a lion; but, as applied to intelligent beings, it is generally
expressive of profound mental anguish poured forth in audible and even
vehement strains. Psalm xxxviii. 9; xxxiii. 3; Job iii. 24. Thus did the
suffering Messiah pour forth strong crying and tears, to him that was
able to save him from death. Heb. v. 7.—_John Morison._
_Verse 1._—When Christ complains of having been forsaken by God, we are
not to understand that he was forsaken by the First Person, or that
there was a dissolution of the hypostatic union, or that he lost the
favour and friendship of the Father; but he signifies to us that God
permitted his human nature to undergo those dreadful torments, and to
suffer an ignominious death, from which he could, if he chose, most
easily deliver him. Nor did such complaints proceed either from
impatience or ignorance, as if Christ were ignorant of the cause of his
suffering, or was not most willing to bear such abandonment in his
suffering; such complaints were only a declaration of his most bitter
sufferings. And whereas, through the whole course of his passion, with
such patience did our Lord suffer, as not to let a single groan or sigh
escape from him, so now, lest the bystanders may readily believe that he
was rendered impassible by some superior power; therefore, when his last
moments were nigh, he protests that he is true man, truly passible:
forsaken by his Father in his sufferings, the bitterness and acuteness
of which he then intimately felt.—_Robert Bellarmine (Cardinal),
1542-1621._
_Verse 1._—Divines are wont commonly to say, that Christ, from the
moment of his conception, had the sight of God, his human soul being
immediately united to the Deity, Christ from the very moment of his
conception had the sight of God. Now for our Saviour, who had known
experimentally how sweet the comfort of his Father’s face had been, and
had lived all his days under the warm beams and influences of the
Divinity, and had had his soul all along refreshed with the sense of the
Divine presence, for him to be left in that horror and darkness, as to
have no taste of comfort, no glimpse of the Divinity breaking in upon
his human soul, how great an affliction must that needs be unto
him!—_John Row._
_Verse 1._—Desertion is in itself no sin; for Christ endured its
bitterness, ay, he was so deep in it, that when he died, he said, “_Why
hast thou forsaken me?_” A total, a final desertion ours is not; partial
the best have had and have. God turns away his face, David himself is
troubled: “_The just shall live by faith_,” and not by feeling.—_Richard
Capel._
_Verse 1._—Oh! how will our very hearts melt with love, when we remember
that as we have been distressed for our sins against him; so he was in
greater agonies for us? We have had gall and wormwood, but he tasted a
more bitter cup. The anger of God has dried up our spirits, but he was
scorched with a more flaming wrath. He was under violent pain in the
garden, and on the cross; ineffable was the sorrow that he felt, being
forsaken of his Father, deserted by his disciples, affronted and
reproached by his enemies, and under a curse for us. This Sun was under
a doleful eclipse, this living Lord was pleased to die, and in his death
was under the frowns of an angry God. The face was then hid from him
that had always smiled before; and his soul felt that horror and that
darkness which it had never felt before. So that there was no separation
between the divine and human nature, yet he suffered pains equal to
those which we had deserved to suffer in hell for ever. God so suspended
the efficacies of his grace that it displayed in that hour none of its
force and virtue on him. He had no comfort from heaven, none from his
angels, none from his friends, even in that sorrowful hour when he
needed comfort most. Like a lion that is hurt in the forest, so he
roared and cried out, though there was no despair in him; and when he
was forsaken, yet there was trust and hope in these words, “_My God, my
God._”—_Timothy Rogers._
_Verse 1._—Here is comfort to _deserted souls_; Christ himself was
deserted; therefore, if thou be deserted, God dealeth no otherwise with
thee than he did with Christ. Thou mayst be beloved of God and not feel
it; Christ was so, he was beloved of the Father, and yet had no present
sense and feeling of his love. This may be a great comfort to holy souls
under the suspension of those comforts and manifestations which
sometimes they have felt; Christ himself underwent such a suspension,
therefore such a suspension of divine comfort may consist with God’s
love. Thou mayst conclude possibly, “I am a hypocrite, and therefore God
hath forsaken me;” this is the complaint of some doubting Christians, “I
am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me;” but thou hast no
reason so to conclude: there was no failure in Christ’s obedience, and
yet Christ was forsaken in point of comfort; therefore desertion, in
point of comfort, may consist with truth of grace, yes, with the highest
measure of grace; so it did in our Saviour.—_John Row._
_Verse 1._—Lord, thou knowest what it is for a soul to be forsaken, it
was sometime thine own case when thou complainedst, “_My God, why hast
thou forsaken me?_” not, O my Lord! but that thou hadst a divine
supportment, but thou hadst not (it seemeth) that inward joy which at
other times did fill thee; now thou art in thy glory, pity _a worm_ in
misery, that mourns and desires more after thee than all things: Lord,
thou paidst dear for my good, let good come unto me.—_Joseph Symonds,
1658._
_Verse 1._—The first verse expresses a species of suffering that never
at any other time was felt in this world, and never will be again—the
vengeance of the Almighty upon his child—“MY God, why hast thou forsaken
me?”—_R. H. Ryland._
_Verse 2.—“O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not,”_ etc.
