The book of Psalms is more than just a book of Hebrew poetry. Psalms is unlike any other book of the Bible because it consists of a collection of many different hymns and prayers to God that were composed by many different individuals from the time of Moses ( 1400 BC ) to the Persian period ( 400 BC ). King David is referenced in many of the psalms by an ambiguous Hebrew construction which means the psalms were either written “for” or “about” King David or they “belonged to” him. In some cases King David was the actual author of the psalms bearing his name. The word for psalms in Hebrew means “praise”. These “songs of praise” were Israel’s hymnbook still used by the Jewish people today to sing their praise and worship of God. More than one-third of the collection of 150 Psalms is made up of prayers to God. Therefore, the book of Psalms contains both hymns and prayers that were used in the context of Israel’s worship of Jehovah God.
Psalm 50:15 – Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
Psalm 95:6 – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Christians over the centuries have created their own hymns to God so we don’t sing the psalms to God the way the Jewish people do. To us the psalms reveal God’s wisdom. Although the psalms were written specifically for the Jewish people, the wisdom of God, the truth of God, is universal and ultimately intended to benefit all people of God, whether Jew or Gentile. Psalms serves the purpose of teaching us all how to relate to God in various circumstances of life. The psalms also demonstrate God’s sovereignty over his people and the goodness God has shown shown toward believers in order to instill confidence in those who trust him. Remember that when Scripture capitalizes personal pronouns they are referring to God. This could be in the person of God the Father, Jesus the Son, or the Holy Spirit. There is only one God but the triune Godhead consists of three distinct persons all of whom are divine.
Matthew 27:46 – (Jesus speaking) – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Mark 15:34 – (Jesus speaking) – My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?
Psalm 22:1 – (Jesus speaking) – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Atheists have tried unsuccessfully for over 2000 years to find errors in God’s Word. Many atheists point to the comments made by Jesus in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 (shown above) to prove Jesus is not divine. According to the shallow reasoning of atheists, during his crucifixion Jesus was in a confused state of anguish while calling out to God for help which proved he was only a human being masquerading as the Son of God. The Bible says the truth of any matter is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Here we have the documented testimonies of the Apostle Matthew and the disciple Mark from the New Testament and King David from the Old Testament, all quoting Jesus Christ verbatim prior to and while he was being crucified. Jesus was crucified in 33 AD and Matthew and Mark wrote their gospels between 55 AD and 65 AD. Psalm 22:1 was probably penned by King David himself during his reign (1062 BC to 1021 BC). God always repeats important Scriptures and if God repeats the same verses three times verbatim it means the scriptural message is very important and we should pay special attention to it.
Psalm 32:8 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Psalm 18:30-31 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
You must read Scriptures in the context of the times in which they were written and with an awareness of the customs of the Jewish people living in those times who were the target audience of the Scriptures. Writing was not prevalent in those days and few people could read or write so things that were important to the people were memorized. All Hebrews knew their psalms by heart. In the Hebrew tradition, if anyone quoted the first line of a psalm it invoked, or brought to remembrance, the entire psalm without having to repeat the whole thing. To quote the first line of a psalm was equivalent to reading the entire psalm. It was a Hebrew thing. During his crucifixion when Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, he was merely quoting the first line of Psalm 22 to bring to remembrance the entire psalm to the Jewish people who were within earshot of his crucifixion and also for the future benefit of all Gentiles of every age. For Jesus to mention Psalm 22 during his crucifixion meant Jesus was in total control of his sacrificial death and could have stopped it at any time. There was important information contained in Psalm 22 that Jesus wanted to make us all aware of one last time.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 17:7 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
Proverbs 14:27 – The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.
First and foremost, Jesus wanted to establish the fact that he is the eternal Son of God in heaven who preexisted his incarnation into a physical body at Bethlehem . King David penned Psalm 22 over 1000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. But there’s no doubt the speaker in Psalm 22 is a first person narrative by Jesus Christ himself. Throughout the Bible a divine person of the triune Godhead is always identified by the use of capitalized pronouns. When we read the Bible we need to be on our toes and pay attention to which divine person is being referenced in the Scriptures. Is it God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, or the Holy Spirit? The first word of a sentence is always capitalized but pronouns within the sentence aren’t unless they refer to God. I count over fifty such divine pronouns in Psalm 22 and we know Jesus is the speaker and reference for the pronouns because he discusses the crucifixion narrative in verses 6-8 and verses 12-18 and claims it as his own.
Isaiah 46:9 – Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
Hosea 13:4 – Yet I am the LORD your God…there is no Savior besides Me.
Psalm 16:11 – You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness and joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
I know the crucifixion of Jesus is mentioned in other parts of the Old Testament, usually by the prophets, but Psalm 22 is the only place I can find in the Bible where we hear Jesus himself expound on the subject of his upcoming crucifixion at length. All three divine persons actually speak in the Bible. God the Father is usually the speaker in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ is the primary speaker in the New Testament. There are only two or three times in the entire Bible where the Holy Spirit actually speaks. The triune God may consist of three distinct persons but they are all one God with a single mind. What one knows they all know and they are always in agreement on every subject. Jesus Christ was a willing participant in the shedding of his blood for the sins of mankind. Jesus is our Savior because he chose to be.
Psalm 29:2 – Give unto the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Psalm 117:2 – For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 18:1 – I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
When Jesus declared on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”, he was not confused at all. By repeating this first line of Psalm 22 Jesus was invoking the entire psalm and bringing it to remembrance for all the Jewish people. Jesus was convicting the Jewish people of their sin by reminding them that he was the promised Messiah who was being rejected by them in the exact manner he described in Psalm 22. For the Jews who were actually at the crucifixion of Jesus this statement must have cut them to the quick when they realized they had crucified their King, the Son of God.
Psalm 33:18-19 – Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.
Psalm 67:1-2 – God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on the earth, your salvation among the nations.
Psalm 18:46 – The Lord lives! Blessed be the Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
Psalm 22 is important for Gentiles because through this psalm Jesus exhorts us one last time to fear and glorify God because, by his mercy, God has saved from the fires of hell all who believe in his name. Jesus goes on to confirm he will always be the Mediator in heaven between God and man for all believers. Jesus reminds us that by his sacrificial death many will turn to God for salvation. Finally, Jesus reminds us one last time that believers will serve the Lord forever and all unbelievers will be judged on the last Day.
Psalm 86:13 – For great is Your mercy toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 16:10 – For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Psalm 37:27-28 – Depart from evil and do good; and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psalm 62:1-2 – Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation; He is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
Psalm 35:9 – And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation.
Psalm 50:23 – Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.