Psalm 22:1-8

A Cry of Anguish and Song of Praise

22¹ My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation, The words of my roaring? ² My God, I call by day, and Thou answerest not, And by night, and there is no silence to me. ³ And Thou 'art' holy, Sitting—the Praise of Israel. ⁴ In Thee did our fathers trust—they trusted, And Thou dost deliver them. ⁵ Unto Thee they cried, and were delivered, In Thee they trusted, and were not ashamed. ⁶ And I 'am' a worm, and no man, A reproach of man, and despised of the people. ⁷ All beholding me do mock at me, They make free with the lip—shake the head, ⁸ 'Roll unto Jehovah, He doth deliver him, He doth deliver him, for he delighted in him.'

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Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 22:1-8

Commentary on Psalm 22:1-10

(Read Psalm 22:1-10)

The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, clearly and fully, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. We have a sorrowful complaint of God's withdrawings. This may be applied to any child of God, pressed down, overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; but even their complaint of these burdens is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual senses exercised. To cry our, My God, why am I sick? why am I poor? savours of discontent and worldliness. But, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. This must be applied to Christ. In the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was upon the cross, Matthew 27:46. Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed. Christ declared the holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his sharpest sufferings; nay, declared them to be a proof of it, for which he would be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they received. Never any that hoped in thee, were made ashamed of their hope; never any that sought thee, sought thee in vain. Here is a complaint of the contempt and reproach of men. The Saviour here spoke of the abject state to which he was reduced. The history of Christ's sufferings, and of his birth, explains this prophecy.