The first and greatest of the -Passion Psalms," consecrated for us by our Lord's appropriation of it to Himself. His utterance of the opening words of it upon the Cross has been thought with much probability to indicate that the whole Psalm was the subject of His meditations during those hours of ag... [ Continue Reading ]
The expostulation of astonishment and perplexity, not a demand for explanation. Faith and despair are wrestling in the Psalmist's mind. Faith can still claim God as -my God," and does not cease its prayers; despair thinks itself forsaken. So Zion in her exile said, "Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
The pleading cry of the forsaken and persecuted servant of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou hearest not_ R.V., thou answerest not. _and am not silent_ Better as R.V. marg., but find no rest: no answer comes to bring me respite.... [ Continue Reading ]
An appeal to God's moral character, as the Holy One of Israel. The Heb. word for _holy_is derived from a root signifying _separation_. It characterises God negatively, as separate from the limitations and imperfections of the world and man; and positively, it comes to express the essential nature of... [ Continue Reading ]
The thought of the preceding line is developed in an appeal to the past history of the nation. Cp. Psalms 44:1; Psalms 78:3; Psalms 9:10. -Thou didst deliver them: why then am I deserted?" The emphasis is throughout on thee. In thee did our fathers trust: They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a worm_ Trampled under foot, despised, defenceless. Almost every word of this verse finds a parallel in the second part of Isaiah. Jehovah's servant Israel is there called a worm (Isaiah 41:14); and the ideal representative of Israel is one whom men despise (Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 53:3); from whom the... [ Continue Reading ]
The contrast of his own lot.... [ Continue Reading ]
_laugh me to scorn_ LXX. ἐξεμυκτήρισαν, the word used by St Luke (Luke 23:35) of the rulers scoffing at Christ. They gape with their lips (Job 16:10; Psalms 35:21); they shake the head (Psalms 109:25; Lamentations 2:15; Job 16:4), gestures partly of contempt, partly of feigned abhorrence. Comp. Matt... [ Continue Reading ]
-Roll it upon Jehovah! let him deliver him: Let him rescue him, for he delighteth in him." Ironically they bid the sufferer -roll" i.e. commit his cause to Jehovah. The verb is certainly imperative, as in Psalms 37:5; Proverbs 16:3; though the Versions all give the perfect tense, and the words are... [ Continue Reading ]
_But thou_art _he_ Rather, Yea, thou art he. The mocking words of his enemies are true, and he turns them into a plea. All his past life has proved Jehovah's love. Cp. Psalms 71:5-6. _thou didst make me hope_ Rather, that didst make me trust, (cp. Psalms 22:4). The marg., _keptest me in safety_, li... [ Continue Reading ]
Upon thee have I been cast &c. _Upon thee_stands first emphatically. Cp. Psalms 22:4. To THY care have I been entrusted from my birth. Cp. Psalms 55:22; Psalms 71:6. There does not seem to be any reference to the practice of placing a new-born infant upon its father's knees, as much as to say, Thou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not far from me_ The expostulation of Psalms 22:1 is turned into a prayer, again repeated in Psalms 22:19. He urges his plea on the double ground that while Jehovah still stands afar off in seeming indifference, distress is close at hand, and there is no other helper to whom he can look.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist pleads for help with intenser earnestness. The virulence of his foes increases. Strength and endurance are exhausted.... [ Continue Reading ]
He compares his insolent enemies to wanton bulls, which "are in the habit of gathering in a circle round any novel or unaccustomed object, and may easily be irritated into charging with their horns" (Tristram, _Nat. Hist. of the Bible_, p. 71). _Bashan_is here used in a wide sense for the district f... [ Continue Reading ]
_They gaped_&c. R.V., they gape upon me with their mouths (Lamentations 2:16; Lamentations 3:46); like a lion roaring as it prepares to spring upon its prey (Psalms 7:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Joshua 7:5; Psalms 6:2 ff. It is the experience of the dying man. Cp. Newman's _Dream of Gerontius_, "This emptying out of each constituent And natural force, whereby I come to be.... [ Continue Reading ]
The effects of anxiety and persecution. Vital strength and courage fail; his frame is racked and tortured; he is reduced to a skeleton.... [ Continue Reading ]
The vital sap and moisture of the body are dried up. Cp. Psalms 32:4. Possibly for _my strength_we should read _my palate_. Cp. Psalms 69:3. _thou hast brought me_ Thou art laying me. Even in this persecution he can recognise the hand of God. His tormentors are Jehovah's instruments. Cp. Acts 2:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
A fresh description of his foes. An unclean, cowardly, worrying rabble, like the troops of hungry and half-savage dogs with which every oriental city and village still abounds (Tristram, _Nat. Hist_. p. 79), come thronging round him: a gang of miscreants have hemmed him in. _They pierced my hands a... [ Continue Reading ]
