yes; I have got out; but now I know why I was put in." That man was brought back from the depths of despair, and restored to joy and peace. There was a child of God, dying in darkness. He said to the minister who spoke with him, "Oh, sir, though I have trusted Christ for years, I have lost him now. What can become of a man who dies feeling that God has deserted him?" The minister replied, " What did become of that Man who died saying," My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Is he not on the highest throne of glory even now? "The man"s mind changed in a moment, and he began to say, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit;" and he died in peace.
2. The light dawns at last. The "everlasting covenant" does not fail; it has been "ordered in all things," and remains sure and steadfast; and oftentimes, even while the saint is on his knees, he will scarce have ended his groaning "ere his sigh is turned to a song. (cf. Psa_27:12-14) Hence the last ten verses of the psalm are as joyous as the others are sad.
"The darkest hour is before the dawn," and the brightness of morning shall chase away the gloom of night. So it is here.
(1) The saint who takes his groans to God alone, shall yet sing his praises in the assemblies of the saints. Having told the rest to his God, he will "give others the sunshine.
(2) The rehearsal of this story shall be the joy of other hearts in day to come (vers. 25-27).
(3) The outcome of all will be that God will vindicate his own honour, and that the generation yet unborn will praise him and declare his righteousness.
II WORDS OF A SUFFERING SAINT ARE APPROPRIATED BY A SUFFERING SAVIOUR. The Lord Jesus Christ, in all things "made like unto his brethren," takes up words from this psalm into his own lips. If we were dealing only with the Messianic aspect of the psalm, we should open it up in the following order:
(1) The Saviour"s suffering.
(2) The Saviour"s inquiry: "Why?
(3) The Saviour"s joy.
Since, however, we are seeking to expound the psalm in both its aspects, we rather indicate four lines of thought, the pursuing of which will throw light on the wonder of the appropriation of the words of a suffering saint by a suffering Saviour; while some look at the fierce cry with which this psalm beans as intended to set forth the woes of the coming Messiah, that cry seems to us far more touching when we find that our dear Redeemer uses the words of an ancient sufferer as his own! Observe:
1. There is no depth of sorrow through which the saint can pass, but Jesus understands it all. How many causes of woe are enumerated here! But in all points Jesus felt the same. The writer endured
(1) the cutting remarks of many;
(2) weakness;
(3) reproach and scorn;
(4) the plotting of foes;
(5) the treachery of friends; and, worst of all,
(6) the sense of separation form God.
Every one of these forms of hardship and ill pressed sorely on Jesus; and though we may meditate continuously and with ever-deepening wonderon each of them, yet all the rest fade away into insignificance compared with the anguish that arose from the hiding of the Father"s face. Every trouble can be borne when the Father is seen to smile; but when his face is hidden in a total eclipse, what darkness can be so dreadful as that? There was, as it were, a hiding of the face from him.Let (Isa_53:3) those saints of God who have to pass through seasons of prolonged mental anguish remember that, however severe the conflict may be, the Saviour has passed through one still more terrible than theirs.
2. If even the saint asks why?" even so did the Saviour. The "why?" however, applies only to the opening words to the hiding of God"s face. There may be mystery therein, even when (as in the case of every saint) there are transgressions to be bemoaned. But our Saviour has an unfathomable woe, "yet without sin. " The "why?" then, imperatively requires an answer. In the tire, at the faggot, and at the stake, martyrs have sung for joy. Why is it that at the moment of direst need the sinless Sufferer should have felt aught so dreadful as abandonment by God? Not that the abandonment was real. The Father never loved the Son more than when he hung bleeding on the cross. But our Saviour endured the sense of it. Why was this? He did not deserve it. But he had laden himself with our burden. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." Nor do we know that we can put the pith and essence of the atonement in fewer words than these:
(1) sin separates from God;
(2) Jesus bore our sin; therefore
(3) Jesus endured the sense of separation.
We can understand that, coming as Man into the midst of a sinful race, all the suffering which a holy nature must endure in conflict with sinful men would be his. But the sense of desertion by God while doing his Father"s will can only be accounted for by the amazing fact that "he sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins.
3. In passing through his manifold experience of sorrow, the Saviour learned to suffer with the saint, and was being made perfect as the Captain of salvation. (Heb_2:10 Heb_5:2, Heb_5:7, Heb_5:8, Heb_5:9) Our Saviour was
(1) to lead many sons unto glory;
(2) to be One who could sympathize, soothe, and succour in every case of woe; (Heb_2:18)
(3) to be One who by his sympathetic power could inspire his hosts; and
(4) to teach them that, as they were destined to follow him in his heavenly glory, they must not be surprised if they have first to follow him in the pathway of woe. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord." Objection: "But how can the sympathy of Jesus with me be perfect? He was without sin, and I am not. So the parallel fails." Good people who urge this objection forget that it is the presence of sin in each of us which makes our sympathy with each other so imperfect. Because Jesus was without sin, he can draw the line exactly between defects that are due to infirmity and such as are traceable to sin. The second he forgives; the first be pities. Is not this the very perfection of sympathy?
III THE WORDS OF THE SAINT EMERGING FROM HIS GLOOM ARE APPROPRIATE TO THE SAVIOUR IN HIS EXALTATION AND TRIUMPH. With the Saviour, as with the psalmist, the darkest night was the prelude to the brightness of day. The brightness which marks the last ten verses of the psalm is a declaration that the kingdom of David shall be established for ever and ever, and that, though David may have to pass through fire and flood, his kingdom shall abide through age after age; and thus we find the phraseology of these verses applied to the after-career of David"s Son and David"s Lord in Heb_2:11, Heb_2:12. Whence five points invite attention. The Holy Ghost, indicting the psalmist"s words so that they forecast the issue of Messiah"s sufferings as well as his own, shows us our Saviour
(1) emerging from the conflict;
(2) joining with his people in songs of rejoicing;
(3) declaring the Father"s Name to his "brethren;
(4) gathering home the severed tribes of mankind;
(5) bringing in the victorious kingdom (vers. 21-31).
It is not, it is not for nought that the Messiah endured all his woe. (Isa_53:11 Heb_12:1, 2 Php_2:11) It behoved him to suffer, and then "to enter into his glory." And as with the Master, so with the servant. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." He hath said, "Where I am, there shall also my servant be." Following him in sharing his cross, we shall follow him in sharing his crown. C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-31. A struggle from the gloom of adversity to peace and joy.
It was said among the heathen that a just man struggling with adversity was a sight worthy of the gods. Such a sight we have here. We see a truly just man struggling from the gloomiest depths of adversity upwards to the serene heights of peace and joy in God. Three stages may be marked.
I THE WAIL OF DESERTION. (Vers. 1-10) Suffering is no "strange thing." It comes sooner or later to all. Always, and especially in its severer forms, it is a mystery. We cry, "Why?" "Why am I thus?" "Why all this from God to me?" God"s servants who have been most afflicted have most felt this mystery. So it was with Abraham, when" the horror of great darkness fell upon him". (Gen_15:12) So it was with Jacob, in that night of long and awful wrestling with the angel. (Gen_32:24) So it was with Moses and the prophets. (Isa_40:27) So it was with the psalmist here. His sufferings were intensified by the sense of desertion (vers. 1, 2). He cried to God, but there was no answer. He continued day and night in prayer, and yet there was no response. And yet he will not give up his trust in God. He tries to calm himself by remembrance of God"s holiness and love, and by the thought of God"s gracious dealings with his people. But, alas! this only aggravated his pare. The contrast was sharp and terrible. "Our fathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them. But 1 am a worm, and no man." It seemed to him that the desertion, which he felt so keenly, was equally apparent to others. But instead of pity, there was scorn; instead of sympathy, there was reproach. Lowered in the estimation of others, he was lowered also in his own. All this seemed irreconcilable with a right relation to God. He cannot understand, but no more can he reproach. The bond of love is strained, but it is not ruptured. Like Job, he is ready to say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." How thankful should we be for such revelations! They not only teach us patience, but they help us in the time of our trial to draw nearer in loving concord with Jesus and his saints.
II THE PRAYER OF TRUST. There is a time to speak. Speech helps to unburden the heart. But the psalmist does not cry for help till he has reached a calmer mood, and so far encouraged himself by recollection of God"s love and kindness in his life from the first (vers. 9, 10). He looks to the past, that he may be braced to look at the present. Then, in sight of all the distresses and perils that surrounded him, he cries mightily to God (vers. 11-18). His faith is sorely tried, but it does not fail. Even with things waxing worse and worse, with enemies many and fierce, with strength well-nigh worn out, with death staring him in the face (ver. 18), he renews his pathetic cry, "Be not far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me" (vers. 19-21).
III THE SONG OF VICTORY. The capacity of the soul is wonderful. It can sink very low, and it can rise very high. It has been said of prayer"What changes one short hour Spent in thy presence has availed to make!
And we see this here. Fear is turned to praise (vers. 22-24). Loneliness gives place to the joys of "the great congregation" (vers. 25, 26). Individual sufferings are forgotten in the glad vision of the triumphs of Messiah, and the glory and blessedness of his kingdom (vers. 27-31). Who is there who loves the Lord, whose heart does not rejoice in foretaste and foresight of these good times, and with renewed ardour pray, "Thy kingdom come"? W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-10. The cry of despair struggling with the cry of faith.
The writer was" apparently an exile, still in the hands of his heathen captors. His extreme peril, the obloquy and scorn to which he was exposed as a professed worshipper of Jehovah, his imminent death, are touched on with a tenderness and a power which have made the language familiar to us in another application as used by Christ in the agonies of the cross. It is the cry of despair struggling with the cry of faith.
I THE CRY OF DESPAIR. That God had forsaken him.
1. Had forsaken him for a long time. (Vers. 1, 2) It was not a temporary eclipse, but seemed a permanent desertion.
2. That this abandonment was somehow consistent with Gods faithfulness. (Ver. 3) There was no doubt it did not arise from caprice, but from holiness. That made the darkness very dark.
3. It arose from his personal unworthiness. (Vers. 4- 6) God had rescued his fathers; but he was a worm, and not a man, unworthy of deliverance, despised of men. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob.
4. A contrast to Gods former care of him. (Vers. 9, 10) Not easy to analyze the contents of such a consciousness. But in general, "It is the sense of the Divine mercy, care, and support gone!
II But there is in the background, FAITH STRUGGLING AGAINST THIS DESPAIR.
1. He still can say, My God." Repeatedly (vers. 1, 2). No unbelief could dissolve that tie.
2. Faith will not let go its hold upon his "holiness," however dark its aspect towards him now. (Ver. 3) God cannot be far from a man who retains the sense of his holy faithfulness.
3. He is suffering in the righteous cause for Gods sake. (Vers. 6-8) As Christ was. There is more than a gleam of hope for him here.
4. God had brought him into the world, and cared for him in helpless infancy. (Vers. 9, 10) These are the grounds of persistent faith battling against the sense of desertion and despair; and they are all-sufficient for us in our darkest hours. "We can but trust; we cannot know. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–12 "To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar. A Psalm…
"To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar. A Psalm of David." This ode of singular excellence was committed to the most excellent of the temple songsters; the chief among ten thousand is worthy to be extolled by the chief Musician; no meaner singer must have charge of such a strain; we must see to it that we call up our best abilities when Jesus is the theme of praise. The words Aijeleth Shahar are enigmatical, and their meaning is uncertain; some refer them to a musical instrument used upon mournful occasions, but the majority adhere to the translation of our margin, "Concerning the kind of the morning." This last interpretation is the subject of much enquiry and conjecture. Calmet believed that the psalm was addressed to the music master who presided over the band called the "Morning Hind, "and Adam Clarke thinks this to be the most likely of all the conjectural interpretations, although he himself inclines to the belief that no interpretation should be attempted, and believes that it is a merely arbitrary and unmeaning title, such as Orientals have always been in the habit of appending to their songs. Our Lord Jesus is so often compared to a hind, and his cruel huntings are so pathetically described in this most affecting psalm, that we cannot but believe that the title indicates the Lord Jesus under a well known poetical metaphor; at any rate, Jesus is the Hind of the morning concerning whom David here sings.
This is beyond all others THE PSALM OF THE CROSS. It may have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree; it would be too bold to say that it was so, but even a casual reader may see that it might have been. It begins with, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and ends, according to some, in the original with "It is finished." For plaintive expressions uprising from unutterable depths of woe we may say of this psalm, "there is none like it." It is the photograph of our Lord's saddest hours, the record of his dying words, the lachrymatory of his last tears, the memorial of his expiring joys. David and his afflictions may be here in a very modified sense, but, as the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he who sees Jesus will probably neither see nor care to see David. Before us we have a description both of the darkness and of the glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory which shall follow. Oh for grace to draw near and see this great sight! We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this psalm.
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From Ps 22:1-21 is a most pitiful cry for help, and from Ps 22:21-31 is a most precious foretaste of deliverance. The first division may be subdivided at the Ps 22:10, from Ps 22:1-10 being an appeal based upon covenant relationship; and from Ps 22:10-21 being an equally earnest plea derived from the imminence of his peril.
Ver. 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This was the startling cry of Golgotha: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. The Jews mocked, but the angels adored when Jesus cried this exceeding bitter cry. Nailed to the tree we behold our great Redeemer in extremities, and what see we? Having ears to hear let us hear, and having eyes to see let us see! Let us gaze with holy wonder, and mark the flashes of light amid the awful darkness of that midday midnight. First, our Lord's faith beams forth and deserves our reverent imitation; he keeps his hold upon his God with both hands and cries twice,
My God, my God! The spirit of adoption was strong within the suffering Son of Man, and he felt no doubt about his interest in his God. Oh that we could imitate this cleaving to an afflicting God! Nor does the sufferer distrust the power of God to sustain him, for the title used"El" signifies strength, and is the name of the Mighty God. He knows the Lord to be the all sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. He would fain know why he is left, he raises that question and repeats it, but neither the power nor the faithfulness of God does he mistrust. What an enquiry is this before us!
Why hast thou forsaken me? We must lay the emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances. "Why?" what is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his own Son at such a time and in such a plight? There was no cause in him, why then was he deserted? "Hast:" it is done, and the Saviour is feeling its dread effect as he asks the question; it is surely true, but how mysterious! It was no threatening of forsaking which made the great Surety cry aloud, he endured that forsaking in very deed. "Thou:" I can understand why traitorous Judas and timid Peter should be gone, but thou, my God, my faithful friend, how canst thou leave me? This is worst of all, yea, worse than all put together. Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God. "Forsaken:" if thou hadst chastened I might bear it, for thy face would shine; but to forsake me utterly, ah! why is this? "Me:" thine innocent, obedient, suffering Son, why leavest thou me to perish? A sight of self seen by penitence, and of Jesus on the cross seen by faith will best expound this question. Jesus is forsaken because our sins had separated between us and our God.
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? The Man of Sorrows had prayed until his speech failed him, and he could only utter moanings and groanings as men do in severe sicknesses, like the roarings of a wounded animal. To what extremity of grief was our Master driven? What strong crying and tears were those which made him too hoarse for speech! What must have been his anguish to find his own beloved and trusted Father standing afar off, and neither granting help nor apparently hearing prayer! This was good cause to make him "roar." Yet there was reason for all this which those who rest in Jesus as their Substitute well know.
Title. Aijeleth Shahar. The title of the twenty-second Psalm is Aijeleth Shaharthe morning hart. The whole Psalm refers to Christ, containing much that cannot be applied to another: parting his garments, casting lots for his vesture, etc. He is described as a kindly, meek and beautiful hart, started by the huntsman at the dawn of the day. Herod began hunting him down as soon as he appeared. Poverty, the hatred of men, and the temptation of Satan, joined in the pursuit. There always was some "dog, "or "bull, "or "unicorn, "ready to attack him. After his first sermon the huntsmen gathered about him, but he was too fleet of foot, and escaped. The church had long seen the Messiah "like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains, " had "heard the voice of her Beloved, "and had cried out, "Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills; " sometimes he was even seen, with the dawn of the day, in the neighbourhood of the temple, and beside the enclosures of the vineyards. The church requested to see him "on the mountains of Bether", and upon "the mountains of spices." The former probably signifying the place of his sufferings, and the latter the sublime acclivities of light, glory, and honour, where the "hart" shall be hunted no more. But in the afternoon, the huntsmen who had been following the "young roe" from early daybreak, had succeeded in driving him to the mountains of Bether. Christ found Calvary a craggy, jagged, and fearful hill"a mountain of division." Here he was driven by the huntsmen to the edges of the awful precipices yawning destruction from below, while he was surrounded and held at bay by all the beasts of prey and monsters of the infernal forest. The "unicorn, "and the "bulls of Bashan, "gored him with their horns; the great "lion" roared at him; and the "dog" fastened himself upon him. But he foiled them all. In his own time he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He was buried in a new grave; and his assailants reckoned upon complete victory. They had not considered that he was a "morning hart." Surely enough, at the appointed time, did he escape from the hunter's net, and stand forth on the mountains of Israel ALIVE, and never, NEVER to die again. Now he is with Mary in the garden, giving evidence of his own resurrection; in a moment he is at Emmaus, encouraging the too timid and bewildered disciples. Nor does it cost him any trouble to go thence to Galilee to his friends, and again to the Mount of Olives, "on the mountains of spices, "carrying with him the day dawn, "robed in life and beauty for ever more." Christmas Evans, 1766-1838.
