The superscription associates the psalm with David and gives musical direction to the director of music, including the tune marker commonly rendered 'The Doe of the Morning.'
The Forsaken Sufferer and the Worldwide Praise of the Lord
The righteous sufferer brings felt abandonment, shame, and deadly opposition to the Lord, and the Lord's deliverance becomes praise that reaches the congregation, the nations, and generations yet unborn.
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The righteous sufferer brings felt abandonment, shame, and deadly opposition to the Lord, and the Lord's deliverance becomes praise that reaches the congregation, the nations, and generations yet unborn.
Psalm 22 argues that the deepest experience of righteous suffering, even the felt absence of God, can be brought before the holy Lord in covenant faith. Because the Lord hears the afflicted one, suffering does not have the last word; divine deliverance becomes congregational praise, food for the poor, worldwide worship, and a proclamation of righteousness to generations not yet born.
Israel's worshiping community, especially sufferers, worship leaders, and those needing a faithful vocabulary for lament, praise, and testimony.
The psalm presents intense personal affliction, public mockery, and hostile encirclement, but it does not identify the specific historical event in David's life.
The righteous sufferer brings felt abandonment, shame, and deadly opposition to the Lord, and the Lord's deliverance becomes praise that reaches the congregation, the nations, and generations yet unborn.
The superscription associates the psalm with David and gives musical direction to the director of music, including the tune marker commonly rendered 'The Doe of the Morning.'
Israel's worshiping community, especially sufferers, worship leaders, and those needing a faithful vocabulary for lament, praise, and testimony.
The psalm presents intense personal affliction, public mockery, and hostile encirclement, but it does not identify the specific historical event in David's life.
- The sufferer faces social contempt, mocking observers, powerful opponents, and a deathlike vulnerability expressed through vivid animal and bodily imagery.
In Israel's worship, lament is not faithlessness; it is covenant prayer that appeals to God's holiness, remembered faithfulness, and covenant nearness when present experience feels contrary to promise.
Psalm 22 belongs to Book I of the Psalter and stands within the Davidic-righteous-sufferer stream that later Scripture applies decisively to the suffering, crucifixion, vindication, and worldwide proclamation of Jesus the Messiah.
A cry of forsakenness moves through remembered trust, public humiliation, urgent petition, answered praise, and finally worldwide testimony to the Lord's righteous saving work.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
Psalm 22 forms the heart to keep praying when God feels far, to remember God's holiness when circumstances accuse Him, to endure mockery without surrendering trust, to receive Christ as the righteous sufferer who entered our forsakenness, and to turn God's saving work into praise and proclamation.
- 22:1-2: The sufferer speaks honestly to God about felt abandonment and unanswered prayer.
- 22:3-5: The sufferer confesses God's holiness and remembers the trust and deliverance of the fathers.
- 22:6-11: Public shame and mocking taunts are answered by appeal to God's lifelong care.
- 22:12-18: The sufferer describes fierce enemies, bodily weakness, exposure, and the dividing of garments.
- 22:19-21: The sufferer urgently asks the Lord to come near, help, and rescue.
- 22:22-24: Deliverance turns into praise, testimony, and a summons for the Lord-fearing congregation.
- 22:25-31: The psalm ends with satisfied poor, worshiping nations, future generations, and proclamation that the Lord has acted.
Theological Argument
Psalm 22 argues that the deepest experience of righteous suffering, even the felt absence of God, can be brought before the holy Lord in covenant faith. Because the Lord hears the afflicted one, suffering does not have the last word; divine deliverance becomes congregational praise, food for the poor, worldwide worship, and a proclamation of righteousness to generations not yet born.
Forsakenness is voiced, faith is remembered, shame and danger are named, rescue is pleaded, praise is vowed, the afflicted are strengthened, the nations are summoned, and future generations are told that the LORD has acted.
- 1.The sufferer feels forsaken but continues addressing God personally.
- 2.God's holiness and former deliverances remain true even when present prayer seems unanswered.
- 3.Public shame and hostile mockery intensify righteous suffering by challenging the sufferer's trust in God.
- 4.Lifelong dependence on God grounds the plea for present nearness.
- 5.The sufferer's extremity is real, embodied, public, and deathlike.
- 6.The turning point comes through petition for the LORD's nearness and deliverance.
- 7.The LORD hears the afflicted one and is therefore worthy of praise in the assembly.
- 8.The LORD's deliverance has communal, global, and generational consequences.
Theological Focus
- Faithful lament
- God's holiness amid unanswered prayer
- Remembered deliverance
- Righteous suffering and shame
- The Lord hears the afflicted
- Worldwide worship and generational proclamation
- Doctrine of God: holiness and attentiveness
- Doctrine of prayer: lament and petition
- Christology: the suffering Messiah
- Soteriology: saving righteousness proclaimed
- Ecclesiology and worship: testimony in the assembly
Covenant Significance
Psalm 22 is covenant prayer from within the Davidic worship tradition. The sufferer appeals to the Lord's holiness, remembered deliverance, lifelong covenant claim, and mercy toward the afflicted; the answer expands beyond the individual to Israel's assembly, the nations, and future generations who will hear of the Lord's righteous saving act.
- Covenant address under anguish - The repeated address to 'my God' shows that lament arises from relationship with the Lord, not from distance from covenant faith.
- Davidic righteous-sufferer pattern - The psalm places Davidic suffering within a pattern that the canon later recognizes as fulfilled in the Messiah's humiliation and vindication.
- Assembly and nations - The Lord's answer to the afflicted one produces praise in Israel's assembly and worship among all families of the nations.
- Generational covenant testimony - The closing verses emphasize that God's righteousness is to be proclaimed to future generations and to a people not yet born.
Canonical Connections
Matthew connects Psalm 22's garments, mockery, and opening cry with the crucifixion of Jesus.
Mark presents Jesus' crucifixion through Psalm 22 language, including divided garments and the cry of abandonment.
John explicitly connects the soldiers' division of Jesus' garments with the Scripture pattern reflected in Psalm 22.
Hebrews quotes Psalm 22:22 to present the sanctifying Son declaring God's name among His brothers.
Psalm 69 provides another righteous-sufferer lament that later Scripture connects with the suffering of Christ.
Psalm 22's righteous sufferer and Isaiah 53's suffering servant converge canonically in the New Testament presentation of Christ's suffering and vindication.
Psalm 22 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's saving righteousness reaches its deepest canonical expression through the suffering and vindication of Christ. Jesus enters the forsakenness, mockery, bodily exposure, and deathlike anguish of the righteous sufferer, and through His cross and resurrection the praise of God is proclaimed to the congregation, the nations, and generations not yet born.
- Do not preach Psalm 22 only as emotional encouragement · it is a major canonical witness to the suffering and vindicated Messiah.
- Do not speak of the cross as accidental tragedy · the New Testament presents these psalmic patterns as fulfilled in Christ's saving work.
- Do not neglect the closing mission movement · the suffering of the Messiah results in proclamation to the nations.
Primary Emphasis
Psalm 22 is one of the Psalter's clearest canonical witnesses to the suffering Messiah. Its opening cry, mockery, public shame, bodily distress, and divided garments are taken up in the crucifixion narratives, while its movement into praise, assembly proclamation, and worldwide testimony coheres with Christ's resurrection, exaltation, and the gospel's spread to the nations.
Chapter Contribution
Psalm 22 argues that the deepest experience of righteous suffering, even the felt absence of God, can be brought before the holy Lord in covenant faith. Because the Lord hears the afflicted one, suffering does not have the last word; divine deliverance becomes congregational praise, food for the poor, worldwide worship, and a proclamation of righteousness to generations not yet born.
God’s character is such that He does not remain indifferent to the pain of the lowly, but actively listens and responds.
The temporary withdrawal of the sense of God’s presence and favor from a believer, often for the purpose of refining faith or as a redemptive type.
God’s perceived distance is bridged by the urgent, faith-filled 'cries' of His suffering people.
The suffering of David provides the specific typological details necessary for the identification of the Messiah's own sacrifice.
God’s relationship with and care for His people begins at their earliest existence, long before they can consciously reciprocate.
Mockery and dehumanization are significant components of the suffering of the righteous, tested specifically at the point of their faith in God.
God’s saving actions are objective and completed events in history that provide a permanent basis for faith and proclamation.
God’s fundamental moral and ontological distinctness, which remains the anchor for the believer even when His providential acts are confusing.
The biblical reality that a believer can speak of future deliverance in the past tense because of the certainty of God’s character and promise.
Praise is the ordained and necessary response to God's saving acts, intended to magnify His Name in the hearing of others.
Human beings, when acting in rebellion against God's Anointed, can exhibit a bestial cruelty that seeks to totally dehumanize and destroy the victim.
God’s authority is not limited to a single people group but encompasses every family and nation on earth.
The Lord is holy and enthroned in praise, yet He hears the cry of the afflicted and does not despise their suffering.
The psalm validates honest lament and urgent petition as expressions of faith under severe distress.
The psalm's righteous-sufferer pattern is fulfilled in Christ's crucifixion and vindication according to the New Testament witness.
The Lord's saving act becomes a proclamation of righteousness to the nations and future generations, anticipating gospel announcement.
Answered prayer produces praise among the congregation and strengthens those who fear the Lord.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- Psalm 22 forms the heart to keep praying when God feels far, to remember God's holiness when circumstances accuse Him, to endure mockery without surrendering trust, to receive Christ as the righteous sufferer who entered our forsakenness, and to turn God's saving work into praise and proclamation.
Sense to leave, abandon, forsake
Definition To leave or abandon; in this psalm it expresses the sufferer's felt experience before God.
References Psalm 22:1
Lexicon to leave, abandon, forsake
Why it matters The opening cry frames the entire lament and becomes central to the New Testament presentation of Christ's suffering on the cross.
Sense holy, set apart, morally and majestically distinct
Definition The LORD's holy otherness and faithfulness remain true even when the sufferer feels abandoned.
References Psalm 22:3
Lexicon holy, set apart, morally and majestically distinct
Why it matters The sufferer does not accuse God of unrighteousness; He confesses God's holiness in the center of pain.
Sense to trust, rely on, feel secure in
Definition The fathers trusted the LORD and were delivered; the sufferer's own trust is mocked by enemies.
References Psalm 22:4-5,8
Lexicon to trust, rely on, feel secure in
Why it matters Trust is both the memory that strengthens prayer and the target of public ridicule.
Sense afflicted, poor, humbled, oppressed
Definition The vulnerable sufferer whom the LORD does not despise or ignore.
References Psalm 22:24,26
Lexicon afflicted, poor, humbled, oppressed
Why it matters Psalm 22 turns on the confession that God hears the afflicted one, correcting the assumption that suffering equals divine rejection.
Sense assembly, congregation, gathered people
Definition The gathered worshiping community before whom the rescued sufferer declares God's name and fulfills praise.
References Psalm 22:22,25
Lexicon assembly, congregation, gathered people
Why it matters Deliverance becomes public testimony and worship, not merely private relief.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense kingship, kingdom, royal dominion
Definition The LORD's rule over the nations is the ground for universal worship.
References Psalm 22:28
Lexicon kingship, kingdom, royal dominion
Why it matters The psalm's ending is not merely personal encouragement; it proclaims the Lord's kingship over the nations.