How like is this expostulation to that of a human child with its earthly
parent! It is based on the ground of relationship—“I am thine; I cry day
and night, yet I am not heard. Thou art my God, yet nothing is done to
silence me. In the daytime of my life I cried; in this night season of
my death I intreat. In the garden of Gethsemane I occupied the night
with prayers; with continual ejaculations have I passed through this
eventful morning. O my God, thou hast not yet heard me, therefore am I
not yet silent; I cannot cease till thou answerest.” Here Christ urges
his suit in a manner which none but filial hearts adopt. The child knows
that the parent yearns over him. His importunity is strengthened by
confidence in paternal love. He keeps not silence, he gives him no rest
because he confides in his power and willingness to grant the desired
relief. This is natural. It is the argument of the heart, an appeal to
the inward yearnings of our nature. It is also scriptural, and is thus
stated, “If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him?” Luke xi. 13.—_John Stevenson, in “Christ on the
Cross,” 1842._
_Verse 2._—The princely prophet says, “_Lord, I cry unto thee in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, also in the night time, and yet this is
not to be thought folly to me._”[15] Some perhaps would think it a great
point of folly for a man to cry and call unto him who stops his ears,
and seems not to hear. Nevertheless, this folly of the faithful is wiser
than all the wisdom of the world. For we know well enough, that
howsoever God seem at the first not to hear, yet the Lord is a sure
refuge _in due time_—_in affliction_. Psalm ix. 9.—_Thomas Playfere._
_Verses 2, 3._—Well, what hears God from him, now he hears nothing from
God, as to the deliverance prayed for? No murmuring at God’s
proceedings; nay, he hears quite the contrary, for he justifies and
praises God: “_But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of
Israel._” Observe whether thou canst not gather something from the
manner of God’s denying the thing prayed for, which may sweeten it to
thee! Haply thou shalt find he denies thee, but it is with a smiling
countenance, and ushers it in with some expressions of grace and favour,
that may assure thee his denial proceeds not from displeasure. As you
would do with a dear friend, who, may be, comes to borrow a sum of money
of you; lend it you dare not, because you see plainly it is not for his
good; but in giving him the denial, lest he should misinterpret it, as
proceeding from want of love and respect, you preface it with some kind
of language of your hearty affection to him, as that you love him, and
therefore deny him, and shall be ready to do for him more than that
comes to. Thus God sometimes wraps up his denials in such sweet
intimations of love, as prevents all jealousies arising in the hearts of
his people.—_William Gurnall._
_Verses 2, 3._—They that have conduit-water come into their houses, if
no water come they do not conclude the spring to be dry, but the pipes
to be stopped or broken. If prayer speed not, we must be sure that the
fault is not in God, but in ourselves; were we but ripe for mercy, he is
ready to extend it to us, and even waits for the purpose.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 3.—“But thou art holy.”_ Here is the triumph of faith—the Saviour
stood like a rock in the wide ocean of temptation. High as the billows
rose, so did his faith, like the coral rock, wax greater and stronger
till it became an island of salvation to our shipwrecked souls. It is as
if he had said, “It matters not what I endure Storms may howl upon me;
men despise; devils tempt; circumstances overpower; and God himself
forsake me, still God is holy; there is no unrighteousness in
him.”—_John Stevenson._
_Verse 3.—“But thou art holy.”_ Does it seem strange that the heart in
its darkness and sorrow should find comfort in this attribute of God?