Title. It will be very readily admitted that the hind is a very appropriate emblem of the suffering and persecuted righteous man who meets us in this Psalm... That the hind may be a figurative expression significant of suffering innocence, is put beyond a doubt by the fact, that the wicked and the persecutors in this Psalm, whose peculiar physiognomy is marked by emblems drawn from the brute creation, are designed by the terms dogs, lions, bulls, etc. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Title. The hind. Much extraordinary symbolism has by old authors been conjured up and clustered around the hind. According to their curious natural history, there exists a deadly enmity between the deer and the serpent, and the deer by its warm breath draws serpents out of their holes in order to devour them. The old grammarians derived Elaphas, or hart, from elaunein tous opheis, that is, of driving away serpents. Even the burning a portion of the deer's horns was said to drive away all snakes. If a snake had escaped the hart after being drawn out by the hart by its breath, it was said to be more vehemently poisonous than before. The timidity of the deer was ascribed to the great size of its heart, in which they thought was a bone shaped like a cross. Condensed from Wood's "Bible Animals", by C.H.S.
Whole Psalm. This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death, which surpass all human thought and comprehension. I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole book contains matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which their Lord and Head, Jesus Christ, uttered when conflicting for us in the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell. Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have any acquaintance with temptations of faith and spiritual conflicts. Martin Luther.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm, as it sets out the sufferings of Christ to the full, so also his three great offices. His sufferings are copiously described from Ps 22:1-22. The prophetical office of Christ, from Ps 22:22-25. That which is foretold about his vows (Ps 22:25), hath respect to his priestly function. In the rest of the Psalm the kingly office of Christ is set forth. William Gouge, D.D. (1575-1653), in "A Commentary on the whole Epistle to the Hebrews." Reprinted in Nichol's Series of Commentaries.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm seems to be less a prophecy than a history. Cassiodorus.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm must be expounded, word for word, entire and in every respect, of Christ only; without any allegory, trope, or anagoge. Bakius, quoted by F. Delitzsch, D.D., on Hebrews, ii. 12.
Whole Psalm. A prophecy of the passion of Christ, and of the vocation of the Gentiles. Eusebius of Caesarea.
Ver. 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We contrast this with Joh 16:32, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." That these words in David were notwithstanding the words of Christ, there is no true believer ignorant; yet how cross our Lord's words in John! Answer: It is one thing to speak out of present sense of misery, another thing to be confident of a never separated Deity. The condition of Christ in respect of his human state (not the divine), is in all outward appearances, like ours; we conceive the saints' condition very lamentable at times, as if God were for ever gone. And Christ (to teach us to cry after God the Father, like children after the mother, whose very stepping but at the door, ofttimes makes the babe believe, and so saith that his father is gone for ever), presents in his own sufferings how much he is sensible of ours in that case. As for his divine nature, he and his Father can never sunder in that, and so at no time is he alone, but the Father is always with him. William Streat, in "The Dividing of the Hoof, "1654.
Ver. 1. My God, my God, etc. There is a tradition that our Lord, hanging on the cross, began, as we know from the gospel, this Psalm; and repeating it and those that follow, gave up his most blessed spirit when he came to the sixth verse of the thirty-first Psalm. However that may be, by taking these first words on his lips, he stamped the Psalm as belonging to himself. Ludolph, the Carthusian (circa 1350), in J. M. Neale's Commentary.
Ver. 1. My God, my God, etc. It was so sharp, so heavy an affliction to Christ's soul, that it caused him who was meek under all other sufferings as a lamb, to roar under this like a lion. For so much those words of Christ signify, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" It comes from a root that signifies to howl or roar as a lion, and rather signifies the noise made by a wild beast than the voice of a man. And it is as much as if Christ had said, O my God, no words can express my anguish, I will not speak, but roar, howl out my complaints. Pour it out in volleys of groans. I roar as a lion. It's no small matter will make that majestic creature to roar. And sure so great a spirit as Christ's would not have roared under a slight burden.
Did God really forsake Jesus Christ upon the cross? then from the desertion of Christ singular consolation springs up to the people of God; yea, manifold consolation. Principally it's a support in these two respects, as it is preventive of your final desertion, and a comfortable pattern to you in your present sad desertions. 1. Christ's desertion is preventive of your final desertion. Because he was forsaken for a time you shall not be forsaken for ever. For he was forsaken for you. It is every way as much for the dear Son of God, the darling delight of his soul, to be forsaken of God for a time, as if such a poor inconsiderable thing as thou art shouldest be cast off to eternity. Now, this being equivalent and borne in thy room, must needs give thee the highest security in the world that God will never finally withdraw from thee. 2. Moreover, this sad desertion of Christ becomes a comfortable pattern to poor deserted souls in divers respects; and the proper business of such souls, at such times, is to eye it believingly. Though God deserted Christ, yet at the same time he powerfully supported him. His omnipotent arms were under him, though his pleased face was hid from him. He had not indeed his smiles, but he had his supports. So, Christian, just so shall it be with thee. Thy God may turn away his face, he will not pluck away his arm. When one asked of holy Mr. Baines how the case stood with his soul, he answered, "Supports I have, though suavities I want." Our Father in this deals with us as we ourselves sometimes do with a child that is stubborn and rebellious. We turn him out of doors and bid him begone out of our sight, and there he sighs and weeps; but however for the humbling of him, we will not presently take him into house and favour; yet we order, at least permit the servants to carry him meat and drink: here is fatherly care and support, though no former smiles or manifested delights... Though God forsook Christ, yet at that time he could justify God. So you read, "O my God (saith he), I cry in the day time; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent; but thou art holy." Is not thy spirit according to thy measure, framed like Christ's in this; canst thou not, say even when he writes bitter things against thee, he is a holy, faithful and good God for all this! I an deserted but not wronged. There is not one drop of injustice in all the sea of my sorrows. Though he condemned me I must and will justify him: this also is Christ like. John Flavel.
Ver. 1. My God, my God. The repetition is expressive of fervent desire"My God", in an especial sense, as in his words after the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, "I ascend unto my God, and your God; " "My God", not as the Son of God only, but in that nature which he hath assumed, as the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased; who is loved of the Father and who loveth the Father more than the whole universe. It is observed that this expression, "My God, "is three times repeated. Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams.
Ver. 1. My God. It was possible for Christ by faith to know that he was beloved of God, and he did know that he was beloved of God, when yet as to sense and feeling he tasted of God's wrath. Faith and the want of sense are not inconsistent; there may be no present sense of God's love, nay, there may be a present sense of his wrath, and yet there may be faith at the same time. John Row's "Emmanuel, "1680.
Ver. 1. This word, My God, takes in more than all the philosophers in the world could draw out of it. Alexander Wedderburn, 1701.
Ver. 1. That there is something of a singular force, meaning, and feeling in these words is manifest from thisthe evangelists have studiously given us this verse in the very words of the Hebrew, in order to show their emphatic force. And moreover I do not remember any one other place in the Scriptures where we have this repetition, ELI, ELI. Martin Luther.
Ver. 1. Why? Not the "why" of impatience or despair, not the sinful questioning of one whose heart rebels against his chastening, but rather the cry of a lost child who cannot understand why his father has left him, and who longs to see his father's face again. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Ver. 1. My roaring. (gav), seems primarily to denote the roaring of a lion; but, as applied to intelligent beings, it is generally expressive of profound mental anguish poured forth in audible and even vehement strains. Ps 38:9 33:3 Job 3:24. Thus did the suffering Messiah pour forth strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from death. Heb 5:7. John Morison.
Ver. 1. When Christ complains of having been forsaken by God, we are not to understand that he was forsaken by the First Person, or that there was a dissolution of the hypostatic union, or that he lost the favour and friendship of the Father; but he signifies to us that God permitted his human nature to undergo those dreadful torments, and to suffer an ignominious death, from which he could, if he chose, most easily deliver him. Nor did such complaints proceed either from impatience or ignorance, as if Christ were ignorant of the cause of his suffering, or was not most willing to bear such abandonment in his suffering; such complaints were only a declaration of his most bitter sufferings. And whereas, through the whole course of his passion, with such patience did our Lord suffer, as not to let a single groan or sigh escape from him, so now, lest the bystanders may readily believe that he was rendered impassable by some superior power; therefore, when his last moments were nigh he protests that he is true man, truly passible; forsaken by his Father in his sufferings, the bitterness and acuteness of which he then intimately felt. Robert Bellarmine (Cardinal), 1542-1621.
Ver. 1. Divines are wont commonly to say, that Christ, from the moment of his conception, had the sight of God, his human soul being immediately united to the Deity, Christ from the very moment of his conception had the sight of God. Now for our Saviour, who had known experimentally how sweet the comfort of his Father's face had been, and had lived all his days under the warm beams and influences of the Divinity, and had had his soul all along refreshed with the sense of the Divine presence, for him to be left in that horror and darkness, as to have no taste of comfort, no glimpse of the Divinity breaking in upon his human soul, how great an affliction must that needs be unto him! John Row.
Ver. 1. Desertion is in itself no sin; for Christ endured its bitterness, aye, he was so deep in it, that when he died, he said, Why hast thou forsaken me? A total, a final desertion ours is not; partial the best have had and have. God turns away his face, David himself is troubled: "The just shall live by faith, "and not by feeling. Richard Capel.
Ver. 1. Oh! how will our very hearts melt with love, when we remember that as we have been distressed for our sins against him; so he was in greater agonies for us? We have had gall and wormwood, but he tasted a more bitter cup. The anger of God has dried up our spirits, but he was scorched with a more flaming wrath. He was under violent pain in the garden, and on the cross; ineffable was the sorrow that he felt, being forsaken of his Father, deserted by his disciples, affronted and reproached by his enemies, and under a curse for us. This Sun was under a doleful eclipse, this living Lord was pleased to die, and in his death was under the frowns of an angry God. That face was then hid from him that had always smiled before; and his soul felt that horror and that darkness which it had never felt before. So that there was no separation between the divine and human nature, yet he suffered pains equal to those which we had deserved to suffer in hell for ever. God so suspended the efficacies of his grace that it displayed in that hour none of its force and virtue on him. He had no comfort from heaven, none from his angels, none from his friends, even in that sorrowful hour when he needed comfort most. Like a lion that is hurt in the forest, so he roared and cried out, though there was no despair in him; and when he was forsaken, yet there was trust and hope in these words, My God, my God. Timothy Rogers.
Ver. 1. Here is comfort to deserted souls; Christ himself was deserted; therefore, if thou be deserted, God dealeth no otherwise with thee than he did with Christ. Thou mayest be beloved of God and not feel it; Christ was so, he was beloved of the Father, and yet he had no present sense and feeling of his love. This may be a great comfort to holy souls under the suspension of those comforts and manifestations which sometimes they have felt; Christ himself underwent such a suspension, therefore such a suspension of divine comfort may consist with God's love. Thou mayest conclude possibly, "I am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me; "this is the complaint of some doubting Christians, "I am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me; "but thou hast no reason so to conclude: there was no failure in Christ's obedience, and yet Christ was forsaken in point of comfort; therefore desertion, in point of comfort, may consist with truth of grace, yea, with the highest measure of grace; so it did in our Saviour. John Row.
Ver. 1. Lord, you know what it is for a soul to be forsaken, it was sometime thine own case when you complained, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? not, O my Lord! but that thou hadst a divine support, but thou hadst not (it seemeth) that inward joy which at other times did fill thee; now thou art in thy glory, pity a worm in misery, that mourns and desires more after thee than all things: Lord, you paid dear for my good, let good come unto me. Joseph Symonds, 1658.
Ver. 1. The first verse expresses a species of suffering that never at any other time was felt in this world, and never will be againthe vengeance of the Almighty upon his child"MY God, why hast thou forsaken me?" R. H. Ryland.
Whole Psalm. The volume entitled "Christ on the Cross, "by Rev. J. Stevenson, has a sermon upon every verse. We give the headings, they are suggestive. The Cry. 2. The Complaint. 3. The Acknowledgment.
4-6. The Contrast. 6. The Reproach. 7. The Mockery. 8. The Taunt.
9,10. The Appeal. 11. The Entreaty. 12, 13. The Assault. 14. The Faintness. 15. The Exhaustion. 16. The Piercing. 17. The Emaciation.
17. The Insulting Gaze. 18. The Partition of the Garments and Casting Lots. 19-21. The Importunity. 21. The Deliverance. 22. The Gratitude.
23. The Invitation. 24. The Testimony. 25. The Vow. 26. The Satisfaction of the Meek; the Seekers of the Lord Praising Him; the Eternal Life. 27. The Conversion of the World. 28. The Enthronement.
29. The Author of the Faith. 30. The Seed. 31. The Everlasting Theme and Occupation. The Finish of the Faith.
Ver. 1. The Saviour's dying cry.
Christ on the Cross: An Exposition of the Twenty-second Psalm. By the Rev. JOHN STEVENSON, Perpetual Curate of Curry and Gunwalloe, Cornwall. 1842.
Psalms 22:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Psa_22:1-31
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
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The prophetic image of the Prince of sufferers
Who is the sufferer whose wail is the very voice of desolation and despair, and who yet dares to believe that the tale of his sorrow will be a gospel for the world? The usual answers are given. The title ascribes the authorship to David, and is accepted by Delitzsch and others. Hengstenberg and his followers see in the picture the ideal righteous man. Others think of Hezekiah or Jeremiah, with whose prophecies and history there are many points of connection. The most recent critics find here the personalised genius of Israel, or more precisely, the followers of Nehemiah, including the large-hearted Psalmist. (Cheyne, Orig. of Psalt., 264.) On any theory of authorship the startling correspondence of the details of the Psalmists sufferings with those of the Crucifixion has to be accounted for. How startling that correspondence is, both in the number and minuteness of its points, need not be insisted on. The recognition of these points in the Psalm as prophecies is one thing, the determination of their relation to the Psalmists own experience is quite another. It is taken for granted in many quarters that every such detail in prophecy must describe the writers own circumstances, and the supposition that they may transcend these is said to be psychologically impossible. But it is somewhat hazardous for those who have not been subjects of prophetic inspiration to lay down canons of what is possible and impossible in it, and there are examples enough to prove that the relation of the prophets speech to their consciousness and circumstances was singularly complex, and not to be unravelled by any such obiter dicta as to psychological possibilities. They were recipients of messages, and did not always understand what the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. Theories which neglect that aspect of the case do not front all the facts. Certainty as to the authorship of this Psalm is probably unattainable. How far its words fitted the condition of the singer must therefore remain unsettled. But that these minute and numerous correspondences are more than coincidences it seems perverse to deny. The present writer, for one, sees shining through the shadowy personality of the Psalmist the figure of the Prince of sufferers, and believes that whether the formers plaints applied in all their particulars to him, or whether there is in them a certain element of hyperbole which becomes simple fact in Jesuss sufferings, the Psalm is a prophecy of Him and them. In the former case the Psalmists experience, in the latter case his utterances, were divinely shaped so as to prefigure the sacred sorrows of the Man of Sorrows. To a reader who shares in this understanding of the Psalm it must be holy ground, to be trodden reverently and with thoughts adoringly fixed on Jesus. Cold analysis is out of place. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Summary of contents
The exclamation from the Cross--My God, etc., led us to consider the Lord Jesus as our Surety, standing at His Fathers judgment seat, and, conscious of innocence, inquiring what new charge was laid against Him to cause this new and most severe affliction, the hiding of His Fathers countenance. We concluded that one reason why our Lord so earnestly cried to His Father was that He might ascribe to Him the glory of His deliverance, being unwilling to appropriate it to Himself by any exertion of His own power. And we found that the whole verse comprised three inquiries, to which we conceived these to be appropriate answers--First, Why hast Thou forsaken Me? Because Thou art bearing the sins of the world. Second, Why art Thou so far from helping Me? That the victory may be altogether Thine own. And third, Why art Thou so far from the words of My roaring? That Thou mayest learn all the required obedience by the things which Thou art suffering. We perceived that our Lord, in continuing His supplications, complained to His Father, but would not complain against Him; and that He fully acquitted Him of unkindness or injustice, by subjoining this filial and beautiful acknowledgment, But Thou continuest holy. In the fulness of His sorrow our Lord next contrasted His own experience with that of the Fathers, whose prayers were heard, and whose expectations were not confounded. He denominated Himself a worm, allied by His human nature to the meanest part of the creation--a crimson-coloured worm, covered with the imputed guilt of men, and He regarded Himself as no man; neither what man is by sin, nor what man was intended to be by his Creator. Our Lords life in the flesh, we saw, might be illustrated by the heathen doctrine of metempsychosis; for He brought the recollections of the world of glory into this state of being; and therefore human life must have appeared, to His eyes, infinitely more mean, wretched, and loathsome than we can possibly conceive. We were next led to contemplate the enumerated mental sufferings of our much-tried Lord--the reproaches with which He was assailed, the mockery by which He was insulted, and the taunts which wounded His spirit to the quick. In the 9th and 10th verses we considered that pathetic and touching appeal which our dying Redeemer made to the heart of His Father, arguing from the helplessness of His infancy to the helplessness of His manhood; and casting the latter upon that paternal care which had provided for the former. We perceived how earnestly our Lord followed up this appeal with renewed entreaty for His Fathers presence, expressing this great and only desire of His heart in these words, Be not far from Me. The corporeal sufferings of the Man of Sorrows were next brought to our notice. The assault and encompassing of His enemies on every side was the first particularised; where also we considered the assaults of Satanic hosts upon the spirit of our Lord. Consequent on this assault succeeded universal faintness over His frame, complete languor and an extreme exhaustion, with intense and burning thirst. The piercing of our Lords sacred body, in His hands and feet, was then considered, and the lingering death by crucifixion was described. Extended on the Cross, the emaciated state of the Saviours worn-out frame was exposed to view, and all His bones might be told. In this condition He was subjected to the insulting gaze of the multitude. The soldiers also seized every article of His clothing; they parted His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture. Urged by these various and sore afflictions, and desiring with intense anxiety to enjoy again before He died the light and peace of His Fathers presence, our blessed Saviour, in the next three verses, prayed with the most vehement importunity for a speedy and immediate answer. And whilst He was yet praying His Father granted His petition. Light dawned upon His soul. Darkness was dispelled from the face of nature, and from the heart of the Redeemer. And, as though issuing from a kind of spiritual death, and enjoying a spiritual resurrection, our Divine Surety exclaimed, Thou hast heard Me. Importunity prevailed with God. The whole tone of feeling and sentiment in the Psalm becomes changed from this verse. Gratitude and thanksgiving occupy all the remaining portion. The Saviour, as it were, from the Cross, invited the members of His Church to join His eucharistic song He prospectively beheld the conversion of the world and the establishment of His own glorious kingdom. And the Psalm represents the Saviour as solacing His dying spirit, in the midst of His enemies, with the assurance of a holy and numerous seed, who should be counted to Him for a posterity. He heard, as it were, from His Cross, the song of the redeemed. (John Stevenson.)
