Psalm 22
Psalm 22 is one of, if not the best known, of the psalms about Jesus. Some students of Scripture have attempted to find a time and place where this psalm might be identified with David’s experiences, but to no avail. What is described in this Psalm no one but Christ experienced. From beginning to end it is “Christ and Him crucified” only.
It begins with the cry of anguish, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
This was the fourth “saying” of Christ on the cross, the first of His strong cries of agony as He was crushed to death by the torture of sin and guilt.
Even though He knew beforehand that this experience was going to take place, Jesus was surprised by the strangeness of it. Never before had He experienced anything like this. John Flavel in the seventeenth century observed that when Christ spoke these words, He did so in two languages. “Here is an observable variation of the language in which this astonishing complaint was uttered; for he speaks both Hebrew and Syriac in one breath. Eli, Eli, lama, are all Hebrew, Sabachthani is a Syriac word, used here for emphasis sake” (The Works of John Flavel, Vol. 1, p. 407).
Have you ever listened to a person who, knowing more than one language, when under extreme mental stress reverts back to the mother language? So it was with Jesus.
No doubt He knew several languages and dialects. Languages He would have been familiar with are Latin, Greek, Aramaic, and of course, Hebrew. Greek was the international language of that day, just as English is today. Jesus in mental anguish cried out both in Hebrew and Syriac (an ancient Aramaic language).
In this state of mind, Christ’s memories recalled the sacred history of His people. “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You and were not ashamed” (Psalm 22;4, 5). He recalled the way that God had led them in the past. He next contrasted that history to His present circumstance.
“But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” (verses 6-8).
Resentment for the faith of Jesus is revealed in the words of those who crucified Him. Those words are the very ones uttered, perhaps unknowingly, the day of the crucifixion. The fulfillment of this part of the psalm is recorded in Matthew 27:39-43.
In the psalm under consideration, beginning with verse 9, we read of Christ’s personal history as He was protected by the Father from the time of His birth into the human family. “But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust when I was on My mother’s breasts.” The margin of the King James Version puts it this way: You “kept Me in safety.”
There were many attempts on the life of Jesus. This began shortly after His birth by the puppet king, Herod. But God kept Him in safety until the fullness of the time came for Him to endure the full weight of the sins of the world. That time now came. “I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb, You have been My God. Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help” (verses 10, 11).
Humans and devils are next portrayed as wild raging, ravenous beasts who lusted to tear Him limb from limb as seen in their inhuman treatment of the Innocent One (verses 12, 13, 16, 20, 21).
Next comes a word picture of His physical and emotional sufferings as He hung upon the cross. He went limp from the tortuous condition He was in. His bones at the joints began to separate. His mind melted like wax in fire. His strength drained from Him like liquid from a broken vessel. His tongue swelled and stuck to His jaws. Inflammation of wounds, high temperature, thirst and mental anguish are all there in the prophecy of verses 14, 15.
Christ’s bones stuck out, hanging exposed in His nakedness on the cross, as soldiers gambled over His garments strewn on the ground before Him (verse 18). His certain death was assumed by those religious and non–religious wretches that day on Mount Calvary.
But they were surprised that it came so soon. They were going to help the death process, those merchants of death. However, when they went to break His legs to hasten the expiration, they found He was dead already! And so the prophecy was fulfilled in that although His hands and feet were pierced by the spikes, His bones were not broken (verse 17).
Just before Jesus died He prayed a prayer of anguish and triumph. He asked for God’s presence, for help, for deliverance. And He was heard. He said, “You have answered Me” (verse 21). His deliverance came in death.
The remainder of the chapter is a song of the triumph of faith. These were the things passing rapidly through His mind in the closing minutes of His life. Victory is promised here for those who will not turn away from so costly and so great a salvation.
That sacrifice for our redemption was accomplished in Christ. One of the last words of Christ on the cross was, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And the last word in the original of Psalm 22 is, “finished.”
This word is rich in meaning.
The word “finished” is a primitive root word that means “to do” or “to make” as in creation (Genesis 1:7; 2:2-4), “to accomplish” (Isaiah 55:11), or “to finish.” It is used in connection with the offerings in the ceremonial system: “sacrifice” (Leviticus 23:19); “offering” (9:2, 7, 16, 22; 16:9); the morning and evening sin offering (Exodus 29:38); and for making incense (30:34-38).
Both the offerings and the incense, ascending with the prayers of Israel represent the merits of Christ’s righteousness and intercession. During His life and in death He earned the right to represent mankind in the courts of heaven. His merits, through faith, are imputed to His believing people, and these merits make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to God (Ephesians 5:1. 2; 1:6). Christ finished the work on earth He had been sent to do. In Psalm 22:31 the word “finished” implies the carrying through of the work of redemption by God in Christ, on the cross. It is echoed by those who proclaim His righteousness. And in Isaiah 44:23 we find a call to inanimate nature to rejoice in what God accomplished—our redemption.
And now in the sanctuary in heaven Christ works as the only Mediator between God and man. He is there finishing the work of redemption that He began while on earth.