The Psalm of the Cross

Psalm 22 is an extraordinary individual lament psalm. The psalmist laments the persecution by his enemies, but even more his sense of abandonment by God. He expresses his agony and despair, but finds a confident trust in Yahweh, vowing to praise God for hearing his prayer.

Messianic Psalm

This psalm is also an extraordinary Messianic psalm, predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories of His kingdom.

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Psalm 22 is often subject to dramatically differing interpretations. Some see it as David’s lament over some actual historical experience in his life. As such, it is a model for us of how to pray to the Lord about our anguish and our sense of abandonment by Him.

Others understand David to be speaking, not historically of himself in any sense, but only prophetically of God’s Messiah. Thus, its value and relevance is limited to its revelation of Christ.

I believe both interpretations of the psalm are legitimate. It is David’s prayer in some life experience, revealing how he handled the not uncommon struggle of the sense of God’s distance in some trials in his life.

But some descriptions in this psalm seem to go beyond what David actually experienced. Franz Delitszch, the German scholar, said in his commentary that the Holy Spirit led David in writing this psalm to describe his own struggle in fanciful poetic and hyperbolic expressions, because He, the Spirit, had a view to its fulfillment in David’s greater Son, the Messiah. And so all that is excessive for David’s experience became historically and literally true in the passion of Jesus.

Accordingly, I believe that this psalm has an immediate focus on the historical experience of David, although expressed in some places in exaggerated terms. As such, it is approached like any other psalm – an example for us of how to pray (or praise) in response to developments in our lives.

But it also clearly has a prophetic (predictive) focus on the suffering of Christ. These two points of focus will be addressed separately.

Although longer than most, Psalm 22 is written (for the most part) in the typical structure of a psalm of lament. It begins with an emphatic address (“My God, my God”) and an introductory cry (v. 1). Then follows the Lament Proper, which describes the misfortune of the psalmist. The next section of the psalm is the Petition Proper, which verbalizes the actual request of the psalmist for help and deliverance. Finally, in the Vow of Praise the psalmist promises to praise God in the sanctuary when God answers his prayer.

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
I groan in prayer, but help seems so far away.”

This is a rhetorical question. He does not want to know why God has abandoned him; he laments the fact that He has and wants to be rescued. In other words, he doesn’t want an explanation; he wants God on his side.

“Groan” is often translated “roar.” It speaks of a cry of deep distress. His is not a beautifully worded and articulated prayer of measured theological precision. In agony he roars an almost inaudible cry.

“O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.”

His greatest suffering is neither his physical pain, nor the mockery of his persecutors, but his sense of God-forsakenness.

“Yet You are holy,
O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.”

There are three things to see here. First, David finds confidence in the holiness of God. “Holy” carries a world of theology. It speaks of His being “distinct, unique, set apart.” It summarizes all that God is. In other words, God is unique and set apart in that He is all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent), all-present (omnipresent), etc.

Second, God is “enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (v. 3). This means that God, who is all-present in some sense, is more powerfully present among those who are genuinely worshiping Him. In worship, God’s reign of redemptive love is stronger than any other time.

Third, in his crisis, David found confidence to trust God in the history of the ancients (vv. 4-5). The stories of deliverance he had heard or read had proven to be a foundation beneath him when the storms of life raged.

“But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
‘Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him’”

Though the ancients were heard and delivered, David says, “I am taunted and treated like a worm. They mock my faith” (v. 8). The sense of human dignity is taken from him, and his faith is ridiculed.

“Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother's womb.”

They taunt his faith, but his faith has been in God since before he can remember. He seems to be saying, “This is another opportunity to trust You.” There seems to be a resolve to persevere in his faith, perhaps strengthened by previous incidents of “trust” (v. 9).

This is a brief, initial statement of his petition. He wants the nearness of God for help in his crisis.

“Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They open wide their mouth at me,
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 within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots.”

David explains his need of help. His enemies are like strong bulls (things grow bigger in the fertile area of Bashan), and hungry lions. I am weak, broken, withered, and wounded. I am as good as dead unless You act.

“But You, O LORD, be not far off;
O You my help, hasten to my assistance.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
My only life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion's mouth;
From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.”

Now David refers to God by His covenant name, Yahweh (LORD), appealing to His faithfulness. David asks to be delivered from the sword, the power of the dog, and the mouth of the lion – all figures of speech for life-threatening danger.

What is interesting is the last word (in the Hebrew text) of this petition section – “answer.” It is not an imperative , but a Hebrew perfect tense, “You have answered me.”

“From this point on in the psalm there is not one word of lament or petition of any kind; from this point on the psalm is filled with praise. The perfect tense has probably been chosen to begin the transition to the praise section.”^² I suspect that in the middle of the petition, while asking God to deliver him from his enemies, David was so confident that the prayer had been heard and that he was or would soon be delivered, that he broke off the petition and declared that God had answered him.

“I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.”

Suddenly and dramatically the tone of the psalm changes from distress to praise.

In keeping with the standard pattern of psalms of lament, David now makes a vow to praise God in the sanctuary for answering his prayer. This should not be taken as manipulative bargaining, as much as a bold confidence in the faithfulness of God.

“The ‘name’ of the LORD refers to the nature of the LORD, His attributes or perfections... David will not simply declare that God saved him from death; he will declare what God is like, how this intervention revealed His nature to him. Praise goes beyond the simple report of the act to the proclamation of the nature of God. That is what makes it edifying.”^³

We learn from this the importance of public thanksgiving and praise. It helps others get a firm conviction and sustaining confidence in the faithfulness of God.

