Psalm 22
Lesson Focus
Psalm 22 helps us explore how faith can persist even in the darkest times when God seems distant.
Lesson Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, students should:
Identify the main movements of the psalm.
Understand the psalm’s connection to Jesus’ last words on the cross.
Be encouraged to adopt Psalm 22 as a prayer for the darkest of times.
Catching Up on the Story
Last week, we explored Psalm 25, a heartfelt prayer from King David that expressed his deep trust in God and his ongoing need for divine guidance, even in his later years. We saw how David’s plea for God’s instruction highlighted a profound truth: our need for God’s wisdom and steadfast love is constant, regardless of our age or spiritual maturity. David modeled for us a posture of humility and surrender, reminding us that true knowledge comes from seeking God's ways above our own.
This week, we turn to Psalm 22, another of David’s psalms, which takes us deeper into the raw emotions of human experience. Where Psalm 25 emphasizes the psalmist’s trust and his call for guidance, Psalm 22 presents a cry of anguish, capturing the feeling of abandonment in the midst of suffering. David moves from the posture of trust in God’s steadfast love to the vulnerable cry of "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22 will help us explore how faith can persist even in the darkest times when God seems distant. Just as David sought God’s guidance in Psalm 25, he now seeks God's presence and deliverance from profound distress.
My God, My God…
The opening of the 22nd Psalm is no doubt familiar to us, as it is the psalm that Jesus cited while hanging on the cross. These words are included in the Seven Last Words of Christ, commonly used as a framework for Good Friday observances. When Jesus exclaims, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he invokes the whole psalm. In ancient times, it was commonly understood that if you quoted the opening lines of a text, you were evoking the sentiments of the entire passage (Mays, 105). As we will see, Psalm 22 does not end in fatalistic despair. As many psalms do, it turns toward a confession of trust in the unlimited faithfulness of God.
While Psalm 22 is attributed to David, subsequent generations understood its use to be largely appropriate for communal liturgical purposes. “What one hears through it is not the voice of a particular historical person at a certain time but one individual case of the typical. Its language was designed to give individuals a poetic and liturgical location, to provide a prayer that is paradigmatic for particular suffering and needs. To use it was to set oneself in its paradigm” (Mays, 106). In providing us with a “poetic and liturgical location,” the psalm roots us within a community of faith where we can voice our distress while the believing community stands in solidarity with us and vise versa. In praying this psalm, as Jesus did, becoming one with all those who suffer, we, too, become one with our brothers and sisters who live amid affliction (Mays, 106).
Psalm 22 can be divided into two sections, each having two sections. Verses 1-21 comprise a desperate prayer for help, while verses 22-31 comprise a song of praise. The two sections of Psalm 22 belong together to form one continuous narrative arc. In the Christian tradition, vocalizations of distress and affliction almost always come with statements of confident faith in God’s ability and willingness to bring salvation.
Movement #1
The first movement in verses 1-21 encompasses verses 1-11. The psalmist begins by questioning where God is at the moment of his need. The phrase “My God” highlights the misery, not just of the current moment with its afflictions, but of the abandonment the psalmist believes has taken place. We might venture to say that the internal distress the psalmist experiences because God is nowhere to be found might be worse than the actual circumstances of the situation. To be human in any meaningful way is to trust ourselves to the care and love of others. Unfortunately, we often experience breaches of trust and unfaithfulness, leaving us with deep wounds not easily healed. The deeper the relationship of trust and faithfulness, the worse the pain can become. A man after God’s own heart, which implies a significant level of relationship, David now deeply feels God’s absence as he questions why God does not hear or answer his call.
Verses 3-5 remind the psalmist of God’s steadfast and faithful relationship with Israel. The “yet” that begins verse three is telling. In the present moment, God is absent, but Israel’s consistent testimony is that God always returns, bringing movements toward salvation. The connection between God’s holiness and God’s faithfulness in salvation for Israel cannot be overstated. Because God is holy, God can be trusted to deliver. Because God is holy, God can be trusted to save God’s people, keeping them from shame.
