Bible Commentaries
Psalms 22

Verse 1

22:1 [To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.] My {a} God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my {b} roaring?

(a) Here appears that horrible conflict, which he sustained between faith and desperation.

(b) Being tormented with extreme anguish.

Verse 3

22:3 But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the {c} praises of Israel.

(c) He means the place of praising, even the tabernacle or else it is so called, because he gave the people continuous opportunity to praise him.

Verse 6

22:6 But I [am] a {d} worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

(d) And seeming most miserable of all creatures, which referred to Christ, and in this appears the unspeakable love of God for man, that he would thus abase his son for our sakes.

Verse 9

22:9 But thou [art] he that took me out of the {e} womb: thou didst make me hope [when I was] upon my mother’s breasts.

(e) Even from my birth you have given me opportunity to trust in you.

Verse 10

22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother’s {f} belly.

(f) For unless God’s providence preserves the infants, they would perish a thousand times in the mother’s womb.

Verse 12

22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong {g} [bulls] of Bashan have beset me round.

(g) He means that his enemies were so fat, proud and cruel that they were more like beasts than men.

Verse 14

22:14 I am poured out like {h} water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

(h) Before he spoke of the cruelty of his enemies, and now he declares the inward grief of the mind, so that Christ was tormented both in soul and body.

Verse 15

22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou {i} hast brought me into the dust of death.

(i) You permitted me to be without all hope of life.

Verse 16

22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they {k} pierced my hands and my feet.

(k) Thus David complained as though he were nailed by his enemies in both hands and feet, but this was accomplished in Christ.

Verse 20

22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my {l} darling from the power of the dog.

(l) My life that is solitary, left alone and forsaken by all, Psalms 35:17; Psalms 25:16

Verse 21

22:21 {m} Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

(m) Christ is delivered with a more mighty deliverance by overcoming death, than if he had not tasted death at all.

Verse 23

22:23 Ye that fear the LORD, {n} praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

(n) He promises to exhort the Church that they by his example might praise the Lord.

Verse 24

22:24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the {o} afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

(o) The poor afflicted are comforted by this example of David, or Christ.

Verse 25

22:25 My praise [shall be] of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my {p} vows before them that fear him.

(p) Which were sacrifices of thanksgiving which they offered by God’s commandment, when they were delivered out of any great danger.

Verse 26

22:26 {q} The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

(q) He alludes still to the sacrifice.

Verse 29

22:29 All [they that be] fat {r} upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: {s} and none can keep alive his own soul.

(r) Though the poor are first named as in Psalms 22:26 yet the wealthy are not separated from the grace of Christ’s kingdom.

(s) In whom there is no hope that he will recover life: so neither poor nor rich, quick nor dead will be rejected from his kingdom.

Verse 30

22:30 {t} A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

(t) Meaning, the prosperity which the Lord keeps as a seed to the Church to continue his praise among men.

Verse 31

22:31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath {u} done [this].

(u) That is, God has fulfilled his promise.