John Gill Commentary Psalms 22

My God, my God

God is the God of Christ as he is man; he prepared a body for him, an human nature; anointed it with the oil of gladness; supported it under all its sorrows and sufferings, and at last exalted it at his own right hand:, and Christ behaved towards him as his covenant God; prayed to him, believed in him, loved him, and was obedient to him as such; and here expresses his faith of interest in him, when he hid his face from him, on account of which he expostulates with him thus, "why has you forsaken me?"

which is to be understood, not as if the hypostatical or personal union of the divine and human natures were dissolved, or that the one was now separated from the other: for the fulness of the Godhead still dwelt bodily in him; nor that he ceased to be the object of the Father's love; for so he was in the midst of all his sufferings, yea, his Father loved him because he laid down his life for the sheep; nor that the principle of joy and comfort was lost in him, only the act and sense of it; he was now deprived of the gracious presence of God, of the manifestations of his love to his human soul, and had a sense of divine wrath, not for his own sins, but for the sins of his people, and was for a while destitute of help and comfort; all which were necessary in order to make satisfaction for sin: for as he had the sins of his people imputed to him, he must bear the whole punishment of them, which is twofold the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense; the former lies in a deprivation of the divine presence, and the latter in a sense of divine wrath, and both Christ sustained as the surety of his people.

This expostulation is made not as ignorant of the reason of it; he knew that as he was wounded and bruised for the sins of his people, he was deserted on the same account; nor as impatient, for he was a mirror of patience in all his sufferings; and much less as in despair; for, in these very words, he strongly expresses and repeats his faith of interest in God; see (Psalms 22:8) ; and also (Isaiah 50:6Isaiah 50:7Isaiah 50:9) .

But this is done to set forth the greatness and bitterness of his sufferings; that not only men hid their faces from him, and the sun in the firmament withdrew its light and heat from him, but, what was most grievous of all, his God departed from him.

From hence it appears that he was truly man, had an human soul, and endured sorrows and sufferings in it; and this may be of use to his members, to expect the hidings of God's face, though on another account; and to teach them to wait patiently for him, and to trust in the Lord, and stay themselves upon their God, even while they walk in darkness and see no light;

[why are you so] far from helping me ?

or from my salvation; from saving and delivering him out of his sorrows and sufferings? not that he despaired of help; he firmly believed he should have it, and accordingly had it: but he expostulates about the deferring of it. He adds,

[and from] the words of my roaring ?

which expresses the vehemency of his spirit in crying to God, the exceeding greatness of his sorrows, and his excruciating pains and sufferings: this is what the apostle means by his "strong crying and tears", (Hebrews 5:7) ; or "the words of my roaring [are] far from my salvation"; there is a great space or interval between the one and the other, as Gussetius ^F21 observes.

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Comment. Ebr. p. 788.

O my God, I cry in the daytime
In the time of his suffering on the cross, which was in the daytime:

but thou hearest me not ;
and yet he was always heard, (John 11:41John 11:42) ; though he was not saved from dying, yet he was quickly delivered from the power of death, and so was heard in that he feared, (Hebrews 5:7) ;

and in the night season :
in the night in which he was in the garden, sorrowing and praying, the night in which he was betrayed and was apprehended; and though the natural desires of his human soul were not heard and answered, that the cup might pass from him, yet his prayer in submission to the will of God was: moreover, the daytime and night season may design the incessant and continual prayer of Christ; he prayed always, night and day:

and am not silent ;
but continue to pray, though as yet seemingly not heard and answered; or there is "no silence to me" ^F23 ; that is, no rest from sorrow and pain; or "no likeness to me" ^F24 , there are none like me, no sorrow like my sorrow, as in (Lamentations 1:12) .

But thou [art] holy
Which may be considered either as an argument with his God, why he should hear and answer him, since he is holy, just, and faithful; he has promised, when any call upon him in a day of trouble, he will hear and answer them, and will be glorified by them; this Christ did, and therefore pleads his faithfulness to his promise.

