16 Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.
And when Jesus was nailed to the cross, the men of the army took his clothing, and made a division of it into four parts, to every man a part, and they took his coat: now the coat was without a join, made out of one bit of cloth.
And when they had put him on the cross, they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.
And I will send down on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayer; and their eyes will be turned to the one who was wounded by their hands: and they will be weeping for him as for an only son, and their grief for him will be bitter, like the grief of one sorrowing for his oldest son.
And again another verse says, They will see him who was wounded by their spears.
And when they came to the place which is named Golgotha, they put him on the cross, and the evil-doers, one on the right side, and the other on the left.
So the other disciples said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, If I do not see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and if I do not put my hand into his side, I will never have belief.
And the men of the army took him away into the square in front of the building which is the Praetorium, and they got together all the band. And they put a purple robe on him, and twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him; And, as if honouring him, they said, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows on the head with a stick and put shame on him and, going down on their knees, gave him worship. And when they had made sport of him, they took the purple robe off him and put his clothing on him. And they took him out to put him to death on the cross.
But they went on crying out loudly, Let him be put to death on the cross. And they had their way.
And the chief priests and the scribes were there, making statements against him violently. And Herod, with the men of his army, put shame on him and made sport of him, and dressing him in shining robes, he sent him back to Pilate.
And the men in whose hands Jesus was, made sport of him and gave him blows. And, covering his eyes, they said to him, Are you prophet enough to say who gave you that blow? And they said a number of other evil things against him. And when it was day, the rulers of the people came together, with the chief priests and the scribes, and they took him before their Sanhedrin, saying, If you are the Christ, say so. But he said, If I say so you will not have belief; And if I put a question to you, you will not give an answer. But in the future the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? and he said, You say that I am. And they said, What more need have we of witness? we have the very words of his mouth.
They come back in the evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round the town.
<To the chief music-maker on Aijeleth-hash-shahar. A Psalm. Of David.> My God, my God, why are you turned away from me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my crying?
And in the evening let them come back, and make a noise like a dog, and go round the town.
Be on the watch against dogs, against the workers of evil, against those of the circumcision:
Then he said to Thomas, Put out your finger, and see my hands; and put your hand here into my side: and be no longer in doubt but have belief.
And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together.
Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, or put your jewels before pigs, for fear that they will be crushed under foot by the pigs whose attack will then be made against you.
But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.
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.