No, for God’s holiness is but another aspect of his faithfulness and
mercy. And in that remarkable name, “the Holy One _of Israel_,” we are
taught that he who is the “_holy_” God is also the God who has made a
covenant with his chosen. It would be impossible for an Israelite to
think of God’s holiness without thinking also of that covenant
relationship. “Be ye holy; for I, the Lord your God am holy,” were the
words in which Israel was reminded of their relation to God. See
especially Lev. xix. 1. We see something of this feeling in such
passages as Psalm lxxxix. 16-19; xcix. 5-9; Hosea xi. 8, 9; Isaiah xli.
14; xlvii. 4.—_J. J. Stewart Perowne._
_Verse 3._—Were temptations never so black, faith will not hearken to an
ill word spoken against God, but will justify God always.—_David
Dickson._
_Verses 4, 5._—Those who look upon this Psalm as having a primary
reference to the King of Israel, attribute great beauty to these words,
from the very pleasing conjecture that David was, at the time of
composing them, sojourning at Mahanaim, where Jacob, in his distress,
wrestled with the angel, and obtained such signal blessings. That, in a
place so greatly hallowed by associations of the past, he should make
his appeal to the God of his fathers, was alike the dictate of
patriarchal feeling and religion.—_John Morison D.D., in “Morning
Meditations.”_
_Verse 5.—“Thou didst deliver them,”_ but thou wilt not deliver me; nay,
rather thou didst deliver them because thou wilt not deliver
me.—_Gerhohus._
_Verse 6.—“But I am a worm, and no man.”_ A fisherman, when he casts his
angle into the river, doth not throw the hook in bare, naked, and
uncovered, for then he knows the fish will never bite, and therefore he
hides the hook within a worm, or some other bait, and so, the fish,
biting at the worm, is catched by the hook. Thus Christ, speaking of
himself, saith, “_Ego vermis et non homo._” He, coming to perform the
great work of our redemption, did cover and hide his Godhead within the
worm of his human nature. The grand water-serpent, Leviathan, the devil,
thinking to swallow the worm of his humanity, was caught upon the hook
of his divinity. This hook stuck in his jaws, and tore him very sore. By
thinking to destroy Christ, he destroyed his own kingdom, and lost his
own power for ever.—_Lancelot Andrews._
_Verse 6.—“I am a worm.”_ Christ calls himself “_a worm_” ... on account
of the opinion that men of the world had of him.... The Jews esteemed
Christ as a worm, and treated him as such; he was loathsome to them and
hated by them; every one trampled upon him, and trod him under foot as
men do worms.... The Chaldee paraphrase renders it here _a weak worm_;
and though Christ is the mighty God, and is also the Son of man, whom
God made strong for himself; yet there was a weakness in his human
nature, and he was crucified through it, 2 Cor. xiii. 4: and it has been
observed by some, that the word תּוֹלַעַת there used signifies the
scarlet worm, or the worm that is in the grain or berry with which
scarlet is dyed; and like this scarlet worm did our Lord look, when by
way of mockery he was clothed with a scarlet robe; and especially when
he appeared in his dyed garments, and was red in his apparel, as one
that treadeth in the wine vat; when his body was covered with blood when
he hung upon the cross, which was shed to make crimson and scarlet sins
as white as snow.—_John Gill._
_Verse 6.—“I am a worm.”_ An humble soul is emptied of all swelling
thoughts of himself. Bernard calls humility a self-annihilation. Job
xxii. 29. “Thou wilt save the humble;” in the Hebrew it is, “Him that is
of low eyes.” An humble man hath lower thoughts of himself than others
can have of him; David, though a king, yet looked upon himself as “_a
worm_:” “_I am a worm, and no man._” Bradford a martyr, yet subscribes
himself “a sinner.” Job x. 15. “If I be righteous, yet will I not lift
up my head:” like the violet, a sweet flower, but hangs down the
head.—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 6.—“A worm.”_ So trodden under foot, trampled on, maltreated,
buffeted and spit upon, mocked and tormented, as to seem more like a
worm than a man. Behold what great contempt hath the Lord of Majesty
endured, that his confusion may be our glory; his punishment our
heavenly bliss! Without ceasing impress this spectacle, O Christian, on
thy soul!—_Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams._
_Verse 6.—“I am a worm.”_ Among the Hindoos, when a man complains and
abhors himself, he asks: “What am I? A worm! a worm!” “Ah, the proud
man! he regarded me as a worm, well should I like to say to him, ‘We are
all worms.’” “Worm, crawl out of my presence.”—_Joseph Roberts._
_Verse 7.—“All they that see me laugh me to scorn,”_ etc. Imagine this
dreadful scene. Behold this motley multitude of rich and poor, of Jews