The great Sufferer and His relief
This Psalm sets forth the last extremity of human suffering, yet without any confession of sin, and closes with the sure hope of deliverance. We consider it an idealised description of the great Sufferer.
I. The complaint (Psa_22:1-10). The cry with which the Psalm opens is not an utterance of impatience or despair, but of grief and entreaty. It is the question of faith as well as of anguish. The second line suggests the great chasm between His outcry and the help He implores. God stands afar off, i.e. withholds His help. In the olden times the fathers trusted, and were not put to shame; why is the present case made an exception? It is such, for instead of being helped He is left to be reproached and despised; all the spectators join in derision. But faith turns the mock, cry of foes into an argument for deliverance.
II. The prayer against violence (Psa_22:11-21). Having shown that He was justified in expecting Divine aid, He now shows that the necessity for it exists, It was no time for God to be far off, when distress was so near and there was no other helper. The figures that follow are taken from pastoral life.
III. The expression of thanks and hope (Psa_22:22-31). The Sufferers certainty of deliverance is shown by His intention to give thanks for it. This will be done, not in private, but before the whole nation The experience here recorded, alike of sorrows and of joy, far transcends anything which we have reason to think that David passed through. (Talbot W. Chambers, D. D.)
A picture of suffering sainthood
I. The prayer of such sufferer. In Him who was the Man of Sorrows it finds its chief fulfilment.
1. The sufferings; they are--
(i) Spiritual, through feeling of Gods desertion of Him (Mat_27:46). In regard to Christ, it was not a fact that God had deserted Him, but He felt as if it were so. And of Gods disregard of His prayer (Psa_22:2).
(ii) Social, for the Sufferer was the victim of social contempt (Psa_22:6), and cruelty: they pierced, etc. (Psa_22:16), and He tells of the physical effect of all this (Psa_22:14; Psa_22:17).
2. The supplications; in which note--
(i) The character in which God is addressed--holy (Psa_22:3). The God of His fathers (Psa_22:4), and of His earliest life (Psa_22:9).
(ii) The object for which He is addressed,--that God would come to Him (Psa_22:11; Psa_22:19), and that God would deliver Him (Psa_22:20).
(iii) The earnestness with which He is addressed (Psa_22:1-2).
II. The relief given. See this set forth in Psa_22:22 onwards. Its results were--
1. The celebration of the Divine goodness (Psa_22:22; Psa_22:24).
2. The conversion of the world to the true God (Psa_22:27). This shall be through
(i) men remembering and turning unto the Lord. And
(ii) because the kingdom is, etc. (Psa_22:28). And
(iii) it shall be complete, including all nations, classes, and conditions.
3. The celebration of His religion to the end of time (Psa_22:30-31). Not only is there a time to come when the whole generation shall be converted, but all the generations following shall celebrate His praise. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The withdrawal of Gods sustaining presence from the Divine Son
So far, in this Psalm, we have had described to us the mental sufferings of Christ on the Cross; His physical sufferings and His final triumph are set forth in the portion of the Psalm yet to be explained. His mental sufferings were caused by the withdrawal of His Fathers sustaining presence, and the reproaches of His enemies. The two united pressed His spirit with a weight of woe such as none besides have ever experienced sustained by His Father, as He had always hitherto been, He no doubt could have endured the reproaches of men without complaint; but when His Father withdraws His sustaining presence there bursts from His riven heart the agonised cry, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why has the Father Almighty forsaken His only begotten Son? For our sakes. For no sin of His Son, but for our sins the Father forsook Him. It was as our surety and substitute that Messiah felt in His soul the wrath of God against sin. He had taken the sinners place, to endure the wrath of God due to the sinners sin; and the Father Almighty could not spare His Son and save the sinner. One or the other must die; and God so loved the world that He gave His Son. He forsook His Son that He might not forsake us. Again, the Father Almighty forsook His Son that the Sons victory over death and hell might be altogether His own victory--His own as man, sustained by simple faith in God. It was the Fathers purpose to discomfit Satan by the very same nature over which he had triumphed in Eden. Accordingly a holy human nature sustained by faith in God, was the Saviours only protection and defence in the final conflict. God the Father has left Him, God the Spirit has left Him, and He has also renounced all reliance on His own God-like power to aid Him, so that He stands before His enemies having, as His only weapon of defence, what Adam had in Eden, a holy human nature to be sustained by simple trust in God. A holy human nature, sustained by faith alone, was the weapon with which the first Adam should have conquered Satan; a holy human nature, sustained by faith alone, was the weapon with which the second Adam did conquer Satan. He used no other weapon to gain Him the victory on Calvary, than that which Adam had in Eden. He withstood the onset made upon His holy will and nature, only because His faith in God was steadfast unto the end. And God left Him to Himself, to prove to Satan and the world that a pure heart, sustained by an unwavering faith, is a match, and more than a match, for every assault that can be made upon it. What a thought is this for the soul to rest upon. (David Caldwell, A. M.)
Christ forsaken of His Father
I. How are we to interpret these awful words?
1. Not the cry of a mere martyr.
2. Not wrung from Him by agony of body, but by anguish of soul.
II. Why this cry of anguish?
1. His disciples had forsaken Him, but it was not for that. God had forsaken Him. Christ was hanging there as our Surety and Substitute.
2. No other way of explaining this cry. This does explain it. Conflicting attributes in the Godhead to be harmonised before man could be accepted and forgiven. God found a way to reconcile them in the work and suffering of Christ.
III. Learn from this cry--
1. The true nature of Christs death--a ransom, an atonement.
2. The evil of sin, and how God abhors it.
3. The greatness of Gods love, and how we may obtain His mercy. (W. Pakenham Walsh, D. D.)
The saint forsaken in what sense
Sometimes God takes away from a Christian His comforting presence, but never His sustaining presence. You know the difference between sunshine and daylight. We have often daylight but little sunlight. A Christian has Gods daylight in his soul when he may not have sunlight; that is, he has enough to light him, but not enough to cheer and comfort him. Never was Jesus so forsaken as when He cried, My God, My God, etc., and yet was He never so strengthened by Gods sustaining presence, for angels were at His service to minister to Him if He needed their ministry. (J. Cumming.)
Forsaken of God, but not finally
Did you ever read that Christ did finally forsake a man in whose heart and soul He still did leave His goods, furniture, and spiritual household stuff? A man sometimes goes from home, and sometimes he does not quite leave his home. There is much difference between these two. If a man leave his home and come no more, then he carries away all his goods; and when you see them carried away you say, This man will come no more. But though a man ride a great journey, yet he may come again; and you say, Surely he will come again. Why? Because still his goods, wife, and children are in his house; so, though Christ be long absent, yet if His household stuff abide in the heart--if there be the same desires after Him and delight in Him, you may say, Surely He will come again. When did Christ ever forsake a man in whose heart He left this spiritual furniture? (S. Bridge.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 22
Psalms 22
WHO is the sufferer whose wail is the very voice of desolation and despair, and who yet dares to believe that the tale of his sorrow will be a gospel for the world? The usual answers are given. The title ascribes the authorship to David, and is accepted by Delitzsch and others. Hengstenberg and his followers see in the picture the ideal righteous man. Others think of Hezekiah, or Jeremiah, with whose prophecies and history there are many points of connection. The most recent critics find here "the personalised Genius of Israel, or more precisely the followers of Nehemiah, including the large-hearted psalmist" (Cheyne, "Orig. of Psalt.," 264). On any theory of authorship, the startling correspondence of the details of the psalmists sufferings with those of the Crucifixion has to be accounted for. How startling that correspondence is, both in the number and minuteness of its points, need not be insisted on. Not only does our Lord quote the first verse on the cross, and so show that the psalm was in his heart then, but the gestures and words of mockery were verbally reproduced, as Luke significantly indicates by using the LXXs word for "laugh to scorn" (Psa_22:7). Christs thirst is regarded by John as the fulfilment of "scripture," which can scarcely be other than Psa_22:15. The physical effects of crucifixion are described in the ghastly picture of Psa_22:14-15. Whatever difficulty exists in determining the true reading and meaning of the allusion to "my hands and my feet," some violence or indignity to them is intended. The peculiar detail of dividing the raiment was more than fulfilled, since the apparently parallel and synonymous clauses were resolved into two distinct acts. The recognition of these points in the psalm as prophecies is one thing; the determination of their relation to the psalmists own experience is quite another. It is taken for granted in many quarters that every such detail in prophecy must describe the writers own circumstances, and the supposition that they may transcend these is said to be "psychologically impossible." But it is somewhat hazardous for those who have not been subjects of prophetic inspiration to lay down canons of what is possible and impossible in it, and there are examples enough to prove that the relation of the prophets speech to their consciousness and circumstances was singularly complex, and not to be unravelled by any such obiter dicta as to psychological possibilities. They were recipients of messages, and did not always understand what the "Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." Theories which neglect that aspect of the case do not front all the facts. Certainty as to the authorship of this psalm is probably unattainable. How far its words fitted the condition of the singer must therefore remain unsettled. But that these minute and numerous correspondences are more than coincidences, it seems perverse to deny. The present writer, for one, sees shining through the shadowy personality of the psalmist the figure of the Prince of Sufferers, and believes that whether the formers plaints applied in all their particulars to him, or whether there is in them a certain "element of hyperbole" which becomes simple fact in Jesus sufferings, the psalm is a prophecy of Him and them. In the former case the psalmists experience, in the latter case his utterances, were divinely shaped so as to prefigure the sacred sorrows of the Man of Sorrows.
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To a reader who shares in this understanding of the psalm, it must be holy ground, to be trodden reverently and with thoughts adoringly fixed on Jesus. Cold analysis is out of place. And yet there is a distinct order even in the groans, and a manifest contrast in the two halves of the psalm (Psa_22:1-21 and Psa_22:22-31). "Thou answerest not" is the keynote of the former; "Thou hast answered me," of the latter. The one paints the sufferings, the other the glory that should follow. Both point to Jesus: the former by the desolation which it breathes; the latter by the world wide consequences of these solitary sufferings which it foresees.
Surely opposites were never more startlingly blended in one gush of feeling than in that plaint of mingled faith and despair, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" which by its thus addressing God clings fast to Him, and by its wondering question discloses the dreary consciousness of separation from Him. The evidence to the psalmist that he was forsaken was the apparent rejection of his prayers for deliverance; and if David be the speaker, we may suppose that the pathetic fate of his predecessor hovered before his thoughts: "I am sore distressed. God is departed from me and answereth me no more. But, while lower degrees of this conflict of trust and despair belong to all deep religious life, and are experienced by saintly sufferers in all ages, the voice that rang through the darkness on Calvary was the cry of Him who experienced its force in supreme measure and in altogether unique manner. None but He can ask that question "Why?" with conscience void of offence. None but He have known the mortal agony of utter separation from God. None but He have clung to God with absolute trust even in the horror of great darkness. In Christs consciousness of being forsaken by God lie elements peculiar to it alone, for the separating agent was the gathered sins of the whole world, laid on Him and accepted by Him in the perfection of His loving identification of Himself with men. Unless in that dread hour He was bearing a worlds sin, there is no worthy explanation of His cry, and many a silent martyr has faced death for Him with more courage derived from Him than He manifested on His cross."
After the introductory strophe of two verses, there come seven strophes, of which three contain 3 verses each (Psa_22:3-11) followed by two of 2 verses each (Psa_22:12-15) and these again by two with 3 verses each. Can a soul agitated as this singers was regulate its sobs thus? Yes, if it is a singers, and still more if it is a saints. The fetters make the limbs move less violently, and there is soothing in the ordered expression of disordered emotion. The form is artistic, not artificial; and objections to the reality of the feelings on the ground of the regularity of the form ignore the witness of the masterpieces of literature in all tongues.
The desolation rising from unanswered prayer drives to the contemplation of Gods holiness and past responses to trusting men, which are in one aspect an aggravation and in another an alleviation. The psalmist partly answers his own question "Why?" and preaches to Himself that the reason cannot be in Jehovah, whose character and former deeds bind Him to answer trust by help. Gods holiness is primarily His separation from, by elevation above, the creature, both in regard of His freedom from limitations and of His perfect purity. If He is thus "holy," He will not break His promise, nor change His ways with those who trust. It takes some energy of faith to believe that a silent and apparently deaf God is "holy," and the effect of the belief may either be to crush or to lift the spirit. Its first result with this psalmist seems to have been to crush, as the next strophe shows, but the more blessed consequence is won before the end. Here it is partly a plea urged with God, as is that beautiful bold image of God enthroned "on the praises of Israel." These praises are evoked by former acts of grace answering prayers, and of them is built a yet nobler throne than the outstretched wings of the Cherubim. The daring metaphor penetrates deeply into Gods delight in mens praise, and the power of Israels voice to exalt Him in the world. How could a God thus throned cease to give mercies like those which were perpetually commemorated thereby? The same half-wistful, half-confident retrospect is continued in the remaining verses of this strophe (Psa_22:4-5), which look back to the "grey fathers" experience. Mark the plaintive reiteration of trust and "deliver," the two inseparables, as the days of old attested, which had now become so sadly parted. Not more certainly the flow of water in a pipe answers the application of thirsty lips to its opening than did Gods rescuing act respond to the fathers trust. And now!-
The use of "Our" in reference to the fathers has been laid hold of as favouring the hypothesis that the speaker is the personified nation; but no individual member of a nation would speak of the common ancestors as "My fathers." That would mean his own family progenitors, whereas the psalmist means the Patriarchs and the earlier generations. No argument for the national theory, then, can be drawn from the phrase. Can the reference to Jesus be carried into this strophe? Assuredly it may, and it shows us how truly He associated Himself with His nation, and fed His faith by the records of the past. "He also is a son of Abraham."
