Matthew Henry Commentary Psalms 22

The Spirit of Christ, who was in the prophets, testifies clearly and fully in this psalm to the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. We find here a sorrowful complaint of God's withdrawals. This may be applied to any child of God who is pressed down and overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual desertions are the saints' most severe afflictions; but even their complaint about these burdens is a sign of spiritual life and of spiritual senses being exercised.

To cry out, "My God, why am I sick? why am I poor?" suggests discontent and worldliness. But Why hast thou forsaken me? is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favor. This must be applied to Christ. In the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed.

Christ declared the holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his sharpest sufferings; indeed, he declared them to be a proof of it, for which he would be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they received. No one who hoped in You was ever made ashamed of their hope; no one who sought You ever sought You in vain. Here is a complaint about the contempt and reproach of men.

The Savior here spoke of the abject state to which he was reduced. The history of Christ's sufferings, and of his birth, explains this prophecy.

In these verses, we see Christ suffering and Christ praying, which directs us to expect suffering and to look up to God amidst it. The specific manner of Christ's death is described, even though it was not a method of execution used among the Jews. They pierced His hands and His feet, which were nailed to the accursed tree, and His whole body was left hanging to suffer the most severe pain and torture.

His physical strength failed, consumed by the fire of Divine wrath that preyed upon His spirit. Who then can stand before God's anger? Or who knows its power? The life of the sinner was forfeited, and the life of the Sacrifice had to be the ransom for it. Our Lord Jesus was stripped when He was crucified, so that He might clothe us with the robe of His righteousness.

Thus it was written; therefore, thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer. Let all this confirm our faith in Him as the true Messiah and stir up our love for Him as the best of friends, who loved us and suffered all this for us. Christ in His agony prayed, prayed earnestly, prayed that the cup might pass from Him. When we cannot rejoice in God as our song, let us still rely on Him as our strength and take comfort in spiritual supports when we cannot have spiritual delights.

He prays to be delivered from the Divine wrath. He who has delivered, does deliver, and will continue to do so. We should reflect on the sufferings and resurrection of Christ until we feel in our souls the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.

The Savior now speaks as risen from the dead. The first words of the complaint were used by Christ himself upon the cross; the first words of the triumph are expressly applied to him, Hebrews 2:12. All our praises must refer to the work of redemption. The suffering of the Redeemer was graciously accepted as a full satisfaction for sin. Though it was offered for sinful men, the Father did not despise or abhor it for our sakes.

This ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. All humble, gracious souls should have a full satisfaction and happiness in him. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ, will not labor for that which does not satisfy. Those who are much in praying, will be much in thanksgiving. Those who turn to God, will make it a matter of conscience to worship before him.

Let every tongue confess that he is Lord. High and low, rich and poor, bond and free, meet in Christ. Since we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our wisdom, by obedient faith, to commit our souls to Christ, who is able to save and keep them alive forever. A seed shall serve him. God will have a church in the world to the end of time.

They will be accounted to him for a generation; he will be the same to them as he was to those who went before them. His righteousness, and not any of their own, they will declare to be the foundation of all their hopes, and the fountain of all their joys. Redemption by Christ is the Lord's own doing. Here we see the free love and compassion of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, for us wretched sinners, as the source of all grace and consolation; the example we are to follow, the treatment as Christians we are to expect, and the conduct under it we are to adopt.

Every lesson may here be learned that can profit the humbled soul. Let those who seek to establish their own righteousness inquire why the beloved Son of God should suffer in this way, if their own doings could atone for sin. Let the ungodly professor consider whether the Savior so honored the Divine law, to purchase for him the privilege of despising it. Let the careless take warning to flee from the wrath to come, and the trembling rest their hopes upon this merciful Redeemer.

Let the tempted and distressed believer cheerfully expect a happy end of every trial.