and Gentiles! Some stand in groups and gaze. Some recline at ease and
stare. Others move about in restless gratification at the event. There
is a look of satisfaction on every countenance. None are silent. The
velocity of speech seems tardy. The theme is far too great for one
member to utter. Every lip, and head, and finger, is now a tongue. The
rough soldiers, too, are busied in their coarse way. The work of blood
is over. Refreshment has become necessary. Their usual beverage of
vinegar and water is supplied to them. As they severally are satisfied,
they approach the cross, hold some forth to the Saviour, and bid him
drink as they withdraw it. Luke xxiii. 36. They know he must be
suffering an intense thirst, they therefore aggravate it with the
mockery of refreshment. Cruel Romans! and ye, O regicidal Jews! Was not
death enough? Must mockery and scorn be added? On this sad day Christ
made you _one_ indeed! Dreadful unity—which constituted you the joint
mockers and murderers of the Lord of glory!—_John Stevenson._
_Verse 7.—“All they that see me laugh me to scorn,”_ etc. There have
been persons in our own days, whose crimes have excited such detestation
that the populace would probably have torn them in pieces, before, and
even after their trial, if they could have had them in their power. Yet
when these very obnoxious persons have been executed according to their
sentence, if, perhaps, there was not one spectator who wished them to
escape, yet neither was one found so lost to sensibility as to insult
them in their dying moments. But when Jesus suffers, _all that see him
laugh_ him _to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head_; they
insult his character and his hope.—_John Newton._
_Verse 7.—“They shoot out the lip.”_ To protrude the lower lip is, in
the East, considered a very strong indication of contempt. Its
employment is chiefly confined to the lower orders.—_Illustrated
Commentary._
_Verses 7, 8._—It was after his crucifixion, and during the hours that
he hung upon the cross, that his sufferings in this way—the torment of
beholding and hearing the scorn and mockery which was made of the truth
of his person and doctrine—exceedingly abounded, and in such and so many
kinds of mockery and insult that some consider this to have been the
chiefest pain and sorrow which he endured in his most sacred passion.
For as, generally, those things are considered the most painful to
endure of which we are most sensible, so it seems to these persons, that
sufferings of this kind contain in them more cause for feeling than any
other sufferings. And, therefore, although all the torments of the Lord
were very great, so that each one appears the greatest, and no
comparison can be made between them; yet, nevertheless, this kind of
suffering appears to be the most painful. Because in other troubles, not
only the pain and suffering of them, but the troubles themselves, in
themselves, may be desired by us, and such as we suffer for love’s sake,
in order by them to evince that love. Wherefore, the stripes, the crown
of thorns, the buffetings, the cross, the gall, the vinegar, and other
bodily torments, besides that they torment the body, are often a means
for promoting the divine honour, which it holds in esteem above all
else. But to blaspheme God, to give the lie to eternal truths, to deface
the supreme demonstrations of the divinity and majesty of the Son of God
(although God knoweth how to extract from these things the good which he
intends), nevertheless are, in their nature, things, which, from their
so greatly affecting the divine honour, although they may be, for just
considerations, endured, can never be desired by any one, but must be
abhorrent to all. Our Lord then, being, of all, the most zealous for the
divine honour, for which he also died, found in this kind of suffering,
more than in all other, much to abhor and nothing to desire. Therefore
with good reason it may be held to be the greatest of all, and that in
which, more than in all other, he exhibited the greatest suffering and
patience.—_Fra Thomé de Jesu, in “The Sufferings of Jesus,” 1869._
_Verses 7-9._—All that see me made but a laughynge stocke on me, they
mocked me wyth their lyppes, and wagged theyr heades at me. Sayenge,
thys vyllayne referred all thynges to the Lord, let him now delyver hym
yf he wyll, for he loveth hym well. But yet thou arte he whyche leddest
me oute of my mother’s wombe myne one refuge, even from my mother’s
teates. As sone as I came into this worlde, I was layde in thy lappe,
thou art my God even from my mother’s wombe.—_From “The Psalter of David
in English, truly translated out of Latyn,” in “Devout Psalms,” etc., by
E. Whitchurche, 1547._
_Verse 8._—Here are recorded some of those very words, by which the
persecutors of our Lord expressed their mockery and scorn. How
remarkable to find them in a Psalm written so many hundred years
