psalm 22:1 meaning

So, Christian, just so shall it be with thee. This is beyond all others THE PSALM OF THE CROSS. After his first sermon the huntsmen gathered about him, but he was too fleet of foot, and escaped. William Streat, in "The Dividing of the Hoof," 1654. why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" The Mockery. It was David that was caused to pen these prophetic words, which were uttered by our Saviour on the cross, when He bore the sin of the world in His body on the Tree. 11. (1575-1653), in "A Commentary on the whole Epistle to the Hebrews." How shocking that so many legalists do not consider that Christ's sacrificial death was sufficient - and insist that we have to add our own works to His finished work on the cross. If a snake had escaped the hart after being drawn out by the hart by its breath, it was said to be more vehemently poisonous than before. Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God. Christ found Calvary a craggy, jagged, and fearful hill -- "a mountain of division." Well scripture gives us the answer: God is just and He is holy and sin must be punished. Psalm 22 is a prayer of complaint that, perhaps more than any psalm, serves as a link between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus’ passion. Psalm 22 verse summary. 27. God so suspended the efficacies of his grace that it displayed in that hour none of its force and virtue on him. Ludolph, the Carthusian (circa 1350), in J. M. Neale's Commentary. (gaf), seems primarily to denote the roaring of a lion; but, as applied to intelligent beings, it is generally expressive of profound mental anguish poured forth in audible and even vehement strains. But in the afternoon, the huntsmen who had been following the "young roe" from early daybreak, had succeeded in driving him to the mountains of Bether. For the three of the blackest hours in human history the eternal Son of God was separated from His Father in heaven as He was made sin on our account. It was no threatening of forsaking which made the great Surety cry aloud, he endured that forsaking in very deed. A Psalm of David.My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. When Christ complains of having been forsaken by God, we are not to understand that he was forsaken by the First Person, or that there was a dissolution of the hypostatic union, or that he lost the favour and friendship of the Father; but he signifies to us that God permitted his human nature to undergo those dreadful torments, and to suffer an ignominious death, from which he could, if he chose, most easily deliver him. It is observed that this expression, "My God," is three times repeated. The repetition is expressive of fervent desire -- "My God", in an especial sense, as in his words after the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, "I ascend unto my God, and your God;" "My God", not as the Son of God only, but in that nature which he hath assumed, as the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased; who is loved of the Father and who loveth the Father more than the whole universe. Copyright © 2020, Bible Study Tools. History and context. Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Nor does the sufferer distrust the power of God to sustain him, for the title used -- "El" -- signifies strength, and is the name of the Mighty God. Alexander Wedderburn, 1701. So you read, "O my God (saith he), I cry in the day time; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent; but thou art holy." Jesus cried out these very words from the cross, (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Heavenly Father, I cannot begin to grasp what Christ had to endure on the cross on my account. Proud member AMEN. "A psalm of David." In fact, Rashi explains verse 27 as referring: “To the time of redemption, to the days of the Messiah.” (Rashi’s commentary on Psalm 22:27). Herod began hunting him down as soon as he appeared. Whole Psalm. Here is comfort to deserted souls; Christ himself was deserted; therefore, if thou be deserted, God dealeth no otherwise with thee than he did with Christ. Verse 1. [⇑ See verse text ⇑] After expressing confusion and pain over what seems to be abandonment by God (Psalm 22:1–2), David has also stated his faith in God's will (Psalm 22:3–5). Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have any acquaintance with temptations of faith and spiritual conflicts. His sufferings are copiously described from Psalms 22:1-22 . was the question He screamed - and these poignant words must have reverberated throughout an astonished universe. Yet there was reason for all this which those who rest in Jesus as their Substitute well know. This was His antidote to despair, and the pledge that God would yet interpose as His Deliverer. Verse 1. Let us gaze with holy wonder, and mark the flashes of light amid the awful darkness of that midday midnight. Why hast thou forsaken me? All Scripture is inspired by God but some passages cause us to take off our shoes from off our feet for the content they communicate is most holy and precious. what is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his own Son at such a time and in such a plight? The Exhaustion. 