Such remembrances make the contrast of present sufferings and of a far-off God more bitter; and so a fresh wave of agony rolls over the psalmists soul. He feels himself crushed and as incapable of resistance as a worm bruised in all its soft length by an armed heel. The very semblance of manhood has faded. One can scarcely fail to recall "his visage was so marred more than any man," {Isa_52:14} and the designation of Jehovahs servant Israel as "thou worm." {Isa_41:14} The taunts that wounded the psalmist so sorely have long since fallen dumb and the wounds are all healed; but the immortal words in which he wails the pain of misapprehension and rejection are engraved forever on the heart of the world. No suffering is more acute than that of a sensitive soul, brimming with love and eager ness to help, and met with scorn, rejection and ferocious mockery of its sacredest emotions. No man has ever felt that pang with the intensity with which Jesus felt it, for none has ever brought such wealth of longing love to be thrown back on itself, nor been so devoid of the callousness with which selfishness is shielded. His pure nature was tender as an infants hand, and felt the keen edge of the spear as none but He can have done. They are His sorrows that are painted here, so vividly and truly that the evangelist Luke takes the very word of the LXX version of the psalm to describe the rulers mockery. {Luk_23:35} "They draw open the lips," grinning with delight or contempt; "they nod the head" in mockery and assent to the suffering inflicted; and then the savage hate bursts into irony which defiles the sacredest emotions and comes near to blaspheming God in ridiculing trust in Him. The mockers thought it exquisite sarcasm to bid Jesus roll His troubles on Jehovah, and to bid God deliver Him since He delighted in Him. How little they knew that they were thereby proclaiming Him as the Christ of prophecy, and were giving the unimpeachable testimony of enemies to His life of devout trust and His consciousness of Divine favour! "Roll (it) on God," sneered they; and the answer was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." "Let Him deliver Him, since He delighteth in Him," they impiously cried, and they knew not that Gods delight in Him was the very reason why He did not deliver Him. Because He was His Son in whom He was well pleased, "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him." The mockery of opponents brings into clear light the deepest secrets of that cross.
Another wave of feeling follows in the next strophe (Psa_22:9-11). Backwards and forwards, from trust to complaint and from complaint to trust, rolls the troubled sea of thought, each mood evoking its opposite. Now reproach makes the psalmist tighten his grasp on God, and plead former help as a reason for present hearing. Faith turns taunts into prayers. This strophe begins with a "Yea," and, on the relationship with God which the enemies had ridiculed and which his heart knows to be true, pleads that God would not remain, as Psa_22:1 had wailed that He was, far off from His help. It goes back to the beginning of life, and in the mystery of birth and the dependence of infancy, finds arguments with God. They are the personal application of the wide truth that God by His making us men gives us a claim on Him, that He has bound Himself by giving life to give what is needful for its development and well-being. He will not stultify Himself by making a man and then leaving him to struggle alone, as birds do with their young, as soon as they can fly. He is "a faithful Creator." May we venture to find special reference here to the mystery of the Incarnation? It is noticeable that "my mother" is emphatically mentioned, while there is no reference to a father. No doubt the cast of the thought accounts for that, but still the special agency of Divine power in the birth of Jesus gives special force to His prayer for Divine help in the life so peculiarly the result of the Divine band. But while the plea had singular force on Christs lips, it is valid for all men.
The closing verse of this strophe takes the complaint of Psa_22:1 and turns it into prayer. Faith does not rest with plaintively crying "Why art Thou so far?" but pleads "Be not far"; and makes the nearness of trouble and the absence of all other help its twofold pleas. So much the psalmist has already won by his communing with God. Now he can face environing sorrows and solitary defencelessness, and feel them to be reasons for Gods coming, not tokens of His distance.
We now come to two strophes of two verses each (Psa_22:12-15), of which the former describes the encircling foes and the latter the psalmists failure of vital power. The metaphor of raging wild animals recurs in later verses, and is common to many psalms. Bashan was a land of pastures over which herds of half wild cattle roamed. They "have surrounded me" is a picturesque touch, drawn direct from life, as anyone knows who has ever found himself in the midst of such a herd. The gaping mouth is rather characteristic of the lion than of the bull. The open jaws emit the fierce roar which precedes the fatal spring and the "ravening" on its prey. The next short strophe passes from enemies around to paint inward feebleness. All vital force has melted away; the very bones are dislocated, raging thirst has supervened. These are capable of being construed as simply strong metaphors, parallels to which may be found in other psalms; but it must not be left unnoticed that they are accurate transcripts of the physical effects of crucifixion. That torture killed by exhaustion, it stretched the body as on a rack, it was attended with agonies of thirst. It requires considerable courage to brush aside such coincidences as accidental, in obedience to a theory of interpretation. But the picture is not completed when the bodily sufferings are set forth. A mysterious attribution of them all to God closes the strophe. "Thou hast brought me to the dust of death." Then, it is Gods hand that has laid all these on him. No doubt this may be, and probably was in the psalmists thought, only a devout recognition of Providence working through calamities; but the words receive full force only by being regarded as parallel with those of Isa_53:10, "He hath put Him to grief." In like manner the apostolic preaching regards Christs murderers as Gods instruments.
The next strophe returns to the three-verse arrangement, and blends the contents of the two preceding, dealing both with the assailing enemies and the enfeebled sufferer. The former metaphor of wild animals encircling him is repeated with variations. A baser order of foes than bulls and lions, namely, a troop of cowardly curs, are snarling and snapping round him. The contemptuous figure is explained in Psa_22:16 b, as meaning a mob of evildoers, and is then resumed in the next clause, which has been the subject of so much dispute. It seems plain that the Masoretic text is corrupt. "Like a lion, my hands and my feet" can only be made into sense by violent methods. The difference between the letters which yield "like a lion "and those which give "they pierced" is only in the length of the upright stroke of the final one. LXX Vulg. Syr. translate they dug or pierced, and other ancient versions attest that they read the word as a verb. The spelling of the word is anomalous, if we take it to mean dig, but the irregularity is not without parallels, and may be smoothed away either by assuming an unusual form of a common verb or a rare root cognate with the more common one. The word would then mean "they dug" rather than pierced, but the shade of difference in meaning is not so great as to forbid the later rendering. In any case "it is the best attested reading. It is to be understood of the gaping wounds which are inflicted on the sufferers hands and feet, and which stare at him like holes" (Baethgen, "Hand Comment.," p. 65). "Behold my hands and my feet," said the risen Lord, and that calm word is sufficient proof that both bore the prints of nails. The words might be written over this psalm. Strange and sad that so many should look on it and not see Him!
The picture of bodily sufferings has one more touch in "I can count all my bones." Emaciation would produce that effect. But so would crucifixion which extended the frame and threw the bones of the thorax into prominence. Then the sufferer turns his eyes once more to his enemies, and describes the stony gaze, protracted and unfeeling, with which they feed upon his agonies. Crucifixion was a slow process, and we recall the long hours in which the crowd sated their hatred through their eyes.
It is extremely unlikely that the psalmists garments were literally parted among his foes, and the usual explanation of the singular details in Psa_22:18 is that they are either a metaphor drawn from plundering the slain in battle or a proverbial expression. What reference the words had to the original speaker of them must, in our ignorance of his circumstances, remain uncertain. But they at all events depict his death as so sure that his enemies regard his dress as their perquisite. Surely this is a distinct instance of Divine guidance moulding a psalmists words so as to fill them with a deeper meaning than the speaker knew. He who so shaped them saw the soldiers dividing the rest of the garments and gambling for the seamless cloak; and He was "the Spirit of Christ which was in" the singer.
The next strophe closes the first part with petition which, in the last words, becomes thanksgiving, and realises the answer so fervently besought. The initial complaint of Gods distance is again turned into prayer, and the former metaphors of wild beasts are gathered into one long cry for deliverance from the dangerous weapons of each, the dogs paw, the lions mouth, the wild oxens horns. The psalmist speaks of his "soul" or life as "my only one," referring not to his isolation, but to his life as that which, once lost, could never be regained. He has but one life, therefore he clings to it, and cannot but believe that it is precious in Gods eyes. And then, all at once, up shoots a clear light of joy, and he knows that he has not been speaking to a deaf or remote God, but that his cry is answered. He had been brought to the dust of death, but even thence he is heard and brought out with no soil of it upon him. Such suddenness and completeness of deliverance from such extremity of peril may, indeed, have been experienced by many, but receives its fullest meaning in its Messianic application. "From the horns of the wild oxen," says he, as if the phrase were still dependent, like the preceding ones, on the prayer, "deliver me." But, as he thus cries, the conviction that he is heard floods his soul, and he ends, not with a cry for help, but with that one rapturous word, "Thou hast answered me." It is like a parting burst of sunshine at the end of a day of tempest. A man already transfixed by a buffalos horns has little hope of escape, but even thence God delivers. The psalmist did not know, but the Christian reader should not forget that the Prince of sufferers was yet more wondrously delivered from death by passing through death, and that by His victory all who cleave to Him are, in like manner, saved from the horns even while these gore them, and are then victors over death when they fall beneath its dart.
The consequences of the psalmists deliverance are described in the last part (Psa_22:22-31) in language so wide that it is hard to suppose that any man could think his personal experiences so important and far-reaching. The whole congregation of Israel are to share in his thanksgiving and to learn more of Gods name through him (Psa_22:22-26). Nor does that bound his anticipations, for they traverse the whole world and embrace all lands and ages, and contemplate that the story of his sufferings and triumph will prove a true gospel, bringing every country and generation to remember and turn to Jehovah. The exuberant language becomes but one mouth. Such consequences, so widespread and age long, can follow from the story of but one life. If the sorrows of the preceding part can only be a description of the passion, the glories of the second can only be a vision of the universal and eternal kingdom of Christ. It is a gospel before the Gospels and an Apocalypse before Revelations.
In the first strophe (Psa_22:22-26) the delivered singer vows to make Gods name known to His brethren. The epistle to the Hebrews quotes the vow as not only expressive of our Lords true manhood, but as specifying its purpose. Jesus became man that men might learn to know God; and the knowledge of His name streams most brightly from the cross. The death and resurrection, the sufferings and glory of Christ open deeper regions in the character of God than even His gracious life disclosed. Rising from the dead and exalted to the throne, He has "a new song" in His immortal lips, and more to teach concerning God than He had before.
The psalm calls Israel to praise with the singer, and tells the ground of their joyful songs (Psa_22:23-24). Here the absence of any reference to the relation which the New Testament reveals between these sufferings and that praise is to be noted as an instance of the gradual development of prophecy. "We are not yet on the level of Isaiah 53." (Kirkpatrick, "Psalms," 152). The close of this part speaks of a sacrifice of which "the humble shall eat and be satisfied"-"I will pay my vows"-i.e. the thankofferings vowed when in trouble. The custom of feasting on the "sacrifices for peace offering for thanksgiving" {Lev_7:15} is here referred to, but the ceremonial garb covers spiritual truth. The condition of partaking in this feast is humility, that poverty of spirit which knows itself to be hungry and unable to find food for itself. The consequence of partaking is satisfaction-a deep truth reaching far beyond the ceremonial emblem. A further result is that "your heart shall live forever"-an unmeaning hyperbole, but in one application of the words. We penetrate to the core of the psalm in this part, when we read it in the light of Christs words, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed," and when we connect it with the central act of Christian worship, the Lords Supper.
The universal and perpetual diffusion of the kingdom and knowledge of God is the theme of the closing strain (Psa_22:27-31). That diffusion is not definitely stated as the issue of the sufferings or deliverance, but the very fact that such a universal knowledge comes into view here requires that it should be so regarded, else the unity of the psalm is shattered. While, therefore, the ground alleged in Psa_22:28 for this universal recognition of God is only His universal dominion we must suppose that the history of the singer as told to the world is the great fact which brings home to men the truth of Gods government over and care for them. True, men know God apart from revelation and from the gospel, but He is to them a forgotten God, and the great influence which helps them to "remember and turn to Jehovah" is the message of the Cross and the Throne of Jesus.
The psalm had just laid down the condition of partaking in the sacrificial meal as being lowliness, and (Psa_22:29) it prophecies that the "fat" shall also share in it. That can only be, if they become "humble." Great and small, lofty and low must take the same place and accept the food of their souls as a meal of charity. The following words are very difficult, as the text stands. There would appear to be a contrast intended between the obese self-complacency; of the prosperous and proud, and the pauper-like misery of "those who are going down to the dust" and who "cannot keep their soul alive," that is, who are in such penury and wretchedness that they are all but dead. There is a place for ragged outcasts at the table side by side with the "fat on earth." Others take the words as referring to those already dead, and see here a hint that the dim regions of Sheol receive beams of the great light and some share in the great feast. The thought is beautiful, but too remote from anything else in the Old Testament to be adopted here. Various attempts at conjectural emendations and redivision of clauses have been made in order to lighten the difficulties of the verse. However attractive some of these are, the existing reading yields a not unworthy sense, and is best adhered to.
As universality in extent, so perpetuity in duration is anticipated for the story of the psalmists deliverance and for the praise to God thence accruing. "A seed shall serve Him." That is one generation of obedient worshippers. "It shall be told of Jehovah unto the [next] generation." That is, a second, who shall receive from their progenitors, the seed that serves, the blessed story. "They shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born." That is, a third, which in its turn receives the good news from parents lips. And what is the word which thus maintains itself living amid dying generations, and blesses each, and impels each to bequeath it as their best treasure to their successors? "That He hath done." Done what? With eloquent silence the psalm omits to specify. What was it that was meant by that word on the cross which, with like reticence, forbore to tell of what it spoke? "He hath done." "It is finished." No one word can express all that was accomplished in that sacrifice. Eternity will not fully supply the missing word, for the consequences of that finished work go on unfolding forever, and are forever unfinished, because forever increasing.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “The subject of this psalm is the deliverance of…
INTRODUCTION
“The subject of this psalm is the deliverance of a righteous sufferer from his enemies, and the effect of this deliverance on others. It is so framed as to be applied without violence to any case belonging to the class described, yet so that it was fully verified only in Christ, the Head and Representative of the class in question. The immediate speaker in the psalm is an ideal person, the righteous servant of Jehovah, but his words may, to a certain extent, be appropriated by any suffering believer and by the whole suffering Church, as they have been in all ages.”—Alexander.
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FORSAKEN
(Psa_22:1-2.)
I. Forsaken and Suffering. “Why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art Thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?” Suffering is one of the mysteries of our complicated human life. None are exempt. The voice of anguish rises towards heaven in a ceaseless wail. As there are ecstasies of joy when the soul is exalted into a state of inexpressible rapture, so there are corresponding depressions when the soul is plunged into a gulf of darkness and despair. The bitterest element in all suffering is the sense of desertion, when the lonely victim is drifting helplessly before the black, pelting storm, without a hand to help, a voice to cheer, or a light to guide! Who can fathom the feelings of the solitary sufferer of Golgotha indicated in that thrilling and mysterious cry—“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” It was “not the why of impatience or despair, not the sinful questioning of one whose heart rebels against his chastening, but rather the cry of a lost child who cannot understand why his father has left him, and who longs to see his father’s face again. What these words were in the lips of the Holy One of God, heart of man may not conceive. For a moment in that last agony the Perfect Man was alone with the sin of the world.”—Perowne.
II. Forsaken but not prayerless. “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in the night season and am not silent” (Psa_22:2). “It is as if he said, I cannot understand this darkness. It is not that I have forgotten Thee. Day and night I cry, to me there is no silence.”—Perowne. Prayer is the great resource of the troubled soul; and though deliverance does not come immediately, prayer is not abandoned. The more continuous the misery the more intense and vocal the prayer. Though the door refuse to open for weeks and months, the earnest suppliant knows he is before the right door, that there is no other to which he can go, and that erelong it must open. “The greatest pain to the troubled soul is not to be sure of the hearing of his prayers. Whoever does not give up God, even when his trouble of body and pain of soul has advanced to the highest point, soon has the experience that God has not forsaken him.”—Lange. The solitude is not so oppressive whose silence is broken by the voice of prayer. Delay increases the soul’s importunity, and importunity will succeed (Luk_11:8).
III. Forsaken but trusting. Dense as may be the darkness and acute as may be the anguish, the sufferer does not lose his hold on God. It is still, “My God, my God.” The great test and triumph of faith is witnessed in the continuance of confidence, not only in one who is absent, but in one whom we are conscious has deserted us.
