Psalm 22:1-31 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?… This Psalm sets forth the last extremity of human suffering, yet without any confession of sin, and closes with the sure hope of deliverance. We consider it an idealised description of the great Sufferer. I. THE COMPLAINT (vers. 1-10). The cry with which the Psalm opens is not an utterance of impatience or despair, but of grief and entreaty. It is the question of faith as well as of anguish. The second line suggests the great chasm between His outcry and the help He implores. God stands afar off, i.e. withholds His help. In the olden times the fathers trusted, and were not put to shame; why is the present case made an exception? It is such, for instead of being helped He is left to be reproached and despised; all the spectators join in derision. But faith turns the mock, cry of foes into an argument for deliverance. II. THE PRAYER AGAINST VIOLENCE (vers. 11-21). Having shown that He was justified in expecting Divine aid, He now shows that the necessity for it exists, It was no time for God to be far off, when distress was so near and there was no other helper. The figures that follow are taken from pastoral life. III. THE EXPRESSION OF THANKS AND HOPE (vers. 22-31). The Sufferer's certainty of deliverance is shown by His intention to give thanks for it. This will be done, not in private, but before the whole nation The experience here recorded, alike of sorrows and of joy, far transcends anything which we have reason to think that David passed through. (Talbot W. Chambers, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: {To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.} My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? |
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