Psalm 22 This a lament psalm and messianic psalm written by David, who acted like a prophet telling of the coming crucifixion of Jesus. There were many instances in the life of David where he might write such an agonized poem. Before and after taking the throne of Israel, David lived in seasons of great danger and deprivation. The words of Peter (Acts 2:30f) are applicable here: “David, being a prophet … he foresaw and spoke of … the Christ.”
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8“ He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you f I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
SECTIONS:
- The Psalmist’s Hopelessness (22:1-10). (Agony of the Forsaken one)
- The Psalmist’s Prayer (22:11-21).
- The Psalmist’s Testimonies and Worship (22:22-31).
What two metaphors are used to describe the enemies?
What times did God save the Israelites or David in the past?
How many times can you think of that God saved you in circumstance (your job, marriage, health, life,etc)?
How is the bodily sufferings described?
What things did the enemies do that were literally fulfilled at the crucifixion of Jesus?
What will David do in response to God’s deliverance?
What does David tell the people to do?
What does David say will happen in verses 25-31?
Coffman’s commentary
Things foretold here, as far as we know, never happened to any other being who ever lived except the Jesus. And the worldwide blessings mentioned in the second section subsequently come from the death of the Sufferer in the first part of the psalm. This cannot be attributed to anyone other than Christ. The words are free of any consciousness whatever of sin with no hint of confessing wrongs; no call for vengeance against enemies, only unfaltering trust and faith in God. This is utterly unlike David or any other human being who ever lived. This indicates no human being, but the Lord. This magnificent psalm is a predictive prophecy of the Christ’s crucifixion.
blueletterbible.org Note: the difference in interpretation from Coffman’s is that Coffman doesn’t believe David experienced any of what is mentioned in psalm personally, but that this was a purely a prophetic psalm from David. Also there since this site uses many different commentaries some people refer only to David and some only to Jesus or the Forsaken One. It can be confusing when reading. But many prophetic passages can be like this-referring both to present or future at the same time.)
While this Psalm may have been true of King David in his life experience, it’s even truer of Jesus than of David. Jesus chose these words to describe His agony on the cross (Matthew 27:46). It appears Jesus was meditating on this psalm during his suffering and saw his crucifixion as a fulfillment of this Psalm. (Boice)
Why have You forsaken Me? The Forsaken One seems bewildered; “Why would My God forsake Me? This agonized cry of Jesus are some of most intense and mysterious descriptions of what He experienced on the cross. Jesus had known great pain and suffering (both physical and emotional) during His life. Yet He had never known separation or alienation from His Father. There was a significant sense in which Jesus rightly felt forsaken by God the Father.
On the cross at that moment, God regarded His Son as if He were a sinner. Paul wrote “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus endured the withdrawal of the Father’s fellowship and the Father’s wrath upon Him as a substitute for our sin. (Spurgeon) Horrible as this was, it fulfilled God’s good and loving plan of redemption.
At the same time, we cannot say that the separation between the Father and the Son at the cross was complete. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:19: God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself at the cross. We can imagine the answer to Jesus’ question: Why? “Because My Son, You have chosen to stand in the place of guilty sinners. You, who have never known sin, have made the sacrifice to become sin and receive My just wrath. You do this because of Your great love, and because of My great love.”
The Father gave Jesus a glimpse of His reward – the righteously-robed multitude of His people, “all of them singing their redeemer’s praise, all of them chanting the name of Jehovah and the Lamb; and this was a part of the answer to his question.” (Spurgeon)
Prior to the cross Jesus lived every moment in conscious fellowship with God, with a continual dependence upon the help of both the Father and the Spirit. At the cross, Jesus felt helpless, and it seemed that the Father was so far from helping Him.
“But You are holy:” The present crisis would not allow doubts as to the holiness or greatness of God. Whatever he did not know in his present situation, there were things that he did know. “Our fathers trusted in You…They cried to You, and were delivered”. God had answered and delivered many times before. This added measures of both comfort and despair. Comfort, knowing that he cried to the same God who had delivered before and who could deliver again. Despair, because God now seemed distant and silent.
But I am a worm, and no man: The intensity of the conflict made the Forsaken One feel ignored and insignificant. The low standing he had in his own eyes and in the eyes of others simply added to his agony. How could the Lord of glory be brought to such abasement. What a contrast between ‘I Am’ and ‘I am a worm’!” (Spurgeon) He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, down-trodden worm and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him. (Spurgeon) He was a reproach of men, and despised by the people. Cruel men mocked Jesus in His greatest agony.
