Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Psalms 22:1 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 22:1 |
Strong Concordance |
To the chief Musician [05329] upon Aijeleth [0365] Shahar [07837], A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. My God [0410], my God [0410], why hast thou forsaken [05800] me? why art thou so far [07350] from helping [03444] me, and from the words [01697] of my roaring [07581]? |
| |
King James |
To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
The obscure words Aijeleth Shahar in this title have various explanations. Most interpreters agree in translating them by "hind of the morning." But great difference exists as to the meaning of these words. By some they are supposed (compare Psa 9:1) to be the name of the tune to which the words of the Psalm were set; by others, the name of a musical instrument. Perhaps the best view is to regard the phrase as enigmatically expressive of the subject--the sufferer being likened to a hind pursued by hunters in the early morning (literally, "the dawn of day")--or that, while hind suggests the idea of a meek, innocent sufferer, the addition of morning denotes relief obtained. The feelings of a pious sufferer in sorrow and deliverance are vividly portrayed. He earnestly pleads for divine aid on the ground of his relation to God, whose past goodness to His people encourages hope, and then on account of the imminent danger by which he is threatened. The language of complaint is turned to that of rejoicing in the assured prospect of relief from suffering and triumph over his enemies. The use of the words of the first clause of Psa 22:1 by our Saviour on the cross, and the quotation of Psa 22:18 by John (Joh 19:24), and of Psa 22:22 by Paul (Heb 2:12), as fulfilled in His history, clearly intimate the prophetical and Messianic purport of the Psalm. The intensity of the grief, and the completeness and glory of the deliverance and triumph, alike appear to be unsuitable representations of the fortunes of any less personage. In a general and modified sense (see on Psa 16:1), the experience here detailed may be adapted to the case of all Christians suffering from spiritual foes, and delivered by divine aid, inasmuch as Christ in His human nature was their head and representative. (Psa. 22:1-31)
A summary of the complaint. Desertion by God, when overwhelmed by distress, is the climax of the sufferer's misery.
words of my roaring--shows that the complaint is expressed intelligently, though the term "roaring" is figurative, taken from the conduct of irrational creatures in pain. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
My God, my God - These are the very words uttered by the Saviour when on the cross Mat 27:46; and he evidently used them as best adapted of all the words that could have been chosen to express the extremity of his sorrow. The fact that he employed them may be referred to as "some" evidence that the psalm was designed to refer to him; though it must be admitted that this circumstance is no conclusive proof of such a design, since he might have used words having originally another reference, as best fitted to express his own sufferings. The language is abrupt, and is uttered without any previous intimation of what would produce or cause it. It comes from the midst of suffering - from one enduring intense agony - as if a new form of sorrow suddenly came upon him which he was unable to endure. That new form of suffering was the feeling that now he was forsaken by the last friend of the wretched - God himself. We may suppose that he had patiently borne all the other forms of trial, but the moment the thought strikes him that he is forsaken of God, he cries out in the bitterness of his soul, under the pressure of anguish which is no longer to be borne. All other forms of suffering he could bear. All others he had borne. But this crushes him; overpowers him; is beyond all that the soul can sustain - for the soul may bear all else but this. It is to be observed, however, that the sufferer himself still has confidence in God. He addresses him as his God, though he seems to have forsaken him: "My God; My God."
Why hast thou forsaken me? - Why hast thou abandoned me, or left me to myself, to suffer unaided and alone? As applicable to the Saviour, this refers to those dreadful moments on the cross when, forsaken by people, he seemed also to be forsaken by God Himself. God did not interpose to rescue him, but left him to bear those dreadful agonies alone. He bore the burden of the world's atonement by himself. He was overwhelmed with grief, and crushed with pain, for the sins of the world, as well as the agonies of the cross, had come upon him. But there was evidently more than this; "what" more we are unable fully to understand! There was a higher sense in which he was forsaken of God, for no mere physical sufferings, no pains of dying even on the cross, would have extorted this cry. If he had enjoyed the light of his Father's countenance; if these had been merely physical sufferings; if there was nothing else than what is apparent to our view in the record of those sufferings, we cannot suppose that this cry would have been heard even on the cross.
