This Psalm is headed, «To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar,» or, as the margin renders it, «the hind of the morning,» «A Psalm of David,» It begins in the very depths of the Master's sorrow, when this great and bitter cry escaped his lips,
Psalms 22:1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Every word is emphatic: «My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?» «All others may forsake me, and I need not be greatly troubled at their absence; but ‘why hast thou forsaken me?» «Why hast thou forsaken me?' I understand why thou dost smite me, for I am the Shepherd predestined to be smitten for the flock, but ‘why hast thou forsaken me?'» «Why hast thou forsaken me? thine only-begotten, thy well-beloved Son, ‘why hast thou forsaken me?'»
Psalms 22:1. Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
«Why have I no inflowings of thy love, no enjoyment of thy presence, no whispers from thy heart? I am left alone, left utterly, left on the cross, left in my direst need.» God's adapted children do not usually talk like this; such a lament as this has not often come even from the martyrs for the faith, for, as a rule, they have had God with them in their hour of deepest agony; but here was One, who was far greater than they, who yet had to endure suffering from which they were exempted; the only perfect One was forsaken by God. You know that if was because he stood in our stead that the Saviour had this preeminence in suffering and sorrow.
Psalms 22:2. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
Think of what a weight that unanswered prayer was upon the soul of the Well-beloved. Have you ever felt such a burden as that? Then, you are not alone in that experience, for he who is infinitely better than you can ever be had to think over his day prayers and his night prayers which, for a while, were not answered.
Psalms 22:3. But thou art holy, O thou, that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Follow the example of your Lord, poor troubled soul. Find no fault with thy God, even though he should forsake thee. Call him holy, even though he should leave thee; and when he seems not to hear thy prayers, yet do not thou forget his praises.
Psalms 22:4-6. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Think of our Divine Lord thus taking the very lowest place, and becoming, as it were, something less than man, just that little crimson worm which has simply a life made up of blood. Christ likens himself to it as he says, «I am a worm, and no man.»
Psalms 22:7-8. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Oh! these were cruel and cutting words. Like a sharp razor, they cut to the very heart of our Divine Master as he heard his enemies exulting even over his faith, as though it had come to nothing, for now Jehovah himself had forsaken him, and left him to die alone upon the tree.
Psalms 22:9-10. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
Sometimes, we also may derive great comfort from this truth to which our Saviour here refers. When we could not help ourselves in the least degree, the Lord preserved us, so will he not again help us when we are at our worst? You who have reached your second childhood may reflect with gratitude and hope upon the way in which God took care of you in your first childhood. Then, you certainly were entirely dependent upon him, yet you fared well; and so you shall if each sense shall fail you, if the power of moving shall be taken away, and the power of sight, and the power of hearing, yet the Lord, who blessed you when you were just born, will still preserve you right to the end. You remember how the Lord puts this truth in Isaiah 46:4: «Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.» Our Saviour, having comforted himself thus, falls to praying again:
Psalms 22:11-12. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help, Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
These were the Pharisees, the chief priests, and the strong Roman soldiers that compassed our Saviour when he was upon the cross.
Psalms 22:13-14. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Can you not see your Saviour hanging on the accursed tree, every particle of him as it were loosened from its fellow by the fever raging in his whole being, and the anguish and deep depression of his spirit?
Psalms 22:15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
Such was the intensity of his anguish that the fever within him turned his mouth into an oven, and his tongue was so dried up that it could scarcely stir.
Psalms 22:15. And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
As if his whole body were prepared to go back into its primary elements. He feels in himself the sentence pronounced upon the first Adam, «Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,»
Psalms 22:16. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
These were the common people, the rabble, the multitude that thronged around, barking at him like a pack of hungry hounds.
Psalms 22:16. They pierced my hands and my feet.
This little sentence shows that this Psalm must relate to the Lord Jesus. Truly did David see him in vision. It happened not to David to have his hands and feet pierced; but this was the portion of David's Master and Lord; he could indeed say, «They pierced my hands and my feet.»
Psalms 22:17. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
He is emaciated through his fasting and all the agony he has endured, and his bones seem to break through his skin by reason of the cruel scourging to which he had been subjected.
Psalms 22:18-19. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength,
That is, El, the name he gave to God in the first verse: «O my strong One,»
Psalms 22:19-21. Haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Did you notice that flash of light gleaming through the darkness, «Thou hast heard me?» Perhaps it was at that moment that the sun again shone forth; at any rate, it is clear that the lost light had returned to our suffering Lord, for the rest of this divine soliloquy is full of comfort and confidence.
Psalms 22:22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
His first thought, even in his agony on the cross, was about them; and he seemed to say, «When I have risen from the dead, I will tell them all about this time of trial; and through the ages to come, I will tell my people how thou didst help me, the greatest of all sufferers, and that thou wilt help them also. I was left for a time, and yet I was not finally left. I cried, ‘Lama sabachthani,' and yet I triumphed, even then, and so shall they. They shall do as I have done, confide and conquer.»
Psalms 22:22. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
And you know that he did so; he stood in the midst of his people, and told them what God had done; and, spiritually, he stands in our midst at this moment, and he leads our songs of praise unto Jehovah.
Psalms 22:23-24. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the, seed of Israel. 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.
What a change of note! If men could hear us speak when we are in the depths of sorrow, they might conclude that God had forsaken us; but when we get out again, how quickly we eat our words, and how soon we begin to tell the goodness of the Lord! Then we lift up the joyous strain, «O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.»
Psalms 22:25. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
Christ still praises God in the great congregation. On my way to this evening's service, I called to see one of our dear brethren who is very ill, and I was much refreshed with a sweet thing that he said: «When we all get to heaven, we shall feel quite at home there, for you know, sir, we have worshipped in a great congregation for these many years.» And so we shall. There is something most exhilarating and refreshing in going with a multitude to keep holy day; the more, the merrier; but what shall be the joy in heaven, where the number of the redeemed cannot be counted, and all shall be continually praising God? This was one of the joys that was set before Christ, for which «he endured the cross, despising the shame.»
Psalms 22:26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
Even in the time of his great agony, our Lord was thinking of you hidden ones, you little ones, who think yourselves worth nothing. Christ says that he was finding bread for you, for he gives us his flesh to eat, that flesh which is meat indeed.
Psalms 22:26. They shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
Because he died, all who trust in him shall live for ever. Oh! how sweetly does he die, with the thought of their eternal bliss upon his mind!
Psalms 22:27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
He sees the result of his death; he beholds the fruit of his soul-travail; and his heart is glad within him.
Psalms 22:28-31. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
The Psalm really ends with almost the last cry of our Lord upon the cross: «It is finished.» So the whole Psalm is a window through which we can see into the inmost heart of Christ when it was being rent upon the cross.