[ Home | Table
of Contents | Previous Page | Next
Page | Back Issues | Complete
Index ]
For the director of music.
To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning".
A psalm of David.
1My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2O my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
3Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One;
You are the praise of Israel.
4In You our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and You delivered them.
5They cried to You and were saved;
in You they trusted and were not disappointed.
6But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8"He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.
Let Him deliver him, since He delights in him."
9Yet You brought me out of the womb;
You made me trust in You even at my mother's breast.
10From birth I was cast upon You;
from my mother's womb You have been my God.
11Do 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.
13Roaring lions tearing their prey open
their mouths wide against me.
14I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
You lay me in the dust of death.
16Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
19But You, O Lord, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22I will declare Your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise You.
23You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
Revere Him, all you descendants of Israel!
24For He has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
He has not hidden His face from Him
but has listened to His cry for help.
25From You comes the theme of my praise
in the great assembly;
before those who fear You will I fulfil my vows.
26The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the Lord will praise Him--
may your hearts live for ever!
27All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before Him,
28for dominion belongs to the Lord
and He rules over the nations.
29All 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.
30Posterity will serve Him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn--
for He has done it.
As the inscription says, this is "a psalm of David". And though David was no doubt describing a personal situation of his--one of the many times he cried out to God during one of his many trials--he ended up, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writing a vivid, prophetic picture of Christ on the cross. The prophetic picture so overshadows the contemporary situation, and is of so much more interest to us, that it is difficult to focus on anything but it. And so we will concentrate our study on the psalm's application to Christ.
Many allusions prove Christ to be the subject of this psalm: the cry from the cross (vs. 1), the derision of men (vss. 6-8), God's special care at Christ's birth (vss. 9-10), the physical suffering of the cross (vss. 14-15), the piercing of Christ's hands and feet (vs. 16), the dividing of Christ's garments among the guards (vs. 18), Christ's ultimate victory (vss. 19-31). And so, who could deny that this is primarily a psalm about Christ on the cross: not only about the suffering of the cross, but also its victory. "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."[Footnote #5] This psalm has been appropriately called "The Gospel according to David."
This psalm can be viewed as Christ speaking from the cross. The first verse cites words that Christ actually spoke aloud from the cross: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (see Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). The last verse of this psalm mirrors Christ's last words: "It is finished" (John 19:30). In the first half of the psalm, Christ prays concerning three afflictions on the cross: the forsaking of Christ by God (vs. 1-5), the despising by men (vs. 6-11), the physical suffering of the crucifixion (vs. 12-21). In the last half of the psalm, Christ looks ahead to the victory of the cross (vs. 22-31)
1My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2O my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
3Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One;
You are the praise of Israel.
4In You our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and You delivered them.
5They cried to You and were saved;
in You they trusted and were not disappointed.
The psalm begins dramatically with the cry from Golgotha: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" This is the cry of Christ from the cross: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). The question that Christ asks is one that many through the ages have asked: if Christ was the Son of God, why was He forsaken by His Father and allowed to die on the cross? Those of the world expected different things from the Son of God: "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (I Cor. 1:22-23). Christ crucified is a stumbling block for those who do not understand the magnificent plan of God, "but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [crucified is] the power of God and the wisdom of God" (I Cor. 1:24).
Indeed, the answer to Christ's question, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"-- I say, the answer to this question is the heart of the Gospel, the theme of the New Testament, and the basis of Christianity. Christ went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. In order to pay the penalty, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Cor. 5:21). Now, God is holy, so if Christ was made "to be sin for us", He necessarily had to, at that time, be forsaken by God. "Christ was innocent and holy, kept the law and perfectly pleased His Father, yet when He took the place of sinners, assumed their guilt and bore their punishment, then the wicked of earth and hell were let loose upon Him, His friends hid as it were their faces from Him, and even His Father left Him without succor from the tormentors, and worse than all without His own comfortable presence. He felt the dreadful sting of sin, the sword of justice, the fire of wrath."[Footnote #6]
This is something difficult for us to understand. How could Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, be forsaken by His Father, the First Person of the Trinity? We, as humans, do not understand the mechanism for such an event, but we take on faith that Christ was forsaken and suffered for our sins on the cross. For our sakes, God "did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32); Christ was forsaken so that we need not be.