Sense righteousness, justice, right saving action
Definition The LORD's righteous action is proclaimed to future generations.
References Psalm 22:31
Lexicon righteousness, justice, right saving action
Why it matters The psalm concludes with proclamation of what God has done, giving the chapter a gospel-shaped witness horizon.
Sense felt abandonment brought to God in covenant prayer
Definition felt abandonment brought to God in covenant prayer
References Psalm 22:1
Sense God's holy character confessed in suffering
Definition God's holy character confessed in suffering
References Psalm 22:3
Sense reliance on the LORD under pressure and mockery
Definition reliance on the LORD under pressure and mockery
References Psalm 22:4-5,8
Sense the humbled sufferer whom the LORD hears
Definition the humbled sufferer whom the LORD hears
References Psalm 22:24,26
Sense the gathered congregation that hears testimony and joins praise
Definition the gathered congregation that hears testimony and joins praise
References Psalm 22:22,25
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense the LORD's royal dominion over nations
Definition the LORD's royal dominion over nations
References Psalm 22:28
Sense the LORD's saving righteousness proclaimed to future generations
Definition the LORD's saving righteousness proclaimed to future generations
References Psalm 22:31
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
Psalm 22 forms the heart to keep praying when God feels far, to remember God's holiness when circumstances accuse Him, to endure mockery without surrendering trust, to receive Christ as the righteous sufferer who entered our forsakenness, and to turn God's saving work into praise and proclamation.
- Psalm 22 warns against mocking trust, despising the afflicted, assuming God's silence means God's absence, and treating suffering as proof that covenant faith has failed.
- The observers turn faith into a taunt, exposing the spiritual danger of contempt toward those suffering while trusting God.
- The psalm's own turn shows that felt abandonment is not the same as divine rejection.
- The Lord does not despise the afflicted one, so His people must not treat suffering people as shameful or disposable.
- A reading that stops at anguish misses the Lord's answer and the missionary horizon of the final movement.
- Psalm 22 teaches that faithful people should never express anguish or confusion before God. - The psalm itself begins with anguished complaint, but it directs that complaint to God in prayer rather than into unbelieving silence or rebellion.
- The opening cry means God has completely abandoned the sufferer in every sense. - The psalm expresses felt abandonment, yet later confesses that the Lord has not hidden His face from the afflicted one but has heard His cry.
- Psalm 22 is only about David and should not be read messianically. - The psalm has its own Davidic-lament horizon, but the New Testament explicitly and repeatedly connects it to the crucifixion and proclamation of Christ.
- Psalm 22 is only a collection of predictions and does not matter as a whole poem. - The canonical fulfillment in Christ works through the psalm's whole movement: lament, mockery, bodily suffering, rescue, assembly praise, and worldwide testimony.
- The final global praise is vague religious optimism. - The worldwide worship flows from the Lord's kingship and His saving righteousness being proclaimed to the nations and future generations.
- When You feel forsaken or unheard, do You stop praying, or do You bring that very anguish to God?
- What remembered acts of God's faithfulness help You pray when present circumstances appear dark?
- How do You respond when Your trust in the Lord is misunderstood, mocked, or treated as foolish?
- Where do You need to ask the Lord to be near rather than pretending You are strong enough to endure alone?
- How can Your testimony of God's help strengthen the congregation instead of remaining private?
- What are You intentionally passing to the next generation about what the Lord has done?
- Give sufferers biblical language for anguish - Psalm 22 helps pastors and disciplers avoid shallow comfort by allowing sufferers to speak honestly to God without treating lament as failure.
- Preach the cross through the whole psalm - The chapter should be preached as a full lament-to-praise movement fulfilled in Christ, not merely as a list of isolated crucifixion details.
- Protect the afflicted from shame - Because the Lord does not despise the afflicted, the church must resist blaming, minimizing, or socially distancing from those in deep distress.
- Turn answered prayer into congregational testimony - Deliverance is not only private relief · it becomes praise that strengthens the assembly and teaches others to fear the Lord.
- Keep mission and future generations in view - The psalm ends by sending testimony outward and forward, calling the church to proclaim the Lord's saving righteousness to nations and children yet to hear.
The sufferer does not pretend pain away; He speaks it to God.
Mockery does not cancel the sufferer's lifelong belonging to the Lord.
The Lord's answer becomes praise among the congregation.
The final verses widen the testimony to the nations and future generations.
Trace servant identity, obedient mission, and suffering service across Scripture.
Follow faith, believing response, trust, and persevering allegiance across Scripture.
Trace how divine glory, revealed majesty, and Christ-centered exaltation move across Scripture.
Study holiness as divine character, covenant identity, and sanctified life across Scripture.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Study kingdom reign, divine rule, and gospel kingdom proclamation across Scripture.
Trace remnant preservation, covenant continuity, and mercy under judgment across Scripture.
Follow resurrection hope, vindication, and life-over-death patterns across the canon.
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
A cry of forsakenness moves through remembered trust, public humiliation, urgent petition, answered praise, and finally worldwide testimony to the Lord's righteous saving work.
Psalm 22 is covenant prayer from within the Davidic worship tradition. The sufferer appeals to the Lord's holiness, remembered deliverance, lifelong covenant claim, and mercy toward the afflicted; the answer expands beyond the individual to Israel's assembly, the nations, and future generations who will hear of the Lord's righteous saving act.
Psalm 22 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's saving righteousness reaches its deepest canonical expression through the suffering and vindication of Christ. Jesus enters the forsakenness, mockery, bodily exposure, and deathlike anguish of the righteous sufferer, and through His cross and resurrection the praise of God is proclaimed to the congregation, the nations, and generations not yet born.
Focus Points
- Faithful lament
- God's holiness amid unanswered prayer
- Remembered deliverance
- Righteous suffering and shame
- The Lord hears the afflicted
- Worldwide worship and generational proclamation
- Doctrine of God: holiness and attentiveness
- Doctrine of prayer: lament and petition
- Christology: the suffering Messiah
- Soteriology: saving righteousness proclaimed
- Ecclesiology and worship: testimony in the assembly
Biblical Theology
- Messianic Hope Trace the messianic hope thread from covenant promise and prophetic expectation to the clearer identification of Jesus as the promised ruler, priest, and deliverer. Trace thread →
- Suffering Servant Trace the suffering servant thread from prophetic servant expectation to Christ's sin-bearing obedience, shame-bearing endurance, and saving suffering. Trace thread →
- Messianic Fulfillment Trace the messianic fulfillment thread from promise-bearing anticipation to explicit recognition that Jesus fulfills what Scripture prepared. Trace thread →
- Kingdom Trace the kingdom thread from God's royal rule and promised dominion to the unshakable reign received and secured in Christ. Trace thread →
- Cross-Shaped Ministry Cross-shaped ministry is ministry governed by the pattern, power, and priorities of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. It refuses to define faithfulness by self-promotion, image control, worldly influence, or visible impressiveness, and instead embraces truth, humility, sacrifice, weakness, love, and endurance under the lordship of Christ. The cross does not merely save the minister, it also shapes the minister's posture, methods, motives, and expectations. Because the risen Christ triumphed through suffering obedience, Christian ministry must remain cruciform rather than fleshly, manipulative, or glory-seeking.
- Gospel and Suffering The gospel and suffering belong together because the crucified and risen Christ saves His people not only from sin's guilt, but also teaches them how to endure affliction in union with Him. Suffering is not itself the gospel, yet the gospel gives suffering its truest interpretation by revealing God's holiness, Christ's cross, resurrection hope, and the promise that present affliction will not have the final word. Christian suffering is therefore neither meaningless pain nor automatic evidence of divine displeasure. Where the gospel is central, the church learns to suffer honestly, endure faithfully, comfort wisely, and hope stubbornly in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Resurrection-Shaped Hope Resurrection-shaped hope is the settled, future-oriented, Christ-grounded confidence that flows from the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and guarantees the final victory of God for His people. It is not vague optimism, emotional positivity, or denial of suffering, but a durable hope anchored in the risen Lord who has conquered death, secured justification, and inaugurated the new creation. Because Christ is risen, Christian ministry, holiness, endurance, and mission are not futile. Resurrection-shaped hope enables the church to labor, suffer, grieve, and persevere without surrendering to despair.
Passages
Chapter opening: Psalms 22:1-5
Psa 22:6-8 (Hebrew_Bible_22:7-9)The sufferer complains of the greatness of his reproach, in order to move Jahve, who is Himself involved therein, to send him speedy succour. Notwithstanding his cry for help, he is in the deepest affliction without rescue. Every word of Psa 22:7 is echoed in the second part of the Book of Isaiah. There, as here, Israel is called a worm, Isa 41:14; there all these traits of suffering are found in the picture of the Servant of God, Isa 49:7; Isa 53:3, cf.
Isa 50:6, and especially Isa 52:14 “so marred was His appearance, that He no longer looked like a man. ” תּולעת is more particularly the kermes, or cochineal ( vermiculus , whence color vermiculi, vermeil, vermiglio ); but the point of comparison in the present instance is not the blood-red appearance, but the suffering so utterly defenceless and even ignominious.
עם is gen. subj . , like גּוי, Isa 49:7. Jerome well renders the ἐξουθένωμα λαοῦ of the lxx by abjectio (Tertullian: nullificamen ) plebis , not populi . The ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με, by which the lxx translates ילעיגו לי, is used by Luke, Luk 23:35, cf. Luk 16:14, in the history of the Passion; fulfilment and prediction so exactly coincide, that no more adequate expressions can be found in writing the gospel history than those presented by prophecy.
In הפטיר בּשׂפה, what appears in other instances as the object of the action (to open the mouth wide, diducere labia ), is regarded as the means of its execution; so that the verbal notion being rendered complete has its object in itself: to make an opening with the mouth, cf. פּער בּפה, Job 16:10, נתן בּקול Psa 68:34; Ges. §138, 1, rem. 3. The shaking of the head is, as in Psa 109:25, cf.
Psa 44:15; Psa 64:9, a gesture of surprise and astonishment at something unexpected and strange, not a προσνεύειν approving the injury of another, although נוּע, נוּד, נוּט, νεύ-ω, nu-t-o, nic-to, neigen, nicken , all form one family of roots. In Psa 22:9 the words of the mockers follow without לאמר. גּל is not the 3 praet . (lxx, cf. Mat 27:43) like אור, בּושׁ; it is not only in Piel (Jer 11:20; Jer 20:12, where גּלּיתי = גּלּלתּי, Ew.
§121, a ) that it is transitive, but even in Kal ; nor is it inf. absol . in the sense of the imperative (Hitz. , Böttch.) , although this infinitive form is found, but always only as an inf. intens . (Num 23:25; Rth 2:16, cf. Isa 24:19); but, in accordance with the parallels Psa 37:5 (where it is written גּול), Pro 16:3, cf. Psa 55:23; 1Pe 5:7, it is imperat .
: roll, viz. , thy doing and thy suffering to Jahve, i. e. , commit it to Him. The mockers call out this גּל to the sufferer, and the rest they say of him with malicious looks askance. כּי in the mouth of the foes is not confirmatory as in Psa 18:20, but a conditional ἐάν (in case, provided that).
