Psalms 22:1-15 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

the Cry of the Forsaken

Psalms 22:1-15

The Hebrew inscription of this exquisite ode is, “The hind of the morning.” The hind is the emblem of loveliness; see Song of Solomon 2:7; Song of Solomon 2:9. The cruel persecutors are designated as bulls, lions, and dogs. Perhaps the allusion to the morning refers to the daybreak of resurrection-hope.

Of course our blessed Lord is in every syllable. Indeed, the psalm reads more as history than as prophecy. The divine Sufferer seems to have recited it to Himself when on the Cross; for it begins with “My God, my God,” etc., and ends, according to some, with a word in the Hebrew, meaning “It is finished.” The psalm is indeed a photograph of Calvary, a memorial of the heartbreak of Jesus.

Sometimes to the soul in agony God seems not to hear; but through those hours of darkness the Easter day is hastening to break in resplendent glory. He will not suffer His holy one to see corruption, Psalms 16:10.

Related Commentaries of Psalms 22:1

Psalms 22:1-15

1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest 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 confounded.

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 He trusteda on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

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 gapedb upon me with their mouths, 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 in the midst of my bowels.

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.