Pictures of God’s Purposes in Salvation
Psalm 22: Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Introduction: Let me begin with a question. When you read the Psalms, especially psalms that are prayers to God, psalms that are complaints, and psalms of lament, how do you approach the application of the psalm? Like most people, the natural thing to do is to apply the psalm to a similar incident or trial that has happened in our lives. That is exactly what Israel did when they read the psalms and what God intended for them to do. The psalms were Israel’s hymnal, and they sang applying the words to similar experiences years after the original psalm was written. We do that with all music.
There is one other principle we need to understand. All of the psalms were written in the context of the original author’s experience. However, many of the psalms, especially the Royal Psalms and the Psalms of Lament, had an ultimate and complete fulfillment in the Messiah. In fact, while the author would apply his words to himself, his figurative language would have a more literal and complete fulfillment in Christ. Not all that he said would apply to himself in that present day. Psalm 16 is an example.
The Psalm’s Message
The psalm follows a typical pattern of other psalms of lament.
A cry to God out of confusion that God has not rescued (1-10)
The lament over imminent defeat and death at the hands of his enemies and final appeal (11-21)
Praise for deliverance (22-31)
David’s Cry (1-10):
David has become desperate. He has been crying to God day and night and still there is no answer. God seems to be ignoring him. Similar to Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (cf. Psalm 102)
Vs. 3-5 David’s confusion is seen in that God’s apparent abandonment is out of character. He has always delivered the righteous.
Vs. 6-8 In contrast to the fact that the fathers “were not put to shame,” David is being put to shame. He is considered a worm, mocked and despised, even to the point that his enemies mock his trust in God.
Vs. 9-10 Again, David utters his confusion. He has trusted in God from his birth. At the weakest moments in his life, God has always been his God and his confidence.
David’s Lament: without strength and near death (11-21)
Vs. 11 “Be not far from me” is a plea in connection to verse 1 and repeated in verse 19. The appeal is made because the time of defeat is imminent and God is the only one who can rescue him.
Vs. 12-18 A description of his enemies as “bulls, lions, wild dogs, and wild oxen.”
David expresses how he is broken physically, but especially mentally. He is despondent, his heart melting like wax; his strength is gone. He has pleaded so much that he has no more he can say – his “tongue sticks to his jaws.”
“Pierced hands and feet” are translated by many Hebrew mss as, “like a lion they are at my hands and feet.” A lion is holding him down and ready to devour.
The enemies are so convinced of his death that they are already dividing up his possessions.
Vs. 19-21 David’s final appeal listing the animals in reverse order and asking God to reverse their attack.
David’s Praise: Sudden reversal
21b may be translated, “You have rescued” or “Rescue me from.” Most translators take the first view. Regardless, verse 22 shows that the prayer has suddenly been heard and God has rescued.
Key phrases that indicate God’s rescue:
24: “For he has not despised or abhorred…he has not hidden his face from him, bu has heard when he cried to him.”
Vs. 26: “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied… may your hearts live forever!”
Vs. 27: “The ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord.” That is, they will remember that God does answer his afflicted one and will not abandon him.
Vs. 28: “For kingship belongs to the Lord.” Since God is sovereign King, the enemies of the righteous will never succeed.
Vs. 31: “Coming generations will serve the Lord [and] proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” God’s faithfulness to deliver and answer will be told to every generation from now on. This deliverance is an eternal message.
Application to the Messiah
Obviously, the psalm has many NT references that show us this is a psalm that has its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.
Verse 1: Jesus cry on the cross (Matt. 27:46)
Verse 8: The mock of his enemies (Matt. 27:43)
Verse 15: Reference to Jesus’ thirst (Jn. 19:38)
Verse 16: Pierced hands and feet may refer to the crucifixion, though not quoted exactly (Jn. 19:37)
Vs. 18: Dividing his garments (Jn. 19:24)
Vs. 22: I will tell your name to my brothers (Heb. 2:12)
Notice that the first five of these quotes is in the section that deals with David’s complaint and lament. But the last quote introduces the section of praise for deliverance. Therefore, the Messiah experienced that same complaint and lament that David did, but in a sense that was even more physically literal. Therefore, as David, the Messiah suffered, prayed, and was delivered.
Now the question: Why did Jesus cry, “why have you forsaken me?” Had God actually forsaken Jesus on the cross?
The question is first answered by asking, was David forsaken in the psalm? Or, was it only that in the depths of David’s despair that it appeared he had been forsaken. In fact, that is the way it did appear to his enemies (vs. 8).
Second, it is important to note that when a NT writer quotes a verse or even a phrase, he intends that the reader know the entire context of the quote for it to be properly understood. Therefore, when Jesus quoted verse 1, he was intending his audience to know the entire psalm, that is, that it only appeared God had abandoned him. Remember Jesus received the same taunt as in verse 8.
Therefore, when we realize the full message of the psalm, we know that God did not abandon Jesus on the cross. Look at the words or verse 24. Why did we get any other idea? Because we didn’t read all of Psalm 22 and because we interpreted the darkness over the whole land as God turning his face away – which this verse says God didn’t do. And, it has been taught for years by denominational interpreters that Jesus became a sinner instead of us, so God had to remove his fellowship with him on the cross. That is not in the Bible.
Consider 2 Cor. 4:18-19, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…” God and Christ were on the same team! Not antagonistic to each other. Jesus is a sin offering, an atonement, not the sinner instead of us.
Application to Us
Most importantly, Psalm 22 has a greater application to us.
Hebrews quotes 22:22. Notice the whole context: Heb. 2:10-12. The point of the text is that Jesus is our trailblazer or pioneer bringing us to glory through the path of suffering. That is, Jesus obtained glory through suffering and is not ashamed to call us “brothers” because we are willing to suffer with him in order to obtain glory. Therefore, the writer quotes Psalm 22:22 to show us that just as Jesus was not abandoned by God neither will God abandoned us when we suffer. He will “hear us when we cry” and not “hide his face from us.”
And then, to bring us to the height of encouragement, look at the last part of the psalm:
Vs. 27: We are to use this evangelistically. The ends of the earth will remember that God does not abandon his people. They can trust and be assured of his deliverance. Why? Because Jesus is the example of deliverance. If God delivered him in the depths of despair, how much more us who are called his brothers?
But, you say, Jesus died. It seems he wasn’t delivered. Look at verse 29. No matter the physical state of the afflicted, even if they cannot keep themselves alive, they have hope. They will eat and worship and bow before him. As with Jesus, he was raised! God delivered!
Further, verse 30-31: generation after generation will tell the story of God’s deliverance of Jesus, that he was not abandoned. What will they proclaim? His righteousness! That is Paul’s term in Romans to proclaim the faithfulness of God to save his people.
Verse 5, the fathers trusted and were not put to shame. Neither was Jesus. It only appeared that way for the moment. And neither are we! What hope! What assurance! What boldness God has given us!
Berry Kercheville