Psa 22:6-8 (Hebrew_Bible_22:7-9)The sufferer complains of the greatness of his reproach, in order to move Jahve, who is Himself involved therein, to send him speedy succour. Notwithstanding his cry for help, he is in the deepest affliction without rescue. Every word of Psa 22:7 is echoed in the second part of the Book of Isaiah. There, as here, Israel is called a worm, Isa 41:14; there all these traits of suffering are found in the picture of the Servant of God, Isa 49:7; Isa 53:3, cf.
Isa 50:6, and especially Isa 52:14 “so marred was His appearance, that He no longer looked like a man. ” תּולעת is more particularly the kermes, or cochineal ( vermiculus , whence color vermiculi, vermeil, vermiglio ); but the point of comparison in the present instance is not the blood-red appearance, but the suffering so utterly defenceless and even ignominious.
עם is gen. subj . , like גּוי, Isa 49:7. Jerome well renders the ἐξουθένωμα λαοῦ of the lxx by abjectio (Tertullian: nullificamen ) plebis , not populi . The ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με, by which the lxx translates ילעיגו לי, is used by Luke, Luk 23:35, cf. Luk 16:14, in the history of the Passion; fulfilment and prediction so exactly coincide, that no more adequate expressions can be found in writing the gospel history than those presented by prophecy.
In הפטיר בּשׂפה, what appears in other instances as the object of the action (to open the mouth wide, diducere labia ), is regarded as the means of its execution; so that the verbal notion being rendered complete has its object in itself: to make an opening with the mouth, cf. פּער בּפה, Job 16:10, נתן בּקול Psa 68:34; Ges. §138, 1, rem. 3. The shaking of the head is, as in Psa 109:25, cf.
Psa 44:15; Psa 64:9, a gesture of surprise and astonishment at something unexpected and strange, not a προσνεύειν approving the injury of another, although נוּע, נוּד, נוּט, νεύ-ω, nu-t-o, nic-to, neigen, nicken , all form one family of roots. In Psa 22:9 the words of the mockers follow without לאמר. גּל is not the 3 praet . (lxx, cf. Mat 27:43) like אור, בּושׁ; it is not only in Piel (Jer 11:20; Jer 20:12, where גּלּיתי = גּלּלתּי, Ew.
§121, a ) that it is transitive, but even in Kal ; nor is it inf. absol . in the sense of the imperative (Hitz. , Böttch.) , although this infinitive form is found, but always only as an inf. intens . (Num 23:25; Rth 2:16, cf. Isa 24:19); but, in accordance with the parallels Psa 37:5 (where it is written גּול), Pro 16:3, cf. Psa 55:23; 1Pe 5:7, it is imperat .
: roll, viz. , thy doing and thy suffering to Jahve, i. e. , commit it to Him. The mockers call out this גּל to the sufferer, and the rest they say of him with malicious looks askance. כּי in the mouth of the foes is not confirmatory as in Psa 18:20, but a conditional ἐάν (in case, provided that).
Psa 22:6-8 (Hebrew_Bible_22:7-9)The sufferer complains of the greatness of his reproach, in order to move Jahve, who is Himself involved therein, to send him speedy succour. Notwithstanding his cry for help, he is in the deepest affliction without rescue. Every word of Psa 22:7 is echoed in the second part of the Book of Isaiah. There, as here, Israel is called a worm, Isa 41:14; there all these traits of suffering are found in the picture of the Servant of God, Isa 49:7; Isa 53:3, cf.
Isa 50:6, and especially Isa 52:14 “so marred was His appearance, that He no longer looked like a man. ” תּולעת is more particularly the kermes, or cochineal ( vermiculus , whence color vermiculi, vermeil, vermiglio ); but the point of comparison in the present instance is not the blood-red appearance, but the suffering so utterly defenceless and even ignominious.
עם is gen. subj . , like גּוי, Isa 49:7. Jerome well renders the ἐξουθένωμα λαοῦ of the lxx by abjectio (Tertullian: nullificamen ) plebis , not populi . The ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με, by which the lxx translates ילעיגו לי, is used by Luke, Luk 23:35, cf. Luk 16:14, in the history of the Passion; fulfilment and prediction so exactly coincide, that no more adequate expressions can be found in writing the gospel history than those presented by prophecy.
In הפטיר בּשׂפה, what appears in other instances as the object of the action (to open the mouth wide, diducere labia ), is regarded as the means of its execution; so that the verbal notion being rendered complete has its object in itself: to make an opening with the mouth, cf. פּער בּפה, Job 16:10, נתן בּקול Psa 68:34; Ges. §138, 1, rem. 3. The shaking of the head is, as in Psa 109:25, cf.
Psa 44:15; Psa 64:9, a gesture of surprise and astonishment at something unexpected and strange, not a προσνεύειν approving the injury of another, although נוּע, נוּד, נוּט, νεύ-ω, nu-t-o, nic-to, neigen, nicken , all form one family of roots. In Psa 22:9 the words of the mockers follow without לאמר. גּל is not the 3 praet . (lxx, cf. Mat 27:43) like אור, בּושׁ; it is not only in Piel (Jer 11:20; Jer 20:12, where גּלּיתי = גּלּלתּי, Ew.
§121, a ) that it is transitive, but even in Kal ; nor is it inf. absol . in the sense of the imperative (Hitz. , Böttch.) , although this infinitive form is found, but always only as an inf. intens . (Num 23:25; Rth 2:16, cf. Isa 24:19); but, in accordance with the parallels Psa 37:5 (where it is written גּול), Pro 16:3, cf. Psa 55:23; 1Pe 5:7, it is imperat .
: roll, viz. , thy doing and thy suffering to Jahve, i. e. , commit it to Him. The mockers call out this גּל to the sufferer, and the rest they say of him with malicious looks askance. כּי in the mouth of the foes is not confirmatory as in Psa 18:20, but a conditional ἐάν (in case, provided that).
Psa 22:9-11 (Hebrew_Bible_22:10-12)The sufferer pleads that God should respond to his trust in Him, on the ground that this trust is made an object of mockery. With כּי he establishes the reality of the loving relationship in which he stands to God, at which his foes mock. The intermediate thought, which is not expressed, “and so it really is,” is confirmed; and thus כי comes to have an affirmative signification.
The verb גּוּח (גּיח) signifies both intransitive: to break forth (from the womb), Job 38:8, and transitive: to push forward (cf. Arab. jchcha ), more especially, the fruit of the womb, Mic 4:10. It might be taken here in the first signification: my breaking forth, equivalent to “the cause of my breaking forth” (Hengstenberg, Baur, and others); but there is no need for this metonymy.
גּחי is either part . equivalent to גּחי, my pusher forth, i. e. , he who causes me to break forth, or, - since גוח in a causative signification cannot be supported, and participles like בּוס stamping and לוט veiling (Ges. §72, rem. 1) are nowhere found with a suffix, - participle of a verb גּחהּ, to draw forth (Hitz.) , which perhaps only takes the place, per metaplasmum , of the Pil .
גּחח with the uneuphonic מגחחי (Ewald S. 859, Addenda ). Ps 71 has גוזי (Psa 71:6) instead of גּחי, just as it has מבטחי (Psa 71:5) instead of מבטיחי. The Hiph . הבטיח does not merely mean to make secure (Hupf.) , but to cause to trust. According to biblical conception, there is even in the new-born child, yea in the child yet unborn and only living in the womb, a glimmering consciousness springing up out of the remotest depths of unconsciousness ( Psychol .
S. 215; transl. p. 254). Therefore, when the praying one says, that from the womb he has been cast upon Jahve, i. e. , directed to go to Him, and to Him alone, with all his wants and care (Psa 55:23, cf. Psa 71:6), that from the womb onwards Jahve was his God, there is also more in it than the purely objective idea, that he grew up into such a relationship to God.
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. And the words of the praying one here also imply that the beginning of his life, as regards its outward circumstances, was amidst poverty, which likewise accords with the picture of Christ as drawn both in the Old and New Testaments.
On the ground of his fellowship with God, which extends so far back, goes forth the cry for help (Psa 22:12), which has been faintly heard through all the preceding verses, but now only comes to direct utterance for the first time. The two כּי are alike. That the necessity is near at hand, i. e. , urgent, refers back antithetically to the prayer, that God would not remain afar off; no one doth, nor can help except He alone.
Here the first section closes.
Psa 22:9-11 (Hebrew_Bible_22:10-12)The sufferer pleads that God should respond to his trust in Him, on the ground that this trust is made an object of mockery. With כּי he establishes the reality of the loving relationship in which he stands to God, at which his foes mock. The intermediate thought, which is not expressed, “and so it really is,” is confirmed; and thus כי comes to have an affirmative signification.
The verb גּוּח (גּיח) signifies both intransitive: to break forth (from the womb), Job 38:8, and transitive: to push forward (cf. Arab. jchcha ), more especially, the fruit of the womb, Mic 4:10. It might be taken here in the first signification: my breaking forth, equivalent to “the cause of my breaking forth” (Hengstenberg, Baur, and others); but there is no need for this metonymy.
גּחי is either part . equivalent to גּחי, my pusher forth, i. e. , he who causes me to break forth, or, - since גוח in a causative signification cannot be supported, and participles like בּוס stamping and לוט veiling (Ges. §72, rem. 1) are nowhere found with a suffix, - participle of a verb גּחהּ, to draw forth (Hitz.) , which perhaps only takes the place, per metaplasmum , of the Pil .
גּחח with the uneuphonic מגחחי (Ewald S. 859, Addenda ). Ps 71 has גוזי (Psa 71:6) instead of גּחי, just as it has מבטחי (Psa 71:5) instead of מבטיחי. The Hiph . הבטיח does not merely mean to make secure (Hupf.) , but to cause to trust. According to biblical conception, there is even in the new-born child, yea in the child yet unborn and only living in the womb, a glimmering consciousness springing up out of the remotest depths of unconsciousness ( Psychol .
S. 215; transl. p. 254). Therefore, when the praying one says, that from the womb he has been cast upon Jahve, i. e. , directed to go to Him, and to Him alone, with all his wants and care (Psa 55:23, cf. Psa 71:6), that from the womb onwards Jahve was his God, there is also more in it than the purely objective idea, that he grew up into such a relationship to God.
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. And the words of the praying one here also imply that the beginning of his life, as regards its outward circumstances, was amidst poverty, which likewise accords with the picture of Christ as drawn both in the Old and New Testaments.
On the ground of his fellowship with God, which extends so far back, goes forth the cry for help (Psa 22:12), which has been faintly heard through all the preceding verses, but now only comes to direct utterance for the first time. The two כּי are alike. That the necessity is near at hand, i. e. , urgent, refers back antithetically to the prayer, that God would not remain afar off; no one doth, nor can help except He alone.
Here the first section closes.
Psa 22:9-11 (Hebrew_Bible_22:10-12)The sufferer pleads that God should respond to his trust in Him, on the ground that this trust is made an object of mockery. With כּי he establishes the reality of the loving relationship in which he stands to God, at which his foes mock. The intermediate thought, which is not expressed, “and so it really is,” is confirmed; and thus כי comes to have an affirmative signification.
The verb גּוּח (גּיח) signifies both intransitive: to break forth (from the womb), Job 38:8, and transitive: to push forward (cf. Arab. jchcha ), more especially, the fruit of the womb, Mic 4:10. It might be taken here in the first signification: my breaking forth, equivalent to “the cause of my breaking forth” (Hengstenberg, Baur, and others); but there is no need for this metonymy.
