When King David is anointed to be the second king of Israel in 1 Samuel, chapter 16, God says to Samuel these words in verse 7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on [Eliab’s] appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.’” David would prove to be the greatest of all the kings, yet his life was filled with misery and wrongful malicious acts. In Psalm 22, David cries to God from a heart that is broken because of the circumstances which face him. Psalm 22 also has a much deeper meaning than the trouble or strife of David.
To fully understand this Psalm, one must see the underlining story of the Messiah who is promised to come through the linage of the troubled King of Israel. George Rawlinson writes pertaining to the meaning of this Psalm these words, “The only explanation which remains is that traditional in the Christian Church, that David, full of the Holy Ghost, was moved to speak in the person of Christ, and to describe, not his own sufferings and perils and deliverance but those of this great Antitype, the Messiah.”[1] The Psalm is divided into two sections. The first section, verses 1-22, is a lament. The rest of the Psalm is dedicated to the public praise of God.
The Cry of the Messiah: Psalm 22:1-5
Psalm 22 is a song of David and the cry of the future Messiah. In Matthew 27:46, the disciple addresses the following words, uttered by Jesus during the crucifixion, to his Jewish audience: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” These words were not uttered in despair or hopelessness; rather, they were said to point those who heard them back to the Old Testament. It was common to entitle a Psalm by the first line. In this case, Psalm 22 would be entitled, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus experiences the pain described by David to the fullest. William VanGemeren writes, “On the cross our Lord was forsaken and alienated from the Father. In this experience, symbolized by darkness, he was cut off from God’s mighty acts of deliverance done for his people.”[2] This is an important point because Christ is paying the full penalty for sin. There is no deliverance for Christ; he takes the brunt of God’s wrath in order to connect fallen humanity to God.
Once one commits to understand the psalm in the light of Jesus, a panoramic horizon of God’s grace is seen. Verses 2-5 show the situation Jesus finds himself in at Calvary. God has delivered Israel in the past from her wickedness. He has sent prophets, judges, kings, and angels to thwart the plan of the enemy. Israel has often been spared God’s wrath in favor of his redeeming love. Jesus does not find this mercy on the cross. He is not spared from the wrath of God. According to Romans 8:32, God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.” The plan of God has Jesus on the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
The Plight of the Messiah: Psalm 22:6-13
Jesus, who has existed before the beginning, having always enjoyed the presence and company of God, now finds himself surrounded by the evil of the world. Verse 6 describes his condition before men, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.” He is a worm, mocked by the crowd and scorned by the mob. Jesus is forsaken by man and God—a man stripped of all respect and humanity. Psalm 22:8 has a chilling effect on the soul when compared to Matthew 27:43. Psalm 22:8 expresses delight: “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” In a chilling echo, Matthew 27:43 expresses derision: “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said ‘I am the Son of God.’” The mob surrounding Christ shouts insults at him while they mock his sacrifice, believing him to be a failure. They are blind to the reality of the promised grace of God being fulfilled in front of their eyes. All the promises of the Old Testament are now being fulfilled on Calvary. God’s promises are not kept by a conquering military hero, but rather by a sacrificial lamb. Psalm 22:12 describes those who encircle the Messiah: “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me.” According to VanGemeren, the “bulls of Bashan” were “proverbial for their size because they were well fed on the lush vegetation of the Bashan.”[3] The nation of Rome was the most powerful nation in the known world. Those who surrounded Christ were in no need, for they had strength and wealth beyond any other nation. Compare this to the humble Jew who finds himself at their mercy hanging on a cross. These enemies are not only powerful, but they are vicious. Psalm 22:13 describes their actions: “[T]hey open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.” Their mouths utter hatred toward the Messiah and his Father. The scene at Golgotha depicts the wrath of God meeting the wrath of man with the battle raging on the body of Christ.
The Punishment of the Messiah: Psalm 22:14-21
The cross was a cruel and brutal device. D. A. Carson writes these vivid words regarding the cross: “Crucifixion was unspeakably painful and degrading. Whether tied or nailed to the cross, the victim endured countless paroxysms as he pulled with his arms and pushed with his legs to keep his chest cavity open for breathing and then collapsed in exhaustion until the demand for oxygen demanded renewed paroxysms.”[4] Yet, to a Christian it is, in the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “the power of God.” The death of Christ is foretold long before the event takes place. The act of Christ being crucified is found in Psalm 22:14-21, which parallel the accounts found in the gospels. Beginning in verses 14-15, David describes what happens to the body of Christ; his “bones are out of joint,” his “heart is like wax,” and his “tongue sticks to [his] jaws.” These words describe the condition of Christ on the cross. Rawlinson writes concerning verse 14, “The strain of the body suspended on the cross would all but dislocate the joints of the arms and would be felt in every bone of the body.”[5] The picture David is painting is clear; the body of Christ is hanging between heaven and earth, pulling his bones from the joints without breaking. Christ’s heart is like “wax” and has “melted” within him. We see the humanity of Christ at this point. The body is ravaged on the cross and the bitterness of bearing the weight of the world’s sin bears down on the heart of Christ. Jesus’ love is emptied out and his heart is broken within. David depicts the Messiah deprived of water, which would make his mouth dry and parched. The apostle John notes how this fulfills Scripture: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’”[6] David prophesies regarding the cross in verse 16, describing the act of crucifixion, “They have pierced my hands and my feet.” Matthew 27:35 reports that “when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.” The desecration of Christ is now complete. He has been turned over to the throngs of fallen humanity and is slain on the earth he created. Psalm 22 is a portrait of evil and of grace. It explains why man needs redemption from the Fall and grace to enter into God’s presence. It shows the love God has for his creation and the obedience of the Son to the Father. This psalm depicts the suffering and tragedy of the cross but still gives hope to the wounded heart which needs rescuing. Verse 19 states, “But you, O Lord, do not be far off!” By the crucifixion, the Father allows his son to suffer the full payment of sin. In order for mankind to have hope, Jesus must endure the hopelessness of the cross. With this one act of sacrifice, Christ has paid for the sins of the world, fulfilling the law and completing the promises made throughout the Old Testament.
[1]George Rawlinson, Psalms, The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 8 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co; reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001), 151.
[2]Willem A. VanGemeren, Psalms, in vol. 5 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 200.
[3] lbid., 204.
[4]D.A. Carson, Matthew, in vol. 8 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentarv, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 574.
[5]Rawlinson, Psalms, 153.
[6]John 19:28.