The psalm pivots back to the psalmist’s suffering as he describes his situation. In the eyes of his enemies, David is only a worm, despised by “the people” (v. 6). Those who witness David’s distress mock him and sarcastically encourage him to “commit [his] cause to the Lord” (v.8). If David is truly beloved by God, then surely God will rescue him. If verse eight is the mocking words of David’s enemies, then the connection between Jesus and this psalm grows deeper. Jesus, too, was mocked during his darkest hour, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” and “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (see, Luke 23:34-43).
In response to the mocking insults of those around him, David reminds himself and God of their relationship, confessing that God’s presence has been with him from birth to the present moment. David gives witness to God’s providential care through his mother’s love (v. 9-10).
Movement #2
Verses 12-17 use vivid imagery to describe the psalmist’s plight. David is surrounded by hungry beasts with mouths wide open, intent on having the psalmist as their meal (v. 12-13). David’s life is being poured out like water from a jug. He will soon be empty. His bones are out of joint, and his heart has become like wax, ill-suited for the task of keeping the psalmist alive (v. 14). The psalmist then evokes dehydration as an image to describe his slow movement toward becoming dust. Death is near (v.15). We’re meant to hear God’s words to Adam and Eve after succumbing to temptation in Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return.” While God’s words in Genesis 3 respond to sin, we can’t impose David’s sinfulness on the situation behind Psalm 22. For David, however, returning to dust would have been a common way of speaking about death.
In verses 16-21, the psalmist continues to describe his current situation while calling out to God for salvation. Again, the psalmist describes his condition as being surrounded by enemies in a weakened and emaciated state. His enemies presume he’s not long for this world and cast lots to divide up his clothing. Part one of Psalm 22 ends with a final plea for God to come near and bring deliverance.
Mays sums up this last part of the psalm: “The effect of the whole is to create a shifting montage of images evoking violence and dying that never comes into focus so that the horror could be identified and confined to some specific kind of suffering. Instead, one is given the impression of the terror of cosmic anarchy brought to bear on one figure, a vision of what happens when evil breaks through the normal restraints of humanity because the restraining, correcting salvation and providence of God are absent” (Mays, 110).
I Will Tell of Your Name!
Remembering that verse numbers in our English translations of the Bible are somewhat arbitrary and of human invention, the second half of verse 21 seems to belong more with verse 22 than what went before. Regardless, the psalmist now tells of his deliverance from the beasts that encircle him and threaten his life.
Movement #1
As the psalmist’s situation changes, so does his prayer. The first thing David will do is proclaim the mighty acts of God (tell of your name) to his closest associates and fellow Israelites. Though they are called “brothers and sisters,” it likely does not point to David’s actual siblings but his spiritual brothers and sisters in Israel (Mays, 111). The psalmist begins to address the faithful in verse 23 with a command to praise the Lord, standing in awe of the salvation God has brought.
Verse 24 makes a specific claim about the psalmist and God’s nature. First, the psalmist describes himself as one of “the afflicted.” Mays argues that “afflicted” refers to those who are lowly. That is, those who are ridiculed for their belief in and faithfulness to God. David’s experience did not make him lowly in the eyes of his enemies; rather, it is because of this belief and faithfulness that the psalmist is attacked (Mays, 112). Yet, regardless of what the psalmist might have felt during his time of affliction, God had not turned away or “hid his face” from David. The confession is that God heard his cry and brought about relief. The second claim the psalmist makes regards the nature of God. The lowly are of profound importance to God. It is precisely those to whom God wishes to reveal his face. God will rescue those needing rescue and raise them up, ensuring they are well cared for (v. 26).