There is evidently some sense in which it was true that the dying Saviour was given up to darkness - to mental trouble, to despair, "as if" He who is the last hope of the suffering and the dying - the Father of mercies - had withdrawn from him; as if he were personally; a sinner; as if he were himself guilty or blameworthy on account of the sins for which he was making an expiation. In some sense he experienced what the sinner will himself experience when, for his own sins, he will be at last forsaken of God, and abandoned to despair. Every word in this wonderful exclamation may be supposed to be emphatic. "Why." What is the cause? How is it to be accounted for? What end is to be answered by it? "Hast thou." Thou, my Father; thou, the comforter of those in trouble; thou, to whom the suffering and the dying may look when all else fails. "Forsaken." Left me to suffer alone; withdrawn the light of thy countenance - the comfort of thy presence - the joy of thy manifested favor. "Me." Thy well-beloved Son; me. whom thou hast sent into the world to accomplish thine own work in redeeming man; me, against whom no sin can be charged, whose life has been perfectly pure and holy; why, now, in the extremity of these sufferings, hast thou forsaken me, and added to the agony of the cross the deeper agony of being abandoned by the God whom I love, the Father who loved me before the foundation of the world, Joh 17:24. There is a reason why God should forsake the wicked; but why should he forsake his own pure and holy Son in the agonies of death?
Why art thou so far from helping me? - Margin, from my salvation. So the Hebrew. The idea is that of one who stood so far off that he could not hear the cry, or that he could not reach out the hand to deliver. Compare Psa 10:1.
And from the words of my roaring - The word used here properly denotes the roaring of a lion, Job 4:10; Isa 5:29; Zac 11:3; and then the outcry or the groaning of a person in great pain, Job 3:24; Psa 32:3. It refers here to a loud cry for help or deliverance, and is descriptive of the intense suffering of the Redeemer on the cross. Compare Mat 27:50; Luk 23:46. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
Aijeleth Shahar
Or, Ay-ys-leth Shachar, "hind of the morning," a title, not a musical instrument.
My God, My God
Psalms 22, 23, and 24 form a trilogy. In Psalm 22, the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep (Joh 10:11); in Psalm 23 (Psa 23:1-6), the great Shepherd, "brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant." (Heb 13:20) tenderly cares for the sheep; in Psalm 24 (Psa 24:1-10), the chief Shepherd appears as King of glory to own and reward the sheep (Pe1 5:4). |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
(Heb.: 22:2-3) In the first division, Psa 22:2, the disconsolate cry of anguish, beginning here in Psa 22:2 with the lamentation over prolonged desertion by God, struggles through to an incipient, trustfully inclined prayer. The question beginning with למּה (instead of למּה before the guttural, and perhaps to make the exclamation more piercing, vid., on Psa 6:5; Psa 10:1) is not an expression of impatience and despair, but of alienation and yearning. The sufferer feels himself rejected of God; the feeling of divine wrath has completely enshrouded him; and still he knows himself to be joined to God in fear and love; his present condition belies the real nature of his relationship to God; and it is just this contradiction that urges him to the plaintive question, which comes up from the lowest depths: Why hast Thou forsaken me? But in spite of this feeling of desertion by God, the bond of love is not torn asunder; the sufferer calls God אלי (my God), and urged on by the longing desire that God again would grant