_I may tell_ i.e. I can count. He is reduced to a living skeleton. Cp. Job 33:21. _they look_&c. While they they gaze &c. The original expresses the malicious delight with which these monsters of cruelty feast their eyes upon the sorry spectacle.... [ Continue Reading ]
His brutal enemies are only waiting for his death that they may strip his body, and divide his clothes between them. Already they are settling their respective shares. This is a simpler explanation than to suppose that the Psalmist represents himself as a prisoner stripped and led out to execution,... [ Continue Reading ]
The prayer for help is repeated after this description of the urgency of his need. But thou, O lord (in emphatic contrast to they in Psalms 22:17), keep not thou far off. The sufferer looks away from his numerous tormentors and fixes his gaze upon Jehovah. _O my strength_ R.V., O thou my succour.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the sword_ From a violent death. _my darling_ Lit., _my only one_. The clue to the meaning is given by the use of the word of _an only child_(Genesis 22:2; Judges 11:34). The word denotes the one precious life which can never be replaced. Cp. Psalms 35:17. _the dog_ See on Psalms 22:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_for thou hast heard me_&c. Render, yea from the horns of the wild oxen thou hast answered me. A singularly bold and forcible construction. We expect a second imperative, repeating the prayer for deliverance (_rescue thou me:_cp. Jer. _exaudi_). But the conviction that his prayer is heard, nay, answ... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy name_ All that Thou hast proved thyself to be. See note on Psalms 5:11. _my brethren_ By the ties of national and religious sympathy. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Psalms 2:12) puts these words directly into the mouth of Christ, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." _in the m... [ Continue Reading ]
Convinced that his prayer is heard, the Psalmist breaks forth with resolutions of public thanksgiving (22 26); and the glorious prospect of Jehovah's universal kingdom opens up before him (27 31). "_Thou answerest not_" (Psalms 22:2) is the key-note of Psalms 22:1; "_Thou hast answered me_of Psalms... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye that fear the Lord_ Possibly coextensive with _the seed of Jacob_, but pointing rather to the inner circle of true believers who are in fullest sympathy with the Psalmist. See note on Psalms 115:11. _seed of Jacob … seed of Israel_ Cp. Isaiah 45:19; Isaiah 45:25. _fear him_ R.V., stand in awe... [ Continue Reading ]
Already he can imagine himself standing -in the great congregation." These are the words in which he summons them to praise.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he hath not despised_as men do (Psalms 22:6) _nor abhorred_as something loathsome and abominable (Isaiah 49:7, though the word here is even stronger) _the affliction of the afflicted_. Cp. Psalms 69:33. The -servant of Jehovah" (Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:7) and Zion's future king (Zechariah 9:9) a... [ Continue Reading ]
_My praise_shall be _of thee_ Rather as R.V., Of thee cometh my praise. From his fellow-worshippers the Psalmist turns to Jehovah, who is not only the object but the source of his praise. "It is the Lord's doing." _I will pay my vows_ Thank-offerings vowed in the time of trouble. Cp. Psalms 66:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
_The meek shall eat and be satisfied_ The flesh of a sacrifice offered in performance of a vow was to be eaten on the same day on which it was offered, or on the morrow (Leviticus 7:16; Numbers 15:3). The Psalmist will invite the meek to join him in this eucharistic meal. Such an invitation is not i... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the ends of the world_ R.V., of the earth. The remotest countries. Cp. Psalms 67:7; Psalms 98:3. _shall remember_&c. There was a knowledge of God, to which the nations might attain through the witness of His works without and the witness of conscience within. But they -forgot Him" (Psalms 9:17... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's hopes take a wider range, extending to all mankind and to future ages. He anticipates the time when not he alone, not the seed of Israel only, but all nations to earth's remotest bound, will pay homage to Jehovah. From personal hopes he passes to national hopes, from national hopes to... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason for this homage. It is but the recognition of the present fact of Jehovah's universal sovereignty. Cp. Obadiah 1:21; Psalms 93:1; Psalms 96:10; Psalms 97:1; Zechariah 14:16-17. _and_he is _the governor_&c. R.V., and he is the ruler over the nations. Cp. Psalms 66:7; Psalms 103:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 a... [ Continue Reading ]
_It shall be accounted_&c. i.e. as R.V. marg., _It shall be counted unto the Lord for_his _generation_. Better, however, as R.V. text, It shall be told of the Lord unto the _next_generation. But here again it seems best slightly to alter the text, and following the LXX to connect the first word of P... [ Continue Reading ]
_and shall_&c. And they shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born; i.e. to the next generation. From one generation to another the tradition of Jehovah's righteousness, of His faithfulness to His covenant, will be handed down. _that he hath done_this] Or as R.V., that he hath... [ Continue Reading ]