Bible Commentaries
Psalms 22

Verses 1-31

XXII. This Ps. (p. 372) consists of two parts. In Psalms 22:1-21 a godly man in deep and manifold distress complains that the God of his fathers, the God who has been with him from the beginning, has deserted him (see p. 372). Psalms 22:22-31 is a liturgical addition: it expresses the pious Israelite’ s gratitude for Israel’ s glory, which is to be acknowledged even by the heathen. No attempt is made to bridge the gulf between the despair of Psalms 22:1-21 and the confidence of the added verses, which depict Israel’ s prosperity as already come.

Psalms 22:3 . The LXX read, “ Thou dwellest in the holy place, O thou that art Israel’ s praise,” i.e. the theme of his praise.

Psalms 22:16 . MT has, “ They dug into my hands and feet,” or according to another reading, “ As a lion [they compassed] my hands and my feet.” Neither men nor lions would make a special attack on hands or feet. It is impossible to give any satisfactory explanation.

Psalms 22:18 . The “ garments” and the “ vesture” are two parallel words for the same thing, so that the interpretation in John 19:24 is untenable.

Psalms 22:21 . thou hast answered me: read, “ Help me.” The parallelism requires some such verb.