him to feel this love, he calls Him, אלי אלי. That complaining question: why hast Thou forsaken me? is not without example even elsewhere in Psa 88:15, cf. Isa 49:14. The forsakenness of the Crucified One, however, is unique; and may not be judged by the standard of David or of any other sufferers who thus complain when passing through trial. That which is common to all is here, as there, this, viz., that behind the wrath that is felt, is hidden the love of God, which faith holds fast; and that he who thus complains even on account of it, is, considered in itself, not a subject of wrath, because in the midst of the feeling of wrath he keeps up his communion with God. The Crucified One is to His latest breath the Holy One of God; and the reconciliation for which He now offers himself is God's own eternal purpose of mercy, which is now being realised in the fulness of times. But inasmuch as He places himself under the judgment of God with the sin of His people and of the whole human race, He cannot be spared from experiencing God's wrath against sinful humanity as though He were himself guilty. And out of the infinite depth of this experience of wrath, which in His case rests on no mere appearance, but the sternest reality,
(Note: Eusebius observes on Psa 22:2 of this Psalm, δικαιοσύνης ὑπάρχων πηγὴ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνέλαβε καὶ εὐλογίας ὢν πέλαγος τὴν ἐπικειμένην ἡμῖν ἐδέξατο κατάραν, and: τὴν ὡρισμένην ἡμῖν παιδείαν ὑπῆλθεν ἑκὼν παιδεία γὰρ ειρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ ̓ αὐτὸν, ᾗ φησὶν ὁ προφήτης.)
comes the cry of His complaint which penetrates the wrath and reaches to God's love, ἠλὶ ἠλὶ λαμὰ σαβαχθανί, which the evangelists, omitting the additional πρόσχες μοι
(Note: Vid., Jerome's Ep. ad Pammachium de optimo genere interpretandi, where he cries out to his critics, sticklers for tradition, Reddant rationem, cur septuaginta translatores interposuerunt "respice in me!")
of the lxx, render: Θεέ μου, θεέ μου, ἵνα τί με ἐγκατέλιπες. He does not say עזתּני, but שׁבקתּני, which is the Targum word for the former. He says it in Aramaic, not in order that all may understand it-for such a consideration was far from His mind at such a time-but because the Aramaic was His mother tongue, for the same reason that He called God אבּא doG dellac in prayer. His desertion by God, as Psa 22:2 says, consists in God's help and His cry for help being far asunder. שׁאגה, prop. of the roar of the lion (Aq. βρύχημα), is the loud cry extorted by the greatest agony, Psa 38:9; in this instance, however, as דּברי shows, it is not an inarticulate cry, but a cry bearing aloft to God the words of prayer. רחוק is not to be taken as an apposition of the subject of עזבתני: far from my help, (from) the words of my crying (Riehm); for דברי שׁאגתי would then also, on its part, in connection with the non-repetition of the מן, be in apposition to מישׁועתי. But to this it is not adapted on account of its heterogeneousness; hence Hitzig seeks to get over the difficulty by the conjecture משּׁועתי ("from my cry, from the words of my groaning"). Nor can it be explained, with Olshausen and Hupfeld, by adopting Aben-Ezra's interpretation, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, far from my help? are the words of my crying." This violates the structure of the verse, the rhythm, and the custom of the language, and gives to the Psalm a flat and unlyrical commencement. Thus, therefore, רחוק in the primary form, as in Psa 119:155, according to Ges. 146, 4, will by the predicate to דברי and placed before it: far from my salvation, i.e., far from my being rescued, are the words of my cry; there is a great gulf between the two, inasmuch as God does not answer him though he cries unceasingly.