1. This trust was encouraged by contemplating the holiness of the Divine character. “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psa_22:3). Throned above the myriad praises of the congregation which thank fully celebrate the many acts of Divine deliverance and redemption. The holiness of God is but another aspect of His faithfulness and mercy. The more vivid and extensive our conception of sin, the more exalted and impressive will be our view of the Divine holiness. The Redeemer of the world drew His mightiest consolation from a recollection of the holiness of God, when, in His hour of darkness and sorrow, He was brought into close and lonely contact with the enormity of human sin. “While the holiness of God is in the highest degree acknowledged and adored, the afflicted speaker in this verse seems to marvel how the holy God could forsake him, and be silent to his cries. The argument is, Thou art holy, oh! why is it Thou dost disregard Thy holy One in His hour of sharpest anguish? We may not question the holiness of God, but we may argue from it, and use it as a plea in our petitions.”—Spurgeon. “The expression, ‘Thou art holy,’ is a corroding element which must by and by entirely consume the other, ‘Thou hast forsaken me.”—Hengstenberg.
2. This trust was encouraged by recollecting the experience of God’s people in times of trouble. “Our fathers trusted in Thee,” &c. (Psa_22:4-5). Thrice “they trusted,” and only once “they cried.” It was not that God could not deliver those who trusted in Him: He had done it for those of old time. He who could deliver the sinful when they cried to Him in faith, could much more deliver the Sinless One who came to Him in innocence. A genuine trust is always succeeded by a signal deliverance. Man is often disappointed and confounded when trusting to human policy and power; but never when trusting in God.
LESSONS:—
1. The lowest level of suffering is reached when the soul is consciously forsaken of God.
2. Prayer is the most suitable exercise of the soul in the most trying moments.
3. When the soul can do nothing else it can trust in God.
THE LONELINESS OF SUFFERING
(Psa_22:6-18.)
I. Oppresses the soul with a sense of personal unworthiness (Psa_22:6-8).
1. This unworthiness is humbly acknowledged. “I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people” (Psa_22:6). The first step in a downward career is to sink in the estimation of others; the next and more fatal one is to sink in our own estimation. Pungent and continued suffering depresses the mind, and fills it with gloomy and but half-comprehended thoughts, and the sufferer is tempted to depreciate himself and all his doings. “Man is compared to a worm in Job_25:6 on account of the nothingness of his existence. The worm in the passage before us, as in Isa_41:13, serves to designate nothingness within nothingness. The reproach and the contempt are brought under our notice, not so much in themselves, as in reference to the ground on which they rest—the deep misery of the sufferer, whose condition is such that it is reckoned by all men as altogether desperate.”—Hengstenberg.
2. This sense of unworthiness renders the soul more keenly sensitive to insult and scorn. “All they that see me laugh me to scorn,” &c. (Psa_22:7-8). It is painful to endure the scornful ridicule of our enemies when we are in health and vigour, and able to repel and answer it. But when all our powers are prostrate by affliction, and we are too helpless to reply, the torture is overwhelming. Still more cruel and unbearable is it when the sufferer’s God is maligned (Psa_22:8). “This is the most lacerating kind of contempt. Because he loves God more than himself, he would rather encounter floods of derision himself, than that one drop should fall on the name of his God. The shaking of the head and the opened mouth denote mocking delight.”—Tholuck. Oh! how inexpressibly keen must have been the sufferings of the Sinless One as He listened to the revilings of those who gloated over His crucifixion! How often is it that man despises what God holds in highest esteem! If we would be true followers of Christ we must be content to bear His reproach.
II. Throws the mind back upon the thought of the Divine Care from the earliest period of life (Psa_22:9-10). He who protected and sustained us in the helplessness and perils of infancy, will not leave us to perish in the darkest and loneliest extremity. Too little do we think of the goodness of God which brought us into being, provided for every want, brightened the happy period of youth, and led us to trust Him in every emergency of life. Comfort may be found in the hour of trial by reflecting on the past mercies of God. The more conscious we become of our own impotency, the more tenaciously do we cling to the Divine arm and the more highly do we prize the smallest acts of kindness and sympathy. “I began to rail against Providence,” wrote the imprisoned Armand Charratt with the blood he had pricked from his arm, “when a messenger of mercy came to me in the form of an escaped canary-bird down a chimney of the Bastille. I kept the canary-bird, and for three years I was no longer solitary.” “God begins His care over us from the earliest hour. We are dandled upon the knee of mercy and cherished in the lap of goodness; our cradle is canopied by Divine love, and our first totterings are guided by His care. He who was our God when we left our mother, will be with us till we return to mother-earth, and will keep us from perishing in the belly of hell Faith finds weapons everywhere.”—Spurgeon.
III. Is embittered by the violence and cruelty of relentless enemies.
1. They are violent. “Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion” (Psa_22:12-13). The lonely sufferer is terrified by the fierce opposition of his enemies, who, like strong and ravenous beasts, threaten him with horrible mutilation and destruction. The wild, ferocious outbreaks of the wicked are ever a source of distress to the holy soul. One of the bitterest elements in the sufferings of the world’s Redeemer was, that He had to endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself. The sorrows of the good are met with the taunting, malicious revelry of the wicked.
2. They are cruel. “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psa_22:16). The enemies are still compared to savage animals, but the figure is somewhat different: “dogs” not only as fierce, but as unclean. We must remember that these dogs are the savage wild dogs of the East (1Ki_14:11; Psa_59:6; Psa_59:14-15).—Perowne. Jews and heathens enclosed the solitary Sufferer of Calvary, as dogs in their madness and fury close in upon the hunted stag. They pierced His hands with nails, that our souls might not be pierced with judgments. Sin is the most terrific instrument of cruelty.
IV. Intensifies the sense of utter helplessness and agony (Psa_22:11; Psa_22:14-15; Psa_22:17-18). It is impossible to find words that will depict more graphically a condition of complete exhaustion, distress, and despair, than those contained in these verses. The lonely sufferer, after referring to the cruelty of his tormentors, passes on to speak of the effects of their savage treatment upon himself. He felt absolutely friendless and alone:—“There is none to help.” As poured-out water dissolves on the ground, so his strength is dissolved: he is utterly spent. “I am poured out like water.” His bones, the support of the physical frame, are sundered and displaced, involving unutterable agony. “All my bones are out of joint. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me.” His courage fails him; the brave heart can hold up no longer, but sinks in despair. “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” The sap of life is dried up like the moisture out of a burnt-out potsherd: his misery and fevered pain exhausted his endurance and strength, as a vessel of clay is dried and burnt within a furnace. “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.” In consequence of excessive thirst and anguish, his tongue is sealed to his jaws; and he feels as one who has already entered the grave. “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” As a last act of indignity, as though he were already dead, his very clothes are stripped from him and raffled as plunder among his unpitying enemies. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psa_22:18). How all these particulars were fulfilled in the sufferings of the Son of God, is narrated in the gospels with touching simplicity and realistic power. The heaviest stroke in all suffering is that which we must bear alone. No loneliness is more oppressive, more distressing, more insupportable than the loneliness of suffering.
Learn:—
1. The weakness and vanity of man.
2. The terrible consequences of sin.
3. The only source of help in extremity is Divine.
A PATHETIC CRY FOR HELP
(Psa_22:19-21.)
I. That God is the unfailing source of help in time of trouble. “Be not Thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste Thee to help me” (Psa_22:19). Trouble is a blessing when it drives us nearer to God. The fainting victim turns away from his fierce persecutors and from his own sufferings, and fixes his eyes on God. All earthly help has its limits, but Divine help never fails. If God be distant, the darkness deepens and the sorrow too. But when the strength of Israel hastens to the rescue, the light of hope breaks in and the anguish is assuaged. From the lowest depths God hears the piteous cry of the helpless. “Prayer is the weapon with which the bars of the gates of heaven are burst open.”
II. That deliverance is implored from imminent peril (Psa_22:20-21).
1. From threatened death. “Deliver my soul from the sword: my darling”—my only one. “From the parallelism = my soul, my life. The life is so called, either because man has but one life, or because it is the most precious of all things.”—Perowne. This life was exposed to destruction by the sword; for “the sword is an individualising designation of whatever is an instrument of death.” The Lord can blunt the point of the sharpest weapon; and, at the last moment, restore the stricken one who cries to Him.
2. From the ferocity of the most pitiless tormentors. “Save me—from the power of the dog—from the lion’s mouth—from the horns of the unicorns.” Luther observes—“The rage of the furious devil is so great, that the prophet does not consider it enough to have represented it by a sharp sword, but introduces further, for the same purpose, the tearings of raging, furious dogs, the mouth of the greedy and hungry lion, which stands already open, and is ready to devour, and the dreadfully fierce wrath of the raging, terrible unicorn.” The word unicorn is from a Hebrew verb which signifies to elevate, and refers to an animal “having a high horn in its nose or front, an untameable beast, which may be slain, but cannot be taken alive. It is spoken of in Scripture in respect to its strength in Numbers 22, its untameable ferocity Job_39:9, its height of horn Psa_92:11.”—Bythner. The fury of the most violent and dreaded enemy is under the control of the sufferer’s God. He who holds the winds in His fists, whose whisper stills the angriest storm, whose look smites the most formidable hosts with paralysis, can dissipate, like foam before the breeze, the violent anger of our persecuting adversaries.
III. That the cry for help is emboldened by the recollection of past deliverances. “For Thou hast heard me” (Psa_22:21). None are so poor in blessings, but there are some periods in their past history in which they were specially impressed with the saving interposition of heaven, in answer to prayer. The soul in its deepest distress falls back upon such a well-tested experience, and gathers confidence. From this point we observe a marked change in the condition of the sufferer. From a state of abject wretchedness and despair, he rises into the apparently sudden enjoyment of a radiant hope, and calm, restful assurance. Faith, however feeble its grasp, if persevering, is certain to triumph. The past is an inspiration for the present, and a guide for the future.
A SONG OF DELIVERANCE
(Psa_22:22-31.)
At this point we detect a marked change in the tone and spirit of the psalm. Light breaks in upon the forlorn sufferer. Despair gives place to hope; and the prospect of speedy and certain deliverance animates the soul with gratitude and joy.
Observe:
I. That this deliverance was celebrated by grateful praise.
1. The theme of praise is the Name of the Great Deliverer. “I will declare THY NAME unto my brethren.” The Name of Jehovah is inclusive of all the Divine perfections; but that perfection which is more immediately exercised in effecting for us a great deliverance will naturally be most prominent in our song. The deliverance of the world’s Redeemer from His unutterable sufferings, and the consequent deliverance of humanity from the power of sin, called into play all the energies and perfections of the Divine Nature. The Divine Name, therefore, in all its depth and expanse of meaning, is the subject of highest adoration. To declare the name of the Lord is to make known what He has done.
2. The praise is offered publicly. “Unto my brethren—in the midst of the congregation—in the great congregation—before them that fear Him” (Psa_22:22; Psa_22:25). Instead of the anxious cry, which, in contrast with the praises of Israel, previously sounded from the month of the innocent and horribly tortured victim, the song of praise of the delivered, is in future to resound in the assembly of his brothers, and the whole congregation is to hear, to their own edification, the declaration of the great and wonderful things that God has done to this one who was so afflicted and utterly lost. The sufferings of the righteous are according to the Divine purpose not only to be of advantage to the present congregation but likewise to the heathen throughout the entire world.—Lange.
3. The praise is general. “All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him” (Psa_22:23). All the true worshippers of Jehovah are called upon to praise Him. True praise is characterised by profound reverence. “Ye that fear the Lord.” “Humble awe of God is so necessary a preparation for praising Him that none are fit to sing to His honour but such as reverence His word. Holy fear should always keep the key of the singing pew. Where Jesus leads the tune none but holy lips may dare to sing.”—Spurgeon. True praise is ac companied with substantial thank offerings, “I will pay my vows before them that fear Him” (Psa_22:25). The faithful promiser, who, when in trouble had vowed to offer certain sacrifices, was accustomed, after deliverance, to invite the widow, the orphan, and the poor to participate with him in the sacrificial meal (Deu_12:18; Deu_16:11) The grateful heart will praise God with a full-handed generosity, and delights to share its bounty and joy with others. The salvation of one adds to the happiness of many (Luk_15:10).
4. The praise recognises the special character of the deliverance (Psa_22:24) God esteems what others despise. The abject sufferer who sinks below the notice and help of man is never beyond the reach and sympathy of God. The recollection of the horrors from which we have been snatched, will give a colouring to the expression of our gratitude. The affliction of the afflicted, “The same word is used with Messianic reference Isa_53:4; Isa_53:7; Zec_9:9. When he cried He heard. What a contrast to Psa_22:1-2! Very remarkable is this confident acknowledgment of God’s goodness in hearing prayer.”—Perowne.
5. The praise will bring satisfaction to the most needy. “The meek shall eat and be satisfied,” &c (Psa_22:26). The gratitude of the delivered sufferer and the joy it occasions to others, are represented under the figure of a feast in which the poorest participate. The grateful and extended proclamation of the merciful works of God, especially as exhibited in the salvation of the human race, will supply the spiritual banquet for which millions crave, and for lack of which they perish.
II. That this deliverance will be the means of conferring blessing on all mankind.
1. All nations will acknowledge the supremacy of Jehovah. “All the ends of the world shall remember,” &c. (Psa_22:27-28). The heathen may have forgotten God, but they are not forgotten by Him: they may have ignored the Divine rule, but they cannot destroy it—“He is the governor among the nations.” The heathen who share in the great salvation wrought out by the suffering Messiah will gladly submit to His lordship. “It is well to mark the order of conversion as here set forth:—They shall remember—this is reflection, like the prodigal who came unto himself: and turn unto Jehovah—this is repentance, like Manasseh who left his idols; and shall worship—this is holy service as Paul adored the Christ whom once he abhorred.”—Spurgeon.
2. All ranks of men shall find happiness in the worship of Jehovah (Psa_22:29). Here the image of the banquet is resumed, the feast is provided for all, irrespective of national or personal distinctions. “All they that be fat upon the earth”—the rich and mighty; “all they that go down to the dust”—those who are so miserably starved and poor that they are ready to perish, and “cannot keep alive their own soul”—all shall sit down together at the same divinely-furnished banquet. Here all guests are poor, and God is rich for all. The Gospel shall win the homage of all nations and all classes of men.
III. That this deliverance will vindicate the Divine Righteousness to future ages (Psa_22:30-31). “His Righteousness not only as manifested in the deliverance of His righteous servant, but as manifested in all His great work of salvation, both in the suffering and in the exaltation of Christ, and also in providing the feast for all who will partake thereof. This hope of the conversion of other nations to the faith of God’s elect, was in an especial manner characteristic of the period of the return from the Babylonish captivity. The prophecies of Zechariah are full of it, and so are many of the Psalms which probably date from that period.”—Perowne. The divine conduct in the great work of Redemption will be continually celebrated. Posterity will perpetuate the worship of Jehovah; each succeeding generation will preserve and disseminate the knowledge committed to it by the generation preceding. The seed of the righteous is indestructible and ever fruitful. The true Church of God can never perish. It is said that the Baobab-tree—the largest known tree in the world—though stripped of its bark outside and hollowed to a large cavity within its trunk, has the singular power of exuding from its substance a perfectly new bark, which lines both the inner and outer surfaces of the tree. So is it with the Church of God. Though pierced and peeled and wounded by the gleaming axes of malicious enemies, it still lives and grows in irresistible productiveness, affording shelter to millions, and stretching its life-giving and healing foliage over all nations.
LESSONS:
1. Deliverance from peril should be gratefully acknowledged.
2. The world it most indebted to those who have suffered most for its benefit.
3. The influence of a good work never dies.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 (with Mat 27:46)
Psa 22:1
(with Mat 27:46)
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I. What an argument of fleshly reasoning might be wrought out of the fact that through all history nothing is commoner than for the soul of man to be intensely suffering and praying agonizingly without relief, without answer, all day and all night lifting anxious eyes to the heavens, and God and heaven in apparent indifference! Think of your observing silence towards a son or a daughter when overwhelmed with distress, and of your maintaining silence, not through one midnight, but years of midnights. And yet the lesson comes down from heaven to us, "Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them." We are compelled to answer, "O Heaven, do to us as we would desire to do to you if we were up there and you were down here."
II. The cry of the race is the cry of Jesus, and the cry of Jesus is the cry of the race. It is the cry of the best men. Only in the best of the best does the soul sufficiently recover itself to become at all aware of its situation. A few tender men in each generation, men of pure desire and loftiest aspiration, attain to the Divine distress. In the Lord Jesus the Divine-human distress reached its height, and in Him we see that the distress is a condition of the Divine-human victory.
III. If in extremity the cry of Christ was as if unheeded, shall we despair when left to suffer on and pray on without deliverance for an answer? What did Christ say? "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit." There is the example for us. I give myself up to Him that begat me. What then? The last breath of the material form. What then? Resurrection in a higher form: humanity through its wildest, blackest night, fresh from the hands of God, in the new morning of immortal hope.
