Psalm 22

Story Snapshot

The psalm cries out asking why God has forsaken him and is far from helping, crying day and night without answer. It describes being mocked and told to let God rescue him, and details physical collapse, bones out of joint, a heart like wax, strength dried up, hands and feet pierced, garments divided by lot. It then turns to declare God has not hidden His face, and closes with the ends of the earth turning to the LORD.

Main Characters

Story Summary

The psalm opens with the cry that has become its identity: my God, my God, why have You forsaken me, why are You so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? He describes praying without response, I cry in the daytime but You do not answer, and in the night season and am not silent. He recalls that God is holy and that the fathers trusted and were delivered, which sharpens rather than eases the complaint, because the pattern is not holding for him. He describes his own state, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people, and then the mockery, all those who see me mock me, they insult me with their lips, they shake their heads, saying, he trusts in the LORD, let Him deliver him, let Him rescue him since He delights in him. He recalls being held by God from birth, cast on Him from the womb. The physical description that follows is unusually detailed, bulls surrounding him, a gaping mouth like a ravening lion, poured out like water, all his bones out of joint, his heart like wax melted within him, his strength dried up like a potsherd, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, brought into the dust of death, dogs surrounding him, a company of evildoers enclosing him, his hands and feet pierced, able to count all his bones while people stare, and his garments divided among them with lots cast for his clothing. He pleads, do not be far off, LORD, You are my help, hurry to help me. Then the psalm turns. He vows to declare God's name to his brothers and praise Him in the assembly, and gives the reason that answers his opening question: for He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard. From there the psalm opens outward, the poor will eat and be satisfied, all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, all the families of the nations shall worship, and a coming generation will be told, ending with the declaration that He has done it.

Timeline

• Why Have You Forsaken Me?The cry that opens the psalm.
• No Answer Day or NightPrayer without response.
• I Am a WormReproach and mockery.
• Let Him Deliver HimThe taunt of the onlookers.
• Poured Out Like WaterPhysical collapse described in detail.
• Pierced Hands and FeetGarments divided, lots cast.
• He Has Not DespisedThe turn, and the answer to verse one.
• The Ends of the EarthThe psalm opens outward to all nations.

Themes

What This Story Means

Psalm 22 is the lament Jesus quoted from the cross, and the quotation raises a question worth handling carefully. Speaking the first line of a psalm was a way of invoking the whole, so His cry was not only an expression of abandonment but a prayer with a known ending. That said, the abandonment in the psalm is not softened by its resolution, and it should not be softened here either; the first twenty-one verses describe genuine dereliction, mockery, and physical destruction, and the psalm gives them more space than it gives the turn. The details that Christians notice, the pierced hands and feet, the divided garments and cast lots, the mockery about letting God rescue him, are striking and the Gospels draw on them. But the psalm is also a real lament by a real sufferer, and reading it only as a prophecy checklist loses what it offers to people who are currently in verse one. The answer, when it comes, is not that the suffering was avoided. It is that God heard.

Bringing It Home

• Quoting a psalm's first line invoked the whole psalm, including its ending.
• The dereliction is given more space than the resolution and should not be rushed.
• Reading it only as a prophecy checklist loses what it offers present sufferers.
• The answer is not that suffering was avoided, but that God heard.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• Jesus quoted the opening line from the cross, in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
• The Gospels draw on the psalm's details of divided garments and casting lots.
• Speaking a psalm's first line was a recognized way of invoking the entire psalm.
• The psalm's turn comes at verse 24, answering the question of verse 1.

Read Next

What This Shows Us About God

• God does not despise the affliction of the afflicted.
• God hears cries that receive no immediate answer.
• God's deliverance reaches outward to all the families of the nations.

What This Shows Us About People

• We experience genuine abandonment and need words for it.
• We mock suffering people by questioning their faith.
• We need psalms that stay in verse one long enough to be honest.

A Question to Sit With

If I am living in the first half of this psalm, can I let it be enough for now that God hears rather than that He has fixed it?

Prayer

My God, my God, there are days I would use these exact words. I have cried and not heard anything back. Let me hold on to what this psalm says on the other side, that You have not despised the affliction of the afflicted, and that when he cried, You heard. Hear me. Amen.