More Thoughts by Spurgeon on Psalm 22
Jesus really does understand our sufferings and pain!
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd. - "Jesus likens himself to a broken piece of earthenware, or en earthen pot, baked in the fire till the last particle of moisture is driven out of the clay. No doubt a high degree of feverish burning afflicted the body of our Lord. All his strength was dried up in the tremendous flames of avenging justice..."
My tongue cleaveth to my jaws; -"thirst and fever fastened his tongue to his jaws. Dryness and horrible clamminess tormented his mouth, so that he could scarcely speak."
Thou hast brought me into the dust of death; - "so tormented in every single part as to feel dissolved into separate atoms, and each atom full of misery; the full price of our redemption was paid, and no part of the Surety's body or soul escaped its share of agony."
16 For dogs have compassed me. - "Hunters frequently surround their game with a circle, and gradually encompass them with an ever- narrowing ring of dogs and men. Such a picture is before us. In the centre stands, not a panting stag, but a bleeding, fainting man, and around him are the enraged and unpitying wretches who have hounded him to his doom.
The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: - "...the Jewish people were unchurched, and that which called itself an assembly of the righteous is justly for its sins marked upon the forehead as an assembly of the wicked. This is not the only occasion when professed churches of God have become synagogues of Satan, and have persecuted the Holy One and the Just."
They pierced my hands and my feet. - "This can by no means refer to David, or to any one but Jesus of Nazareth, the once crucified but now exalted Son of God. Pause, dear reader, and view the wounds of thy Redeemer."
17 I may tell all my bones. - "The posture of the body on the cross, Bishop Horne thinks, would so distend the flesh and skin as to make the bones visible, so that they might be numbered. The zeal of his Father's house had eaten him up;...Oh that we cared less for the
body's enjoyment and ease and more for our Father's business! It were better to count the bones of an emaciated body than to bring leanness into our souls.
They look and stare upon me. "Unholy eyes gazed insultingly upon the Saviours's nakedness, and shocked the sacred delicacy of his holy soul...Let us blush for human nature, and mourn in sympathy with our Redeemer's shame. The first Adam made us all naked, and therefore
the second Adam became naked that he might clothe our naked souls.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. - "This incident shows how clearly David in vision saw the day of Christ, and how surely the Man of Nazareth is he of whom the prophets spake:..He who gave his blood to cleanse us gave his garments to
clothe us...It may be noted that the habit of gambling is of all others the most hardening, for men could practice it even at the cross-foot while bespsrinkled with the blood of the Crucified. No Christian will endure the rattle of the dice when he thinks of this."
19 But be thou not far from me, O Lord. -"He wants nothing but his God, even in his lowest state."
O my strength, haste thee to help me. - "Hard cases need timely aid: when necessity justifies it we may be urgent with God as to time, and cry, "make haste;" but we must not do this out of willfulness. Mark how in the last degree of personal weakness he calls the Lord "my
strength;" after this fashion the believer can sing, "when I am weak, then am I strong."
20 Deliver my soul from the sword. - "By the sword is probably meant entire destruction, which as a man he dreaded; or perhaps he sought deliverance from the enemies around him, who were like a sharp and deadly sword to him."
My darling from the power of the dog. -"Meaning his soul, his life, which is most dear to every man...Would that all men made their souls their darling, but many treat them as if they were not worth so much as the mire of the streets. The dog may mean Satan..If Jesus cried
for help against the dog of hell, much more may we...beware of the dog, for his power is great, and only God can deliver us from him. When he fawns upon us, we must not put ourselves in his power; and when he howls at us, we may remember that God holds him with a chain."
21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. - "Having experienced deliverance in the past from great enemies, who were strong as the unicorns, the Redeemer utters his last cry for rescue from death, which is fierce and mighty
as the lion. This prayer was heard, and the gloom of the cross departed. Thus faith, though sorely beaten, and even cast beneath the feet of her enemy, ultimately wins the victory. It was so in our Head, it shall be so in all the members. We have overcome the unicorn, we shall conquer the lion, and from both lion and unicorn we shall take the crown."
"...from a horrible tempest all is changed into calm. The darkness of Calvary at length passed away from the face of nature, and from the soul of the Redeemer, and beholding the light of his triumph and its future results the Saviour smiled. We have followed him through the gloom, let us attend him in the returning light. It will be well still to regard the words as a part of our Lord's soliloquy upon the cross, uttered in his mind during the last few moments before his death."
(Hallelujah! I shall WIN and overcome this sickness SOMEDAY, Lord, even if it isn't till death...BECAUSE You have suffered and died for me! As I stop and meditate on Your horrible death, I am comforted to know that You understand and cry with me through MY SUFFERINGS. And I remember Your word to me - "Beloved think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are PARTAKERS OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." (I Pet. 4:13) Yes, You are the Master, and I am Your disciple. It is fitting that I should follow in Your sufferings.)