גּחי is either part . equivalent to גּחי, my pusher forth, i. e. , he who causes me to break forth, or, - since גוח in a causative signification cannot be supported, and participles like בּוס stamping and לוט veiling (Ges. §72, rem. 1) are nowhere found with a suffix, - participle of a verb גּחהּ, to draw forth (Hitz.) , which perhaps only takes the place, per metaplasmum , of the Pil .
גּחח with the uneuphonic מגחחי (Ewald S. 859, Addenda ). Ps 71 has גוזי (Psa 71:6) instead of גּחי, just as it has מבטחי (Psa 71:5) instead of מבטיחי. The Hiph . הבטיח does not merely mean to make secure (Hupf.) , but to cause to trust. According to biblical conception, there is even in the new-born child, yea in the child yet unborn and only living in the womb, a glimmering consciousness springing up out of the remotest depths of unconsciousness ( Psychol .
S. 215; transl. p. 254). Therefore, when the praying one says, that from the womb he has been cast upon Jahve, i. e. , directed to go to Him, and to Him alone, with all his wants and care (Psa 55:23, cf. Psa 71:6), that from the womb onwards Jahve was his God, there is also more in it than the purely objective idea, that he grew up into such a relationship to God.
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. And the words of the praying one here also imply that the beginning of his life, as regards its outward circumstances, was amidst poverty, which likewise accords with the picture of Christ as drawn both in the Old and New Testaments.
On the ground of his fellowship with God, which extends so far back, goes forth the cry for help (Psa 22:12), which has been faintly heard through all the preceding verses, but now only comes to direct utterance for the first time. The two כּי are alike. That the necessity is near at hand, i. e. , urgent, refers back antithetically to the prayer, that God would not remain afar off; no one doth, nor can help except He alone.
Here the first section closes.
Psa 22:12-13 (Hebrew_Bible_22:13-14)Looking back upon his relationship to God, which has existed from the earliest times, the sufferer has become somewhat more calm, and is ready, in Psa 22:13, to describe his outward and inner life, and thus to unburden his heart. Here he calls his enemies פּרים, bullocks, and in fact אבּירי בּשׁן (cf. Psa 50:13 with Deu 32:14), strong ones of Bashan, the land rich in luxuriant oak forests and fat pastures (בשׁן = buthêne , which in the Beduin dialect means rich, stoneless meadow-land, vid.
, Job S. 509f. ; tr. ii. pp. 399f.) north of Jabbok extending as far as to the borders of Hermon, the land of Og and afterwards of Manasseh (Num 30:1). They are so called on account of their robustness and vigour, which, being acquired and used in opposition to God is brutish rather than human (cf. Amo 4:1). Figures like these drawn from the animal world and applied in an ethical sense are explained by the fact, that the ancients measured the instincts of animals according to the moral rules of human nature; but more deeply by the fact, that according to the indisputable conception of Scripture, since man was made to fall by Satan through the agency of an animal, the animal and Satan are the two dominant powers in Adamic humanity.
כּתּר is a climactic synonym of סבב. On Psa 22:14 compare the echoes in Jeremiah, Lam 2:16; Lam 3:46. Finally, the foes are all comprehended under the figure of a lion, which, as soon as he sights his prey, begins to roar, Amo 3:4. The Hebrew טרף, discerpere , according to its root, belongs to חרף, carpere . They are instar leonis dilaniaturi et rugientis .
Psa 22:12-13 (Hebrew_Bible_22:13-14)Looking back upon his relationship to God, which has existed from the earliest times, the sufferer has become somewhat more calm, and is ready, in Psa 22:13, to describe his outward and inner life, and thus to unburden his heart. Here he calls his enemies פּרים, bullocks, and in fact אבּירי בּשׁן (cf. Psa 50:13 with Deu 32:14), strong ones of Bashan, the land rich in luxuriant oak forests and fat pastures (בשׁן = buthêne , which in the Beduin dialect means rich, stoneless meadow-land, vid.
, Job S. 509f. ; tr. ii. pp. 399f.) north of Jabbok extending as far as to the borders of Hermon, the land of Og and afterwards of Manasseh (Num 30:1). They are so called on account of their robustness and vigour, which, being acquired and used in opposition to God is brutish rather than human (cf. Amo 4:1). Figures like these drawn from the animal world and applied in an ethical sense are explained by the fact, that the ancients measured the instincts of animals according to the moral rules of human nature; but more deeply by the fact, that according to the indisputable conception of Scripture, since man was made to fall by Satan through the agency of an animal, the animal and Satan are the two dominant powers in Adamic humanity.
כּתּר is a climactic synonym of סבב. On Psa 22:14 compare the echoes in Jeremiah, Lam 2:16; Lam 3:46. Finally, the foes are all comprehended under the figure of a lion, which, as soon as he sights his prey, begins to roar, Amo 3:4. The Hebrew טרף, discerpere , according to its root, belongs to חרף, carpere . They are instar leonis dilaniaturi et rugientis .
Psa 22:14-15 (Hebrew_Bible_22:15-16)Now he described, how, thus encompassed round, he is still just living, but already as it were dead. The being poured out like water reminds us of the ignominious abandonment of the Crucified One to a condition of weakness, in which His life, deprived of its natural support, is in the act of dissolution, and its powers dried up (2Sa 14:14); the bones being stretched out, of the forcible stretching out of His body (חתפּרד, from פּרד to separate, cf.
Arab. frd , according to its radical signification, which has been preserved in the common Arabic dialect: so to spread out or apart that the thing has no bends or folds, Greek ἐξαπλοῦν); the heart being melted, recalls His burning anguish, the inflammation of the wounds, and the pressure of blood on the head and heart, the characteristic cause of death by crucifixion.
נמס, in pause נמס, is 3 praet . ; wax, דּונג, receives its name from its melting (דנג, root דג, τηκ). In Psa 22:16 the comparison כּחרשׂ has reference to the issue of result (vid. , Psa 18:43): my strength is dried up, so that it is become like a potsherd. חכּי (Saadia) instead of כּחי commends itself, unless, כּח perhaps, like the Talmudic כּיח cidumlaT eht eki, also had the signification “spittle” (as a more dignified word for רק).
לשׁון, with the exception perhaps of Pro 26:28, is uniformly feminine; here the predicate has the masculine ground-form without respect to the subject. The part. pass . has a tendency generally to be used without reference to gender, under the influence of the construction laid down in Ges. §143, 1, b , according to which לשׁני may be treated as an accusative of the object; מלקוחי, however, is acc.
loci (cf. ל Psa 137:6; Job 29:10; אל Lam 4:4; Eze 3:26): my tongue is made to cleave to my jaws, fauces meas. Such is his state in consequence of outward distresses. His enemies, however, would not have power to do all this, if God had not given it to them. Thus it is, so to speak, God Himself who lays him low in death. שׁפת to put anywhere, to lay, with the accompanying idea of firmness and duration, Arab.
ṯbât , Isa 26:12; the future is used of that which is just taking place. Just in like manner, in Isa 53:1-12, the death of the Servant of God is spoken of not merely as happening thus, but as decreed; and not merely as permitted by God, but as being in accordance with the divine will. David is persecuted by Saul, the king of His people, almost to the death; Jesus, however, is delivered over by the Sanhedrim, the authority of His people, to the heathen, under whose hands He actually dies the death of the cross: it is a judicial murder put into execution according to the conditions and circumstances of the age; viewed, however, as to its final cause, it is a gracious dispensation of the holy God, in whose hands all the paths of the world’s history run parallel, and who in this instance makes sin subservient to its own expiation.
Psa 22:14-15 (Hebrew_Bible_22:15-16)Now he described, how, thus encompassed round, he is still just living, but already as it were dead. The being poured out like water reminds us of the ignominious abandonment of the Crucified One to a condition of weakness, in which His life, deprived of its natural support, is in the act of dissolution, and its powers dried up (2Sa 14:14); the bones being stretched out, of the forcible stretching out of His body (חתפּרד, from פּרד to separate, cf.
Arab. frd , according to its radical signification, which has been preserved in the common Arabic dialect: so to spread out or apart that the thing has no bends or folds, Greek ἐξαπλοῦν); the heart being melted, recalls His burning anguish, the inflammation of the wounds, and the pressure of blood on the head and heart, the characteristic cause of death by crucifixion.
נמס, in pause נמס, is 3 praet . ; wax, דּונג, receives its name from its melting (דנג, root דג, τηκ). In Psa 22:16 the comparison כּחרשׂ has reference to the issue of result (vid. , Psa 18:43): my strength is dried up, so that it is become like a potsherd. חכּי (Saadia) instead of כּחי commends itself, unless, כּח perhaps, like the Talmudic כּיח cidumlaT eht eki, also had the signification “spittle” (as a more dignified word for רק).
לשׁון, with the exception perhaps of Pro 26:28, is uniformly feminine; here the predicate has the masculine ground-form without respect to the subject. The part. pass . has a tendency generally to be used without reference to gender, under the influence of the construction laid down in Ges. §143, 1, b , according to which לשׁני may be treated as an accusative of the object; מלקוחי, however, is acc.
loci (cf. ל Psa 137:6; Job 29:10; אל Lam 4:4; Eze 3:26): my tongue is made to cleave to my jaws, fauces meas. Such is his state in consequence of outward distresses. His enemies, however, would not have power to do all this, if God had not given it to them. Thus it is, so to speak, God Himself who lays him low in death. שׁפת to put anywhere, to lay, with the accompanying idea of firmness and duration, Arab.
ṯbât , Isa 26:12; the future is used of that which is just taking place. Just in like manner, in Isa 53:1-12, the death of the Servant of God is spoken of not merely as happening thus, but as decreed; and not merely as permitted by God, but as being in accordance with the divine will. David is persecuted by Saul, the king of His people, almost to the death; Jesus, however, is delivered over by the Sanhedrim, the authority of His people, to the heathen, under whose hands He actually dies the death of the cross: it is a judicial murder put into execution according to the conditions and circumstances of the age; viewed, however, as to its final cause, it is a gracious dispensation of the holy God, in whose hands all the paths of the world’s history run parallel, and who in this instance makes sin subservient to its own expiation.
Psa 22:16-18 (Hebrew_Bible_22:17-19)A continuation, referring back to Psa 22:12, of the complaint of him who is dying and is already as it were dead. In the animal name כּלבים, figuratively descriptive of character, beside shamelessness and meanness, special prominence is given to the propensity for biting and worrying, i. e. , for persecuting; hence Symmachus and Theodotion render it θηράται κυνηγέται.
In Psa 22:17 עדת מרעים takes the place of כלבים; and this again is followed by הקּיף in the plur . (to do anything in a circle, to surround by forming a circle round, a climactic synonym, like כּתּר to סבב) either per attractionem (cf. Psa 140:10; 1Sa 2:4), or on account of the collective עדה. Tertullian renders it synagoga maleficorum , Jerome concilium pessimorum .
But a faction gathered together for some evil purpose is also called עדה, e. g. , עדת קרח. In Psa 22:17 the meaning of כּארי, instar leonis , is either that, selecting a point of attack, they make the rounds of his hands and feet, just as a lion does its prey upon which it springs as soon as its prey stirs; or, that, standing round about him like lions, they make all defence impossible to his hands, and all escape impossible to his feet.