This was the spiritual pain of the cross: the forsaking of Christ by His Father, whom He had been with for eternity. This was painful to Christ, possibly even more painful than the physical pain. Thus, Christ groaned and cried out under this pain "by day" and "by night".[Footnote #7] The groaning and crying out shows that Christ did suffer on the cross. Through Christ's suffering, we learn the hatred God has for sin, the depravity of sin, the sinfulness of sin, the judgment sin deserves.
Though He is forsaken, Christ is confident of His relationship to His Father, thus He says: "My God, My God. . . Oh My God." His use of this phrase declares His trust in His Father, even though He is on the cross. Christ does understand why He is on the cross: "Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One" (vs. 3). As we have mentioned, God is holy; Christ when taking on our sin could not remain in the presence of the One "enthroned as the Holy One."
Christ also knows of the goodness of God, and His deliverance of the fathers of Israel. "You are the praise of Israel. In You our fathers put their trust; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried to You and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed" (vss. 3-5). They were delivered through praise, prayer (as "they cried" to God), and especially "trust...trust...trust" (see vss. 4-5). We would do well to follow their example, especially as we face affliction. When in dire straits, remember God's past dealing with His people, those who "trusted" in Him.
6But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8"He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.
Let Him deliver him, since He delights in him."
9Yet You brought me out of the womb;
You made me trust in You even at my mother's breast.
10From birth I was cast upon You;
from my mother's womb You have been my God.
11Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near and there is no-one to help.
The second affliction enumerated by Christ on the cross in this, His prayer, is the scorn and derision of Him by men: "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people." Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, reached the depths of humility. "So trodden under foot, trampled on, maltreated, buffeted and spit upon, mocked and tormented, as to seem more like a worm than a man."[Footnote #8] Christ, who truly gave nothing but love to all He met, undeservedly felt more than any of us the derision of men. "Never was any child of God before Christ under so much misery as Christ was Himself: His own heavens, His own Father, His own Godhead, did hide their face and consolation from Him: our sins willingly taken on Him, and God's wrath pressed the weight of punishment with the full power of justice, both upon His soul and body: those for whom He died despised Him; He Himself being emptied of all things which make men respected to the world, and depressed lower than ever any man was, as a worm to be trod upon, He was made a matter of common talk and reproach in all men's mouths; set at naught by the basest of the people; derided and scorned in His most holy behaviour; sport and matter of laughter was made of His sufferings; malice feeding itself with pleasure upon His pain and misery, and expressing itself with the basest signs of disgrace which disdain could devise, for flouting of Him mocking of His saving doctrine, and faithful testimony given unto it; insulting over Him, as if He had been neither God's Son, nor an honest man; and all this was counted little enough for satisfaction to justice, exacting of Him, as the due punishment of our sins, whatsoever is imported in the sad expression `But I am a worm and no man'."[Footnote #9] And sadly, Christ in a large part still is scorned and despised by men.
The derision of Christ increased as His physical suffering increased. We see the greatest amount of mocking when Christ is naked and hanging on the cross. This shows the depravity and cowardice of men: they mocked Him when He was in a seemingly state of helplesseness. Matthew describes the constant derision: "Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, `You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!' In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. `He saved others,' they said, `but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, "I am the Son of God."' In the same way the robbers who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him" (Matt. 27:39-44). The scornful shout of "Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" must have been especially painful for Christ, because, if He wanted, Christ could have indeed come down from the cross. He chose to stay on the cross, taking up our sins, because of His great love for those who were mocking Him.
David prophesies the mocking of Christ: "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: `He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him'" (vss. 7-8). The mockers demonstrate their misunderstanding of God, and reflect a misunderstanding of God that many have. They say: "How can there be a God with so much suffering in the world?" However, the existence of suffering does not negate the existence, or even the love of God. God's own Son suffered greatly for higher ends than the mockers could understand. And so also, we in this world suffer, at times, for ends that we do not always understand. Little did the mockers know that Christ's death would mean the eventual end of all mockers and all enemies of Christ. Little did they know that God still delighted in Him, and that His death would mean His eventual reign, His kingship, His right to be Master of the World and Lord of the universe.