IV. As soon as any member of our race perceives that the world-form of his nature is his humiliation, and the soul within him begins to suffer, because God is so far from his consciousness—these are the best evidences that we can have that his soul is advancing in regeneration and being rapidly prepared for uniting with God. God’s nearness makes him feel that the world-form of his nature is too dark, too painful, a house for him to inherit. He is on the eve therefore of exchanging houses, his earthly house for the new house which is from heaven.
J. Pulsford, Our Deathless Hope, p. 92.
I. There are feelings and instincts in human nature the very antiquity of which is a proof of their universal reality. Foremost among such instincts is the aching sense of severance between man and the Infinite Being outside and above himself. Long before the Hebrew Psalmist, Indians, and Egyptians, and savage races beyond the pale of even primitive civilisation had been, with varying accents, uttering the same lament; and Greek tragedians, and Roman Stoics, and mediaeval monks and mystics, and all the voices of modern poets and philosophers have been echoing incessantly, with however strange a dissonance, the eternal cry of humanity, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
II. It is upon this universal sense of severance that the spiritual life of Christianity depends. You may never have dreamed of saying to yourself, "My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God;" but you are athirst for finite objects, with a thirst which upon analysis will turn out to be infinite, both in quality and kind, and which therefore nothing short of an infinite object can ever satisfy. (1) Take, for instance, your desire for communion with the natural world. You desire infinite possession of, and infinite communion with, the grandeur, and the beauty, and the wonder of the world; and failing, you feel bitterly that it is your prison, and not your home. (2) It is the same with your human relations. Man will not be satisfied with family, or friendship, or acquaintance. Fresh vistas of humanity are ever opening before him, and each new friend becomes a new point of departure for the extension of his influence to a wider circle still. His motive may vary, but the instinct remains the same, and is simply the instinct to wider, deeper, more intense communion with his fellow-men. And yet, as before, its very unrest is but the measure of its failure. We are more severed from humanity than ever we were from external nature, and if the world is our prison, our fellow-men are our gaolers. (3) And so in our loneliness we look within and try to find refuge in an ideal world, but only to find schism and severance in the recesses of our inmost being. We are farther off from our ideals than even from nature and mankind.
III. All this is a fact, and a fact as universal as human experience; and Christianity, beyond other creeds, has faced and interpreted the fact. Nature, and society, and the thoughts of our hearts were created by a Person, and created for Himself; and our feelings of separation from the world and its inhabitants, and even from the inner vision of our own ideal self, are but symptoms of alienation from the Person in whom they exist.
IV. Because God is a Person, He cannot be contented with the abstract allegiance of one part of our nature. He claims our being in its wholeness, and says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." This command is, on the face of it, a paradox. But obey, give God your love, and the paradox will pass into a truism, for you will find that you possess Him in whom all things lovely have their being.
J. R. Illingworth, Sermons Preached in a College Chapel, p. 77.
References: Psa 22:1.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 106; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 149; T. Birkett Dover, A Lent Manual, p. 128. Psa 22:7.—Ibid., p. 145; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 105. Psa 22:8.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1767. Psa 22:9, Psa 22:10.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Christmas to Epiphany, p. 139. Psa 22:11.—H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 104. Psa 22:13.—J. Baines, Sermons, p. 60. Psa 22:14.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 103. Psa 22:15.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 378. Psa 22:20.—H. J. Wilmot Buxton, The Children’s Bread, p. 26. Psa 22:22, Psa 22:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 799.
Psa 22:26
I. In general this verse teaches that there is one thing even in this fleeting world which is immortal. Man wears on his forehead the crown of his regnant majesty, for his nature is undying. A soul’s state can be changed, but its nature is unalterable.
II. It is helpful to learn here that the text draws a distinction between life and mere existence. We are informed that these hearts of ours may have one of two moral states. Whichever of these is possessed as a permanent character decides destiny. The heart that seeks God enters immediately into the nearness of God’s presence, where there is fulness of joy. The heart that wilfully refuses to seek God is forced into the darkness of utter banishment from God for the unending future. To the first of these conditions the Scriptures have given the name of life, to the second death.
III. The text evidences its authority by language peremptory and plain. There are three fixed laws of human nature which, fairly working together, render it absolutely certain that our affections will survive the shock of death and reassert themselves hereafter. (1) One is the law of habit. (2) Another is that of exercise. (3) A third is the law of association.
IV. The text teaches that human immortality is quite independent of all accidents and surroundings. Human affections will exist for ever in the line of their "seeking." Whatever your heart is, it will never die.
V. Our text fixes all its force by an immediate application of the doctrine to such as are meek enough to receive it. If your heart is to live for ever, then (1) much consideration ought to be given to your aims in this life, for they are fashioning the heart that is immortal. (2) Our companionships should be chosen with a view to the far future which is coming. (3) Some care should be had concerning the processes of education by which our affections are trained. (4) If our hearts are to live for ever, it is time some hearts were changed by the Spirit of Divine grace.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 21.
References: Psa 22:26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1312; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 134. Psa 22:27.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1047. Psa 22:29.—Ibid., vol. xxii., No. 1300. Psalm 22—A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 141; J. Keble, Sermons for Holy Week, pp. 373, 380, 387, 394; E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 62; J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel, p. 42; I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 389.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 The concord of divine righteousness and grace through the…
The concord of divine righteousness and grace through the work of a Unique Sufferer.
To the chief musician, concerning the Hind of the Dawn; a psalm of David.
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{Verse 1, In both places "El", elsewhere translated "Mighty."}
The twenty-second psalm is in some respects the most remarkable in the whole book of Psalms. The absorption of the psalmist into the person of Him whom he represents is so complete that from hence arise the difficulties of interpreters,with whom the mere human element has darkened all the glory of the divine. Let the meaning of the first six verses of the psalm be really grasped, there is but One to whom it can refer: David himself is as entirely out of the question as any other. If it be the essence of atonement that is here before us, is it David or any other, save the Christ of God who could make atonement for my sins? Here to look round for any partial anticipation or suggestive circumstances is entirely out of place: the fact here is unique in human history. If the psalm be David’s, David is lifted entirely off his feet here, is taken out of all his surroundings, by the power of that Spirit who, he tells us, spake by him, and whose word was on his tongue. And this is an instructive warning, that the Spirit of God is not bound by the limits of the human instrument He is pleased to use. The New Testament applies the psalm thus in the most positive and exclusive way to the Lord Himself; and His adoption of the opening words, with the way in which these are connected in Scripture, and the connection of the psalm itself here with the surrounding psalms, all these unite to fix the interpretation in such a way as that none shall be able to take from it its rightful meaning, except as wresting it manifestly. It is a keystone in the divine foundation upon which the whole structure of truth is built; and God has taken care to have an immovable foundation.
It shows us, as already said, the very essence of atonement, the concord of divine righteousness and grace in the work of the Cross,which it is the very glory of the gospel to proclaim, but which is the result of unique suffering. The foundation of peace is laid in the lowest depths of darkness, that it may support a structure reaching to heaven itself, and giving access to God in confidence and joy of faith. May we enter into all the fullness of what is here opened to us!
The title of this psalm is noteworthy. Aijeleth Shahar, which our common version leaves untranslated, means the "hind of the dawn," a very peculiar expression, of which, apart from its context here, one might well doubt the significance. It refers, however, as Delitzsch remarks, according to traditional definition to "the early light preceding the dawn of the morning; whose first rays are likened to the horns of a hind." He adds that "there is a determination of the time to this effect, found both in the Jerusalem and in the Babylonian Talmud, ’from the hind of the morning’s dawn till the east is lighted up.’" Nor is the application which is so simple to us as Christians, strange to Jewish exposition. As Delitzsch says again, "Even the synagogue, so far as it recognizes a suffering Messiah, hears Him speak here; and takes the ’hind of the morning’ as a name of the Shechina (Israel’s glory-cloud), and as a symbol of the dawning redemption." "And the Targum recalls the lamb of the morning sacrifice, which was offered as soon as the watchman on the pinnacle of the temple cried out, The first rays of the morning burst forth.’"
Certain it is that this psalm points to the true meeting-place of the darkness and the dawn; and the added figure of the hind, while not directly speaking of sacrifice, suggests naturally the suffering of one chased by the hunters, the picture of meek innocence exposed to the fury of such persecutors as the psalm images by dogs and lions. And yet in a mystery which invites our reverent inquiry, that which is thus connected with the darkness, is no less identified with the uprise of the blessed day. How many tender and wonderful associations are there here for us! And to whom alone do they lead us as the subject of contemplation in this most precious scripture, indited by the Holy Ghost?
1. There are twenty-one verses in the first part of the psalm, which gives us the atoning work itself: a number surely significant, especially when we compare it with the thirty-six verses of the trespass-offering psalm, the sixty-ninth. The trespass-offering, as we have seen when looking at it, is the governmental offering, as the idea of restitution in it shows, and that according to a precise estimate of the injury made; and thirty-six -the number of the books of the Old Testament, or "law," -gives us, as 3 x 12 (the divine and governmental numbers), "God in government." The present psalm speaks of the sin-offering, in which the divine nature is in question, not the divine government; and 21 is naturally 3 x 7, the emphatic expression of a divine and perfect work.
It does not follow from this, however, that the subdivision of these twenty-one verses will correspond with this; and, in fact, it does not. There is much else to be expressed, as we shall find; and the minor divisions here are five in number, the verses standing respectively to these as 3.5.3.7.3; the threes guiding us to the divine aspect of what is here, as we might suppose. Every feature is perfect, we may be sure. If we are not able to discern it, let us not charge God with what is due to our shortsightedness, and nothing else.
This first division of the psalm is best characterized by one word which at the same time reveals the depth into which the Lord has descended for us, and along with this His glory who could descend there, charged with the fulfillment of all the divine counsels, with the revelation in that utter darkness of all the glory of God; standing where no foot but His could stand, and laying there the foundations of new creation, never to be disturbed; giving the creature steadfast happiness and God His rest. "Alone" He did this: in human weakness, yet in divine strength, "alone" in a place where no foot had trodden before, which none will tread again. To Him only could there be such desolation; the very height of His essential majesty made but part of the infinite horror, which no soul beside could have room for but His own. Let us bow our heads -let us challenge the deepest reverence of our hearts -while we gaze but at the outside of that into which we can never enter, even within but its outer margin; which it is the glory of His work to have made it impossible for us ever to enter.
(a) In the first three verses the meaning of what follows is declared to us: the nature of the suffering as distinguishing it from all other; the cause of it. The Sufferer Himself puts and answers the question, Why is this? And it is strange, indeed, how little has been understood of what is so clearly put before us. Yet not to understand it is to miss the full meaning of atonement itself. The cry here the Lord made His own, as all know, in the hour of His agony upon the Cross, a time exceptional wholly in its character, and not to be confounded with any other in His earthly history. Nowhere else was He the sin-bearer. Not thus in that blessed life of His, which such a shadow would have changed how sorrowfully for us, did He stand in our place, our Substitute, but "bare our sins in His own body on the tree." (1Pe 2:14.) Surely, one would imagine, this for Christians scarcely could need statement, much less emphasis; and yet it does need. For what does it mean or imply, this bearing of sin? Joy, peace, communion, the light of God’s countenance? Or darkness, agony, the awful horror of being "made a curse"? Could these things go on together? Or are they so near akin that one could be confounded with the other?
Here, then, from lips that could not possibly mistake, and in the hour of His greatest need, when rejected, scorned, abused, crucified by man, He needed all the enjoyment of that favor of God, in the sense of which He had walked continually; -here, in the presence of those who in the malice of their hearts were saying, "There is no salvation for Him with God": here, beyond their uttermost thoughts, as if to justify all that they had done against Him, is His own testimony that God had forsaken Him! Yet He had said beforetime to His enemies, And He that sent Me is with Me; the Father hath not left Me alone: for I do always the things that please Him." (Joh 8:29.) Now was the time which He had seemed to have before Him then: they had with bold and insulting hands "lifted up the Son of Man" (ver. 28); they had, as it were, with their judgment pronounced upon Him, offered Him up to God for His ratification of their deed. "Let Him deliver Him," they said, "if He will have Him": and the heavens had darkened, not (as, after all, they had dreaded) in anger against them, but, as His own voice now interpreted it for them, in sign that God had forsaken Him!
Yet the voice asked, "Why?" Did He expect, then, some answer from that God who had forsaken Him? But answer had not come: they at least heard none. Still the awful burden hung upon the tree. He had saved others: yes, they knew that! Nevertheless now the hands hung powerless. He could not save Himself. Yet why could not He who had saved others save Himself? Had they not some interest in that unanswered question of His?
They might have turned back to this twenty-second psalm, and found the answer: He had left the key in the lock, where they (and we) might find it. But it is true that God had forsaken Him: the Mighty One; His Mighty One; and power there was not on His side. Plenty of power against Him, and the battle was not to be gained by might at all. Yet it was the crisis of the conflict which had been going on incessantly, ever since man fell away from God. Here was the battle of battles, the sum of all battles, -the strife between good and evil in its fiercest. And here, too, was once more the good apparently prostrate, defeated, heaven uttering no sound, blood flowing again like Abel’s (if so much better than Abel’s), which had cried so long unavenged.
But here triumph is defeat: the rule of the battle, "they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Goodness is to conquer by submission and without encouragement; -conquer, not with extraneous aid, but by itself as goodness simply; trusting in a God who gives no sign.
Power can do nothing here for another reason, and a deeper one. Power can create a world or a universe; it cannot cancel sin, cannot act as if God were indifferent to sin, cannot take up the sinner and justify him, or bless him while unjustified. Power in God cannot act, nor love act, as if these were His sole attributes, or could act alone. If God act, He must act with all that He is; nay, if He justify, here it is for righteousness to pronounce: it is its place to do so; questions of righteousness can only be settled by righteousness, and it is written, "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to Jehovah." (Pro 17:15.)
But thus the cry goes up, even from the lips of a Job, -a wail which has no answer: "How shall man be just with God?" (Job 9:2) Here One, standing in the place of men, cries with like result. In this awful place heaven is sealed to Him: there is no answer, nor escape from the full exaction of penalty. This is in effect Job’s question, though taken up by Another, who, if there be escape, will surely find it. The conflict is real; the agony is intense: to find no way but that the cup must be drunk forces from Him the sweat as it were of great drops of blood, and an angel has to come from heaven to strengthen Him. But to strengthen Him for what? Only to go forward from the "day" in which still He could cry "Abba, Father!" into the awful "night" beyond. Even in the garden already, as to the drinking of the cup, He cried and was not heard; and the cross also, as we know, had its "daytime" as well as its "night," when the darkness fell upon it. And there no angel comes! No habitant of heaven comes into the "void" of that "raging deep," where out of darkness light is to be made to shine, but as yet is no ray of it.
There is no answer from God: who else, then, can give it? Listen! It is His own voice amid the still unrelieved darkness, -His voice giving answer to Himself, and proclaiming God in that desolation where He is not, and justifying Him in that awful abandonment which is the supreme agony of His soul.
"But Thou art holy!"
This, then, is the answer "why": it is not something apart from this; it is not what remains true, spite of there being none. It is the answer itself; the solution of the mystery; that which gives intelligence as to what is here, and alone gives any proper intelligence. It is because of the holiness of God that Christ is in that darkness of which the "darkness over all the land" is but the external sign. It is because "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look at iniquity" (Hab 1:13); and because upon Him who is here the true Sin-offering has been laid the iniquity of us all. Thus, and thus alone, it is that He "dwelleth amid the praises of Israel": these two things together more clearly reveal the deeper reality here than the blood on the mercy-seat on the day of atonement did for Israel bow the tent of meeting could remain among them in the midst of their uncleanness (Lev 16:16). Yet here is what corresponds, as is plain, with this.
How blessed to think of this lone Sufferer in the outside place contemplating the worship of glowing hearts with which God should encircle Himself forever! Here was Job’s question answered for faith forever: man blessed, God glorified for evermore. How plain that only One could fulfill the meaning of this psalm; as only One could stand in the place which is indicated by it.
(b) But the nature of this place is further to be made plain, and put in contrast with any other, that any; of even the comparatively righteous among men, had ever occupied. "Our fathers trusted in Thee," the Voice goes on: "they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them." There was no similarity in this forsaking of God to the experience of any in times before this. "They cried unto Thee and were delivered; they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded." Yet it had been no strange thing for faith to have its martyrs. If being forsaken of God simply meant the being given up to death at the will of their enemies, there was an abundant record of such martyrs, those "of whom the world was not worthy." To reduce the cross of Christ to this is simply to take out of it that which constitutes true atonement. If this were being made sin," then not a martyr that ever died but was made sin -or a sin-offering -also. For it is not here a question of the dignity of the Sufferer, but of the place in which He suffered, and this the psalm itself affirms to be perfectly and utterly exceptional. Just this being forsaken of God was for Him the unspeakable difference.
