A Psalm of David Commentary by Dennis Edwards
Psalm 22 is another
one of those extremely prophetic psalms. The psalm cannot be construed to
describe an event in the life of David, or of the nation of Israel. However,
the psalm specifically foretells the crucifixion of the Messiah some 1000 years
before the event took place and certainly before the Romans had mastered the
art of crucifixion.
Jesus Himself just before His
death cries out from the cross with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have You
forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46. He’s quoting from the psalm and
experiencing the very events and emotions pictured within it. David is,
therefore, prophesizing “beforehand (of) the sufferings of Christ and the glory
that should follow,” 1 Peter 1:11.
22:1 My God, my
God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the
words of my roaring?
Jesus, the Messiah, had
experienced a close fellowship with His Father throughout His earthly human
life. Suddenly, in order to make His sacrificial suffering complete, God had to
stop the communication He kept with His Son. He had to let Jesus die the death
of a sinner, and feel abandoned and far from God.
Psalm 22:2 O my God, I
cry in the day time, but You hear not; and in the night season, and am not
silent.
Jesus is experiencing that
anguish of heart we have also experienced when we pass through the deep waters
of some problem or difficulty, and do not feel the presence of God. As a
results of Jesus’ experience, “we have not a high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin,” Hebrews 4:15. Jesus knows our suffering,
because He likewise has suffered, and therefore, is a compassionate high priest
willing to intercede for us that our prayers may be answered.
Psalm 22:3 But You are
holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel.
If the psalm is indeed the thoughts of the Messiah during His
Passion, we see that even on the cross, Jesus was praising God in His heart.
Psalm 22:4-5 Our fathers
trusted in You: they trusted, and You did deliver them. They cried unto You,
and were delivered: they trusted in You, and were not confounded.
Jesus is reminding the Father and Himself how God had been
faithful to deliver His children who trust in Him. Jesus is looking to God for
deliverance, for salvation.
Psalm 22:6 But I am a
worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
We read in the prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus was “despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely, He
has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted,” Isaiah 53:3-4.
Psalm 22:7-8 All they
that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head,
saying, He trusted on the Lord that He
would deliver him: let Him deliver him, seeing he delighted in Him.
We find similar imagery in the gospel of Matthew 27:41
& 43, “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes
and elders, said, … He trusted in God; let Him deliver him now, if He will have
him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”
Psalm 22:9-10 But You are
He that took me out of the womb: You did make me hope when I was upon my
mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from the womb: You are my God from my
mother's belly.
Jesus’ birth and childhood were supernatural. By the time He was twelve,
He was ready to be about His Father’s business, but submitted unto His flesh
parents until about the age of thirty.
Psalm 22:11 Be not far
from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Jesus continually calling to the Father for help while on the
cross.
Psalm 22:12 Many bulls
have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Some believe that the “bulls of Bashan” represent the demonic
spiritual forces that control the nations, as a result of the fallen angels
from Genesis 6:4 who disobeyed God and had sexual intercourse with
humankind. Jesus could therefore be experiencing an intense spiritual battle as
these demons attack Him spiritually and mentally. Those demons would also
inspire Jesus’ enemies to taunt Him, deride Him, etc, as we see in the next
verse.
Psalm 22:13 They gaped
upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
The devil is the roaring lion who goes about to devour and
destroy. The devil thought he was having a hay-day at the time of the crucifixion.
He must have been leaping with glee as Jesus’ body died the cruel and
humiliating death on the cross. However, Apostle Paul informs us that had Satan
and his Bashan buddies known that Jesus was in fact offering Himself as a
perfect sacrifice for the sins of man and the sin of Adam, “they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory,” 1 Corinthians 2:8.
Psalm 22:14 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.
Here we see the effects of crucifixion on Jesus’ body. We see the water accumulating around the heart to later pour forth when the soldier pierces it. In the
Passion of Christ, Mel Gibson’s film, the actor who played Jesus dislocated his
shoulder during the crucifixion scene.
Psalm 22:15 My strength
is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have
brought me into the dust of death.
An accurate description of Jesus on the cross as He died.
Psalm 22:16-18 For dogs
have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my
hands and my feet. I may tell (count) all my bones: they look and stare upon
me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Apostle John makes mention of the dividing of Jesus’ raiment in
his gospel. “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his
garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also, his coat: now
the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore
among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be:
that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They parted my raiment among
them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the
soldiers did,” John 19:23-24.
Psalm 22:19-21 But be not
far from me, O Lord: O my
strength, hasten to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from
the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for You have heard me
(and) from the horns of the unicorns.
We see Jesus praying to His Father for deliverance from His
spiritual enemies symbolized by the sword, the power of the dog, the lion’s
mouth, and the horns of the unicorn.
Psalm 22:22 I will
declare Your name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I
praise You.
Jesus had prayed for His disciples before His Passion and had
asked His Father to keep them. Jesus talked to His Father, thus: “I have
manifested Your name unto the men which You gave me out of the world; Yours
they. were, and You gave them (to) me; and they have kept Your word…O righteous
Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known
that You have sent me. And I have declared unto them Your name, and will
declare it: that the love wherewith You have loved me may be in them, and I in
them,” John 17:6, 25-26.
Psalm 22:23-24 You that
fear the Lord, praise
Him; all you of the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you of the
seed of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the
afflicted; neither has He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, He
heard.
We are called to fear, praise, and glorify God. He will hear the
prayer of the afflicted. Even though it didn’t seem to our eyes that God heard and
answered Jesus’ prayer from the cross, nevertheless, in the spiritual plane God
did answer him.
Psalm 22:25-26 My praise
shall be of You in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that
fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever.
God promises that those that seek the Lord shall find Him and
shall praise the Lord. The meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves
in the abundance of peace during the days of the Millennium reign of Christ on
earth. There will be eternal life for those that confess with their mouth the
Lord Jesus, and believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead, Romans
10:9. Those that believe and obey shall live forever and ever.
Psalm 22:27-29 All the
ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before You. For
the kingdom is the Lord's: and He
is the governor among the nations.
During the Millennium kingdom Christ shall reign. Every knee shall
bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord of lords, and King of
kings.
Psalm 22:29-31 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. A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted
to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His
righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He has done this.
We who have received Christ are the seed of Abraham by faith and
have inherited the promises made to the Fathers. As ambassadors of Christ, we
are sent with the seed of His word to plant that seed in the hearts of mankind,
that others too may know and follow the One true God and Jesus Christ His Son.
Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be saved? Call upon Him
today. He’s just a prayer away. “Call upon Me, and I will answer you,” Jeremiah
33:3a. “And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me
with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.
Originally published January 22, 2025
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