Psalm 22

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)

This is an extraordinary psalm that takes us to the extremes. Its haunting words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” were quoted by Jesus on the cross. It develops from an individual in the dust of death (v. 15) to universal acknowledgment of the kingdom of God. In the lament we read “all who see me mock me” (v. 7) and “all my bones are out of joint” (v. 14), but in the praise sections we hear, “All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!” (v. 23), “All the ends of the earth will . . . turn to the LORD” (v. 27), and it even appears that all the dead will worship (v. 29, see below). This psalm is particularly powerful for Christians, and it is virtually impossible to hear it without overtones of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Yet we would be the poorer if we did not also try to hear it within its earlier OT contexts. God’s word is often multidimensional and multilevel.

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