He Comes Out Of His Situation In Triumph Because of The Kingly Rule of God (Psalms 22:22-31).
The Psalmist now rejoiced in the deliverance of the one about whom he has been speaking. For the result is to be that all the ends of the earth will seek YHWH and His Kingly Rule will be established over the nations. It is clear therefore that in the end the one who is in mind is the coming King who will rule over the everlasting kingdom.
‘I will declare your name to my brothers,
In the midst of the assembly will I praise you.'
Confident that God has heard him and will deliver him, the Psalmist now declares how he will reveal the full attributes (the significance of ‘Your Name' - the name was seen as indicating the attributes) of a compassionate God to his brothers in the assembly (LXX - ekklesia, church) of the people. And there also he will praise Him. This verse is cited by the writer to the Hebrews as referring to Jesus (Hebrews 2:12), as He leads His people to glory..
‘You who fear YHWH, praise him,
All you the seed of Jacob, glorify him,
And stand in awe of him,
All you the seed of Israel.'
Thus all God's true people (those who fear Him) are to praise YHWH and glorify Him. They are to stand in awe at what He has done. So the people of Israel are being called on to rejoice in the deliverance of the one being described by the Psalmist, for his deliverance is important to them. And in the same way, having established His new congregation of Israel (Matthew 16:18; John 15:1-6), Jesus will call on His people to praise God for the way that He has come through suffering to triumph, having been made a perfect File Leader through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). No wonder the women were filled with awe at learning of His resurrection (Mark 16:8).
‘For he has not despised nor abhorred,
The affliction of the afflicted,
Nor has he hid his face from him,
But when he cried to him, he heard.'
And the reason for the praise and worship is that YHWH has not turned away from his deep affliction, nor has He hid His face from him (He had not forsaken him), so that the cry of the one of whom the Psalmist speaks was heard, and answered. The idea of ‘affliction' is applied both the Servant in Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:7 and the Messianic king of Zechariah 9:9. The pattern is clear. God's purposes are fulfilled through suffering.
Of you comes my praise in the great assembly,
I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
And the reason that he can praise YHWH is because the reason for praising and ability to praise have come from Him. He is the source of the praise issuing from the one of whom the Psalmist is speaking, and its end. And the result is that he can praise Him in the great assembly and fulfil the vows that he has made while in distress, performing them in front of all who truly fear Him (compare Hebrews 10:7; Hebrews 10:9).
‘The meek shall eat and be satisfied,
They will praise YHWH who seek after him.
Let your heart live for ever.'
‘All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to YHWH,
And all the kindreds of the nations will worship before you.'
And the consequence of the triumph of this one who has suffered will be that the poor and meek who truly seek after YHWH will eat of the votive offering (the paying of the vows of Psalms 22:25) and be satisfied, for they will be his guests. They will rejoice in the means of atonement and worship. This gains even more meaning in the light of John 6:35 ff. They will partake of Him through faith.
‘Let your heart live for ever.' And the result is that he can call on God to enable them to live for ever. He offers them the equivalent of eternal life.
And this is not only for the poor of Israel, it is also for the Gentiles. All the ends of the earth will call to mind the suffering and dedication of the one who has suffered, and will turn to YHWH, and all the families of the nations (compare Genesis 12:3; Genesis 28:14) will worship before YHWH. Through the seed of Abraham the nations will be blessed, and will come to know YHWH.
‘For the kingdom is YHWH's,
And he is the ruler over the nations.'
And this will be because they will acknowledge His Kingly Rule, for the Kingly Rule is YHWH's and He is the ruler over the nations. Here we have the initial idea of the coming Kingly Rule of God (tou kuriou he basileia - ‘the Kingly Rule of the Lord'), which all who respond will acknowledge.
‘All the fat ones of the earth will eat and worship,
All those who go down to the dust will bow before him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.'
And the result of the suffering of the one of whom the Psalmist is speaking and the rejoicing over His deliverance will be that those who are in full life (the fat ones of the earth) and those who are dying or dead (those who go down to the dust), will both partake of His sacrificial offering, and will worship and bow before Him, even those who cannot avoid death. The living and the dead will praise Him. While the idea of resurrection is not spelled out, as it was unlikely to be in those days, there is the clear indication that he will somehow benefit both. Every knee will bow to Him, and every tongue will swear (Isaiah 45:23).
‘A seed will serve him.
It will be told of the Lord to the next generation.'
And the result of this will go on from generation to generation. Each generation will be told what the Lord has done.
‘They will come and will declare his righteousness,
To a people who will be born,
That he has done it.'
And the further result will be that God's righteousness as revealed in this deliverance will be declared into the future, to those not yet born, so wonderful will have been the deliverance. All will declare that ‘He has done it'.
A Meditation.
We have already seen that there is a Messianic basis in this Psalm. It is so expressive of what Jesus suffered for us that we should possibly meditate on what it can tell us about His sufferings for us. In doing so we will see how wonderfully God prepared the way for the death of His Son.