14. Did God really forsake Jesus Christ upon the cross? Jewish interpretations of Psalm 22 identify the individual in the psalm with a royal figure, usually King David or Queen Esther. And Christ (to teach us to cry after God the Father, like children after the mother, whose very stepping but at the door, ofttimes makes the babe believe, and so saith that his father is gone for ever), presents in his own sufferings how much he is sensible of ours in that case. God turns away his face, David himself is troubled: "The just shall live by faith," and not by feeling. 21. The Savior breaks forth in an anthem of praise in the midst of God’s people. Anyone familiar with the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus Christ can see the obvious parallels, and the writers of the gospel accounts—especially Matthew—bring them out through direct quotations of this psalm. While the Jewish commentary tries to explain the meaning of Psalm 22 as pertaining only to David, the sufferings described clearly exceed what David suffered during his life. In the rest of the Psalm the kingly office of Christ is set forth. Verse 1. But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. The hind. The first part, verses 1–21, contains an urgent prayer, in which the suppliant questions a holy God's distance from him in his time of suffering. Moreover, this sad desertion of Christ becomes a comfortable pattern to poor deserted souls in divers respects; and the proper business of such souls, at such times, is to eye it believingly. I roar as a lion. This ode of singular excellence was committed to the most excellent of the temple songsters; the chief among ten thousand is worthy to be extolled by the chief Musician; no meaner singer must have charge of such a strain; we must see to it that we call up our best abilities when Jesus is the theme of praise. Salem Media Group. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in the second book that lacks a superscription; and the two psalms are in fact joined together in some Hebrew manuscripts. The Importunity. 19-21. All Scripture is inspired by God but some passages cause us to take off our shoes from off our feet for the content they communicate is most holy and precious. It may have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree; it would be too bold to say that it was so, but even a casual reader may see that it might have been. John Row. Here he was driven by the huntsmen to the edges of the awful precipices yawning destruction from below, while he was surrounded and held at bay by all the beasts of prey and monsters of the infernal forest. A total, a final desertion ours is not; partial the best have had and have. We must lay the emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances. This may be a great comfort to holy souls under the suspension of those comforts and manifestations which sometimes they have felt; Christ himself underwent such a suspension, therefore such a suspension of divine comfort may consist with God's love. He knows the Lord to be the all sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. For example, David's hands and feet were never "pierced" (Psalm 22:16), and nobody "cast lots" (Psalm 22:18) for David's clothes. William Gouge, D.D. Now for our Saviour, who had known experimentally how sweet the comfort of his Father's face had been, and had lived all his days under the warm beams and influences of the Divinity, and had had his soul all along refreshed with the sense of the Divine presence, for him to be left in that horror and darkness, as to have no taste of comfort, no glimpse of the Divinity breaking in upon his human soul, how great an affliction must that needs be unto him! It will be very readily admitted that the hind is a very appropriate emblem of the suffering and persecuted righteous man who meets us in this Psalm... That the hind may be a figurative expression significant of suffering innocence, is put beyond a doubt by the fact, that the wicked and the persecutors in this Psalm, whose peculiar physiognomy is marked by emblems drawn from the brute creation, are designed by the terms dogs, lions, bulls, etc. Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams. His omnipotent arms were under him, though his pleased face was hid from him. Even the burning a portion of the deer's horns was said to drive away all snakes. 