In Psa 22:3 the reverential name of God אלחי takes the place of אלי the name that expresses His might; it is likewise vocative and accordingly marked with Rebia magnum. It is not an accusative of the object after Psa 18:4 (Hitzig), in which case the construction would be continued with ולא יענה. That it is, however, God to whom he calls is implied both by the direct address אלהי, and by ולא תענה, since he from whom one expects an answer is most manifestly the person addressed. His uninterrupted crying remains unanswered, and unappeased. The clause ולא־דמיּה לּי is parallel to ולא תענה, and therefore does not mean: without allowing me any repose (Jer 14:17; Lam 3:49), but: without any rest being granted to me, without my complaint being appeased or stilled. From the sixth to the ninth hour the earth was shrouded in darkness. About the ninth hour Jesus cried, after a long and more silent struggle, ἠλί, ἠλί. The ἀνεβόησεν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, Mat 27:46, and also the κραυγὴ ἰσχυρά of Hebr. Psa 5:7, which does not refer exclusively to the scene in Gethsemane, calls to mind the שׁאגתי of Psa 22:2. When His passion reached its climax, days and nights of the like wrestling had preceded it, and what then becomes audible was only an outburst of the second David's conflict of prayer, which grows hotter as it draws near to the final issue. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| My God - Who art my friend and father, though now thou frownest upon me. The repetition denotes, the depth of his distress, which made him cry so earnestly. Forsaken - Withdrawn the light of thy countenance, the supports and comforts of thy spirit, and filled me with the terrors of thy wrath: this was in part verified in David, but much more fully in Christ. Roaring - My out - cries forced from me, by my miseries. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? - Show me the cause why thou hast abandoned me to my enemies; and why thou seemest to disregard my prayers and cries? For a full illustration of this passage, I beg the reader to refer to my note on Mat 27:46.
The words of my roaring? - שאגתי shaagathi, The Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, make use of terms which may be thus translated: "My sins (or foolishness) are the cause why deliverance is so far from me." It appears that these versions have read שגגתי shegagathi, "my sin of ignorance," instead of שאגתי shaagathi, "my roaring:" but no MS. extant supports this reading. |
1 Michtam [04387] of David [01732]. Preserve [08104] me, O God [0410]: for in thee do I put my trust [02620].
12 Saying [3004], I will declare [518] thy [4675] name [3686] unto my [3450] brethren [80], in [1722] the midst [3319] of the church [1577] will I sing praise [5214] unto thee [4571].
22 I will declare [05608] thy name [08034] unto my brethren [0251]: in the midst [08432] of the congregation [06951] will I praise [01984] thee.
24 They said [2036] therefore [3767] among [4314] themselves [240], Let us [4977] not [3361] rend [4977] it [846], but [235] cast lots [2975] for [4012] it [846], whose [5101] it shall be [2071]: that [2443] the scripture [1124] might be fulfilled [4137], which [3588] saith [3004], They parted [1266] my [3450] raiment [2440] among them [1438], and [2532] for [1909] my [3450] vesture [2441] they did cast [906] lots [2819]. These things [5023] [3303] therefore [3767] the soldiers [4757] did [4160].
18 They part [02505] my garments [0899] among them, and cast [05307] lots [01486] upon my vesture [03830].
1 To the chief Musician [05329] upon Aijeleth [0365] Shahar [07837], A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. My God [0410], my God [0410], why hast thou forsaken [05800] me? why art thou so far [07350] from helping [03444] me, and from the words [01697] of my roaring [07581]?
1 To the chief Musician [05329] upon Muthlabben [04192] [01121], A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. I will praise [03034] thee, O LORD [03068], with my whole heart [03820]; I will shew forth [05608] all thy marvellous works [06381].
46 And [2532] when Jesus [2424] had cried [5455] with a loud [3173] voice [5456], he said [2036], Father [3962], into [1519] thy [4675] hands [5495] I commend [3908] my [3450] spirit [4151]: and [2532] having said [2036] thus [5023], he gave up the ghost [1606].
50 [1161] Jesus [2424], when he had cried [2896] again [3825] with a loud [3173] voice [5456], yielded up [863] the ghost [4151].
3 When I kept silence [02790], my bones [06106] waxed old [01086] through my roaring [07581] all the day [03117] long.
24 For my sighing [0585] cometh [0935] before [06440] I eat [03899], and my roarings [07581] are poured out [05413] like the waters [04325].
