I. (22:1–2) Why Have You Forsaken Me? Before the psalm gets to its initial question, it makes it clear to whom the words are addressed: “My God, my God.” For all the anguish and perplexity that the psalm will go on to express, it never allows the singer to lose hold of this relationship: the Lord has bound himself to Israel—and to its members—and promised to guide and care for them. Therefore each one professes, “He is my God.”

The question of verse 1 raises the horrifying possibility that God has actually “forsaken” the worshiper. This anguished question expresses just what a person in the circumstances described in the psalm feels: distress at receiving no relief to his pain nor answer to his prayers (v. 2). But the initial words (“my God”) actually show that this feeling, real as it is, is not the whole story—not even the most important part. God’s felt absence is not the same as his actual absence.

II. (22:3–5) Yet the Lord Has Been Our Trust. This section recounts God’s care for the people of Israel as a whole, and this reinforces each singer’s identity as a member of God’s own people, who is therefore the object of God’s special attention.

The uniqueness of Israel is expressed in verse 3 as “You [God] are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Yahweh, the maker of heaven and earth, the holy God, dwells in the midst of his people and is especially present with them in their gathered worship (where they sing praises). Further, the previous generations of Israel (“our fathers”; v. 4) have found God to be worthy of trust. But of course this enhances the perplexity that comes from the present distress.

III. (22:6–8) Yet I Am Derided. In contrast to the history of verses 3–5, the singer describes the mockery he encounters. Making it worse is that this mockery comes from “the people” (v. 6), from his fellow members of that group that has received God’s care.

Verses 6–7 use a variety of alternate terms for derision. They see him as a worm; they scorn and despise; they mock; and they “make mouths” (lit., they “separate with the lip,” i.e., they open the mouth wide) as an insult. Verse 8 cites one of the things the mockers say (or that the singer imagines them saying); fundamentally, they are deriding his faith, perhaps even implying that he is a hypocrite.

IV. (22:9–11) But the Lord Has Cared for Me All My Life. The singer again recalls the past, as in verses 3–5, but this time it is more personal. In effect he tells God, “Not only did you show yourself faithful to our ancestors in Israel, but you have been faithful to me from the very beginning of my existence.”

As a faithful member of God’s people, he professes that God “took me from the womb” and “made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” From his birth—no, even before that (“from my mother’s womb”)—he has been trusting God. Verse 10 (Hb. ʼeli, “my God”) echoes the cry of verse 1.196

In this light he can pray confidently, “Be not far from me” (v. 11). The nearness of the trouble makes the possible distance of God frightening.

V. (22:12–18) I Am Surrounded by Enemies. The song returns to describing the situation. The song uses animal imagery for the enemies bent on evil who surround him: they are like “bulls” (v. 12), a “lion” (v. 13), and “dogs” (v. 16). The song uses bodily imagery to describe the singer’s desperate condition. He is “poured out like water,” his “bones are out of joint,” his “heart is like wax . . . melted” (v. 15), his “strength is dried up like a potsherd,” his “tongue sticks to my jaws,” and “you [God] lay me in the dust of death” (v. 16)—all describing dryness and weakness. The enemies have “pierced my hands and feet” (v. 16),197 leaving him helpless. He can even “count all my bones” (v. 17), that is, his flesh is so wasted away that his bones poke through his skin. He has no energy to resist, while the enemies “stare” (v. 17).

First Peter 5:8 borrows the comparison to a “roaring lion” (Ps. 22:13) for the Devil, the evil Enemy behind all evil enemies of the faithful. The words of verse 18 are quoted in John 19:24 (cf. Matt. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; cf. also Section Overview).

VI. (22:19–21) Save Me as You Have Done Before! After going back and forth from the dire present to God’s past answers to his prayers, the psalmist asks for relief in his present distress.

Verse 19, with its mention of “do not be far off” and “help,” echoes verse 11 and shows that this stanza is picking up from there. The animals of verses 12, 13, 16 reappear in verses 20–21, but in reverse order: dog, lion, wild oxen.198 The implication is that God’s help will take each of these threats in their turn and thwart them.

VII. (22:22–31) Praise Will Result: From Me, from Israel, from All Nations. The song closes with confidence that when God answers the prayer the singer will be vindicated and again able to attend freely the worship of God’s people. The singer will praise God among his fellow worshipers, and that worship will eventually include even the far-off Gentiles.

This way of ending the song helps readers to see the outcome of this personal trial in its relation to the whole of God’s people: the vindicated singer looks forward to telling forth God’s praise among the “congregation” assembled for worship (vv. 22, 25), and thus all the “offspring of Jacob/Israel” will take encouragement and join in giving thanks (vv. 23–24, 26). The term “offspring” recalls the promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:7; 15:5; 17:7) and thus highlights Israel’s special place in God’s plan for the world. Indeed, the praising company will eventually extend to the whole world (v. 27; “all the families of the nations” echoes Gen. 12:3; 22:18; etc.). That is, the singer’s personal story of trouble and vindication is part of the larger story of God’s redemptive work in the world, and his endurance will be one of the means God uses to work out that redemptive story.

Psalm 22:28 affirms that “kingship belongs to the Lord” (cf. comment on 5:1–3 for the different meanings of God as “king” in the Psalms). Here, in light of the parallel “rules over the nations,” God’s universal reign is in view. This is brought in as an explanation (“For”) to 22:27: the universal King will one day be universally acknowledged by all humankind. This is further expanded to include “all the prosperous of the earth,” who will “eat” the meal God provides and “worship” the true God (v. 29). The “posterity” (v. 30) may be simply Israel’s posterity, but in the context it more likely looks forward to the posterity of all mankind (“a people yet unborn”), who shall learn of the true God and love him.