Or rather a reason quieting him under divine desertion, and a sense of divine wrath, that God was righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works; and that whereas he was the surety of his people, and had all their sins on him, it was perfectly agreeable to the holiness and justice of God to treat him in the manner he did; yea, it was done to declare his righteousness, that he might appear to be just, while he is the justifier of him that believes in him.

[O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel ;
either the place where Israel offered the sacrifices of praise to God, the tabernacle or temple, the house of prayer and praise in which Jehovah dwelt: or the true Israel of God praising him, who are formed for himself, and called by his grace to show forth his praises; among whom he takes up his residence.

Or else the praises themselves; and so the phrase denotes God's gracious acceptance of them, and well pleasedness in them, signified by his inhabiting of them, and the frequent and constant ascription of them to him: and perhaps respect may be had chiefly to the praises of his people for providing such a Saviour for them, settling him in the fulness of time, and not sparing him, but delivering him up into the hands of justice and death for them; and for giving all things freely with him.

Our fathers trusted in thee
By whom are meant Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whom our Lord descended; and the people of Israel when in Egypt, in the times of the judges, and in all ages before the coming of Christ, of whom, as concerning the flesh, or as to his human nature, Christ came, (Romans 9:5); these, as they were sojourners, and went from place to place, especially the patriarchs, and were often in trouble and distress, when they called upon the Lord, looked to him, and put their trust and confidence in him; not in themselves, their own wisdom, riches, and strength, nor in others, in any mere creature, nor in any outward thing, or arm of flesh, but in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength; they believed in the power of God, that he was able to help and deliver them, and they had faith in him that he would; they depended upon his word and promise, and were persuaded he would never suffer his faithfulness to fail; they committed themselves to the Lord, and stayed themselves upon him;

they trusted ;
this is repeated not only for the sake of emphasis, pointing out something remarkable and commendable, and for the greater certainty of it, more strongly confirming it; or to observe the many that put their trust in the Lord, the numerous instances of confidence in him; but also to denote the constancy and continuance of their faith, they trusted in the Lord at all times;

and thou didst deliver them ;
out of the hands of all their enemies, and out of all their sorrows and afflictions; instances of which we have in the patriarchs, and in the people of Israel when brought out of Egypt, and through the Red sea and wilderness, and in the times of the judges, when they were distressed by their neighbours, and God sent them a deliverer time after time.

They cried unto thee, and were delivered
As the Israelites did in Egyptian bondage, and as they in later times did when in distress; see (Exodus 2:23) (Psalms 107:6Psalms 107:13) ; &c. The crying is to be understood of prayer to God, and sometimes designs mental prayer, sighing, and groaning, which cannot be uttered, when no voice is heard, as in Moses, (Exodus 14:15) ; but oftener vocal prayer, put up in times of distress, and denotes the vehemency of trouble, and eagerness of desire to be heard and relieved.

And this cry was from faith, it followed upon and was accompanied with trusting in the Lord; it was the prayer of faith, which is effectual and availeth much, and issued in deliverance;

they trusted in thee, and were not confounded :
or ashamed; neither of the object of their trust, the living God, as those who trust in graven images; so Moab was ashamed of Chemosh, (Jeremiah 48:13) ; nor of their hope and trust in him, it being such as makes not ashamed, (Psalms 119:116) (Romans 5:5) ; nor of the consequences of it; When men trust in anything and it fails them, and they have not what they expect by it, they are filled with shame and confusion, (Isaiah 30:2) ; but they that trust in the Lord are never confounded, or made ashamed; their expectations do not perish:

Now Christ mentions this case of his ancestors as a reason of the praises of Israel, which they offered up to God for deliverances, and which he inhabited, (Psalms 22:3) ; as also by way of encouragement to himself in his present circumstances, that though the Lord was at a distance from him, and seemed not to regard him and his cries, yet that he would deliver him; and likewise as an argument with God that he would do so, since it had been his wonted way and method with his fathers before;

Moreover he may take notice of it in order to represent his own forlorn, uncomfortable, and deplorable condition, which was abundantly worse than theirs, and the reverse of it, as it seemed at present.