“You who fear the LORD, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.

From You comes my praise in the great assembly;
I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him.
The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!”

David is so caught up in adoration of the greatness and grace of God, that he wants everyone to praise God with him. The true worshipper desires more than an isolated experience. In the remaining verses, David will invite more and more worshippers – a growing choir of voices from all nations and eras.

The picture is of a gathering at the temple where David will offer a thanksgiving peace offering (Lev. 7:12-17). “He will pay his vows before the true worshipers in the assembly. The vow in this case refers to the praise that he owes to the LORD for the answer to prayer. … But according to Leviticus 7, it was to be delivered along with a peace offering, a sacrifice that would actually be a communal meal (it was the only sacrifice that Israelites could eat in the sanctuary). The worshiper would come with the animal, kill it, and have the priest prepare it for the altar. Part would be burnt up on the altar, but the main part would be roasted for a communal meal of the priests and worshipers who were present. And while the animal was roasting on the altar, the one who brought it would be standing beside the altar telling people what God had done. This was “paying his vows,” [(Jonah 2:9)] in word and with a peace offering of thanksgiving and praise. Then all the people would eat together--but they would eat because God had blessed this person.”^⁴

The goal of this temple experience is stated in the last line, “Let your heart live forever!” He wants people’s hearts to be renewed and empowered with an indomitable strength by the testimony of God’s deliverance.

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations will worship before You.
For the kingdom is the LORD'S
And He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous 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.
Posterity will serve Him;
It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.
They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.”

Here David casts the net even wider, reaching those who are not yet alive. He is speaking of a universal praise in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:1-6). The Lord will present His own banquet in that day: “The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine” (Is. 25:6).

David’s vow to praise God for His answer to David’s prayer led to an invitation for all who fear the Lord to come worship. Then it birthed a vision of the millennium where God will be praised by all the earth, and His glorious dominion will be unchallenged.

Now we must consider the Messianic exposition of this psalm. Several elements of David’s lament are ultimately fulfilled in the sufferings of Christ.

This was the fourth recorded statement uttered by Jesus on the cross (Mark 15:34). It perfectly reflects the dark and deep agony He felt when all the transgressions and wicked atrocities of the world were placed on His pure and innocent frame, and His perfect fellowship with the Father was breached for the first (and only) time in all eternity.

Before this moment, though He was forsaken by men, He could always say, “Yet I not alone, for My Father is with Me” (John 16:32). But here He tasted spiritual death for us – being separated from the Father. As John Calvin once argued, “If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual… Unless His soul shared in the punishment, He would have been the Redeemer of bodies alone.”^⁵

Notice that Jesus’ cry was in the form of a question (“Why…”), not because He did not know the answer, but because the Old Testament text He is quoting was in that form.

Crucifixion normally involves broken bones (feet and hand/wrist) and dislocated shoulders. Hence “my bones are out of joint.”

These words describe an extreme dehydration, which is certainly what Christ experienced on the cross under the blistering Palestinian sun. That is why He cried out, “I thirst!” (John 19:28)

We see here His suffering at a level we can all appreciate. We all know what it is to be thirsty. But God had never thirsted until the Incarnation. He thirsted because He was identifying with us.

This is the same one who said to the Samaritan woman, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)

This is the same one who stood on the last day, the great day of the feast of Tabernacles, and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:37-38)

The One who would take away our thirst had to take our thirst to Himself. He took it, and He still takes it away – today by satisfying our spiritual thirst with the satisfying stream of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“Dogs” was a common Hebraism for Gentiles, and especially for Romans. Jesus, while on the cross, was surrounded by Roman soldiers.

Surely the word “pierced” is an extraordinary prophecy, considering that the Persians did not invent crucifixion until sometime between 300-400 B.C.

The statement, “I can count all my bones” may mean that he felt reduced to a living skeleton. But there appears to be a crucifixion implication here. It would be the Roman custom of Jesus’ day to hasten death by breaking the legs of crucifixion victims, denying them the ability to push up so as to help their exhausted chest muscles expand for air. John tells us in his gospel (19:31-33) that Jesus was spared this experience, and instead was pierced with a spear. The result was that Jesus, like the Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:46), did not have any of his bones broken.

On the cross, the naked Jesus was a spectacle before the eyes of many. Here is the shame and indignity of our sin that He bore. And it is documented in all four gospels where the dividing of garments and casting lots is described.

Psalm 22 is an amazing anticipation of the crucifixion of Christ, seven hundred years before crucifixion was invented. It is no wonder, therefore, that this psalm has been called “the gospel according to David.”

The only appropriate response is to marvel at the eternal plan of God to “crush [His Son], putting Him to grief” (Is. 53:10). Let us marvel; let us humbly adore Him; let us commit ourselves to Him.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

1 Literally, Upon the hind (doe) of the dawn. This is probably the name of the ancient tune to which it was sung, although Luther took it to refer to Christ, the hind that was hunted though the night and killed at dawn.

2 Allen Ross, “Psalm 22: Afflicted by the Wicked, Forsaken by God—A Cry of Despair”, at www.bible.org.

3 Allen Ross, ibid.

4 Allen Ross, ibid.

5 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559), II.xvi.10.

(Ps. 22) 16

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Type

Lament Psalm

Messianic Psalm

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