3 There is a voice [06963] of the howling [03215] of the shepherds [07462]; for their glory [0155] is spoiled [07703]: a voice [06963] of the roaring [07581] of young lions [03715]; for the pride [01347] of Jordan [03383] is spoiled [07703].
29 Their roaring [07581] shall be like a lion [03833], they shall roar [07580] [07580] like young lions [03715]: yea, they shall roar [05098], and lay hold [0270] of the prey [02964], and shall carry it away safe [06403], and none shall deliver [05337] it.
10 The roaring [07581] of the lion [0738], and the voice [06963] of the fierce lion [07826], and the teeth [08127] of the young lions [03715], are broken [05421].
1 Why standest [05975] thou afar off [07350], O LORD [03068]? why hidest [05956] thou thyself in times [06256] of trouble [06869]?
24 Father [3962], I will [2309] that [2443] they also [2548], whom [3739] thou hast given [1325] me [3427], be [5600] with [3326] me [1700] where [3699] I [1473] am [1510]; that [2443] they may behold [2334] my [1699] glory [1391], which [3739] thou hast given [1325] me [3427]: for [3754] thou lovedst [25] me [3165] before [4253] the foundation [2602] of the world [2889].
46 And [1161] about [4012] the ninth [1766] hour [5610] Jesus [2424] cried [310] with a loud [3173] voice [5456], saying [3004], Eli [2241], Eli [2241], lama [2982] sabachthani [4518]? that [5123] is to say, My [3450] God [2316], my [3450] God [2316], why [2444] hast thou forsaken [1459] me [3165]?
4 And [2532] when the chief Shepherd [750] shall appear [5319], ye shall receive [2865] a crown [4735] of glory [1391] that fadeth not away [262].
1 A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. The earth [0776] is the LORD'S [03068], and the fulness [04393] thereof; the world [08398], and they that dwell [03427] therein.
2 For he hath founded [03245] it upon the seas [03220], and established [03559] it upon the floods [05104].
3 Who shall ascend [05927] into the hill [02022] of the LORD [03068]? or who shall stand [06965] in his holy [06944] place [04725]?
4 He that hath clean [05355] hands [03709], and a pure [01249] heart [03824]; who hath not lifted up [05375] his soul [05315] unto vanity [07723], nor sworn [07650] deceitfully [04820].
5 He shall receive [05375] the blessing [01293] from the LORD [03068], and righteousness [06666] from the God [0430] of his salvation [03468].
6 This is the generation [01755] of them that seek [01875] him, that seek [01245] thy face [06440], O Jacob [03290]. Selah [05542].
7 Lift up [05375] your heads [07218], O ye gates [08179]; and be ye lift up [05375], ye everlasting [05769] doors [06607]; and the King [04428] of glory [03519] shall come in [0935].
8 Who is this King [04428] of glory [03519]? The LORD [03068] strong [05808] and mighty [01368], the LORD [03068] mighty [01368] in battle [04421].
9 Lift up [05375] your heads [07218], O ye gates [08179]; even lift them up [05375], ye everlasting [05769] doors [06607]; and the King [04428] of glory [03519] shall come in [0935].
10 Who is this King [04428] of glory [03519]? The LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], he is the King [04428] of glory [03519]. Selah [05542].
20 Now [1161] the God [2316] of peace [1515], that brought again [321] from [1537] the dead [3498] our [2257] Lord [2962] Jesus [2424], that great [3173] shepherd [4166] of the sheep [4263], through [1722] the blood [129] of the everlasting [166] covenant [1242],
1 A Psalm [04210] of David [01732]. The LORD [03068] is my shepherd [07462]; I shall not want [02637].
2 He maketh me to lie down [07257] in green [01877] pastures [04999]: he leadeth [05095] me beside the still [04496] waters [04325].
3 He restoreth [07725] my soul [05315]: he leadeth [05148] me in the paths [04570] of righteousness [06664] for his name's [08034] sake.
