Here is the crucifixion in graphic detail, but also hints of the coming glory.
Although each of the psalms 22, 23 and 24 portrays our Lord Jesus, each does so in a very different way. Psalm 22 mainly depicts Him as the Sufferer, Psalm 23 as the Shepherd, and Psalm 24 as the Sovereign. Indeed, we can see in these psalms something of the Sufferer’s cross, the Shepherd’s crook, and the Sovereign’s crown.
The structure of the psalm
The psalm is divided into two main sections. The turning point comes with the words “You have heard Me” at the close of verse 21.1 From this point on, all changes. If, in verses 1-21a, we plumb something of the depths of Messiah’s desolation, now, in verses 21b-31, we scale something of the summit of His joy. Here we exchange His “sighing” for His “singing”—His passion for His praises. Borrowing the words of the apostle Peter, we turn from “the sufferings of Christ” to “the glories after these” (1 Pet. 1:12, literal translation).2
No longer does Messiah say, “I cry…but You do not hear” (v. 2); now He says of Himself, “when He [the afflicted] cried to Him [God], He heard” (v. 24). No longer is He encircled by “the assembly of the wicked” (v. 16); He now leads God’s praise “in the midst of the congregation” of God’s people (vv.22, 25). No longer is He alone (vv. 1, 11); He is now surrounded by a vast company of those He is not ashamed to call His “brethren” (v. 22; Jn. 20:17; Heb. 2:12).
The first main section is composed of two parts: verses 1-11 and verses 12-21a, each concluding with the plea, “Be not far from Me” (vv. 11, 19).
The second main section is also composed of two parts. In the first part (vv. 21b-25), Messiah speaks of Himself and of the great congregation which He calls to join Him in celebrating His great deliverance and victory. In the second part (vv. 26-31), the circle of praise widens to embrace “all the ends of the world”— ranging from the prosperous to the dying and extending even to people yet unborn.
The uniqueness of the psalm
Although there are many other passages in both the Old and New Testaments which portray the sufferings of our Lord Jesus, Psalm 22 is unique in that it describes those sufferings as He viewed them. We cannot help but note the repeated “I” (eight times), “Me” (twenty times), and “My” (twenty-two times).
The fulfillment of the psalm
Many of the expressions in the psalm clearly reach far beyond the experiences of the human author’s own life. But “being a prophet,” David was taken up by “the Spirit of Christ” to testify to both our Lord’s sufferings and subsequent glories (Acts 2:30; 1 Pet. 1:11).
(i) Messiah’s sufferings
Many of David’s expressions in the first section of Psalm 22 find verbal echoes in the gospel accounts of our Lord’s crucifixion. Confining ourselves to Matthew’s narrative (Mt. 27:33 46), we read, “they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots [a clear fulfillment of Psalm 22:183]…those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads [an equally clear realization of Psalm 22:7]…the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said… ‘He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him’ [a direct quote from Psalm 22:8]… and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ [an unmistakable fulfillment of Psalm 22:1]”
I suspect that the apostle John may have had verse 15 (“My tongue clings to My jaws”) in mind when he wrote, “Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’” (Jn. 19:28). And who can fail to associate the words of verse 16 (“They pierced My hands and My feet”4) with crucifixion, this being a far cry from the typical Jewish method of execution by stoning?5 And it is at least possible that the Saviour’s references to His mother in verses 9-10 were suggested by the fact that He saw His mother Mary standing by His cross (Jn. 19:25f).6
(ii) Messiah’s subsequent glories
The words of verse 22 are quoted verbatim by the writer to the Hebrews with reference to the resurrected Lord Jesus (Heb. 2:12).
But it is striking that the sufferings of Christ described in Psalm 22 do not follow the chronological order of their fulfillment. For the Holy Spirit directs our attention at the first not to any of our Lord’s physical sufferings, but to His being forsaken by God. It is as if the Holy Spirit thrusts what men did to our Lord into the background and invites us to consider first, as of far greater importance, what God did to Him.7
It is true that Psalm 22 foretells plainly what the Gentiles would do to the Lord Jesus—stripping Him of His clothing and heartlessly staring on Him (vv. 17f). Like a pack of dogs8, the whole band of soldiers had earlier encompassed Him and made Him a laughing stock; now the Roman execution squad pierced His hands and His feet (v. 16; Mt. 27:27, 35).
Psalm 22 also foretells what the Jews would do to the Lord Jesus, shaking their heads in a gesture of contempt, rudely mocking and taunting Him (vv. 7f). It is not now “dogs” of the Gentiles but “strong bulls of Bashan” who encompass Him (vv. 12, 16). The bulls of Bashan were proverbial for their size, strength, and ferocity, and the Old Testament prophets used them to picture the leaders of the nation of their own day (Amos 4:1; Mic. 7:14). Inasmuch as the Jewish rulers of our Lord’s day were the particular (albeit unaware) instruments and agents of the devil, they partook of his character as “a roaring lion” (v. 13 with 1 Pet. 5:8).
But before referring to what men (whether Jews or Gentiles) did to the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit focuses our attention on what God did to Him. Earlier, at the place called Gethsemane (Mk. 14:32), the Saviour had been forsaken and disowned by His disciples when they left Him and fled (Mt. 26:56).9 Subsequently, at the place called Gabbatha (Jn. 19:13), He was forsaken and disowned by His nation (Jn. 19:13-16). But, worse than either, now at the place called Golgotha (Mt. 27:33), He was forsaken by His God. The physical sufferings of our Lord, foretold so graphically in Psalm 22, were only the door through which He passed into the fearful region beyond, where, in matchless love, He bore our sins. Truly, there was “none to help” (v. 11)!
If Psalm 22 opens with the cry of desolation which formed the central of our Lord’s seven sayings at the time of His crucifixion, it closes with the declaration of accomplishment: “He has done this” (v. 31), which suggests to our believing hearts the sixth of our Lord’s sayings on the cross: “It is finished!”
Endnotes
1 If we follow the alternative rendering of verse 21, “From the horns of the wild oxen You have heard Me,” the meaning is clearly that He was heard and was therefore rescued out of their power. For our Lord was “heard” by Him who saved Him out of death by resurrection (Heb. 5:7).
2 Compare our Lord’s words in Luke 24:26.
3 Indeed, this particular fulfilment of prophecy was so impressive that all four Gospel writers draw attention to it (Mt. 27:35; Mk. 15:24; Lk. 23:34; Jn. 19:24).
4 This is the traditional rendering which follows the text of the Septuagint.
5 Compare with “Behold, my hands and my feet…He showed them His hands and His feet” (Lk. 24:39f). Concerning crucifixion, “it seems that the Persians invented or first used this mode of execution…Later the cross…came to the Romans, who called the instrument used the crux.”— Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. VII (Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 573.
6 “Twice He mentions His mother. Throughout the Old Testament, there is never any mention made of a human father, or begetter, to the Messiah, but always only of His mother, or her who bare Him.”—F. Delitzsch, Keil-Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament (Eerdmans Publishing Company).
7 The Holy Spirit refers to this again in verse 15, “You [not “they”] have brought me to the dust of death.”
8 “Dogs” was a particularly apt description for our Lord’s Gentile persecutors (Mt. 15:26).
9 Of that very occasion He had said, “You will…leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (Jn. 16:32; cf. Jn. 8:16, 29).