Psalms 22:12

(Heb.: 22:13-14)Looking back upon his relationship to God, which has existed from the earliest times, the sufferer has become somewhat more calm, and is ready, in Psa 22:13, to describe his outward and inner life, and thus to unburden his heart. Here he calls his enemies פּרים, bullocks, and in fact אבּירי בּשׁן (cf. Psa 50:13 with Deu 32:14), strong ones of Bashan, the land rich in luxuriant oak forests and fat pastures (בשׁן = buthne, which in the Beduin dialect means rich, stoneless meadow-land, vid., Job S. 509f.; tr. ii. pp. 399f.) north of Jabbok extending as far as to the borders of Hermon, the land of Og and afterwards of Manasseh (Num 30:1). They are so called on account of their robustness and vigour, which, being acquired and used in opposition to God is brutish rather than human (cf. Amo 4:1). Figures like these drawn from the animal world and applied in an ethical sense are explained by the fact, that the ancients measured the instincts of animals according to the moral rules of human nature; but more deeply by the fact, that according to the indisputable conception of Scripture, since man was made to fall by Satan through the agency of an animal, the animal and Satan are the two dominant powers in Adamic humanity. כּתּר is a climactic synonym of סבב. On Psa 22:14 compare the echoes in Jeremiah, Lam 2:16; Lam 3:46. Finally, the foes are all comprehended under the figure of a lion, which, as soon as he sights his prey, begins to roar, Amo 3:4. The Hebrew טרף, discerpere, according to its root, belongs to חרף, carpere. They are instar leonis dilaniaturi et rugientis.

The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, as clearly and fully as any where in all the Old Testament, "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow" (Pe1 1:11); of him, no doubt, David here speaks, and not of himself, or any other man. Much of it is expressly applied to Christ in the New Testament, all of it may be applied to him, and some of it must be understood of him only. The providences of God concerning David were so very extraordinary that we may suppose there were some wise and good men who then could not but look upon him as a figure of him that was to come. But the composition of his psalms especially, in which he found himself wonderfully carried out by the spirit of prophecy far beyond his own thought and intention, was (we may suppose) an abundant satisfaction to himself that he was not only a father of the Messiah, but a figure of him. In this psalm he speaks, I. Of the humiliation of Christ (v. 1-21), where David, as a type of Christ, complains of the very calamitous condition he was in upon many accounts. 1. He complains, and mixes comforts with his complaints; he complains (Psa 22:1, Psa 22:2), but comforts himself (Psa 22:3-5), complains again (Psa 22:6-8), but comforts himself again, (Psa 22:9, Psa 22:10). 2. He complains, and mixes prayers with his complaints; he complains of the power and rage of his enemies (Psa 22:12, Psa 22:13, Psa 22:16, Psa 22:18), of his own bodily weakness and decay (Psa 22:14, Psa 22:15, Psa 22:17); but prays that God would not be far from him (Psa 22:11, Psa 22:19), that he would save and deliver him (Psa 22:19-21). II. Of the exaltation of Christ, that his undertaking should be for the glory of God (Psa 22:22-25), for the salvation and joy of his people (Psa 22:26-29), and for…

22:12-18 The psalmist returns to expressing his anguish and suffering (see 22:1-2, 6-8). His trouble comes from human beings who act like beasts. 22:12 Bashan, a region known for its herds and vegetation, produced strong bulls (68:30).