Christ could bear the mocking and derision of men while He was on the cross, because He knew that His Father loved Him: "Yet You brought me out of the womb; You made me trust in You even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon You; from my mother's womb You have been my God." (vss. 9-10). Why should we care about the derision of men, if God is on our side? Christ remembered God's special care for Him in His birth and infancy: the virgin birth, the trek to Bethlehem, the sending of the Magi, the singing of angels, the worship of shepherds, the visitation to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt. And God's special care in His birth into this world foreshadowed His victory over death in His resurrection.
12Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13Roaring lions tearing their prey open
their mouths wide against me.
14I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
You lay me in the dust of death.
16Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
19But You, O Lord, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
The third affliction enumerated by Christ on the cross in this His prayer is the physical suffering of the cross. He describes the perpetrators of the suffering: "Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me" (vs. 12). The "bulls" and the "lions": the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Roman Guard; the "bulls" and the "lions": strong, fierce, proud, cruel; the "bulls" and the "lions": all out for the blood of Jesus.
In verses 14 through 17, we are given a graphic, vivid, and moving description of Christ's physical suffering on the cross. Interestingly, not the gospels, but the Old Testament contains the most graphic descriptions of the agony of Christ's physical suffering on the cross (mainly here in Psalm 22, and in Isaiah 53). While reading this, who cannot maintain a reverent silence at such a description?:
* "I am poured out like water" - Physically, Christ had been emptied. He had been drenched in sweat and blood as He endured the forty lashes, and the hanging on the cross.
* "All my bones are out of joint." - Hanging under the full weight of His body for so long, His bones would slowly come out of joint; or, possibly, many bones came out of joint from the jolt as the cross with the hanging body was thrust into the ground.
* "My heart has turned to wax, it has melted away within me" - In such pain, one becomes aware of all the bodily functions: every strained breath, every pump of the heart, as the blood seemingly runs thicks.
* "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth" - Second only to the body's craving for air to breathe, thirst when deprived of water is an extremely strong craving. Thus, extreme thirst is unbearably uncomfortable. Christ's thirst was due to many things, among them, the loss of blood and bodily fluids during the devastation of His body prior to and during the crucifixion, and the exposure of His naked body to the elements. Christ is recorded to have cried out: "I am thirsty." (John 19:28). To quench this thirst, our Lord was given vinegar: hardly satisfying.
* "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me" - In His pain, Christ had to endure the endless taunts of the onlooking mob; depraved men, "dogs", who watched the crucifixion for sport.
* "They have pierced my hands and my feet" - An amazing prophecy, given that crucifixion was not even invented until hundreds of years after David wrote this. The piercing of Christ's hands and feet was excruciating, given that the wounds had to support the full weight of His body.
* "I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me" - His bones could be counted in two ways: by Christ Himself as, in His pain, He was aware of every bone; by the onlooking mob, as they could see each and every bone protruding from the emaciated body.
* "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." - Another amazingly accurate prophecy. This event is described in all four gospels (see Matt. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23). It is enumerated here with the other elements of suffering because it intimates that Christ was entirely naked upon the cross. Christ gave all to redeem us: He humbled Himself entirely, He gave His life, He died a humiliating death, His body hung unclothed in front of the derisive mob.
This was the suffering of our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior; suffering that by all rights should have been ours. To appreciate the love of our Lord for us, we should, painful as it is, meditate on His suffering.
In verses 19 through 21, Christ prays for strength and deliverance from His Father. Deliverance would come, but not as the world would define deliverance: Christ did not come down from the cross. Rather, Christ was delivered in concert with God's will, delivered into the Lordship of the universe. He receives the presence of mind to bear the suffering, while looking ahead to the victory of the cross, as we shall see in the next section.
22I will declare Your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise You.
23You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
Revere Him, all you descendants of Israel!
24For He has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
He has not hidden His face from Him
but has listened to His cry for help.
25From You comes the theme of my praise
in the great assembly;
before those who fear You will I fulfil my vows.
26The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the Lord will praise Him--
may your hearts live for ever!
27All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before Him,
28for dominion belongs to the Lord
and He rules over the nations.
29All 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.