Movement #2
The last movement of Psalm 24 turns more explicitly toward the future. The psalmist understands that his testimony about the nature of God and God’s relationship to the world will move past Israel’s boundaries. “All the ends of the earth shall remember…all the families of the nations shall worship” (v. 27). The psalmist’s experience has never been solely about his personal experience. He relates the story surrounding his affliction, his steadfast belief and trust in God, and his subsequent deliverance because he fully understands that Israel will be a blessing to the entire world (see Genesis 12).
The view of God’s ability to rescue and inspire worship is quite grand. Because “dominion belongs to the Lord” (v. 28), all creation will bow down in worship. Those who “sleep in the earth” (the dead) will bow down in worship. So, too, will all future generations of those yet unborn.
The scope of Psalm 22 is remarkable. Along the way, the believing body that reads and prays this psalm experiences a wide variety of emotions, from abandonment to deep despair, which moves toward hopeful prayer and salvation.
So What?
In the beginning, we noted that Jesus quoted the opening line of Psalm 22 while on the cross. By doing so, Jesus wasn’t just making a statement about who he felt at that moment but evoking the entirety of Psalm 22. Exploring the movements within the psalm hopefully helps us better understand what Jesus did for creation on the cross.
First, by equating his suffering with that of the psalmists, we realize that Jesus understood his suffering as an act of communal solidarity. Second, Jesus doesn’t just suffer; Jesus suffers alongside us as one with us. Also, Jesus’ suffering was true and legitimate human suffering. Third, like the psalmist, Jesus experienced suffering because he faithfully placed his belief and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those who mocked Jesus did so because they understood the way to the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought as illegitimate. In their minds, if Jesus was truly righteous or a faithful representative of God, he would not suffer as he did.
It might be helpful for us to imagine that verses 1-21 of Psalm 22 give voice to Jesus’ situation and suffering through his death on the cross. The second half, then, would be Jesus’ confession post-resurrection. In the same way that David calls his spiritual brothers and sisters in Israel to offer praise and thanks for God’s mighty salvation, Jesus calls his spiritual siblings to God for their salvation through him. Similarly, Jesus looks toward a future time when he will return and make all things new, lifting up the lowly and caring for their every need.
But what does all of this mean for us? We are encouraged to call out to God amid our afflictions and suffering, even wondering out loud where God might be. At the same time, I think we’re to understand that our faith and trust in Jesus might possibly lead us into more affliction, but that vindication is always waiting in the future.
Discussion Questions
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
Describe a time when you felt a trusted friend abandoned or betrayed you. What feelings and emotions did you experience? If you were to have written a poem about the situation, what would it have been like?
Poetry has the profound ability to give voice to our deepest feelings. Have you ever read a poem or perhaps listened to a song that, while communicating the personal experience of the author, also deeply resonated with you? What about the poem or song that struck a chord within you? How did you respond to it?
Does the opening line of Psalm 22 sound familiar to you? If so, where else might you have read that line?
While Psalm 22 is attributed to David, Israel used the psalm in a communal and liturgical way. Why do you think Israel made use of this psalm in a corporate manner?
By citing the first line of Psalm 22, Jesus means to evoke the entire Psalm. Why would Jesus use Psalm 22 as he was hanging on the cross? What was he seeking to convey?
In verse seven, David describes being mocked. For what was David being mocked? What similarities might there be between what David describes and what Jesus endured in the events leading up to and including the cross?
The psalm’s tone shifts in verse 22. The psalmist doesn’t give us any information regarding the outcome of the distress that promoted the writing of the psalm. We can assume that the tone of the psalm changes while David is still distressed. How does this section’s tone differ from the psalm’s beginning?
Amid current distress, why would David begin to describe how God interacts on Israel’s behalf?
By the end of the psalm, David confidently describes the salvation that all future generations will experience (v. 30-31). What might we learn from the confidence David displays amid his distress?
In light of the salvation Jesus brings, how should we read Psalm 22 now?
Works Cited
Mays, James Luther. Psalms. Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994.
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