I.MESSIAH'S GRIEF. HIS AGONISING PRAYER. WOES EMPHASISED (r-22). Humiliation in the midst of His Enemies. 1. APPEAL (1-2). "Why so far.n The Crowning· Anguish-"Thou answerest not." 2. PLEA (3-5). The Fathers. Their trust. "But Thou." 3. ADVERSARIES (6-8). Their Ridicule. "But I." The Gibes. 4. PLEA (9-10). The Sufferer. His trust. "But Thou." 5. APPEAL (n ). "Be not far." The Central Accent. The S1!fferer alone. 6.ADVERSARIES (12-13). Their Rage. The Gaping. 7. PLEA (14-15). The Sufferer. His torture.
ANALYTICAL STUDIES I N THE PSALMS 8. ADVERSARIES (16-18). Their Ruthlessness. The Gazing. 9. APPEAL (19-21). "Be not far." The Closing Assurance-"Thou hast answered.' II. MESSIAH'S GLORY. HIS ABOUNDING PRAISE. WORSHIP EMPHASISED (22-3 r ). Exaltation in the midst of His Elect. x. NATIONAL WORSHIP (22-26). The Earthly Seed. Israel. i. Precentor and People (22:-23 ). "I," "Ye." General. ii. Reason (24). "For." iii. Precentor and People (25-26). "I," "the meek." Particular. 2. UNIVERSAL WORSHIP (27-29b). The Gentiles. Millennial Nations. i. Peoples (27). General. ii. Reason (28). "For." iii. Peoples (29 ). Particular. 3. SPIRITUAL WORSHIP (29c-31). The Heavenly Seed. The Elect. i. The Redeemer (29c). (See note.) ii. The Renerate (30-31). iii. The Reason (31). "For"-It is finished. SUPERSCRIPT.-A psalm of David. PRIMARY AssocIATI0N.-Written by David the inspired prophet, Acts ii. 30-31. While the psalm may have its roots in his own deep soul exercise during the period of Saul's persecution, its language reaches far beyond this to the atoning sufferings of Christ, 1 Peter i. 2, , is well illustrated here. The Spirit of God is not bound by the limits of the human instrument He is pleased to use, hence the Messianic references entirely eclipse the Davidic. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION.-The New Testament applies the psalm in a most positive and exclusive way to the Lord Jesus. Its distinctiye character is that it brings out by way of marked contrast the experi ences of Messiah and those of the godly. The latter in their suffering have been and will be delivered when they cry to God, but Messiah, "perfect in the fullest sorrow," was not. Many graphic details of His death on the Cross are given. The whole psalm formed the subject of His meditation during those hours of agony. While the Gospels record His more apparent sufferings, the psalms record the more hidden sorrows.· This psalm begins with the Cross and ends with the Crown. Note the interval of silence to be understood between 21-22 indicating that death and resurrection have taken place. , In Ps. xxii. we see Christ as the Sin Offering; in xl. as the Burnt Offering; in lxix. as the Trespass Offering. In Ps. xxii. section 1,
Prayer unanswered; section 2, Prayer answered; section 1, the centre; section 2, the circumference. In both sections the same Voice, but on a different note. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Let us approach this psalm with unshod feet for the place whereon we stand is holy ground. The unique sufferings of Christ on the Cross are revealed as far as may be for the full satisfaction of our conscience and the adoring worship of our hearts. It is good exercise to trace out all the prophetic details given here in their ful£hnent on the Cross. Here is the crisis of the conflict between good and evil. The orphan cry is never for the redeemed. Power can create stars but cannot cancel sin; love could not act at the expense of righteousness, Prov. xvii. 15. In their antagonism to the Christ of God men become like beasts, 12-13, 16, 21. Commit to (Heb. = "roll upon") the Lord: (a) our Woes, 8; (b) our Way, xxxvii. 5; (c) our Works, Prov. xvi. 3. The glory of the Crown is in the Cross. He who was alone in His sorrow is accompanied in the song, 22. 1he last sentence in the psalm touches the keynote of the Gospel. VERSE NOTES . , "G d" El c£ "rak " Chris th beli . b . o , . 10; rors en, t e evmg smner s su st:J.tute was abandoned to the full curse of the broken law. The very height of His essential majesty made the horror of the Cross in.finite. Such desolation no soul but His could experience; for us it will ever remain an unfathomable mystery; "roaring," i.e. the groaning of the Holy Sufferer is likened to sounds made by a distressed lion. 2. (b) Br. as marg. 3. In the supûeme agony of His soul He yet justifies God. Here is no trace of reproach against God or bitterness towards man, Luke xxiii. 34; "But ... ," c£ Isa. lii. 6 and Hab. i. 13; line hr. as margin; the praises of Israel ascending like clouds of incense form as it were the throne upon which Jehovah sits; or may be fig. metonymy for the place to which the national pr;aises were directed, viz. the ,Sanctuary. 4-5. Emphasis throughout is on "Thee,"-deliverance for the fathers not for Him. His, then, was not merely the death of a martyr, Heb. xi. 35-37. No suffer ing -at the hands of man could make atonement with God; "ashamed "= put to shame. 6. "worm"= one despised, defenceless and downtrodden, c£ Isa. liii. 3; "no man," Heb. ish, Appendix X. 7. C£ Luke xxiii. 3 5; (b) i.e. in contempt and feigned abhorrence, Matt. xxvii. 39. 8. Lit. "Roll it upon Jehovah." Trust in God was the ruling principle of Messiah's life. Unable to upbraid Him with sin, His enemies taunted Him with that which was characteristic of His moral glory. He alone realised what Job professed, Job xiii. 15; (b) "He (Jehovah) delighteth in Him (the Sufferer)," c£ xviii. 19; Isa. xlii. r.
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