Psalms 22:23

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…

22:23 The godly respond with awe (see 22:25).