Psalms 22:29

A most obscure verse. The first line (according to the present text) may be rendered literally,

All earth's fat ones have eaten and worshipped.

The tense is a -prophetic perfect"; with the eye of faith the Psalmist sees homage already paid to Jehovah even by the haughty nobles of the earth. They abandon their proud self-sufficiency, and join in the eucharistic meal with the meek (Psalms 22:26), whom once they despised and persecuted. Then he continues

Before him bow all that were going down to the dust,

Yea he who could not keep his soul alive.

Those who were on the edge of the grave, ready to die from want and misery and trouble, come as guests and gain new life. Rich and poor, strong and weak, alike partake of the feast: for it the rich desert their wealth; in it the poor receive the compensation of their privations; and those who were ready to die find life. Cp. Isaiah 25:6-8.

This seems to be the best explanation of the text as it stands; but it is open to serious objections. The reference to the sacrificial meal is very abrupt; the sense given to -those that go down to the dust" is questionable; and the last line drags heavily at the end of the verse.

Others suppose that the contrast intended is not between rich and poor, but between the living and the dead. -Earth's fat ones" are those in the full vigour of life: eatmeans simply -enjoy life": all they that have gone down into the dustare the dead. Quick and dead bow in homage before the universal sovereign. Cp. Philippians 2:10. Attractive as this explanation is, the idea is foreign to the O.T. See Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; and Introd. p. xxvff.,

But the text is not improbably corrupt. An easy emendation, adopted by several critics, simplifies the first line thus:

Surely him shall all earth's fat ones worship,

and the second line repeats the thought,

Before him shall bow all they that must go down to the dust.

Earth's mightiest are but mortals and must yield their homage to the King of kings. Then the last line should be joined to the next verse thus:

And as for him that could not keep his soul alive,

His seed shall serve Him.

The Psalmist and those who like him were at the point of death will leave a posterity behind them to serve Jehovah. The reading indicated by the LXX, But my soul liveth unto him, my seed shall serve him, suits the context less well.