Bible Commentary - Psalms 22

I’ve read Psalm 22 several times before starting this commentary, and I have really struggled to understand this psalm.  While a superficial rendering of the psalm is pretty straightforward, I find myself constantly questioning whether I truly understand what this psalm is about.

If we follow the same pattern as nearly every other psalm, we can identify the central theme by looking at just the first verse.  In it, David says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  The key word here is “forsaken”.  David feels that God has abandoned him, and in verse 2 he explains why.  “Forsaken” in this case means unanswered prayer.  David depends on God and cries out to him, “but you do not answer”.

Verses 3-5 introduce the basic tension of this psalm, which isn’t really captured by the first verse.  The basic tension is that David is comparing his own unanswered prayer to the deliverance of “our fathers”.  “Our fathers” trusted in God “and you delivered them”.  At its most basic level, David is calling God faithful, God answers prayers, and yet he sees his own time of need and is not getting the answer from God that he desires.

This is a really fundamental challenge that every person of faith will face at least once in their life, but more likely they will face it many times.  Perhaps even more than David, we have the entire bible filled with extravagant promises, seemingly impossible promises, that God will heal every disease, fulfill every desire in our hearts, it’s just crazy stuff.  And then more times than I can count, I offer up some simple prayer and wait for God’s answer.  And wait, and wait, and wait…

For many of these prayers I am still waiting, and I find myself crying out like David, asking why God “does not answer” when the bible is filled with so many stories of God’s faithfulness.  Even in my own life I have stories of God’s faithfulness, and yet still I wait for God to answer more of my prayers.

This is all in verses 1-5.  Beginning in verse 6, the thoughts get a bit more confused and it changes direction a couple times.  In verses 6-8 he describes how the people around him criticize and mock him.  This is somewhat difficult to understand because it is only loosely contextualized.  Who are these people, and why are they mocking him?  Perhaps it is only broadly characterized because it is meant to be broadly understood.  Anytime we are in a place of need, there are going to be people who mock or criticize, especially if we have confidently declared that God is going to protect or deliver us.

In verses 9-10, David returns once more to the subject of trust.  This time, instead of “our fathers” trusting in God, David asserts that he trusts in God, and has trusted God since the day of his birth.

From verse 11, the remainder of the psalm hews much closer to the traditional formula of a prayer psalm.  David gives the “problem statement” in verses 11-18, a plea for help in verses 19-21, and praise and thanksgiving in anticipation of God’s deliverance in verses 22-31.

I think if this psalm had started in verse 11 and simply skipped the first ten verses, I would have said that this is completely typical, traditional prayer psalm.  With those first ten verses, the overall tone of the psalm is radically changed.  For instance, how should we read David’s praise and thanksgiving in verses 22-31, in light of his confusion and anxiety in verses 1-5?  David is certainly putting on a confident front, but is it just a front when his very first thought is asking why God has forsaken him?

A typical prayer psalm maintains a position of what I would call, for lack of a better description, desperate confidence.  Psalm 18 is a great example of this, because we see David in a desperate situation, surrounded by raging waters and trapped in the mud, on the verge of death.  And yet out of that desperation we see a confidence that God is going to deliver him after his prayer.  Since that psalm (and most other prayer psalms) end with praise and thanksgiving, the general tone of the prayer psalms is optimistic.  Things might start off badly, in a difficult situation, but they always end with confidence that God will deliver his people.

Psalm 22 ends similarly, with a deep optimism that God will save David from “the bulls” that are surrounding him.

I don’t think it’s a front, per se.  First of all, I mentioned before that the fundamental tension in this psalm is that David does not see God’s answer to his prayer, and yet he believes in God’s faithfulness.  More than anything else David appears confused by his circumstances and God’s apparent delay.  He is upset because his deliverance has not yet come, but he praises God because he still believes in God’s support for him.

Second, I think David praises God because of his faith.  Even though he is confused and distraught over his present danger, he still believes that God will save him and it’s from this belief that he praises God.  It’s not “a front” because I believe David is sincere.  David sees the difference between his present struggles and his belief in God’s deliverance.  David knows the promises that God made to Israel in the covenant, and when he sees a difference between his present reality and God’s promises, he trusts in God’s promises.

In conclusion, this is a prayer psalm that has many things in common with the other prayer psalms.  What makes it different is the unusual insight it gives us into David’s emotions and feelings in the difficult moments when he is still waiting for God’s deliverance.  We can see that in spite of the confidence David shows here and in the other prayer psalms, he faces an inner emotional turmoil while waiting for God to show up in a big way.