30Posterity will serve Him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn--
for He has done it.
Christ is given strength and, because of "the joy set before Him", is able to "endure the cross, scorning its shame" (Heb. 12:2). Indeed, the suffering of the cross is never very far from the good news of the Gospel. We have in these verses a marked transition, an abrupt change of attitude, as the pain of the cross is drowned out by the hope of the resurrection. Christ knows He will live, and looks forward to the "joy set before Him", which for Christ is the worship of His Father and declaration of the good news: "I will declare Your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise You" (vs. 22). The writer of Hebrews points out the significance that Christ calls us His "brothers" (see Heb. 2:10-18). Certainly, this shows the great love Christ has for us, that He can call "brothers" those who crucified Him.
All this is a great impetus to worship the Lord. As Christ exhorts: "You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him! Revere Him, all you descendants of Israel!" (vs. 23). Again, we are to "praise", "honor", and "revere" the Lord. And why? "For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from Him but has listened to His cry for help" (vs. 24). God has accepted the sacrifice of Christ, showing His acceptance by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Because of this acceptance, we can be reconciled to God through Him. This is the good news; this is the gospel message; this is why we have great reason to "praise", "honor", and "revere" the Lord.
The good news continues: "From You comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear You will I fulfill my vows." There are many "vows", the great promises of God, that will be fulfilled through Christ. Some of these promises are enumerated:
* "The poor will eat and be satisfied" (vs. 26) - We can only be truly "satisfied" through Christ. Fulfillment comes from no other. Such fulfillment is not available for purchase by the rich. No, even "the poor will eat and be satisfied."
* "They who seek the LORD will praise Him" (vs. 26) - Through Christ, we can be reconciled to God, so that those who truly "seek the LORD" will find Him and be able to truly "praise Him".
* "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" (vs. 27) - Christ's death was for all. Though the Jews were specially chosen to be "entrusted with the very words of God" (Rom. 3:3), it was always God's plan that all nations be able to know God. This universal availability to God has come through Christ.
* "For dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations" (vs. 28) - Life on earth will truly be great when Christ "rules over the nations".
* "All the rich of the earth will feast and worship" (vs. 29) - We often speak of the poor who come to God and feast, but the riches of God's kingdom are as readily available to the rich who seek Him.
* "All who go down to the dust will kneel before Him--those who cannot keep themselves alive" (vs. 29) - We are all sinners, and so are all under the curse of death. None of us can "keep ourselves alive". The greatest philanthropists, the most unselfish helpers of the poor and sick "cannot keep themselves alive." Mother Theresa needs Christ just as much as you and I. Our consolation and salvation is that when we "go down to the dust", we shall "kneel before Him".
* "Posterity will serve Him" (vs. 30) - This is one of His greatest promises: that we who know Him can effectively serve the Lord. Treasure your service of the Lord.
* "Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn" (vs. 30-31) - It is one of our greatest responsibilities to teach our children about the Lord, to instruct them in the greatness of the gospel. And such instruction will be rewarded: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Prov. 22:6).
The psalm ends just as Christ ended His life, saying in effect "It is finished" (John 19:30): "For He has done it" (vs. 31). Done what? Completed the redemption of man through the sacrifice of His Son. This is the greatest gift that God has given to us, for only through this gift, do we have access to all the other great gifts that God has in store for us.
Father, we thank You, more than words can say, for the great gift of life that You have given us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us, by Your Spirit, to properly appreciate this great gift of sacrifice. Help us also to live lives worthy of the gift that we have received. In the name of Your Son, who suffered and died for our sakes so that we might live, we pray these things, Amen.
(Our study in the Psalms will continue in the next issue)
5. C. H. Spurgeon, A Treasury of David, Vol. I; pg. 324.
6. Plumer, A Commentary on the Psalms, pg. 194.
7. The groaning "by night" during the crucifixion prophesies the darkness that came over the land while Christ was on the cross (see Matt. 27:45).
8. Dionysius, cited by C. H. Spurgeon, op. cit., pg. 340.
9. David Dickson, A Commentary on the Psalms, pg. 110.
[ Home | Table
of Contents | Previous Page | Next
Page | Back Issues | Complete
Index ]