4 Yea, though I walk [03212] through the valley [01516] of the shadow of death [06757], I will fear [03372] no evil [07451]: for thou art with me; thy rod [07626] and thy staff [04938] they comfort [05162] me.
5 Thou preparest [06186] a table [07979] before [06440] me in the presence of mine enemies [06887]: thou anointest [01878] my head [07218] with oil [08081]; my cup [03563] runneth over [07310].
6 Surely goodness [02896] and mercy [02617] shall follow [07291] me all the days [03117] of my life [02416]: and I will dwell [03427] in the house [01004] of the LORD [03068] for ever [0753] [03117].
11 I [1473] am [1510] the good [2570] shepherd [4166]: the good [2570] shepherd [4166] giveth [5087] his [846] life [5590] for [5228] the sheep [4263].
2 O my God [0430], I cry [07121] in the daytime [03119], but thou hearest [06030] not; and in the night season [03915], and am not silent [01747].
7 But as for me, I will come [0935] into thy house [01004] in the multitude [07230] of thy mercy [02617]: and in thy fear [03374] will I worship [07812] toward thy holy [06944] temple [01964].
46 And [1161] about [4012] the ninth [1766] hour [5610] Jesus [2424] cried [310] with a loud [3173] voice [5456], saying [3004], Eli [2241], Eli [2241], lama [2982] sabachthani [4518]? that [5123] is to say, My [3450] God [2316], my [3450] God [2316], why [2444] hast thou forsaken [1459] me [3165]?
49 Mine eye [05869] trickleth down [05064], and ceaseth [01820] not, without any intermission [02014],
17 Therefore thou shalt say [0559] this word [01697] unto them; Let mine eyes [05869] run down [03381] with tears [01832] night [03915] and day [03119], and let them not cease [01820]: for the virgin [01330] daughter [01323] of my people [05971] is broken [07665] with a great [01419] breach [07667], with a very [03966] grievous [02470] blow [04347].
4 The sorrows [02256] of death [04194] compassed [0661] me, and the floods [05158] of ungodly men [01100] made me afraid [01204].
3 But thou art holy [06918], O thou that inhabitest [03427] the praises [08416] of Israel [03478].
155 Salvation [03444] is far [07350] from the wicked [07563]: for they seek [01875] not thy statutes [02706].
9 Lord [0136], all my desire [08378] is before thee; and my groaning [0585] is not hid [05641] from thee.
2 O my God [0430], I cry [07121] in the daytime [03119], but thou hearest [06030] not; and in the night season [03915], and am not silent [01747].
2 O my God [0430], I cry [07121] in the daytime [03119], but thou hearest [06030] not; and in the night season [03915], and am not silent [01747].
14 But Zion [06726] said [0559], The LORD [03068] hath forsaken [05800] me, and my Lord [0136] hath forgotten [07911] me.
15 I am afflicted [06041] and ready to die [01478] from my youth [05290] up: while I suffer [05375] thy terrors [0367] I am distracted [06323].
1 Why standest [05975] thou afar off [07350], O LORD [03068]? why hidest [05956] thou thyself in times [06256] of trouble [06869]?
5 For in death [04194] there is no remembrance [02143] of thee: in the grave [07585] who shall give thee thanks [03034]?
2 O my God [0430], I cry [07121] in the daytime [03119], but thou hearest [06030] not; and in the night season [03915], and am not silent [01747].
2 O my God [0430], I cry [07121] in the daytime [03119], but thou hearest [06030] not; and in the night season [03915], and am not silent [01747].
46 And [1161] about [4012] the ninth [1766] hour [5610] Jesus [2424] cried [310] with a loud [3173] voice [5456], saying [3004], Eli [2241], Eli [2241], lama [2982] sabachthani [4518]? that [5123] is to say, My [3450] God [2316], my [3450] God [2316], why [2444] hast thou forsaken [1459] me [3165]?