Psalm 22 Commentary
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
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KEY THOUGHT: You have answered Me. [Psalm 22:21b NKJV]
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Psalm 22 NKJV
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
To the Chief Musician. Set to [a]“The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.
22 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They [b]shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He [c]trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They [d]gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted [e]within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They[f] pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My[g] precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you [h]descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the [i]nations
Shall worship before [j]You.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to [k]the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Footnotes
a. Psalm 22:1 Heb. Aijeleth Hashahar
b. Psalm 22:7 Show contempt with their mouth
c. Psalm 22:8 LXX, Syr., Vg. hoped; Tg. praised
d. Psalm 22:13 Lit. have opened their mouths at Me
e. Psalm 22:14 Lit. in the midst of My bowels
f. Psalm 22:16 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT Like a lion instead of They pierced
g. Psalm 22:20 Lit. My only one
h. Psalm 22:23 Lit. seed
i. Psalm 22:27 Gentiles
j. Psalm 22:27 So with MT, LXX, Tg.; Arab., Syr., Vg. Him
k. Psalm 22:29 Death
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Psalm 22 Commentary
Crucifixion. What else? The unanswered prayer of the LORD Jesus Christ to have the cup of suffering waved, the mocking, the dividing of clothes, and the insults of the unbelievers. It is an appropriate distraction imposed by the messianic message to the original context.
We cannot be wrong. In reality, the original is here, in the Garden of suffering and at Calvary. David is a shadow seed holding on to the scepter until the rightful owner comes. Regardless, we can only increase, and not reduce, as we look at the original from the image that the LORD appropriately provided. David is that image.
He is in real trouble. He cannot reconcile the fact of God’s care and his present circumstances. Why have you forsaken me? David feels the pressure of apparent abandonment. This cannot be part of the script! His ancestors had been here before. The LORD delivered them when they cried out to him. So David becomes confident.
For the LORD 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.
The transition in usage from the future tense to the present tense is very interesting. David started his prayer by crying out to the LORD over what he thought was abandonment. He ends the prayer with the declaration that the ‘LORD has done it.’
At the start of the prayer, his account is empty. Midway, there is the confidence that his account will be credited. By the end of the psalm, not only has his account been credited, but also his deliverance becomes common knowledge to all. The future generation will look to this very moment and praise the LORD for it.
This is an important function of prayer. The LORD changes the tense of our problems. They become past events. The saint who begins his prayer session in tears often leaves the throne room smiling, wondering what the fuss was all about. The problem is no longer there.
By looking at the realities to which this psalm pointed, as recorded in the Gospels, we now understand why the saint walks away smiling. Angels come and attend to the saint. They bring comfort and encouragement, strength and courage, and above all, peace, regardless of what the LORD says about the cup.
We also understand that eventually, all of it comes out good as the Creator God works through time and space.
This psalm parallels Isaiah 53 but is told from the suffering Servant’s point of view. While Isaiah 53 is a complex combination of voices, observers and the LORD, Psalm 22 contains the voice of the suffering Servant.
It is beautifully arranged to underline the outcome of the Servant’s suffering! Verses 27 and 28 sum it all.
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