Today’s Passage: Psalm 22
David wrote this, for the heading says so, and this house receives that line. A thousand years later the Son took its first cry into His own mouth, and the Gospel writers heard Him do it. Matthew and Mark both record the words, and John watched the soldiers divide the garments and named the very verse. So we will not hold it open as an idle question whether this is “only David.” David prayed it, and the Son prayed it, and it is one gospel and not a second one.
As you read, hold this: David prayed it. The Son prayed it from the cross.
Context Of David, for the choirmaster
“For the choirmaster. To the tune of ‘The Doe of the Dawn.’ A Psalm of David.” The superscription is part of the text. David prayed a real anguish. The apostles later closed the psalm as Christ’s. This house reads it the way they read it.
Psalm 22:1-5 (BSB)
¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? ² I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. ³ Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ⁴ In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. ⁵ They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.
The fathers were delivered, but this sufferer has not been. Still he calls Him “ ’ēlī, pronounced ay-LEE. Strong's H410, my God. Matthew keeps the very sound Jesus voiced aloud, and then gives its sense. ,” and still he names Him holy, and it is that very bond that makes the wound so deep.
"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”" Matthew 27:46 (BSB)
This is no pretty line borrowed from a safe distance. It is the Son praying David’s cry in the midst of His own agony, for He did not endure the cross in silence but reached for the words His people already had.
On that cross the sinless Son was bearing, in the place of all who trust Him, the judgment sin earns. He was there as a substitute, not only as a fellow sufferer. The Father and the Son were not two gods at war. The Son took the weight so that no one who comes to Him would have to bear that forsakenness alone.
Psalm 22:6-11 (BSB)
⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. ⁷ All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: ⁸ “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.” ⁹ Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast. ¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon You; from my mother’s womb You have been my God. ¹¹ Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
The taunt aims at trust itself, at the very faith of the sufferer: let the LORD deliver him. Matthew heard that same insult flung at the foot of the cross.
"He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”" Matthew 27:43 (BSB)
The mockers could wound a reputation, but they could not reach as far as verse 10: from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
Psalm 22:12-18 (BSB)
¹² Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me. ¹⁸ They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
Bones pulled out of joint, a tongue stuck fast, hands and feet pierced, and lots cast for the clothing while the sufferer still looks on. David had no Roman cross in his own world to describe from the outside, and yet the church needed no later argument to see what verse 18 makes plain.
Study notes John names the verse
"When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His garments into four parts, one for each soldier, with the tunic remaining. It was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did." John 19:23-24 (BSB)
John does not merely notice a resemblance; he names fulfillment. The soldiers were only doing what soldiers always did, and yet Scripture had already said it long before.
Psalm 22:19-21 (BSB)
¹⁹ But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. ²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs. ²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
Save me, he prays, and then, in almost the same breath, You have answered me. No verse in between reports that anything has changed. The psalm simply moves from the asking to the being heard.
Psalm 22:22-26 (BSB)
²² I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the assembly. ²³ You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All offspring of Israel, revere Him! ²⁴ For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help. ²⁵ My praise for You resounds in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You. ²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!
Hebrews will not leave verse 22 in David’s mouth alone.
"For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.”" Hebrews 2:11-12 (BSB)
The voice that cried “why have You forsaken me” is, on Hebrews’ reading, the same voice now calling the rescued family together. That reading is a settled one.
Psalm 22:27-31 (BSB)
²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him. ²⁸ For dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—even those unable to preserve their lives. ³⁰ Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation. ³¹ They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn—all that He has done.
The psalm that began with one forsaken man ends with the ends of the earth turning home. That is the shape of the gospel, and not a second one. The cross looked like the most forsaken hour there had ever been, and it became the very reason the nations remember and turn.
David prayed it. The Son prayed it from the cross.