before!—_John Stevenson._
_Verses 9, 10._—Faith is much strengthened by constant evidences of
God’s favour. Herewith did he support his faith that said to God, “_Thou
art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was
upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art
my God from my mother’s belly._” “Thou art my trust from my youth. By
thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out
of my mother’s bowels.” Psalm lxxi. 5, 6. It was not only the
disposition of Obadiah towards God, but also the evidence that thereby
he had of God’s affection towards him, that made him with confidence say
to Elijah, “I fear the Lord from my youth.” 1 Kings xviii. 12. By long
continuance of ancient favour, many demonstrations are given of a fast,
fixed and unremovable affection. So as if, by reason of temptations, one
or more evidences should be questioned, yet others would remain to
uphold faith, and to keep it from an utter languishing, and a total
falling away. As when a house is supported by many pillars, though some
be taken away, yet by the support of them which remain, the house will
stand.—_William Gouge._
_Verses 9, 10._—David acknowledges ancient mercies, those mercies which
had been cast upon him long ago, these were still fresh and new in his
memory, and this is one affection and disposition of a thankful heart—to
remember those mercies which another would have quite forgotten, or
never thought of. Thus does David here; the mercies of his _infancy_,
and his _childhood_, and his _younger years_, which one would have
imagined, that now in his age had been quite out of his mind; yet these
does he here stir up himself to remember and bring to his thoughts.
“_Took me out of the womb_:” when was that? It may have been threescore
years ago when David penned the Psalms. He thinks of those mercies which
God vouchsafed him _when he was not capable of thinking_, nor
considering what was bestowed upon him; and so are we taught hence to
do, in an imitation of his holy example which is here set before us:
those mercies which God hath bestowed in our minority we are to call to
mind and acknowledge in our riper years.—_Thomas Horton._
_Verses 9, 10._—Here the tribulation begins to grow lighter, and hope
inclines towards victory; a support, though small, and sought out with
deep anxiety, is now found. For after he had felt that he had suffered
without any parallel or example, so that the wonderful works of God as
displayed toward the fathers afforded him no help, he comes to the
wonderful works of God toward himself, and in these he finds the
goodwill of God turned towards him, and which was displayed towards him
alone in so singular a way.—_Martin Luther._
_Verses 9, 10._—The bitter severity of the several taunts with which his
enemies assailed our Lord, had no other effect than to lead the Saviour
to make a direct appeal to his Father.... That appeal is set before us
in these two verses. It is of an unusual and remarkable nature. The
argument on which it is founded is most forcible and conclusive. At the
same time, it is the most seasonable and appropriate that can be urged.
We may thus paraphrase it, “I am now brought as a man to my extremity.
It is said that God disowns me; but it cannot be so. My first moment of
existence he tenderly cared for. When I could not even ask for, or think
of his kindness, he bestowed it upon me. If, of his mere good pleasure
he brought me into life at first, he will surely not forsake me when I
am departing out of it. In opposition, therefore, to all their taunts, I
can and I will appeal to himself. Mine enemies declare, O God, that thou
hast cast me off—_but thou art he that took me out of the womb_. They
affirm that I do not, and need not trust in thee; but _thou didst make
me hope_ (or, _keptest me in safety_, margin) _when I was upon my
mother’s breasts_. They insinuate that thou wilt not acknowledge me as
thy Son; but _I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from
my mother’s belly_.”—_John Stevenson._
_Verse 10.—“I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my
mother’s belly.”_ There is a noble passage in Eusebius, in which he
shows the connection between our Lord’s incarnation and his passion:
that he might well comfort himself while hanging on the cross by the
remembrance that the very same body then “marred more than any man, and
his form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah lii. 14), was that which had
been glorified by the Father with such singular honour, when the Holy
Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her.
That this body, therefore, though now so torn and so mangled, as it had
once been the wonder, so it would for ever be the joy, of the angels;
and having put on immortality, would be the support of his faithful
people to the end of time—_J. M. Neale, in loc._