John Calvin Commentary Psalms 22:19

"But be not thou far off, O Jehovah: O thou my succor, haste thee to help me." — Psalms 22:19 (ASV)

Be not thou, then, far from me, O Jehovah! We must keep in mind all that David has until now related about himself. As his miseries had reached the utmost height, and as he did not even see a single ray of hope to encourage him to expect deliverance, it is a wonderful instance of the power of faith that he not only endured his afflictions patiently, but that from the abyss of despair he arose to call upon God.

Let us, therefore, particularly note that David did not pour out his lamentations thinking them to be in vain and of no effect, as people who are in perplexity often pour out their groanings randomly. The prayers he adds sufficiently show that he hoped for the outcome he desired.

When he calls God his strength, by this epithet he gives a more evident proof of his faith. He does not pray doubtfully; instead, he assures himself of the assistance that his physical senses could not yet perceive. By the sword, by the hand of the dog, by the mouth of the lion, and by the horns of the unicorns, he intimates that he was at that time exposed to the danger of death, and in many ways.

From this we gather that although he utterly lost heart in himself when surrounded by death in this way, he nevertheless continued strong in the Lord, and that the spirit of life had always been vigorous in his heart. Some take the words only soul, or only life, to mean dear and precious; but this view does not appear to me to be appropriate.

He rather means that, amidst so many threats of death, he found no help or support in the whole world; as in Psalm 35:17 the words, only soul, are used in the same sense for a person who is alone and destitute of all aid and support. This will appear more clearly from Psalm 25:16, where David, by calling himself poor and alone, doubtless complains that he was completely deprived of friends and forsaken by the whole world.

When it is said in the end of the 21st verse, Answer me, or, Hear me from the horns of the unicorns, this Hebrew way of speaking may seem strange and obscure to us, but the meaning is not at all ambiguous. The cause is simply put instead of the effect, for our deliverance is the consequence or effect of God hearing us.

If it is asked how this can be applied to Christ, whom the Father did not deliver from death? I answer, in short, that he was more powerfully delivered than if God had prevented him from falling victim to death, just as it is a much greater deliverance to rise again from the dead than to be healed of a serious illness. Death, therefore, did not prevent Christ’s resurrection from ultimately bearing witness that he had been heard.