But whether we take this ידי ורגלי as accusative of the members beside the accusative of the person (vid. , Psa 17:11), or as the object of the הקּיפוּ to be supplied from Psa 22:17 , it still remains harsh and drawling so far as the language is concerned. Perceiving this, the Masora on Isa 38:13 observes, that כּארי, in the two passages in which it occurs (Psa 22:17; Isa 38:13), occurs in two different meanings (לישׁני בתרי); just as the Midrash then also understands כארי in the Psalm as a verb used of marking with conjuring, magic characters.
Is the meaning of the Masora that כּארי, in the passage before us, is equivalent to כּארים? If so the form would be doubly Aramaic: both the participial form כּאר (which only occurs in Hebrew in verbs med. E ) and the apocopated plural, the occurrence of which in Hebrew is certainly, with Gesenius and Ewald, to be acknowledged in rare instances (vid. , Psa 45:9, and compare on the other hand 2Sa 22:44), but which would here be a capricious form of expression most liable to be misapprehended.
If כארי is to be understood as a verb, then it ought to be read כּארי. Tradition is here manifestly unreliable. Even in MSS the readings כּארוּ and כּארי are found. The former is attested both by the Masora on Num 24:9 and by Jacob ben Chajim in the Masora finalis as the MS Chethîb . Even the Targum, which renders mordent sicut leo manus et pedes meos , bears witness to the ancient hesitancy between the substantival and verbal rendering of the כארי.
The other ancient versions have, without any doubt, read כארו. Aquila in the 1st edition of his translation rendered it ᾔσχυαν (from the Aramaic and Talmudic כּאר = כּער to soil, part . כּאוּר, dirty, nasty); but this is not applicable to hands and feet, and therefore has nothing to stand upon. In the 2nd edition of his translation the same Aquila had instead of this, like Symmachus, “they have bound,” after כר, Arab.
krr , to twist, lace; but this rendering is improbable since the Hebrew has other words for “to bind,” constringere . On the other hand nothing of any weight can be urged against the rendering of the lxx ὤρυξαν (Peshîto בזעו, Vulg. foderunt , Jer. fixerunt ); for (1) even if we do not suppose any special verb כּארוּ ,כּאר can be expanded from כּרוּ (כוּר) = כּרוּ (כּרה) just in the same manner as ראמה, Zec 14:10 from רמה, cf.
קאמיּא Dan 7:16. And (2) that כוּר and כּרה can signify not merely to dig out and dig into, engrave, but also to dig through, pierce, is shown, - apart from the derivative מכרה (the similarity of the sound of which to μάχαιρα from the root μαχ, maksh , mraksh , is only accidental), - by the double meaning of the verbs נקר, ὀρύσσειν (e. g. , ὀρύσσειν τὸν ἰσθμόν Herod.
i. 174), fodere ( hastâ ); the lxx version of Psa 40:7 would also support this meaning, if κατετρήσω (from κατατιτρᾶν) in that passage had been the original reading instead of κατηρτίσω. If כּארוּ be read, then Psa 22:17 , applied to David, perhaps under the influence of the figure of the attacking dogs (Böhl), says that the wicked bored into his hands and feet, and thus have made him fast, so that he is inevitably abandoned to their inhuman desires.
The fulfilment in the nailing of the hands and (at least, the binding fast) of the feet of the Crucified One to the cross is clear. This is not the only passage in which it is predicated that the future Christ shall be murderously pierced; but it is the same in Isa 53:5 where He is said to be pierced (מחלל) on account of our sins, and in Zec 12:10, where Jahve describes Himself as ἐκκεντηθείς in Him.
Thus, therefore, the reading כּארוּ might at least have an equal right to be recognised with the present recepta , for which Hupfeld and Hitzig demand exclusive recognition; while Böttcher, - who reads כּארי, and gives this the meaning“springing round about (after the manner of dogs), - regards the sicut leo as “a production of meagre Jewish wit;” and also Thenius after taking all possible pains to clear it up gives it up as hopeless, and with Meier, adopting a different division of the verse, renders it: “a mob of the wicked has encompassed me like lions. On my hands and feet I can count all my bones.
” But then, how כּארי comes limping on after the rest! And how lamely does ידי ורגלי precede Psa 22:18! How unnaturally does it limit עצמותי, with which one chiefly associates the thought of the breast and ribs, to the hands and feet! אספּר is potientialis . Above in Psa 22:15 he has said that his bones are out of joint. There is no more reason for regarding this “I can count etc.
” as referring to emaciation from grief, than there is for regarding the former as referring to writing with agony. He can count them because he is forcibly stretched out, and thereby all his bones stand out. In this condition he is a mockery to his foes. הבּיט signifies the turning of one’s gaze to anything, ראה בּ the fixing of one’s sight upon it with pleasure.
In Psa 22:19 a new feature is added to those that extend far beyond David himself: they part my garments among them.... It does not say they purpose doing it, they do it merely in their mind, but they do it in reality. This never happened to David, or at least not in the literal sense of his words, in which it has happened to Christ. In Him Psa 22:19 and Psa 22:19 are literally fulfilled.
The parting of the בּגדים by the soldiers dividing his ἰμάτια among them into four parts; the casting lots upon the לבוּשׁ by their not dividing the χιτὼν ἄῤῥαφος, but casting lots for it, Joh 19:23. לבוּשׁ is the garment which is put on the body that it may not be bare; בּגדים the clothes, which one wraps around one’s self for a covering; hence לבושׁ is punningly explained in B.
Sabbath 77 b by לא בושׁה (with which one has no need to be ashamed of being naked) in distinction from גלימא, a mantle (that through which one appears כגולם, because it conceals the outline of the body). In Job 24:7, and frequently, לבושׁ is an undergarment, or shirt, what in Arabic is called absolutely Arab. ṯ w b , thôb “the garment,” or expressed according to the Roman distinction: the tunica in distinction from the toga , whose exact designation is מעיל.
With Psa 22:19 of this Psalm it is exactly as with Zec 9:9, cf. Mat 21:5; in this instance also, the fulfilment has realised that which, in both phases of the synonymous expression, is seemingly identical.
Psa 22:16-18 (Hebrew_Bible_22:17-19)A continuation, referring back to Psa 22:12, of the complaint of him who is dying and is already as it were dead. In the animal name כּלבים, figuratively descriptive of character, beside shamelessness and meanness, special prominence is given to the propensity for biting and worrying, i. e. , for persecuting; hence Symmachus and Theodotion render it θηράται κυνηγέται.
In Psa 22:17 עדת מרעים takes the place of כלבים; and this again is followed by הקּיף in the plur . (to do anything in a circle, to surround by forming a circle round, a climactic synonym, like כּתּר to סבב) either per attractionem (cf. Psa 140:10; 1Sa 2:4), or on account of the collective עדה. Tertullian renders it synagoga maleficorum , Jerome concilium pessimorum .
But a faction gathered together for some evil purpose is also called עדה, e. g. , עדת קרח. In Psa 22:17 the meaning of כּארי, instar leonis , is either that, selecting a point of attack, they make the rounds of his hands and feet, just as a lion does its prey upon which it springs as soon as its prey stirs; or, that, standing round about him like lions, they make all defence impossible to his hands, and all escape impossible to his feet.
But whether we take this ידי ורגלי as accusative of the members beside the accusative of the person (vid. , Psa 17:11), or as the object of the הקּיפוּ to be supplied from Psa 22:17 , it still remains harsh and drawling so far as the language is concerned. Perceiving this, the Masora on Isa 38:13 observes, that כּארי, in the two passages in which it occurs (Psa 22:17; Isa 38:13), occurs in two different meanings (לישׁני בתרי); just as the Midrash then also understands כארי in the Psalm as a verb used of marking with conjuring, magic characters.
Is the meaning of the Masora that כּארי, in the passage before us, is equivalent to כּארים? If so the form would be doubly Aramaic: both the participial form כּאר (which only occurs in Hebrew in verbs med. E ) and the apocopated plural, the occurrence of which in Hebrew is certainly, with Gesenius and Ewald, to be acknowledged in rare instances (vid. , Psa 45:9, and compare on the other hand 2Sa 22:44), but which would here be a capricious form of expression most liable to be misapprehended.
If כארי is to be understood as a verb, then it ought to be read כּארי. Tradition is here manifestly unreliable. Even in MSS the readings כּארוּ and כּארי are found. The former is attested both by the Masora on Num 24:9 and by Jacob ben Chajim in the Masora finalis as the MS Chethîb . Even the Targum, which renders mordent sicut leo manus et pedes meos , bears witness to the ancient hesitancy between the substantival and verbal rendering of the כארי.
The other ancient versions have, without any doubt, read כארו. Aquila in the 1st edition of his translation rendered it ᾔσχυαν (from the Aramaic and Talmudic כּאר = כּער to soil, part . כּאוּר, dirty, nasty); but this is not applicable to hands and feet, and therefore has nothing to stand upon. In the 2nd edition of his translation the same Aquila had instead of this, like Symmachus, “they have bound,” after כר, Arab.
krr , to twist, lace; but this rendering is improbable since the Hebrew has other words for “to bind,” constringere . On the other hand nothing of any weight can be urged against the rendering of the lxx ὤρυξαν (Peshîto בזעו, Vulg. foderunt , Jer. fixerunt ); for (1) even if we do not suppose any special verb כּארוּ ,כּאר can be expanded from כּרוּ (כוּר) = כּרוּ (כּרה) just in the same manner as ראמה, Zec 14:10 from רמה, cf.
קאמיּא Dan 7:16. And (2) that כוּר and כּרה can signify not merely to dig out and dig into, engrave, but also to dig through, pierce, is shown, - apart from the derivative מכרה (the similarity of the sound of which to μάχαιρα from the root μαχ, maksh , mraksh , is only accidental), - by the double meaning of the verbs נקר, ὀρύσσειν (e. g. , ὀρύσσειν τὸν ἰσθμόν Herod.
i. 174), fodere ( hastâ ); the lxx version of Psa 40:7 would also support this meaning, if κατετρήσω (from κατατιτρᾶν) in that passage had been the original reading instead of κατηρτίσω. If כּארוּ be read, then Psa 22:17 , applied to David, perhaps under the influence of the figure of the attacking dogs (Böhl), says that the wicked bored into his hands and feet, and thus have made him fast, so that he is inevitably abandoned to their inhuman desires.
The fulfilment in the nailing of the hands and (at least, the binding fast) of the feet of the Crucified One to the cross is clear. This is not the only passage in which it is predicated that the future Christ shall be murderously pierced; but it is the same in Isa 53:5 where He is said to be pierced (מחלל) on account of our sins, and in Zec 12:10, where Jahve describes Himself as ἐκκεντηθείς in Him.
Thus, therefore, the reading כּארוּ might at least have an equal right to be recognised with the present recepta , for which Hupfeld and Hitzig demand exclusive recognition; while Böttcher, - who reads כּארי, and gives this the meaning“springing round about (after the manner of dogs), - regards the sicut leo as “a production of meagre Jewish wit;” and also Thenius after taking all possible pains to clear it up gives it up as hopeless, and with Meier, adopting a different division of the verse, renders it: “a mob of the wicked has encompassed me like lions. On my hands and feet I can count all my bones.