Exceptional it was not for man to suffer and die. Every form of death that one can imagine, perhaps, man has undergone. "But I," says this unique Sufferer, "am a worm, and not a man": gone down to a depth far below that of any man whatever. The word (tolaath) applies especially to the coccus from which the scarlet dye of the tabernacle was obtained, of course by its death: in that way, how significant of the One before us! But only as suffering under the judgment of sin could this be true of Him: indeed the word is used (Isa 1:18) for the color of sin, and that of a heinous kind; and thus the application is still clearer: "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2Co 5:21.)
No act of man could make Him sin for man, -no suffering from men could make atonement with God: that was what was wrought by what passed between. God and His burdened soul within that curtained chamber, never to be penetrated by any foot but His, and from which no cry emerges but that one pregnant one, the meaning of which is here revealed as far as may be for the satisfaction of our conscience and the adoring worship of our hearts. What man wrought could only naturally bring judgment upon man. What He wrought with God, and God through Him, brings out from the smitten Rock the river of divine, omnipotent grace.
The "reproach of men" pursued Him into this place which He had taken for men, "despised" even "of the people" (Israel) to whom specially He had been sent. Yea, He was the common mockery of all who saw Him. The gospels distinctly note this wagging of the head on the part of those passing by, and the very words of the psalm used by the chief priests with the scribes and elders in their derision of Him. Outwardly it would seem as if it were the government of God that furnished them with this reproach: in fact it was their hardness and unconsciousness of their own desert, as well as of the holiness and mercy of God, which blinded them to the meaning of the scriptures they were so manifestly fulfilling.
(c) Three verses now show us the inmost heart of the Sufferer, and bring us back to the anguish above all others that He is experiencing. From His birth as Man, God has been His sufficiency and strength. Continuously He has been dependent upon Him. Now in the time of His sore distress, it is for Him that His soul craves. Perfect dependence upon the All-sufficient God: this is the perfection of manhood, and the absolute guarantee of an unstained and spotless life. What leads astray but our own wisdom? What is sin but the working of our own wills? If dependence upon Him were complete, for care, for guidance, for all good, what room would there be for evil or for error? Clearly it would be impossible. Faith, then, is the great work, of necessity; working by love which is implied in confidence such as this. And here was One in whom faith and love were in full possession everywhere, to whom God was all, and who, not having Him, had nothing. Yet in the hour of His distress He cried, and got no answer.
{Verse 10, Eli, "my Mighty One."}
(d) We have now, in seven verses, the completeness of His suffering at the hands of man. As to it all, though we may go over it and give, as it were, the items, who can estimate the reality for Him who had not His like in capacity for sorrow, as for apprehension of all that can exist in the human heart? Yet this, after all, was not even part of the peculiar agony which really characterizes the psalm of atonement. Nothing here enters into the cry with which it begins: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
We are called first to realize the strength of the adversaries. They are bulls, with their horned front and reckless rush; strong beasts fed up on the fat pastures of Bashan, -men whom "fullness of bread" had filled with pride and insolence. That Caiaphas, the Sadducee, the unconscious prophet, inspired consciously only with the instinct of self-preservation, yet with eyes as dull to eternity as keen to present things, was a type of many more like this. How these would eye this Man of another sphere and another law, so unintelligible to such as they were! And if He were this to them, how terrible indeed would they be to Him, so fallen as they were and debased, that from being men they had become mere beasts of pasture!
But the figure changes, and we have instead of the bull the lion. The bull will crush what is in its way or toss out of it; but the lion devours. It is the picture of strength, but along with this of ferocity and rapaciousness, -"like a lion tearing and roaring." His enemies pursue him with a wrath that will be satisfied with nothing less than His destruction. There is a specific hatred toward Him, the opposition of those, not blind, but who "have both seen and hated both Himself and His Father."
And He who meets all this, in what condition is He to endure it? He is come from the agony of the garden; He is facing the worse agony of the Cross. Their "hour" is that of the "power of darkness," and of the forsaking of God. What strength can there be to oppose, when the Father’s hand itself is giving Him the cup? His "heart is melted like wax" in the sacrificial fire of wrath against sin.
Thus His strength fails, His tongue cleaves to His jaws: He is as one already in the dust of death, but in fact alive to realize it, and that it is the hand of God. God, and not man, has placed Him where He is.
Then there is the exercise resulting from the floods of iniquity permitted to assail Him. How perfectly man was revealed in the presence of the Cross! "dogs," heartless, shameless, unclean and offal-feeding, hunting in packs like "the assembly of evil-doers" here: gathered by the spectacle of distress unequaled, for which they had no pity, and from which there was no escape: hands and feet pierced, nailed with insufferable agony to the tree of shame!
{Verse 17, I do not find it easy to characterize this verse according to number, while yet I believe the divine sense of what is here is truly expressed by it. It unites closely with the next verse, while yet distinct. Compare the notes.}
Exposed -every bone to be counted -to such eyes as these, that gaze and stare and blench not: not ashamed in the presence of their Judge and Maker. Parting among them the garments they have stripped from Him, and casting the lot -in Israel sacred to Jehovah (Pro 16:33) -to decide the ownership of that seamless priestly robe which marks Him as what He is, "the Mediator between God and men," upon whom all the blessing of man depends. But this is, of course, to make the Gospels interpret the psalm, or at least give fullness to the interpretation. Does it not, however, answer well to that final number which stands opposite the verse, -this complete stripping of Christ, in the very insanity of passion and unbelief, of all that shows Him to be and to be qualified to be -man’s tender and compassionate Saviour?
The meaning of the priestly robes has been elsewhere looked at. (Exo 28:1-43 notes.) But on the day of atonement it was not in the garments of glory and beauty, but in the simple white linen robe of unstained purity, that the high-priest entered the holiest of all. So Christ, in the power of His own perfection, (tested and brought out in the awful place to which He stooped for man) entered the heavens, never to be closed henceforth for us. Was it not, in fact, then, a sign of the most solemn character, men divesting Christ of His raiment, holding Him up thus stripped to the scorn of men? And what more suited to the deed than as it were taking the lot which belonged to God -the sign of His sovereignty even in what man calls "accident" -to dishonor and degrade with it Him for whom God had decreed the highest honor?
Thus the story of the human side of the Cross ends. Man has told himself fully out in it. What more, alas, could be said of him?
(e) Thus all has been gone through before God, and it is seen, indeed, how the high-priest enters the holiest in the white seamless robe of perfect righteousness. The time is come for hearing that hitherto unheard prayer; and He is "heard," as it is expressed in the epistle to the Hebrews, "for His piety." (Heb 5:7.) He has gone into the place of utmost probation under the burden and penalty of sin not his own, resigning Himself into the hands of God to suffer according to His will what none beside Himself could suffer. We are permitted to hear now His final appeal to God, and to rejoice in His announcement of the answer, which was made upon the Cross and recorded for us in the gospel of John, where (as in Matthew and Mark the cry of abandonment shows the Lord’s entrance into the darkness), the words "It is finished" show His emergence from it. Righteousness now claims His deliverance from the place, where God has been glorified by unfailing obedience on the part of Him who went into it for others, and for the glory of God Himself. "God has been glorified in Him; and if God be glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will straightway glorify Him." (Joh 13:32.)
After the words that speak of the exhaustion of the special "cup," He has indeed to die: for death is part of that which is upon man, which it is given Him by submission to it to lift off. This also is necessary, therefore, for atonement to be complete. But, for His soul, what is death, when He can once more cry, "Father," and commit His spirit in peace to Him? -when He can Himself now take power into His hands again, even in dismissing it?*
{*The expression in Matthew is really "He dismissed (apheke) His spirit" (Mat 27:50). See for the comparative place in atonement of death and wrath-bearing, and the way the New Testament speaks of these, the notes on the sin-offering, Lev 4:1-35 (vol. 1, p. 289-291).}
Once more, then, in this psalm, the appeal is made: "But Thou, Jehovah, be not far from Me!" After all that man has done or can do, and without making light of this, (though it be for man himself that this is so unutterably grave), still Where is God? is the question of questions. To this, therefore, He returns, pleading that God, His strength shall appear in His behalf Power He refused for Himself to save Him from this place; "by might can none prevail" when in it. But the victory reached, power at last comes to be necessarily and fully on the Victor’s side. "Rescue my soul from the sword; my only one from the power of the dog." This is the deliverance in full, for it involves all else, though it be the outward enemies that are contemplated. "My soul," as we see by its use elsewhere (Num 23:10), is the equivalent in Hebrew of "myself," and "my only one" answers to it in the parallel, though some would give it as "my solitary one," and see in it another reference to what is indeed the controlling thought in all this first part of the psalm. Outcast, however is the Speaker to be no longer: He has been tried to the utmost; He has committed Himself and all that with which He is identified into the hands of God; the decision is to be from Him; all power is with Him: now from the very horns of the aurochs He is answered.
2. The first part of the psalm is ended: the work is completed, and accepted by God as complete. Blessed be God, He who was alone in the sorrow is not alone in the joy that springs from it: He will never be alone again. The corn of wheat for this has fallen into the ground and died. We are now to see the fruit of it: God’s grace is to flow out in widening circles, and the knowledge of the Lord to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. In what follows there seem to be three parts: in the first, the Lord is in the midst of the congregation,which at first that of a remnant, widens into the nation of Israel, revived and converted to God; in the second, the "great congregation" gathers in from the whole world. In both there utters itself the voice that cried once in forsaken sorrow and was not heard; while the joy that fills all hearts, and the praise that goes up to God on every side spring out of the blessed fact that at last He was heard. The work of the Spirit to maintain the truth, and a generation for the Lord as the fruit of it, is given in the third part.
(a) In the time of His bitterest distress we have learned how the Lord’s heart still could turn to the thought of Jehovah dwelling amid the praises of His people, and we remember that the day of atonement, which is so linked with this precious psalm, emphasizes the same thing. It is no wonder, therefore, that now, immediately His prayer is heard, He is found declaring Jehovah’s Name among His brethren, and praising in the midst of the congregation. The apostle John it is who gives us the beginning of this in the message entrusted to Mary Magdalene and His after appearance among the gathered disciples. Suited it is that a woman should be the first to have made to her the glorious announcement of His resurrection and its results: "Go and tell my brethren that I ascend unto my Father and unto your Father, and to my God and your God."
Here is relationship established and the Divine Name declared; declared in relationship, the name of Father, with just that necessary distinction preserved between Himself and His people, -"my Father and your Father," not "our Father," which reminds us of His infinite glory who has been pleased to take us into such kinship with Himself, while it intimates also that it is through Him that this place is given to us. Here is the value of His work told out, and in terms which embrace all the people of God, although saints of the present period are the "first-born ones" (Heb 12:23) in this relationship. Blessed it is to know that the greatest blessings are also the widest: just like fresh air and sunlight which, from God’s side at least, are free to all. And so the apostle argues that "both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Heb 2:11.) How sweet and wonderful to be of the number of those of whom, because of their origin, He is "not ashamed"!
The "assembly" here, as being an assembly of this character, has had no fulfillment, except in Christian times. In Judaism there was no gathering of such a nature: the children of God were scattered abroad by the necessity of a legal system which could give no nearness to God in that it could purge no conscience, give no abiding-place to the worshiper before God. Under the new covenant, however, Israel will be an assembly of this character, an assembly of righteous ones in which the ungodly shall no more stand; and to Israel now the psalm goes on. Those who have but "feared" Jehovah hitherto are now to praise Him, all Jacob’s seed to glorify Him, all Israel’s seed to reverence Him. For the way of the Lord is being prepared after Isaiah’s manner, -the mountains leveled, the valleys filled. The lowly are to find wondrous exaltation; and the very grace of God is to make Him feared. Blessed, indeed, is the self-abasement produced by the knowledge of the marvelous salvation of the Cross. And so it must be: he who treats this grace lightly can but lightly know it.
For this is, indeed, the subject-matter of this song of praise. It is the song of those who have learned the mystery of this strangely afflicted One, and have found in His afflictions the judgment of sin before a holy God; yet have found, too, in the answer of God to Him the way discovered by which the righteousness of God is declared, and His love at the same time made known. Christ risen was, in fact, this answer; and the gospel now to go forth to the ends of the earth. Christ risen and exalted is now the Revealer of God in His full glory, -all the "glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(b) Israel brought thus to God, her fruit has the seed in itself for the nations of the earth. The grace shown to her is "life from the dead" to these. Thus the glorious Voice is heard in a wider sphere. The "great congregation" of millennial nations becomes the sphere in which Christ fulfills His "vows" of glorifying Jehovah. Yet we cannot but notice that there are lacking apparently the fullness and intimacy of that first declaration of Jehovah’s Name which takes place within the smaller circle. Nor is it difficult to account for this. Israel will be entirely a congregation of the righteous, as we have so often been assured; but we have been equally assured that such will not be the condition of the nations beyond. With many here there will be still but a forced semblance of worship, -obedience rendered because it dare not be withheld; sin will be restrained, and yet not banished; and the final outbreak,when Satan is let loose, will be a terrible one.
Hence not yet can there be an unchecked flow of blessing, such as eternity has in store for all the redeemed. And the words here seem to indicate a certain lack of response, as a whole, which acts necessarily as a restraint upon the communications of His love: "I will make good my vows before them that fear Him."
Yet there is abundant blessing for those who do respond, while its limitation to a certain character -always, of course, true is yet here insisted on with an emphasis which is obvious. "The humble shall eat and be full; they shall praise Jehovah that fear Him." The reference is, doubtless, as Delitzsch observes, to the peace-offering which accompanied vows; and here Messiah’s vows furnish forth, indeed, a royal banquet upon which, in communion, the humble feed to fullest satisfaction. "Your heart shall live for aye," becomes thus the assurance of the Entertainer to the guests, -an assurance full of blessing.
And this is the voice of recall to man, so long a wanderer: "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Jehovah: and all the families of the nations shall worship before Thee." And so shall come the universal kingdom, the creature in the creature-place with God, -just to keep which is perfect blessing.
For this the pride and self-satisfaction of man may well come down: "the fat upon the earth have eaten and worship." What are they, apart from Him, but "those going down to the dust"? and on account of which He went Himself to the grave: He "who did not preserve alive His own soul."* This joy and worship of men under condemnation, and who owe their all to His blessed work, is indeed a recompense of love like His, -"the fruit of the travail of His soul."
{*An interpretation which Pridham says "is due, I believe, originally to Mr. Boys."}
(c) The closing part here shows the provision God has made for the perpetual preservation of this upon the earth. Alas, be the work all that it really is, and its fruit ever so necessary and glorious for men, yet except there be a corresponding work of the Spirit, and in sovereign power, there will be no effect. But God has purposed to glorify His Son, and that He should be the Firstborn among many brethren. The announcement of this suitably ends the psalm of atonement. "A seed shall serve Him: it shall be counted to the Lord for a generation." Literally, "the generation": that, I suppose, which is indeed such: a people begotten of God, although the full expression of that thought waits for the New Testament. But they are reckoned as His: He owns them such; and with them it lies to maintain the testimony of the grace they have experienced: "they shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall be born, because He has done this."
This again comes very near the language of the New Testament. The apostle Paul it is that has taught us that a central truth of the gospel is "the righteousness of God." It is this which the sinner dreads, which the gospel reveals to be for him through the work of the Cross. The righteousness of God as against sin that Cross proclaims (Rom 3:25-26); and equally as against a world that knows not the Father, by His being taken out of it, to be seen by them no more. (Joh 16:10.) But this involves the answer of the psalm before us, and the acceptance of that work to fulfill which He hung upon the tree. And thus Divine righteousness it is that has a gospel for us. (Rom 1:16-17.) Justification can be by righteousness alone, and the justification of the ungodly only by penalty in fact endured. (Rom 3:21-24.) Then, Christ dying for the ungodly, the acceptance of the sinner on the ground of this is really righteousness: "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2Co 5:21.)
Thus the psalm of atonement, though it comes too early for God to speak fully out, touches in its closing strain the very keynote of the gospel.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Ps. has two sections, in the first of…
The Ps. has two sections, in the first of which (Psa_22:1-21) the writer earnestly seeks God's help in a time of extreme trouble, while in the second (Psa_22:22-31) he breaks into a song of thanksgiving and praise. The trouble is caused by strong and relentless enemies who scorn his trust in God, and persistently threaten his life. The thanksgiving is remarkable for its anticipation of the worldwide acknowledgment of God that is to follow the Psalmist's deliverance. The last-named fact has led some to the view that the Ps. describes a national rather than a personal experience, while the use made of it in the NT. has caused others to regard it as wholly prophetic of the sufferings of Christ. There seems to be a real personal element in the Ps., but at the same time the writer as a righteous sufferer has a representative character, and his words have a partial fulfilment in the experiences of the faithful remnant in Israel, and a complete fulfilment in those of Jesus Christ, which axe the supreme type of righteous suffering leading to the establishment of a universal kingdom of God. The contents of the Ps. explain its use on Good Friday.