“He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him”: If this psalm is David’s experience than his misery multiplied at those who mocked and misunderstood his agony. They used it all as an excuse to call into question his relationship with God, as did the friends of Job. It was as if they said, “It seemed that he trusted in the LORD, but we all know that they LORD rescues those who trust in Him.”
Jesus identified with the opening words of Psalm 22 with His great cry from the cross (Matthew 27:46). His scornful made a mockery of him on the cross. Matthew 27:43: He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now….Any true faith of ours will almost certainly be mocked at some time or another. There is often ignorance and cruelty from those who oppose God and His people. But the time will come when a man of faith will be justified.
The awkward and strained position of the crucified man meant that one could say, “My bones are out of joint.” David didn’t know crucifixion in his day, but he described the physical agony of it with the accuracy of a prophet. Based on John 19:34 Jesus suffered from a ruptured heart, making the words “My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me” amazingly specific. “My tongue clings to My jaws” It was normal for anyone under the agony of crucifixion to suffer great thirst, as Jesus did.
They pierced My hands and My feet: Perhaps David referred to wounds he received in struggling against these determined enemies; perhaps he wrote purely prophetically. But hundreds of years before the Romans adopted the Persian practice of crucifixion, the prophet David described the wounds of crucifixion that Jesus would bear.
I can count all My bones: In John 19:31-37 the soldiers break the bones of the two thieves but not of Jesus. This is like the Passover lamb in Numbers 9:12 (NLT) where the Israelites are told “They must not leave any of the lamb until the next morning, and they must not break any of its bones.”
They look and stare at Me: On the cross Jesus was the focus not only of mocking and humiliation (Matthew 27:39-44, Mark 15:29-32), but also of astonishment. One the centurion said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54) Luke noted, the crowd who gathered together to witness that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned (Luke 23:48).
“They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” This was literally fulfilled in the experience of Jesus. As was the custom of that time, Jesus was stripped naked or nearly naked for the cross, and soldiers gambled (cast lots) for his clothing at the foot of the cross. (John 19:23-24 and Matthew 27:35)
“I will declare your name” This shows the primary reason Jesus went to the cross: to glorify and obey His God and Father. Some of God’s people automatically associate all affliction with God’s disfavor. It’s true that sometimes affliction may come as punishment (for the unbeliever) or as discipline (for the believer). Yet sometimes affliction is something God uses to good effect in the lives of His people. The second reason Jesus went to the cross was out of love for those who would believe on Him and His saving work, and turn to him. You and I were in Jesus’ thoughts at the very moment of his death. It was for you and me explicitly and for our salvation that he died. (Boice)
The Apostle Paul wrote that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
bible-studys.org
We find in this psalm, the loneliness that Jesus felt when all had abandoned Him. We know that even Peter denied Jesus when he felt he might be crucified with Him. The whole world may abandon you when terrible trouble comes, but God is always there. God did not abandon Jesus. This suffering of the cross had been part of God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus, of His own free will, lay His life down for all who are His followers. John 10:17 “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” No one takes the Lord’s life, He gave His life. John 10:18.
My reflection on Psalm 22
I’ve always been amazed how this psalm is a prophecy fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross. When I first started studying all the prophecies in the bible about the coming of Jesus, his life, and his death, this particular one stood out to me. I wondered how people could read this and not see how Jesus was the coming Messiah for which the the Jews had long hoped.
Part of the verses really resonated with me, “you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” The reason it resonated with me is because for so long I believed I was worthless and not wanted. The question I’d keep asking myself when I feel so unwanted by my mother was “Why was I ever born?” There was no answer. But as Jesus helped heal my view of him and of myself, I came to see I had value in God’s eyes. In psalm 139:13-14 it says, “For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.…” What a beautiful picture of God’s plan for me even before I was born! All the things I think are good with my life and all the things I think are sad or bad are still planned for a purpose. It’s God perfect working in my life to bring me to him and grow me in faith. Just like Father had a plan for his Son Jesus. It didn’t look very good at the time. It seemed terrible, but look how it turned out. Oh for faith to trust God’s plan for my life even when things look so terrible and hopeless at times. But I will declare with this psalm the truth of God’s word- He brought me out of my mother’s womb. He made me trust in Him. He has been my God. What a mighty and wonderful God we serve!
SONG: I will worship you alone; In Christ Alone, What the Lord has done in Me,