” But then, how כּארי comes limping on after the rest! And how lamely does ידי ורגלי precede Psa 22:18! How unnaturally does it limit עצמותי, with which one chiefly associates the thought of the breast and ribs, to the hands and feet! אספּר is potientialis . Above in Psa 22:15 he has said that his bones are out of joint. There is no more reason for regarding this “I can count etc.
” as referring to emaciation from grief, than there is for regarding the former as referring to writing with agony. He can count them because he is forcibly stretched out, and thereby all his bones stand out. In this condition he is a mockery to his foes. הבּיט signifies the turning of one’s gaze to anything, ראה בּ the fixing of one’s sight upon it with pleasure.
In Psa 22:19 a new feature is added to those that extend far beyond David himself: they part my garments among them.... It does not say they purpose doing it, they do it merely in their mind, but they do it in reality. This never happened to David, or at least not in the literal sense of his words, in which it has happened to Christ. In Him Psa 22:19 and Psa 22:19 are literally fulfilled.
The parting of the בּגדים by the soldiers dividing his ἰμάτια among them into four parts; the casting lots upon the לבוּשׁ by their not dividing the χιτὼν ἄῤῥαφος, but casting lots for it, Joh 19:23. לבוּשׁ is the garment which is put on the body that it may not be bare; בּגדים the clothes, which one wraps around one’s self for a covering; hence לבושׁ is punningly explained in B.
Sabbath 77 b by לא בושׁה (with which one has no need to be ashamed of being naked) in distinction from גלימא, a mantle (that through which one appears כגולם, because it conceals the outline of the body). In Job 24:7, and frequently, לבושׁ is an undergarment, or shirt, what in Arabic is called absolutely Arab. ṯ w b , thôb “the garment,” or expressed according to the Roman distinction: the tunica in distinction from the toga , whose exact designation is מעיל.
With Psa 22:19 of this Psalm it is exactly as with Zec 9:9, cf. Mat 21:5; in this instance also, the fulfilment has realised that which, in both phases of the synonymous expression, is seemingly identical.
Psa 22:16-18 (Hebrew_Bible_22:17-19)A continuation, referring back to Psa 22:12, of the complaint of him who is dying and is already as it were dead. In the animal name כּלבים, figuratively descriptive of character, beside shamelessness and meanness, special prominence is given to the propensity for biting and worrying, i. e. , for persecuting; hence Symmachus and Theodotion render it θηράται κυνηγέται.
In Psa 22:17 עדת מרעים takes the place of כלבים; and this again is followed by הקּיף in the plur . (to do anything in a circle, to surround by forming a circle round, a climactic synonym, like כּתּר to סבב) either per attractionem (cf. Psa 140:10; 1Sa 2:4), or on account of the collective עדה. Tertullian renders it synagoga maleficorum , Jerome concilium pessimorum .
But a faction gathered together for some evil purpose is also called עדה, e. g. , עדת קרח. In Psa 22:17 the meaning of כּארי, instar leonis , is either that, selecting a point of attack, they make the rounds of his hands and feet, just as a lion does its prey upon which it springs as soon as its prey stirs; or, that, standing round about him like lions, they make all defence impossible to his hands, and all escape impossible to his feet.
But whether we take this ידי ורגלי as accusative of the members beside the accusative of the person (vid. , Psa 17:11), or as the object of the הקּיפוּ to be supplied from Psa 22:17 , it still remains harsh and drawling so far as the language is concerned. Perceiving this, the Masora on Isa 38:13 observes, that כּארי, in the two passages in which it occurs (Psa 22:17; Isa 38:13), occurs in two different meanings (לישׁני בתרי); just as the Midrash then also understands כארי in the Psalm as a verb used of marking with conjuring, magic characters.
Is the meaning of the Masora that כּארי, in the passage before us, is equivalent to כּארים? If so the form would be doubly Aramaic: both the participial form כּאר (which only occurs in Hebrew in verbs med. E ) and the apocopated plural, the occurrence of which in Hebrew is certainly, with Gesenius and Ewald, to be acknowledged in rare instances (vid. , Psa 45:9, and compare on the other hand 2Sa 22:44), but which would here be a capricious form of expression most liable to be misapprehended.
If כארי is to be understood as a verb, then it ought to be read כּארי. Tradition is here manifestly unreliable. Even in MSS the readings כּארוּ and כּארי are found. The former is attested both by the Masora on Num 24:9 and by Jacob ben Chajim in the Masora finalis as the MS Chethîb . Even the Targum, which renders mordent sicut leo manus et pedes meos , bears witness to the ancient hesitancy between the substantival and verbal rendering of the כארי.
The other ancient versions have, without any doubt, read כארו. Aquila in the 1st edition of his translation rendered it ᾔσχυαν (from the Aramaic and Talmudic כּאר = כּער to soil, part . כּאוּר, dirty, nasty); but this is not applicable to hands and feet, and therefore has nothing to stand upon. In the 2nd edition of his translation the same Aquila had instead of this, like Symmachus, “they have bound,” after כר, Arab.
krr , to twist, lace; but this rendering is improbable since the Hebrew has other words for “to bind,” constringere . On the other hand nothing of any weight can be urged against the rendering of the lxx ὤρυξαν (Peshîto בזעו, Vulg. foderunt , Jer. fixerunt ); for (1) even if we do not suppose any special verb כּארוּ ,כּאר can be expanded from כּרוּ (כוּר) = כּרוּ (כּרה) just in the same manner as ראמה, Zec 14:10 from רמה, cf.
קאמיּא Dan 7:16. And (2) that כוּר and כּרה can signify not merely to dig out and dig into, engrave, but also to dig through, pierce, is shown, - apart from the derivative מכרה (the similarity of the sound of which to μάχαιρα from the root μαχ, maksh , mraksh , is only accidental), - by the double meaning of the verbs נקר, ὀρύσσειν (e. g. , ὀρύσσειν τὸν ἰσθμόν Herod.
i. 174), fodere ( hastâ ); the lxx version of Psa 40:7 would also support this meaning, if κατετρήσω (from κατατιτρᾶν) in that passage had been the original reading instead of κατηρτίσω. If כּארוּ be read, then Psa 22:17 , applied to David, perhaps under the influence of the figure of the attacking dogs (Böhl), says that the wicked bored into his hands and feet, and thus have made him fast, so that he is inevitably abandoned to their inhuman desires.
The fulfilment in the nailing of the hands and (at least, the binding fast) of the feet of the Crucified One to the cross is clear. This is not the only passage in which it is predicated that the future Christ shall be murderously pierced; but it is the same in Isa 53:5 where He is said to be pierced (מחלל) on account of our sins, and in Zec 12:10, where Jahve describes Himself as ἐκκεντηθείς in Him.
Thus, therefore, the reading כּארוּ might at least have an equal right to be recognised with the present recepta , for which Hupfeld and Hitzig demand exclusive recognition; while Böttcher, - who reads כּארי, and gives this the meaning“springing round about (after the manner of dogs), - regards the sicut leo as “a production of meagre Jewish wit;” and also Thenius after taking all possible pains to clear it up gives it up as hopeless, and with Meier, adopting a different division of the verse, renders it: “a mob of the wicked has encompassed me like lions. On my hands and feet I can count all my bones.
” But then, how כּארי comes limping on after the rest! And how lamely does ידי ורגלי precede Psa 22:18! How unnaturally does it limit עצמותי, with which one chiefly associates the thought of the breast and ribs, to the hands and feet! אספּר is potientialis . Above in Psa 22:15 he has said that his bones are out of joint. There is no more reason for regarding this “I can count etc.
” as referring to emaciation from grief, than there is for regarding the former as referring to writing with agony. He can count them because he is forcibly stretched out, and thereby all his bones stand out. In this condition he is a mockery to his foes. הבּיט signifies the turning of one’s gaze to anything, ראה בּ the fixing of one’s sight upon it with pleasure.
In Psa 22:19 a new feature is added to those that extend far beyond David himself: they part my garments among them.... It does not say they purpose doing it, they do it merely in their mind, but they do it in reality. This never happened to David, or at least not in the literal sense of his words, in which it has happened to Christ. In Him Psa 22:19 and Psa 22:19 are literally fulfilled.
The parting of the בּגדים by the soldiers dividing his ἰμάτια among them into four parts; the casting lots upon the לבוּשׁ by their not dividing the χιτὼν ἄῤῥαφος, but casting lots for it, Joh 19:23. לבוּשׁ is the garment which is put on the body that it may not be bare; בּגדים the clothes, which one wraps around one’s self for a covering; hence לבושׁ is punningly explained in B.
Sabbath 77 b by לא בושׁה (with which one has no need to be ashamed of being naked) in distinction from גלימא, a mantle (that through which one appears כגולם, because it conceals the outline of the body). In Job 24:7, and frequently, לבושׁ is an undergarment, or shirt, what in Arabic is called absolutely Arab. ṯ w b , thôb “the garment,” or expressed according to the Roman distinction: the tunica in distinction from the toga , whose exact designation is מעיל.
With Psa 22:19 of this Psalm it is exactly as with Zec 9:9, cf. Mat 21:5; in this instance also, the fulfilment has realised that which, in both phases of the synonymous expression, is seemingly identical.
Psa 22:19-21 (Hebrew_Bible_22:20-22)In Psa 22:19 the description of affliction has reached its climax, for the parting of, and casting lots for, the garments assumes the certain death of the sufferer in the mind of the enemies. In Psa 22:20, with ואתּה the looks of the sufferer, in the face of his manifold torments, concentrate themselves all at once upon Jahve.
He calls Him אילוּתי nom . abstr . from איל, Psa 88:5 : the very essence of strength, as it were the idea, or the ideal of strength; lė‛ezrāthi has the accent on the penult . , as in Psa 71:12 (cf. on the other hand Ps 38:23), in order that two tone syllables may not come together. In Psa 22:21, חרב means the deadly weapon of the enemy and is used exemplificatively.
In the expression מיּד כּלב, מיּד is not merely equivalent to מן, but יד is, according to the sense, equivalent to “paw” (cf. כּף, Lev 11:27), as פּי is equivalent to jaws; although elsewhere not only the expression “hand of the lion and of the bear,” 1Sa 17:37, but also “hands of the sword,” Psa 63:11, and even “hand of the flame,” Isa 47:14 are used, inasmuch as יד is the general designation of that which acts, seizes, and subjugates, as the instrument of the act.
Just as in connection with the dog יד, and in connection with the lion פי (cf. however, Dan 6:28) is mentioned as its weapon of attack, the horns, not the horn (also not in Deu 33:17), are mentioned in connection with antilopes, רמים (a shorter form, occurring only in this passage, for ראמים, Psa 29:6; Psa 34:7). Nevertheless, Luther following the lxx and Vulgate, renders it “rescue me from the unicorns” (vid.
, thereon on Psa 29:6). יהידה, as the parallel member here and in Psa 35:17 shows, is an epithet of נפשׁ. The lxx in both instances renders it correctly τὴν μονογενῆ μου, Vulg. unicam meam, according to Gen 22:2; Jdg 11:34, the one soul besides which man has no second, the one life besides which man has no second to lose, applied subjectively, that is, soul or life as the dearest and most precious thing, cf.
