Week 4 Psalm 22
I read psalm 22 in someone else’s bible. In the margin she had penciled-in some bible verses beside the words that David had written:
My God, my God why have you forsaken me? The hand-written cross-reference was to Matthew 27:46.
Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads. Luke 23:35-36.
If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him. Matthew 27:39 41-43
My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls. Matthew 27:36 44
An evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. She didn’t add a cross-reference to the Lord’s crucifixion – maybe it was too obvious.
They divide my clothes among themselves and throw dice for my garments. Matthew 27:35.
I read each of the gospel references and the similarities are uncanny.
David is writing about his own experiences. His adversaries were attacking him & he was on-the-ropes & he was nearly-getting-killed & just-barely-escaping-with-his-life. But some of the things he said are so similar to the actual crucifixion of Jesus that it makes you wonder.
One of the things David prays is: rescue me from a violent death; spare my precious life from these dogs. Luckily for David his prayer was answered.
There’s no gospel cross-references written beside this verse and I don’t bother looking for one myself. I know the dogs didn’t spare the precious life of the Lord. They howled and harried him all the way to death.
Note: quotes from Psalm 22:1 7 8 12 16 18 20 (NLT)