Day 959: The dust of death - Psalm 22 vs 11 - 21

11-13 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14-15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; 17 they have pierced my hands and feet - I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

19-21 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued (answered) me from the horns of the wild oxen! Psalm 22:11-21 English Standard Version

This Psalm by David started with the words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I noted in my last post that the Lord Jesus cried out those words while He was on the cross. Did you spot a couple more things in today's verses that would also have made Jesus identify strongly with this Psalm?

David had felt as if he was surrounded by ‘strong bulls of Bashan’. Bashan was an area in ancient Israel well known for such bulls. But he was obviously using it as a picture of people. He also likens them to ravenous lions. They were baying for his death. No wonder he uses the words we read in vs 14-15. It was as if he was being laid in the dust of death. If we think of what the agony of being crucified must have been like, then David's description was probably much more true of Christ. And His situation did end in death.

But it’s surely in vs 16-18 that David's words were very prophetic of what would take place at Calvary. The Hebrew text for vs 17 can be translated as “like a lion they are at my hands and feet.” And that's what happened to Jesus. His hands and feet were pierced by the nails that were driven through them.

David also speaks of being stared at, and people gloating over his sufferings. (vs17) We read in Luke 23:35 that when Jesus was on the cross “people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!'”

Perhaps the most amazing 'co-incidence' of all are the words in vs 18. We don't know the details of how or when that may've happened in David's life. Could it have been when he had to flee for his life from his son Absalom, and left all his possessions behind? But we do know that such a thing literally happened near the cross where Jesus hung. John 19:23 says: “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier.”

It's one thing to laugh off conspiracy theories, but when one sees a number of statements from so many places of the Old Testament remarkably fulfilled in the life (and death) of Jesus, then it's difficult to dismiss them as just 'co-incidences'. And so, in vs 19-21, we read how David cried out to God to rescue him. He has already used the picture of bulls and lions for his persecutors, what picture does he use in these verses?

To Western minds - especially in the UK where dogs are so loved – the use of the word dogs might sound harsh and unkind. But in those days many dogs were scavengers, or used for hunting. So it was an appropriate picture for people seeking someone's harm. In fact, it is used even more ominously in the last book of the Bible where we read of a fate worse than ‘the dust of death’. Revelation 22:15 says: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city - outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” To be outside the gates of God’s city is a fate we all need to be rescued from.