Homer’s fi'lon kee'r. It is also interpreted according to Psa 25:16; Psa 68:7 : my solitary one, solitarium , the soul as forsaken by God and man, or at least by man, and abandoned to its own self (Hupfeld, Kamphausen, and others). But the parallel נפשׁי, and the analogy of כּבודי (= נפשׁי), stamp it as an universal name for the soul: the single one, i. e. , that which does not exist in duplicate, and consequently that which cannot be replaced, when lost.
The praet . עניתני might be equivalent to ענני, provided it is a perf . consec . deprived of its Waw convers . in favour of the placing of מקּרני רמים first for the sake of emphasis; but considering the turn which the Psalm takes in Psa 22:23, it must be regarded as perf. confidentiae , inasmuch as in the very midst of his supplication there springs up in the mind of the suppliant the assurance of being heard and answered.
To answer from the horns of the antilope is equivalent to hearing and rescuing from them; cf. the equally pregnant expression ענה בּ Psa 118:5, perhaps also Heb 5:7.
Psa 22:19-21 (Hebrew_Bible_22:20-22)In Psa 22:19 the description of affliction has reached its climax, for the parting of, and casting lots for, the garments assumes the certain death of the sufferer in the mind of the enemies. In Psa 22:20, with ואתּה the looks of the sufferer, in the face of his manifold torments, concentrate themselves all at once upon Jahve.
He calls Him אילוּתי nom . abstr . from איל, Psa 88:5 : the very essence of strength, as it were the idea, or the ideal of strength; lė‛ezrāthi has the accent on the penult . , as in Psa 71:12 (cf. on the other hand Ps 38:23), in order that two tone syllables may not come together. In Psa 22:21, חרב means the deadly weapon of the enemy and is used exemplificatively.
In the expression מיּד כּלב, מיּד is not merely equivalent to מן, but יד is, according to the sense, equivalent to “paw” (cf. כּף, Lev 11:27), as פּי is equivalent to jaws; although elsewhere not only the expression “hand of the lion and of the bear,” 1Sa 17:37, but also “hands of the sword,” Psa 63:11, and even “hand of the flame,” Isa 47:14 are used, inasmuch as יד is the general designation of that which acts, seizes, and subjugates, as the instrument of the act.
Just as in connection with the dog יד, and in connection with the lion פי (cf. however, Dan 6:28) is mentioned as its weapon of attack, the horns, not the horn (also not in Deu 33:17), are mentioned in connection with antilopes, רמים (a shorter form, occurring only in this passage, for ראמים, Psa 29:6; Psa 34:7). Nevertheless, Luther following the lxx and Vulgate, renders it “rescue me from the unicorns” (vid.
, thereon on Psa 29:6). יהידה, as the parallel member here and in Psa 35:17 shows, is an epithet of נפשׁ. The lxx in both instances renders it correctly τὴν μονογενῆ μου, Vulg. unicam meam, according to Gen 22:2; Jdg 11:34, the one soul besides which man has no second, the one life besides which man has no second to lose, applied subjectively, that is, soul or life as the dearest and most precious thing, cf.
Homer’s fi'lon kee'r. It is also interpreted according to Psa 25:16; Psa 68:7 : my solitary one, solitarium , the soul as forsaken by God and man, or at least by man, and abandoned to its own self (Hupfeld, Kamphausen, and others). But the parallel נפשׁי, and the analogy of כּבודי (= נפשׁי), stamp it as an universal name for the soul: the single one, i. e. , that which does not exist in duplicate, and consequently that which cannot be replaced, when lost.
The praet . עניתני might be equivalent to ענני, provided it is a perf . consec . deprived of its Waw convers . in favour of the placing of מקּרני רמים first for the sake of emphasis; but considering the turn which the Psalm takes in Psa 22:23, it must be regarded as perf. confidentiae , inasmuch as in the very midst of his supplication there springs up in the mind of the suppliant the assurance of being heard and answered.
To answer from the horns of the antilope is equivalent to hearing and rescuing from them; cf. the equally pregnant expression ענה בּ Psa 118:5, perhaps also Heb 5:7.
Psa 22:19-21 (Hebrew_Bible_22:20-22)In Psa 22:19 the description of affliction has reached its climax, for the parting of, and casting lots for, the garments assumes the certain death of the sufferer in the mind of the enemies. In Psa 22:20, with ואתּה the looks of the sufferer, in the face of his manifold torments, concentrate themselves all at once upon Jahve.
He calls Him אילוּתי nom . abstr . from איל, Psa 88:5 : the very essence of strength, as it were the idea, or the ideal of strength; lė‛ezrāthi has the accent on the penult . , as in Psa 71:12 (cf. on the other hand Ps 38:23), in order that two tone syllables may not come together. In Psa 22:21, חרב means the deadly weapon of the enemy and is used exemplificatively.
In the expression מיּד כּלב, מיּד is not merely equivalent to מן, but יד is, according to the sense, equivalent to “paw” (cf. כּף, Lev 11:27), as פּי is equivalent to jaws; although elsewhere not only the expression “hand of the lion and of the bear,” 1Sa 17:37, but also “hands of the sword,” Psa 63:11, and even “hand of the flame,” Isa 47:14 are used, inasmuch as יד is the general designation of that which acts, seizes, and subjugates, as the instrument of the act.
Just as in connection with the dog יד, and in connection with the lion פי (cf. however, Dan 6:28) is mentioned as its weapon of attack, the horns, not the horn (also not in Deu 33:17), are mentioned in connection with antilopes, רמים (a shorter form, occurring only in this passage, for ראמים, Psa 29:6; Psa 34:7). Nevertheless, Luther following the lxx and Vulgate, renders it “rescue me from the unicorns” (vid.
, thereon on Psa 29:6). יהידה, as the parallel member here and in Psa 35:17 shows, is an epithet of נפשׁ. The lxx in both instances renders it correctly τὴν μονογενῆ μου, Vulg. unicam meam, according to Gen 22:2; Jdg 11:34, the one soul besides which man has no second, the one life besides which man has no second to lose, applied subjectively, that is, soul or life as the dearest and most precious thing, cf.
Homer’s fi'lon kee'r. It is also interpreted according to Psa 25:16; Psa 68:7 : my solitary one, solitarium , the soul as forsaken by God and man, or at least by man, and abandoned to its own self (Hupfeld, Kamphausen, and others). But the parallel נפשׁי, and the analogy of כּבודי (= נפשׁי), stamp it as an universal name for the soul: the single one, i. e. , that which does not exist in duplicate, and consequently that which cannot be replaced, when lost.
The praet . עניתני might be equivalent to ענני, provided it is a perf . consec . deprived of its Waw convers . in favour of the placing of מקּרני רמים first for the sake of emphasis; but considering the turn which the Psalm takes in Psa 22:23, it must be regarded as perf. confidentiae , inasmuch as in the very midst of his supplication there springs up in the mind of the suppliant the assurance of being heard and answered.
To answer from the horns of the antilope is equivalent to hearing and rescuing from them; cf. the equally pregnant expression ענה בּ Psa 118:5, perhaps also Heb 5:7.
Psa 22:22-23 (Hebrew_Bible_22:23-24)In the third section, Psa 22:23, the great plaintive prayer closes with thanksgiving and hope. In certainty of being answered, follows the vow of thanksgiving. He calls his fellow-country men, who are connected with him by the ties of nature, but, as what follows, viz. , “ye that fear Jahve” shows, also by the ties of spirit, “brethren.
” קהל (from קחל = קל, καλ-έω, cal-o , Sanscr. kal , to resound) coincides with εκκλησία. The sufferer is conscious of the significance of his lot of suffering in relation to the working out of the history of redemption. Therefore he will make that salvation which he has experienced common property. The congregation or church shall hear the evangel of his rescue.
In Psa 22:24 follows the introduction to this announcement, which is addressed to the whole of Israel, so far as it fears the God of revelation. Instead of וגורו the text of the Orientals (מדנחאי), i. e. , Babylonians, had here the Chethîb יגורו with the Kerî וגוּרוּ; the introduction of the jussive (Psa 33:8) after the two imperatives would not be inappropriate.
גּוּר מן (= יגר) is a stronger form of expression for ירא מן, Psa 33:8.
Psa 22:22-23 (Hebrew_Bible_22:23-24)In the third section, Psa 22:23, the great plaintive prayer closes with thanksgiving and hope. In certainty of being answered, follows the vow of thanksgiving. He calls his fellow-country men, who are connected with him by the ties of nature, but, as what follows, viz. , “ye that fear Jahve” shows, also by the ties of spirit, “brethren.
” קהל (from קחל = קל, καλ-έω, cal-o , Sanscr. kal , to resound) coincides with εκκλησία. The sufferer is conscious of the significance of his lot of suffering in relation to the working out of the history of redemption. Therefore he will make that salvation which he has experienced common property. The congregation or church shall hear the evangel of his rescue.
In Psa 22:24 follows the introduction to this announcement, which is addressed to the whole of Israel, so far as it fears the God of revelation. Instead of וגורו the text of the Orientals (מדנחאי), i. e. , Babylonians, had here the Chethîb יגורו with the Kerî וגוּרוּ; the introduction of the jussive (Psa 33:8) after the two imperatives would not be inappropriate.
גּוּר מן (= יגר) is a stronger form of expression for ירא מן, Psa 33:8.
Psa 22:24 (Hebrew_Bible_22:25) This tristich is the evangel itself. The materia laudis is introduced by כּי. ענוּת (principal form ענוּת) bending, bowing down, affliction, from ענה, the proper word to denote the Passion. For in Isaiah, Isa 53:4, Isa 53:7, the Servant of God is also said to be מענּה and נענה, and Zechariah, Zec 9:9, also introduces Him as עני and נושׁע.
The lxx, Vulgate, and Targum erroneously render it “cry. ” ענה does not mean to cry, but to answer, ἀμείβεσθαι; here, however, as the stem-word of ענות, it means to be bent. From the שׁקּץ (to regard as an abhorrence), which alternates with בּזה, we see that the sufferer felt the wrath of God, but this has changed into a love that sends help; God did not long keep His countenance hidden, He hearkened to him, for his prayer was well-pleasing to Him.
שׁמע is not the verbal adjective, but, since we have the definite fact of the rescue before us, it is a pausal form for שׁמע, as in Psa 34:7, Psa 34:18; Jer 36:13.
Psa 22:25-26 (Hebrew_Bible_22:26-27) The call to thanksgiving is now ended; and there follows a grateful upward glance towards the Author of the salvation; and this grateful upward glance grows into a prophetic view of the future. This fact, that the sufferer is able thus to glory and give thanks in the great congregation (Psa 40:10), proceeds from Jahve (מאת as in Psa 118:23, cf.
Psa 71:6). The first half of the verse, according to Baer’s correct accentuation, closes with בּקהל רב. יראיו does not refer to קהל, but, as everywhere else, is meant to be referred to Jahve, since the address of prayer passes over into a declarative utterance. It is not necessary in this passage to suppose, that in the mind of David the paying of vows is purely ethical, and not a ritualistic act.
