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1 To the chiefe Musician vpon Aijeleth Shahar. A Psalme of Dauid. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mee? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I crie in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel!
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliuer them.
5 They cryed vnto thee, and were deliuered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me, laugh me to scorne: they shoote out the lippe, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliuer him: let him deliuer him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art hee that tooke mee out of the wombe; thou didst make me hope, when I was vpon my mothers breasts.
10 I was cast vpon thee from the wombe: thou art my God from my mothers belly.
11 Be not farre from me, for trouble is neere; for there is none to helpe.
12 Many bulles haue compassed me: strong bulles of Bashan haue beset me round.
13 They gaped vpon me with their mouthes, as a rauening and a roaring Lyon.
14 I am powred out like water, and all my bones are out of ioynt: my heart is like waxe, it is melted in the middest of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried vp like a potsheard: and my tongue cleaueth to my iawes; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogges haue compassed me: the assembly of the wicked haue inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feete.
17 I may tell all my bones: they looke and stare vpon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots vpon my vesture.
19 But be not thou farre from mee, O Lord; O my strength, hast thee to helpe me.
20 Deliuer my soule from the sword: my darling from the power of the dogge.
21 Saue me from the lyons mouth: for thou hast heard me from the hornes of the vnicornes.
22 I will declare thy name vnto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Yee that feare the Lord, praise him; all yee the seede of Iacob glorifie him, and feare him all yee the seede of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised, nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried vnto him, he heard.
25 My praise shalbe of thee, in the great congregation: I will pay my vowes, before them that feare him.
26 The meeke shall eate and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seeke him; your heart shall liue for euer.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember, and turne vnto the Lord: and all the kinreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdome is the Lords: and he is the gouernour among the nations.
29 All they that be fat vpon earth shall eate and worship: all they that goe downe to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keepe aliue his owne soule.
30 A seed shall serue him; it shalbe accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousnes vnto a people that shalbe borne, that he hath done this.
Complaints of discouragement. (1-10) With prayer for deliverance. (11-21) Praises for mercies and redemption. (22-31)
1-10 The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, clearly and fully, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. We have a sorrowful complaint of God's withdrawings. This may be applied to any child of God, pressed down, overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; but even their complaint of these burdens is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual senses exercised. To cry our, My God, why am I sick? why am I poor? savours of discontent and worldliness. But, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. This must be applied to Christ. In the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was upon the cross, #Mt 27:46|. Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed. Christ declared the holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his sharpest sufferings; nay, declared them to be a proof of it, for which he would be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they received. Never any that hoped in thee, were made ashamed of their hope; never any that sought thee, sought thee in vain. Here is a complaint of the contempt and reproach of men. The Saviour here spoke of the abject state to which he was reduced. The history of Christ's sufferings, and of his birth, explains this prophecy.
11-21 In these verses we have Christ suffering, and Christ praying; by which we are directed to look for crosses, and to look up to God under them. The very manner of Christ's death is described, though not in use among the Jews. They pierced his hands and his feet, which were nailed to the accursed tree, and his whole body was left so to hang as to suffer the most severe pain and torture. His natural force failed, being wasted by the fire of Divine wrath preying upon his spirits. Who then can stand before God's anger? or who knows the power of it? The life of the sinner was forfeited, and the life of the Sacrifice must be the ransom for it. Our Lord Jesus was stripped, when he was crucified, that he might clothe us with the robe of his righteousness. Thus it was written, therefore thus it behoved Christ to suffer. Let all this confirm our faith in him as the true Messiah, and excite our love to him as the best of friends, who loved us, and suffered all this for us. Christ in his agony prayed, prayed earnestly, prayed that the cup might pass from him. When we cannot rejoice in God as our song, yet let us stay ourselves upon him as our strength; and take the comfort of spiritual supports, when we cannot have spiritual delights. He prays to be delivered from the Divine wrath. He that has delivered, doth deliver, and will do so. We should think upon the sufferings and resurrection of Christ, till we feel in our souls the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.
22-31 The Saviour now speaks as risen from the dead. The first words of the complaint were used by Christ himself upon the cross; the first words of the triumph are expressly applied to him, #Heb 2:12|. All our praises must refer to the work of redemption. The suffering of the Redeemer was graciously accepted as a full satisfaction for sin. Though it was offered for sinful men, the Father did not despise or abhor it for our sakes. This ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. All humble, gracious souls should have a full satisfaction and happiness in him. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ, shall not labour for that which satisfies not. Those that are much in praying, will be much in thanksgiving. Those that turn to God, will make conscience of worshipping before him. Let every tongue confess that he is Lord. High and low, rich and poor, bond and free, meet in Christ. Seeing we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our wisdom, by obedient faith, to commit our souls to Christ, who is able to save and keep them alive for ever. A seed shall serve him. God will have a church in the world to the end of time. They shall be accounted to him for a generation; he will be the same to them that he was to those who went before them. His righteousness, and not any of their own, they shall declare to be the foundation of all their hopes, and the fountain of all their joys. Redemption by Christ is the Lord's own doing. Here we see the free love and compassion of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, for us wretched sinners, as the source of all grace and consolation; the example we are to follow, the treatment as Christians we are to expect, and the conduct under it we are to adopt. Every lesson may here be learned that can profit the humbled soul. Let those who go about to establish their own righteousness inquire, why the beloved Son of God should thus suffer, if their own doings could atone for sin? Let the ungodly professor consider whether the Saviour thus honoured the Divine law, to purchase him the privilege of despising it. Let the careless take warning to flee from the wrath to come, and the trembling rest their hopes upon this merciful Redeemer. Let the tempted and distressed believer cheerfully expect a happy end of every trial.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.