Home | What's New |
Mission Statement | Location|
Services | Calendar |
Lessons |
Committees | Activities |
Search | Links
Music, Search By: Hymnal / By Tune
/ Music Book |
Scott's Reference Library
Psalm 22
Maundy Thursday (Stripping of the Altar) April 8, 1998
Psalm 22:1-31
For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of
David.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
[2] O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
[3] Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
[4] In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
[5] They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
[6] But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
[7] All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
[8] "He trusts in the Lord;
let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."
[9] Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.
[10] From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.
[11] Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
[12] Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
[13] Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
[14] I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
[15] My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
[16] Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
[17] I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
[18] They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
[19] But you, O Lord, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
[20] Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
[21] Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
[22] I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
[23] You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
[24] For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
[25] From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
[26] The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the Lord will praise him--
may your hearts live forever!
[27] All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
[28] for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
[29] All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him--
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
[30] Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
[31] They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn--
for he has done it.
(NIV)
Psalm 22:1-10 (Complaints of discouragement)
The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, clearly and fully, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. We have a sorrowful complaint of God’s withdrawings. This may be applied to any child of God, pressed down, overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual desertions are the saints’ sorest afflictions; but even their complaint of these burdens is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual senses exercised. To cry our, My God, why am I sick? why am I poor? savours of discontent and worldliness. But, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God’s favour. This must be applied to Christ. In the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was upon the cross, Matthew 27:46. Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed. Christ declared the holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his sharpest sufferings; nay, declared them to be a proof of it, for which he would be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they received. Never any that hoped in thee, were made ashamed of their hope; never any that sought thee, sought thee in vain. Here is a complaint of the contempt and reproach of men. The Saviour here spoke of the abject state to which he was reduced. The history of Christ’s sufferings, and of his birth, explains this prophecy.
Psalm 22:11-21 (With prayer for deliverance)
In these verses we have Christ suffering, and Christ praying; by which we are directed to look for crosses, and to look up to God under them. The very manner of Christ’s death is described, though not in use among the Jews. They pierced his hands and his feet, which were nailed to the accursed tree, and his whole body was left so to hang as to suffer the most severe pain and torture. His natural force failed, being wasted by the fire of Divine wrath preying upon his spirits. Who then can stand before God’s anger? or who knows the power of it? The life of the sinner was forfeited, and the life of the Sacrifice must be the ransom for it. Our Lord Jesus was stripped, when he was crucified, that he might clothe us with the robe of his righteousness. Thus it was written, therefore thus it behoved Christ to suffer. Let all this confirm our faith in him as the true Messiah, and excite our love to him as the best of friends, who loved us, and suffered all this for us. Christ in his agony prayed, prayed earnestly, prayed that the cup might pass from him. When we cannot rejoice in God as our song, yet let us stay ourselves upon him as our strength; and take the comfort of spiritual supports, when we cannot have spiritual delights. He prays to be delivered from the Divine wrath. He that has delivered, doth deliver, and will do so. We should think upon the sufferings and resurrection of Christ, till we feel in our souls the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.
Psalm 22:22-31 (Praises for mercies and redemption)
The Saviour now speaks as risen from the dead. The first words of the complaint were used by Christ himself upon the cross; the first words of the triumph are expressly applied to him, Hebrews 2:12. All our praises must refer to the work of redemption. The suffering of the Redeemer was graciously accepted as a full satisfaction for sin. Though it was offered for sinful men, the Father did not despise or abhor it for our sakes. This ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. All humble, gracious souls should have a full satisfaction and happiness in him. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ, shall not labour for that which satisfies not. Those that are much in praying, will be much in thanksgiving. Those that turn to God, will make conscience of worshipping before him. Let every tongue confess that he is Lord. High and low, rich and poor, bond and free, meet in Christ. Seeing we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our wisdom, by obedient faith, to commit our souls to Christ, who is able to save and keep them alive for ever. A seed shall serve him. God will have a church in the world to the end of time. They shall be accounted to him for a generation; he will be the same to them that he was to those who went before them. His righteousness, and not any of their own, they shall declare to be the foundation of all their hopes, and the fountain of all their joys. Redemption by Christ is the Lord’s own doing. Here we see the free love and compassion of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, for us wretched sinners, as the source of all grace and consolation; the example we are to follow, the treatment as Christians we are to expect, and the conduct under it we are to adopt. Every lesson may here be learned that can profit the humbled soul. Let those who go about to establish their own righteousness inquire, why the beloved Son of God should thus suffer, if their own doings could atone for sin? Let the ungodly professor consider whether the Saviour thus honoured the Divine law, to purchase him the privilege of despising it. Let the careless take warning to flee from the wrath to come, and the trembling rest their hopes upon this merciful Redeemer. Let the tempted and distressed believer cheerfully expect a happy end of every trial.
(Matthew Henry Concise Commentary)