1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? `Why art thou so' far from helping me, `and from' the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest 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 put to shame.
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 Commit `thyself' unto Jehovah; Let him deliver him: Let him rescue him, seeing he delighteth in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; Thou didst make me trust `when I was' upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God since my mother bare me.
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 gape upon me with their mouth, `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 within me.
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: A company of evil-doers have inclosed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may count all my bones; They look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, And upon my vesture do they cast lots.
19 But be not thou far off, O Jehovah: O thou my succor, 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; Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: In the midst of the assembly will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him; All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; And stand in awe of 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 Of thee cometh my praise in the great assembly: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; They shall praise Jehovah that seek after him: Let your heart live for ever.
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah; And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's; And he is the ruler over the nations.
29 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship: All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, Even he that cannot keep his soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him; It shall be told of the Lord unto the `next' generation.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 22
Commentary on Psalms 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 22
The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, as clearly and fully as any where in all the Old Testament, "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow' (1 Pt. 1:11); of him, no doubt, David here speaks, and not of himself, or any other man. Much of it is expressly applied to Christ in the New Testament, all of it may be applied to him, and some of it must be understood of him only. The providences of God concerning David were so very extraordinary that we may suppose there were some wise and good men who then could not but look upon him as a figure of him that was to come. But the composition of his psalms especially, in which he found himself wonderfully carried out by the spirit of prophecy far beyond his own thought and intention, was (we may suppose) an abundant satisfaction to himself that he was not only a father of the Messiah, but a figure of him. In this psalm he speaks,
In singing this psalm we must keep our thoughts fixed upon Christ, and be so affected with his sufferings as to experience the fellowship of them, and so affected with his grace as to experience the power and influence of it.
To the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar. A psalm of David.
Psa 22:1-10
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 (Cant. 8:14), as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, to all believers (Prov. 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, v. 16. But others think it denotes only the tune to which the psalm was set. In these verses we have,
Psa 22:11-21
In these verses we have Christ suffering and Christ praying, by which we are directed to look for crosses and to look up to God under them.
In singing this we should meditate on the sufferings and resurrection of Christ till we experience in our own souls the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
Psa 22:22-31
The same that began the psalm complaining, who was no other than Christ in his humiliation, ends it here triumphing, and it can be no other than Christ in his exaltation. And, as the first words of the complaint were used by Christ himself upon the cross, so the first words of the triumph are expressly applied to him (Heb. 2:12) and are made his own words: I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. The certain prospect which Christ had of the joy set before him not only gave him a satisfactory answer to his prayers, but turned his complaints into praises; he saw of the travail of his soul, and was well satisfied, witness that triumphant word wherewith he breathed his last: It is finished.
Five things are here spoken of, the view of which were the satisfaction and triumph of Christ in his sufferings:-
In singing this we must triumph in the name of Christ as above every name, must give him honour ourselves, rejoice in the honours others do him, and in the assurance we have that there shall be a people praising him on earth when we are praising him in heaven.