23. He had not indeed his smiles, but he had his supports. His sufferings are copiously described from Psalms 22:1-22 . … For all who believe on Him, by grace through faith, would be reconciled to God; become eternally saved and forever forgiven, by means of the astonishing atoning sacrifice that Christ made on that singular day. Nor did such complaints proceed either from impatience or ignorance, as if Christ were ignorant of the cause of his suffering, or was not most willing to bear such abandonment in his suffering; such complaints were only a declaration of his most bitter sufferings. דוְאַתָּ֥ה קָד֑וֹשׁ י֜וֹשֵׁ֗ב תְּהִלּ֥וֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל: But You are holy: and … John Morison. He was buried in a new grave; and his assailants reckoned upon complete victory. then from the desertion of Christ singular consolation springs up to the people of God; yea, manifold consolation. why is this? so that by faith in Him we might never be forsaken but united with Him forever. There was no cause in him, why then was he deserted? Martin Luther. Though he condemned me I must and will justify him: this also is Christ like. R. H. Ryland. Verse 1. It begins with, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Jesus uttered these same words while … This Psalm seems to be less a prophecy than a history. What strong crying and tears were those which made him too hoarse for speech! It also contains a graphic description of the Messiah's suffering. The debt we owe our Saviour should be a never-ending stream of grateful love that floods through our heart and soul, knowing that He was made sin on our account so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him. Divines are wont commonly to say, that Christ, from the moment of his conception, had the sight of God, his human soul being immediately united to the Deity, Christ from the very moment of his conception had the sight of God. Thou mayest conclude possibly, "I am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me;" this is the complaint of some doubting Christians, "I am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me;" but thou hast no reason so to conclude: there was no failure in Christ's obedience, and yet Christ was forsaken in point of comfort; therefore desertion, in point of comfort, may consist with truth of grace, yea, with the highest measure of grace; so it did in our Saviour. David cries out and wonders if God has forsaken him. The book of Psalms gives us with some of the most beautifully written discourses known to man. This is a preface or introduction to the whole book of the psalmist and it describes a Blessed man, also be referred to … how will our very hearts melt with love, when we remember that as we have been distressed for our sins against him; so he was in greater agonies for us? 16. The Deliverance. What does Psalm 22:19 mean? 8. Like a lion that is hurt in the forest, so he roared and cried out, though there was no despair in him; and when he was forsaken, yet there was trust and hope in these words, My God, my God. By the Rev. The words Aijeleth Shahar are enigmatical, and their meaning is uncertain; some refer them to a musical instrument used upon mournful occasions, but the majority adhere to the translation of our margin, "Concerning the kind of the morning." And the sinless Lord Jesus, Who is God in the flesh, took upon Himself every sin we committed and every violation of God's perfect Law - together with the inherent sin we received from our forefathers and the inherited sin nature we received as part of Adam's fallen race. My roaring. Bakius, quoted by F. Delitzsch, D.D., on Hebrews, ii. They had not considered that he was a "morning hart." From Psalms 22:1-21 is a most pitiful cry for help, and from Psalms 22:21-31 is a most precious foretaste of deliverance. nI will make a way in the wilderness Oh that we could imitate this cleaving to an afflicting God! Title. What an enquiry is this before us! My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These very words would be uttered about 1,000 years later by the Son of David, Jesus Christ when he was hanging on the cross. The Assault. It is important to recognize, however, that Psalm 22 is not important simply … 7. Verse 1 BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO WALKS NOT IN THE COUNSEL OF THE WICKED NOR STAND IN THE WAY OF SINNERS.. He is alone and hounded by his enemies. I an deserted but not wronged. The Cry. 31. --Reprinted in Nichol's Series of Commentaries. Nothing in the psalm indicates the situation or the circumstances that led David to write the words in front of us. Lord, you know what it is for a soul to be forsaken, it was sometime thine own case when you complained, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Enthronement. With the dagesh, the meaning is almost always the “deer/doe” meaning. That which is foretold about his vows ( Psalms 22:25 ), hath respect to his priestly function. The Psalm begins: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Division. The Partition of the Garments and Casting Lots. Psalm 22:1. The Hebrew of Psalm 22:1 reads “eli eli lamah azabthani”. This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. 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