Psalm 22 Overview
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Have you forsaken me?
Psalm 22
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 22
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 22 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 22
Author
- David
Book
- Book 1 of the Psalter (Chapters 1–41)
Psalm 22: A Brief Summary
- Psalm 22 begins with an agonising cry because David felt abandoned by God. Confusion was the dominant emotion, as the psalmist wrestled with YHWH’s history of saving his ancestors faithfully and answering their cries. It did not make sense that, this time, he did not seem to be answering the psalmist’s cries.
- The middle of the psalm intensified the crisis, as the mocking onlookers became like predatory animals, seeking to hunt down, devour, and even scavenge the vulnerable body of the psalmist. Death was imminent when the psalmist gave one last cry, a cry which was interrupted, with surprising abruptness—with deliverance!
- The suffering is subtly undone, first with the bull/lion/dog sequence reversed, then you do not answer replaced by you answered! Counting bones of a dead man is replaced by announcing public praise of the deliverance, and so on.
- The tone and content of the poem shift decisively to celebrating YHWH. Suffering and death are not worthless, but their purpose is not the focus. No matter how deep the suffering, it is nearly forgotten in comparison to the magnitude of the praise that is due in response to YHWH’s saving acts. No matter how great the affliction, the result of YHWH’s deliverance inspires his people to respond with even greater worship.
"Have you forsaken me?" This title is a memorable phrase that helps remember the unique character and content of this psalm.
- The king pleads with God, as if he has forsaken him, but by the end of the psalm he has a very different perspective.
Purpose The Purpose was the psalmist's probable intent or reason for writing this psalm.
- To showcase YHWH's salvation of a servant near death
Content The Content is a concise summary of the whole psalm's content.
- It looked like YHWH had abandoned me, so I cried out one last time, thinking myself totally alone and at the point of death.
- Then, at last, he heard me!
- That's why I will declare his praise, surrounded by his community, and exhort others to honor him. As a result, even the nations and future generations will worship him!
Message The Message is the main idea the psalmist probably wanted the audience to remember upon or after hearing the psalm.
- The purpose of the psalmist's affliction was the praise of the nations.
Psalm 22 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces, and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 22
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- Onlookers think that anyone who suffers must deserve it (Job; Pss 35:15–16; 69:20–21; 71:7–11; 109:25).
- After an experience of deliverance, the rescued person would hold a thanksgiving meal to which they would invite the poor (Pss 26:12; 35:18; 40:10; 69:31–34; 107:31–32; 109:30; 116:17–18).
Background Situation for Psalm 22
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 22
There are 5 participants/characters in Psalm 22:
| David (v. 1) |
| "a worm and not a man" (v. 7) |
| YHWH (vv. 9, 20, 24, 27, 28, 29) |
| "my God" (vv. 2, 3, 11) |
| "the one sitting enthroned upon Israel's songs of praise" (v. 4) |
| "the Lord" (v. 31) |
| Israel (vv. 4, 24) |
| "brothers" (v. 23) |
| "community" (vv. 23, 26) |
| "Jacob" (v. 24) |
| "those who fear YHWH" (vv. 24, 26) |
| Ancestors (vv. 5-6) |
| The sufferer (v. 25) |
| The afflicted (v. 27) |
| Evildoers (v. 17) |
| "people, mankind" (v. 7) |
| "bulls" (v. 13) |
| "mighty ones of Bashan" (v. 13) |
| "dogs" (vv. 17, 21) |
| "a lion" (v. 22) |
| "a wild oxen" (v. 22) |
| trouble (v. 12) |
| "a sword" (v. 21) |
| The nations (v. 29) |
| "the ends of the earth" (v. 28) |
| "the families of the nations" (v. 28) |
| The strong ones of the earth (v. 30) |
| "those going down to dust" (v. 30) |
| Future generations (v. 31) |
| "a people who will be born" (v. 32) |
- The psalmist is identified as David in the superscription, though, reflecting the community's attitude towards him in his state of suffering, he feels as low and unclean as "a worm and not a man" (v. 7). With the exception of v. 9, in which he quotes the speech of those mocking him, David is the speaker throughout the psalm.
- YHWH is identified as David's God, as well as "the one sitting enthroned on Israel's songs of praise" (v. 4; see the imagery table). He is the addressee for most of the psalm (see the text table).
- As for David's favorable community, Israel's ancestors are mentioned first (vv. 5–6), as having trusted YHWH on previous occasions. As soon as he receives response from YHWH (v. 22b), David is eager to make his praise heard in the community of his people, so that others who have experienced suffering or affliction will be encouraged to celebrate with him, since YHWH has not despised the sufferer or afflicted one.
- David's enemies are those who delight in his state of suffering and wait to take advantage of his imminent death. They threaten David throughout vv. 13–22 both verbally and physically. They are also judged to be the mocking speakers of v. 9.
- The nations are introduced only in the last five verses. They are called to consider the testimony of David's salvation, so that they will turn and worship YHWH along with future generations.