Prayer in suffering.
The persecuted exile continues to speak of his sufferings, but seems to rise up out of the despair of the first verse into the faith implied in prayer. Much of the suffering here described, if not productive, was at least typical, of the suffering of Christ. An argument is still going on in the sufferer's mind as to whether God had finally forsaken him or not. He has been trying in the first ten verses to argue down the feeling, but has not yet succeeded; and now he breaks out into prayer, driven by the urgency of the crisis into which he has come.
I. THE ARGUMENT OF THE PRAYER. The general argument is stated in the eleventh verse. Trouble was near, and there was none to help; it had come to the last extremity with him, and not to help now would be completely and finally to forsake. The particulars of the argument are:
1. The strength and fury of his persecutors. (Psalms 22:12, Psalms 22:13, Psalms 22:16.) They are compared to hulls and lions, the most formidable beasts a man can encounter. Further on his enemies are compared to wild dogs, that have enclosed and surrounded him. So that there is no escape except by the hand of God.
2. He has lost all strength of body and courage of heart. (Psalms 22:14-17.) He sees no human means of escaping death. Severe trials from man and the Divine desertion (Psalms 22:15) have "laid him in the dust of death."
3. The last act of indignity, previous to his death, has been accomplished. (Psalms 22:18.) They strip him, and cast lots for his garments. So that this is a cry for deliverance, uttered in the very jaws of death itself. Of course, the psalm was written after the experiences it describes.
II. THE PRAYER ITSELF. It Was begun at the eleventh verse, and now again breaks forth with full power (Psalms 22:19-21).
1. He cries to the Infinite Strength to make haste to help him. This looks back to the second verse, where he complains, "Thou answerest me not;" and, if help is to come, it must come at once, for he is in the very article of death.
2. He is alone and unfriended among ruthless enemies. "My darling," equivalent to "my lovely person" (Psalms 22:20). Utterly and solely dependent on God, as we shall be in dying.
3. The cry ends with an expression of assured confidence (Psalms 22:21, "Thou hast answered me.") "Thou hast heard me." At last he sees deliverance at hand, and knows that his prayer has been heard, and he has been delivered from death.—S.