Psalms 22:27

(Heb.: 22:28-32)The long line closing strophe, which forms as it were the pedestal to the whole, shows how far not only the description of the affliction of him who is speaking here, but also the description of the results of his rescue, transcend the historical reality of David's experience. The sufferer expects, as the fruit of the proclamation of that which Jahve has done for him, the conversion of all peoples. The heathen have become forgetful and will again recollect themselves; the object, in itself clear enough in Psa 9:18, becomes clear from what follows: there is a γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ (Psychol. S. 346ff.; tr. pp. 407ff.) among the heathen, which the announcement of the rescue of this afflicted one will bring back to their consciousness. (Note: Augustin De trinitate xiv. 13, Non igitur sic erant oblitae istae gentes Deum, ut ejus nec commemoratae recordarentur.) This prospect (Jer 16:19.) is, in Psa 22:29 (cf. Jer 10:7), based upon Jahve's right of kingship over all peoples. A ruler is called משׁל as being exalted above others by virtue of his office (משׁל according to its primary meaning = Arab. mṯl, erectum stare, synonymous with כּחן, vid., on Psa 110:4, cf. עמד Mic 5:3). In וּמשׁל we have the part., used like the 3 praet., without any mark of the person (cf. Psa 7:10; Psa 55:20), to express the pure praes., and, so to speak, as tempus durans: He rules among the nations (ἔθνη). The conversion of the heathen by that sermon will, therefore, be the realisation of the kingdom of God. Psa 22:29 The eating is here again brought to mind. The perfect, אכלוּ, and the future of sequence, ויּשׁתּחווּ, stand to one another in the relation of cause and effect. It is, as is clear from Psa 22:27, an eating that satisfies the soul, a spiritual meal, that is intended, and i…

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…

22:27 families of the nations: All clans and tribes of humanity (see Gen 12:3; Rev 5:9-10) will live in submission to the Lord (Ps 96:1-3; see Pss 2, 72; Isa 2:2-4; 1 Cor 15:25-27).