Being rescued he will bring the שׁלמי נדר, which it is his duty to offer, the thank-offerings, which he vowed to God when in the extremest peril. When the sprinkling with blood (זריקה) and the laying of the fat pieces upon the altar (הקטרה) were completed, the remaining flesh of the shalemim was used by the offerer to make a joyous meal; and the time allowed for this feasting was the day of offering and on into the night in connection with the tôda-shelamim offering, and in connection with the shelamim of vows even the following day also (Lev 7:15.)
The invitation of the poor to share in it, which the law does not command, is rendered probable by these appointments of the law, and expressly commended by other and analogous appointments concerning the second and third tithes. Psa 22:27 refers to this: he will invite the ענוים, those who are outwardly and spiritually poor, to this “eating before Jahve;” it is to be a meal for which they thank God, who has bestowed it upon them through him whom He has thus rescued.
Psa 22:27 is as it were the host’s blessing upon his guests, or rather Jahve’s guests through him: “your heart live for ever,” i. e. , may this meal impart to you ever enduring refreshment. יחי optative of חיה, here used of the reviving of the heart, which is as it were dead (1Sa 25:37), to spiritual joy. The reference to the ritual of the peace offerings is very obvious.
And it is not less obvious, that the blessing, which, for all who can be saved, springs from the salvation that has fallen to the lot of the sufferer, is here set forth. But it is just as clear, that this blessing consists in something much higher than the material advantage, which the share in the enjoyment of the animal sacrifice imparts; the sacrifice has its spiritual meaning, so that its outward forms are lowered as it were to a mere figure of its true nature; it relates to a spiritual enjoyment of spiritual and lasting results.
How natural, then, is the thought of the sacramental eucharist, in which the second David, like to the first, having attained to the throne through the suffering of death, makes us partakers of the fruits of His suffering!
Psa 22:25-26 (Hebrew_Bible_22:26-27) The call to thanksgiving is now ended; and there follows a grateful upward glance towards the Author of the salvation; and this grateful upward glance grows into a prophetic view of the future. This fact, that the sufferer is able thus to glory and give thanks in the great congregation (Psa 40:10), proceeds from Jahve (מאת as in Psa 118:23, cf.
Psa 71:6). The first half of the verse, according to Baer’s correct accentuation, closes with בּקהל רב. יראיו does not refer to קהל, but, as everywhere else, is meant to be referred to Jahve, since the address of prayer passes over into a declarative utterance. It is not necessary in this passage to suppose, that in the mind of David the paying of vows is purely ethical, and not a ritualistic act.
Being rescued he will bring the שׁלמי נדר, which it is his duty to offer, the thank-offerings, which he vowed to God when in the extremest peril. When the sprinkling with blood (זריקה) and the laying of the fat pieces upon the altar (הקטרה) were completed, the remaining flesh of the shalemim was used by the offerer to make a joyous meal; and the time allowed for this feasting was the day of offering and on into the night in connection with the tôda-shelamim offering, and in connection with the shelamim of vows even the following day also (Lev 7:15.)
The invitation of the poor to share in it, which the law does not command, is rendered probable by these appointments of the law, and expressly commended by other and analogous appointments concerning the second and third tithes. Psa 22:27 refers to this: he will invite the ענוים, those who are outwardly and spiritually poor, to this “eating before Jahve;” it is to be a meal for which they thank God, who has bestowed it upon them through him whom He has thus rescued.
Psa 22:27 is as it were the host’s blessing upon his guests, or rather Jahve’s guests through him: “your heart live for ever,” i. e. , may this meal impart to you ever enduring refreshment. יחי optative of חיה, here used of the reviving of the heart, which is as it were dead (1Sa 25:37), to spiritual joy. The reference to the ritual of the peace offerings is very obvious.
And it is not less obvious, that the blessing, which, for all who can be saved, springs from the salvation that has fallen to the lot of the sufferer, is here set forth. But it is just as clear, that this blessing consists in something much higher than the material advantage, which the share in the enjoyment of the animal sacrifice imparts; the sacrifice has its spiritual meaning, so that its outward forms are lowered as it were to a mere figure of its true nature; it relates to a spiritual enjoyment of spiritual and lasting results.
How natural, then, is the thought of the sacramental eucharist, in which the second David, like to the first, having attained to the throne through the suffering of death, makes us partakers of the fruits of His suffering!
Psa 22:27-31 (Hebrew_Bible_22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David’s experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples.
The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ( Psychol . S. 346ff. ; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. This prospect (Jer 16:19.)
is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve’s right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl , erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid. , on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part . , used like the 3 praet . , without any mark of the person (cf.
Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes . , and, so to speak, as tempus durans : He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God.
Psa 22:27-31 (Hebrew_Bible_22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David’s experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples.
The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ( Psychol . S. 346ff. ; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. This prospect (Jer 16:19.)
is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve’s right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl , erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid. , on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part . , used like the 3 praet . , without any mark of the person (cf.
Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes . , and, so to speak, as tempus durans : He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God.
Psa 22:27-31 (Hebrew_Bible_22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David’s experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples.
The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ( Psychol . S. 346ff. ; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. This prospect (Jer 16:19.)
is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve’s right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl , erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid. , on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part . , used like the 3 praet . , without any mark of the person (cf.
Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes . , and, so to speak, as tempus durans : He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God.
Psa 22:27-31 (Hebrew_Bible_22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David’s experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples.
The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ( Psychol . S. 346ff. ; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. This prospect (Jer 16:19.)
is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve’s right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl , erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid. , on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part . , used like the 3 praet . , without any mark of the person (cf.
Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes . , and, so to speak, as tempus durans : He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God.
Psa 22:27-31 (Hebrew_Bible_22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David’s experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples.
The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ( Psychol . S. 346ff. ; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. This prospect (Jer 16:19.)
is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve’s right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl , erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid. , on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part . , used like the 3 praet . , without any mark of the person (cf.
Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes . , and, so to speak, as tempus durans : He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God.
The arrangement, by which a Psalm that speaks of a great feast of mercy prepared for mankind is followed by a Psalm that praises Jahve as the Shepherd and Host of His own people, could not possibly be more sensible and appropriate. If David is the author, and there is no reason for doubting it, then this Psalm belongs to the time of the rebellion under Absolom, and this supposition is confirmed on every hand.
It is like an amplification of Psa 4:8; and Psa 3:7 is also echoed in it. But not only does it contain points of contact with this pair of Psalms of the time mentioned, but also with other Psalms belonging to the same period, as Psa 27:4, and more especially Psa 63:1-11, which is said to have been composed when David had retreated with his faithful followers over Kidron and the Mount of Olives into the plains of the wilderness of Judah, whither Hushai sent him tidings, which counselled him to pass over Jordan with all possible haste.
It is characteristic of all these Psalms, that in them David years after the house of God as after the peculiar home of his heart, and, that all his wishes centre in the one wish to be at home again. And does not this short, tender song, with its depth of feeling and its May-like freshness, accord with David’s want and wanderings to and fro at that time? It consists of two hexastichs with short closing lines, resembling (as also in Isa 16:9-10) the Adonic verse of the strophe of Sappho, and a tetrastich made up of very short and longer lines intermixed.
Psa 23:1-3 The poet calls Jahve רעי, as He who uniformly and graciously provides for and guides him and all who are His. Later prophecy announces the visible appearing of this Shepherd, Isa 40:11, Eze 34:23, and other passages. If this has taken place, the רעי ה from the mouth of man finds its cordial response in the words ἐγὼ εἰμὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός. He who has Jahve, the possessor of all things, himself has all things, he lacks nothing; viz.
, כּ־טוב, whatever is good in itself and would be good for him, Psa 34:11; Psa 84:12. נאות דּשׁא are the pastures of fresh and tender grass, where one lies at ease, and rest and enjoyment are combined. נאה (נוה), according to its primary meaning, is a resting-or dwelling-place, specifically an oasis, i. e. , a verdant spot in the desert. מי מנוּחת are waters, where the weary finds a most pleasant resting-place (according to Hitzig, it is a plural brought in by the plural of the governing word, but it is at any rate a superlative plural), and can at the same time refresh himself.
נהל is suited to this as being a pastoral word used of gentle leading, and more especially of guiding the herds to the watering-places, just as הרבּיץ is used of making them to rest, especially at noon-tide, Sol 1:7; cf. ὁδηγεῖν, Rev 7:17. שׁובב נפשׁ (elsewhere השׁיב) signifies to bring back the soul that is as it were flown away, so that it comes to itself again, therefore to impart new life, recreare .
This He does to the soul, by causing it amidst the dryness and heat of temptation and trouble, to taste the very essence of life which refreshes and strengthens it. The Hiph . הנחה (Arabic: to put on one side, as perhaps in Job 12:23) is, as in Psa 143:10 the intensive of נחה (Ps 77:21). The poet glories that Jahve leads him carefully and without risk or wandering in מעגּלי־צדק, straight paths and leading to the right goal, and this למען שׁמו (for His Name’s sake).
He has revealed Himself as the gracious One, and as such He will prove and glorify Himself even in the need of him who submits to His guidance.
Psa 23:4-5 Rod and staff are here not so much those of the pilgrim, which would be a confusing transition to a different figure, but those of Jahve, the Shepherd (שׁבט, as in Mic 7:14, and in connection with it, cf. Num 21:18, משׁענת as the filling up of the picture), as the means of guidance and defence. The one rod, which the shepherd holds up to guide the flock, and upon which he leans and anxiously watches over the flock, has assumed a double form in the conception of the idea.
This rod and staff in the hand of God comfort him, i. e. , preserve to him the feeling of security, and therefore a cheerful spirit. Even when he passes through a valley dark and gloomy as the shadow of death, where surprises and calamities of every kind threaten him, he hears no misfortune. The lxx narrows the figure, rendering בגיא according to the Aramaic בּגוא, Dan 3:25, ἐν μέσῳ.
The noun צלמות, which occurs in this passage for the first time in the Old Testament literature, is originally not a compound word; but being formed from a verb צלם, Arab. ḏlm (root צל, Arab. ḏl ), to overshadow, darken, after the form עבדוּת, but pronounced צלמות (cf. חצרמות, Hadra - môt = the court of death, בּצלאל in-God's-shadow), it signifies the shadow of death as an epithet of the most fearful darkness, as of Hades, Job 10:21.
, but also of a shaft of a mine, Job 28:3, and more especially of darkness such as makes itself felt in a wild, uninhabited desert, Jer 2:6. After the figure of the shepherd fades away in Psa 23:4, that of the host appears. His enemies must look quietly on (נגד as in Psa 31:20), without being able to do anything, and see how Jahve provides bountifully for His guest, anoints him with sweet perfumes as at a joyous and magnificent banquet (Psa 92:11), and fills his cup to excess.
What is meant thereby, is not necessarily only blessings of a spiritual kind. The king fleeing before Absolom and forsaken by the mass of his people was, with his army, even outwardly in danger of being destroyed by want; it is, therefore, even an abundance of daily bread streaming in upon them, as in 2Sa 17:27-29, that is meant; but even this, spiritually regarded, as a gift from heaven, and so that the satisfying, refreshing and quickening is only the outside phase of simultaneous inward experiences.
The future תּערך is followed, according to the customary return to the perfect ground-form, by דּשּׁנתּ, which has, none the less, the signification of a present. And in the closing assertion, כּוסי, my cup, is metonymically equivalent to the contents of my cup. This is רויה, a fulness satiating even to excess.