Hallelujah, What A Savior

Psalm 22:11-21

11Do not stay so far from me,

for trouble is near,

and no one else can help me.

12My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls;

fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in!

13Like roaring lions attacking their prey,

they come at me with open mouths.

14My life is poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart is like wax,

melting within me.

15My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.

16My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;

an evil gang closes in on me.

They have pierced my hands and feet.

17I can count every bone in my body.

My enemies stare at me and gloat.

18They divide my clothes among themselves

and throw dice for my garments.

19O LORD, do not stay away!

You are my strength; come quickly to my aid!

20Rescue me from a violent death;

spare my precious life from these dogs.

21Snatch me from the lions’ jaws,

and from the horns of these wild oxen.

The New Testament writers recognized that this psalm speaks of Jesus’ suffering on the cross (Mark 15:34; John 19:24). But how could the psalmist have so accurately described something that happened hundreds of years later? Crucifixion had not even been invented when this psalm was written.

The superscription calls it a psalm of David, but when was David in such dire straits? Some say it sounds more like Jeremiah, who did face persecution. Whoever he was, he was inspired by God to describe some very personal torment that mirrored Jesus’ crucifixion hundreds of years later.

The first eleven verses alternate between descriptions of suffering and prayers for relief—two or three verses about suffering and then two or three verses about relief. But these middle verses paint all the gruesome details. Besides all the pain, we see a picture of utter humiliation.

“You have laid me in the dust,” it says (verse 15). Who has done this? Not the “fierce bulls,” the “roaring lions,” the “pack of dogs,” or the “evil gang,” but rather “My God, my God” (verse 1). As Isaiah 53:10 says: “It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him.” And Isaiah tells us why: “He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!” (Isaiah 53:5).

In light of Jesus’ willingness to suffer all this for us, let us cry, “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned he stood;

Sealed my pardon with his blood:

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

PHILIP P. BLISS

A Word on Words

What were “bulls of Bashan” (verse 12)? Bashan was an area east of the Sea of Galilee. It had great grassy plains, so the livestock there were well fed and strong. See Deuteronomy 32:14 and Ezekiel 39:18.

Notable Quotable

“Christ submitted to suffer nakedness [verse 18] that we might be covered with righteousness and glory and walk with him in white forever.”

GEORGE HUTCHESON