Title.—(RV) 'Set to Aijeleth hash-Shahar' (the hind of the morning); probably the name of some well-known song, to the melody of which the Ps. was intended to be sung.
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1. The opening words (in the Aramaic form) were quoted by our Lord on the Cross (Mat_27:46). It has been supposed that He repeated the whole Ps., and that the remainder was drowned in the tumult and jeers of the mob.
2. And am not silent] RM 'but find no rest.'
3. The praises of Israel] which have deservedly surrounded God in the past, and which He will not cease to deserve by ceasing to deliver His people. The thought is expanded in Psa_22:4, Psa_22:5.
6. This v. describes the Psalmist's humiliation in terms similar to those used of the suffering Servant of the Lord in Isaiah (Isa_41:14; Isa_49:7; Isa_52:14; Isa_53:2-3).
7. shoot out the lip.. shake the head] gestures of contempt and hatred.
8. These very words were used by the priests in mockery of our Lord as He hung on the Cross (Mat_27:43).
12. Bulls.. strong bulls of Bashan] suggesting the strength and aggressive rage of the Psalmist's enemies. Bashan was the N. part of the region E. of the Jordan, and was a rich pasture land.
15. The parching effects of a fever supply another metaphor for the Psalmist's trouble.
16. Dogs] which haunt Eastern towns and villages in savage and cowardly packs—fit emblems of the Psalmist's fierce and yet contemptible foes. They pierced my hands and my feet] The reference is still to the dogs, who snap at the exposed parts of those whom they attack. The singular coincidence between this v. and what was done at the Crucifixion is not noted in NT. They pierced] taken from LXX and Vulgate. Other versions read, 'they bound.' Heb. has, 'like a lion': see RM.
17. I may tell all my bones] i.e. count them all. They are visible through his emaciated flesh. The words may be either a literal or a figurative description of the writer's miserable state.
18. The conduct of his enemies is that of robbers. The application of this v. in Joh_19:24 is well known.
20. My darling] RM 'my only one,' my precious life. From.. the dog] cp. Joh_19:16.
21. Thou hast heard me] a sudden conviction of faith which gives a new tone to the rest of the Ps. Unicorns] RV 'wild-oxen.' In this and the preceding v. the figures of Joh_19:12-13, Joh_19:16 (bulls, lions, dogs) are repeated.
22. These words are put into the mouth of Christ in Heb_2:12.
26. The meek] the afflicted righteous, like the 'poor' and the 'humble.' Eat and be satisfied] in the meal which accompanies their sacrifice (Lev_7:16), or to which they may be invited by the Psalmist when he presents his thankoffering.
Your heart shall live] RV 'let your heart live,' the writer's prayer for his sacrificial guests.
27-30. These vv. extend the circle in which God is to be praised. It includes all the inhabitants and rulers of the earth, and all the generations to come.
29. They that be fat, etc.] RV 'the fat ones of the earth,' the mightiest rulers. Eat and worship] join in the sacrificial feast. Or perhaps the words mean 'shall worship Him alone.' They that go down to the dust] all mortal men, perhaps specially referring to the kings of the earth with their transient glory.
None can keep alive, etc.] Read with LXX (joining this clause with the beginning of Psa_22:30) 'and as for him that could not keep his soul alive, his seed shall serve Him' (Jehovah). The weakest and most distressed will leave a posterity to praise God.
30. It shall be accounted, etc.] RV 'It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 Aijeleth Shahar
Aijeleth Shahar
Or, Ay-ys-leth Shachar, "hind of the morning," a title, not a musical instrument.
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My God, My God
Psalms 22, 23, , 24. form a trilogy. In Psalms 22, the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep Joh 10:11, in Psalms 23 the great Shepherd, "brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant." Heb 13:20 tenderly cares for the sheep; in Psalms 24, the chief Shepherd appears as King of glory to own and reward the sheep 1Pe 5:4.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 22
Psalm 22
The Sufferings of Christ and the Glory That Follows
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1. The suffering (Psa 22:1-21)
2. The glory (Psa 22:22-31)
Psa 22:1-21. In many respects this Psalm is the most remarkable in the entire book and one of the sublimest prophecies in the whole Bible. The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow are here wonderfully foretold. The inscription mentions A yeleth Shahar, which means “the hind of the morning.” Jewish tradition identifies this hind with the early morning light, when the day dawns and the rays of the rising sun appear like the horns of the hind. The eminent Hebraist Professor Delitzsch, makes the following remark: “Even the Jewish synagogue, so far as it recognizes a suffering Messiah, hears His voice here, and takes the hind of the morning as a name of the Shechinah, and makes it a symbol of coming redemption.” And the Targum recalls the lamb of the morning sacrifice, which was offered as soon as the watchman on the pinnacle of the temple cried out, “The first rays of the morning burst forth.” All this is very suggestive. The inscription also tells us that the Psalm was written by David. “We know, however, of no circumstances in his life to which it can possibly be referred. In none of the persecutions by Saul was he ever reduced to such straits as those here described” (Perowne). David’s personal experience is all out of question. He speaks as a prophet, such as he was (Act 2:30) and the Spirit of God useth him to give one of the completest pictures of Christ, His suffering and glory, which to David must have been a mystery, so that with other prophets, he searched and enquired as to its meaning. (See 1Pe 1:10-12). Our Lord in uttering the solemn word with which this Psalm begins in the darkness which enshrouded the cross gives us the conclusive evidence that it is He of whom the Psalm speaks. The Spirit of God equally so in Heb 2:11-12 shows that it is Christ. And the glory-side of this gem of prophecy proves fully that none other than the Christ of God is meant.
The precious, blessed, unfathomable work of the sin-bearer on the Cross and its far reaching results in blessing and glory is here unfolded to our faith, as well as for our joy and comfort. The heart of the atonement occupies the foreground, not the physical sufferings, but the suffering He endured from the side of God, when He made Him who knew no sin, sin for us. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”--But Thou art holy! That is the answer to the “Why?” And when the blessed One was thus forsaken, and faced as the substitute of sinners the holy, sin-hating God, He finished the work, the work which enables God to be just and the justifier of all who believe in Jesus. “It is finished!” was His triumphant shout, expressed in the Greek by one work--”tetelestai.” And our Psalm ends with a similar word--”He hath done”--the Hebrew word “ohsa” expresseth the same thought-it is finished.
Still more astonishing are the details of His physical sufferings, which were all so minutely fulfilled on Calvary. Here we find foretold the piercing of hands and feet, the excessive thirst He suffered, the terrible agony by hanging suspended, every bone out of joint; the laughter and hooting of his enemies, the very expressions they used surrounding the cross are given here, and the dividing of the garments and casting lots over them and other details are prophetically revealed. And to this must be added another fact. Crucifixion was an unknown method of death in Jewish law. Among ancient nations the Roman penal code alone seems to contain exclusively this cruel penalty; Rome evidently invented it. Yet here this unknown death penalty is described in a perfect manner. What an evidence of divine inspiration!
And the critics, how they have tried to explain away this great prophecy! And they are still trying to explain it away. Some apply it to Hezekiah; others say it may describe the sufferings of Jeremiah; still others say it is the Jewish nation. And some try to make it out as being only coincident that the Hebrews had such a piece of literature and that one of their own, Jesus of Nazareth, made such an experience. Surely these infidels are fools, for only a fool can adopt and believe such a method of reasoning against these conclusive evidences of revelation.
Psa 22:22-31. The deliverance of the sufferer comes in with the twenty-first verse. Thrice He calls for help. “Haste Thee to help Me”--”Deliver my soul from the Sword”--”Save me from the Lion’s Mouth.” Then we hear of the answer: “Thou hast answered Me from the horns of the wild-oxen.” He was surrounded by the dogs (Gentiles) and the assembly of the wicked (Jews) as mentioned in verse 16, but now God has answered Him. The sufferings are ended and the glory begins. The horns of the wild-oxen denote power; the power of God answered Him and raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. We therefore behold Him at once as the risen One with a great declaration. “I will declare Thy name unto my brethren.” And thus He spake after His passion and resurrection, “Go and tell my brethren that I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” This brings out the first great result of His finished work. It is the Church, His body, brought into this definite and blessed relationship with Himself. In the midst of the congregation (the Church) He sings praises. He is in the midst. “For both, He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee” (Heb 2:11-12). And then the circle widens. Israel too will praise Him, all the seed of Jacob will glorify Him. The ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord. All the kindreds of the nations will worship Him. He will receive the kingdom and the glory. Thus this Psalm, which begins with suffering, ends with glory, a glory yet to come for Israel and the nations of the earth.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Messiah in His Great Passion.
The Messiah in His Great Passion.
A Prophecy of the Messiah’s Suffering.
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To the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, that is, "Of the hind of the dawn," a psalm of David. The words "Of the hind of the dawn" refer either to the melody or chant according to which this psalm was to be rendered, or they summarize the contents. As the hind is the emblem of the hunted soul panting for deliverance, so the dawn pictures the deliverance which follows the dark night of misery and wretchedness. In the humiliation of His great Passion, Christ was like the hind; in the exaltation following His overthrow of the enemies of mankind the rich beauty of the eternal morning dawned over Him.
v. 1. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Here the speaker, the Messiah, speaking through the prophecy of His servant David, plunges immediately into the midst of His bitter cry of anguish which marked the climax of His suffering on the cross. Prophecy and fulfillment come together here; we are taken fully a thousand years into the future to Calvary, the Mount of Suffering. There it was that Christ cried out these words, as He felt the damnation of hell closing in upon Him, Mat 27:45-46. It was not only the fatherly love of God, His heavenly Father and King, which had been withdrawn from Christ in those terrible hours of unspeakable suffering, but His very goodness had likewise forsaken Him. Without the slightest comfort and consolation He endured the tortures of the damned. So unfathomably deep was that suffering that the Messiah Himself felt constrained to ask, Why? The counsel of God; with which He had from eternity declared Himself in complete harmony, was, for the time being, hidden from His consciousness. And yet He clings to God as to His God and Father, His cry of excruciating misery thereby proving the almighty call of victory wherewith the Messiah conquered hell and all its hosts. Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? Rather, Far from My help are the words of My roaring. The Messiah’s heartrending cry over His being forsaken by God is here explained and further extended. The cry of His pain and torture assumed the nature of a roaring; it rose up on high, during an eternity of agony, without, however, bringing Him help.
v. 2. O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. There was no rest, no easement, no repose, for the suffering Messiah; He must drink the cup of God’s anger to its very dregs.
v. 3. But Thou art holy, and His holiness is acknowledged by the Messiah even in the depths of His suffering, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel, praised in all of Israel’s hymns of thanksgiving, magnified by all true believers.
v. 4. Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them, showing His mighty deliverance time and again.
v. 5. They cried unto Thee and were delivered, they escaped the threatened danger, the attacks of the enemies; they trusted in Thee and were not confounded, they did not harbor vain hopes when they placed their trust in Jehovah. But the Messiah is constrained to cry out, by way of contrast,
v. 6. But I am a worm and no man, He is like a worm which has been stepped on and winds back and forth in pain; He no longer resembles a man, a human being, His sufferings being more than human nature could endure; a reproach of men, and despised of the people, heaped with shame and contempt during the entire period of His suffering.
v. 7. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn, making Him a target of their blasphemous mockery, Cf Luk 23:35; they shoot out the lip, in a grimace conveying their contempt; they shake the head, wagging it in a gesture denoting their doubt as to His being in His right mind, saying,
v. 8. He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him, literally, "Roll it upon Jehovah," jeeringly urging Christ to cast His troubles upon the Lord; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him. That was the bitter, blasphemous irony and mockery which the Jews flung at Christ there on Calvary’s mount, taunting Him with being a cursed criminal, forsaken of God.
v. 9. But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb, the unshaken trust of the Messiah in the God of His salvation appearing here; Thou didst make Me hope, causing Him to trust with full confidence, when I was upon My mother’s breasts, in earliest infancy.
v. 10. I was cast upon Thee from the womb, from His birth; Thou art My God from My mother’s belly, His heavenly Father’s care having enveloped and kept Him during His entire life, thus giving Him evidence that He was His God, His highest and most precious Treasure. Note that the human mother of Christ is referred to four times in this passage, and it is remarkable that in the entire Old Testament a human father is never mentioned or suggested, only a mother, Isa 7:14; Gen 3:15. The fact that God is still His God causes the Messiah once more to turn to Him with an imploring cry.
v. 11. Be not far from Me, for trouble is near, a most terrible distress was threatening; for there is none to help, no human being, no creature, to bring Him relief. Instead of finding helpers among men in the world, the very opposite holds true.
v. 12. Many bulls, numerous and dangerous enemies, have compassed Me; strong bulls of Bashan, the rich meadow country northeast of Gilead, have beset Me round, threatening Him from all sides.
v. 13. They gaped upon Me with their mouths, stretching them wide open, in order to tear Him to pieces, as a ravening and a roaring lion. Both the Jews and the arch-enemy of Christ are here included in this description.
v. 14. I am poured out like water, His life is in the process of dissolution as the result of all these sufferings, and all My bones are out of joint, due to the torture of the cross; My heart is like wax, from the agony and terror of His soul; it is melted in the midst of My bowels.
v. 15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, all his vitality having left Him; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws, in the agony of burning thirst from which He suffered on the cross; and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death, laid there by God, in accordance with the eternal counsel concerning man’s salvation. Both the Jews and the heathen would have had no power over Christ if it had not been given them from above; the death of Christ took place by the will of God.
v. 16. For dogs have compassed Me, as the Messiah, in resuming His complaint, cries out; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet, digging through them with the nails which fastened Jesus to the cross.
v. 17. I may tell all My bones, for He was so wasted away with suffering that every bone was to be seen; they look and stare upon Me, partly in indifference and partly in hatred.
v. 18. They part My garments among them and cast lots upon My vesture, Luk 23:34; Joh 19:23-24. Such were the indignities that were heaped upon the Lord. Therefore He cries out once more:
v. 19. But—be not Thou far from Me, O Lord, remaining at a distance; O My Strength, haste Thee to help Me, speedily coming to His assistance.
v. 20. Deliver My soul from the sword, from the murderous weapons, from the instruments of torture; My darling, His precious life, from the power of the dog, the low and mean tormentors.
v. 21. Save Me from the lion’s mouth, Satan himself being referred to here; for Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns, the wild oxen representing all His fierce enemies. The Messiah is so confident that God will hear Him that He states, Thou hast heard, Thou hast answered Me. All the forces of evil, the very powers of death, could not keep Him in subjection. It is the Christian’s great comfort that Christ suffered willingly, that He endured all the sufferings laid upon Him to the end, to the time when He knew that redemption had been gained, that all was finished.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 9, 11 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship"
The rhythm of the deer
This may refer to a style of music.
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
My God, my God
The writer repeats "My God" to emphasize that he is desperate for God to hear him.
my God, why have you abandoned me?
The writer uses a question to emphasize that he feels like God has abandoned him. It may be best to leave this as a question. It can also be translated as a statement. AT: "my God, I feel like you have abandoned me!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
you abandoned me
"you left me all alone"
Why are you so far from saving me and far from the words of my anguish?
Again the writer uses a question to emphasize that he feels like God is far away from him. It may be best to leave this as a question. It can also be translated as a statement. AT: "You are far from saving me and far from the words of my anguish!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
far from the words of my anguish
The writer feeling like God is not listening to him is spoken of as if God were far from his words of anguish. AT: "why do you not listen when I speak to you about the anguish I feel" or "I have told you about my suffering but you do not come to me" (See: Metaphor)
in the daytime ... at night
The writer uses the words "daytime" and "night" to mean he prays to God all the time. (See: Merism)
I am not silent
This can be stated in positive form. AT: "I still speak" (See: Litotes)
translationWords
psalm
David
God
save
word
cry
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12 Ps 22 All previous laments pale in comparison with…
Ps 22 All previous laments pale in comparison with this outcry against the enemy and God’s abandonment. The psalm contains two main sections: the lament (22:1-21) and praise for redemption (22:22-31), which leads naturally to Ps 23. The apostles saw in this psalm an expression of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, who ultimately fulfilled the purpose of David’s humiliation, rejection by people, and divine abandonment (Matt 27:35, 39, 43, 46; Mark 15:34; John 19:23-24, 28; Heb 2:12).
22:1-21 The psalmist alternates between reflections on his present dire circumstances and memories of the Lord’s past faithfulness; he ends with a prayer for rescue.
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22:1-2 A deep sense of alienation from God overwhelms the psalmist (see 10:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.