Today is Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, and we are reading Psalm 22:12-21. It is called Spy Wednesday because this is the day we remember Christ’s betrayal by Judas Iscariot. According to Matthew 26:14-15, Judas went to the chief priests and made a deal to expose and hand Jesus over to them for thirty pieces of silver. Thirty pieces of silver in that day was the price of the accidental death of a slave (Exodus 21:32). This would have been the lowest legal human value. Judas betrayed Jesus at the lowest price for a human life. Today, we catch a glimpse into the inner workings of betrayal and suffering. Perhaps we might see our own suffering or moments of betrayal in the psalmist’s lament.

Many commentators say that when we see Christ in the Gospels, it’s as if we are spectators looking on, seeing what’s happening from the outside. But when we read Psalm 22, it’s like we get a glimpse of the agony that Christ experienced on the inside.

Keep this in mind as we read (and write) today’s verses:

Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 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. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 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 me from the horns of the wild oxen!

- Psalm 22:12-21

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David wrote these words which many years later would be fulfilled in Christ. We see Christ experience all of this on the cross and today, in Psalm 22, we witness his inner turmoil as God’s redemption plan unfolded.

The structure of this psalm is in two parts and verse 21 is the turning point of the entire psalm. The first part, verses 1-21, is known as the Sufferings of Christ and then verses 22 to the end of the psalm is known as the Subsequent Glory. I want you to notice that in verses 12-21 we have a structure — known as a chiastic structure — that points us to a central turning point and then moves out mirroring the previous section. Here is the chiastic structure in Psalm 12-21:

A. Surrounded by enemies (vv. 12-13)

B. Physical suffering & weakness (vv. 14-15)

C. Piercing & exposure (vv.16-17)

D. Garments divided (v. 18) - Matthew 27:35

C’. Continued attack & threat (vv. 19-20)

B’. Cry for rescue from deadly danger (v. 21a)

A’. Delivered/Answered (v. 21b)

Surrounded

First, we see David is surrounded. He is talking about bulls encompassing him. The word “encompass” and “encircle” just mean that he is surrounded. He doesn’t see a way out. This idea appears a couple times here. When we think of Christ’s agony on the cross and we remember how the religious leaders were there mocking him and how the crowd and even the soldiers were mocking him. He is surrounded and in this moment he feels it. The vivid words used paint a picture of the pain he is experiencing inside. Maybe you’ve felt something similar when you were surrounded by evil or your circumstances were unimaginable and you didn’t even know how you were going to get out. You felt like there was no one to help.

Yesterday, in verse 11 we see the confession that there is none to help. But here in this passage, he says, but YOU are my help. He turns and realizes there is no one physically that can help, BUT God is his help. I think we sometimes experience this turning to God in those times when we feel surrounded by evil, knowing that our enemy, the devil is like a roaring lion seeking to devour. Thank goodness we have a Hero who not only faced the forces of hell himself, but lives to intercede for us.

Internal Suffering

David goes on in detail to describe how he’s feeling on the inside. We see this mirrored in Christ’s agony on the cross as he describes his pain in images of being poured out like water, bones out of joint, heart melting like wax, strength being dried up like a broken piece of pottery, unquenchable thirst. His life feels fragile in this moment. He senses the approach of death in every fiber of his being. We see all of this fulfilled in the Gospels. Can you imagine as David, inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words, as his quill hits the papyrus, he marvels at the meaning of these words? He owns this agony, but wonders at the words being given him. And then we, on the other side of the revelation of Christ, witness these words being acted out in Jesus’s suffering.

We can experience this agony physically in our lives. We might feel like our circumstances are overwhelming, but we know that Jesus physically experienced all these things. We see a vivid timeline of his physical sufferings acted out on the stage in the Gospels: his hands and feet being pierced and all of his bones can be counted. In John 19, we see his garments divided. All of this is prophetic and no detail is left behind in the Gospels.

The Only Help

In verse 19 of Psalm 22, we see the transition word, “but”. We’ve seen several transition words used in this psalm. But and yet. Here we witness a turning point, “But you, O LORD, do not be far off, oh you, my help come quickly to my aid!” He calls the LORD his help. In verse 11, he states there is NO ONE to help and here he turns to God as the ONLY ONE who can help. He is our only hope.

Notice how every sentence in this section ends with an exclamation point. He is shouting. Help me! Deliver my soul from the sword! Deliver my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I love how David continuously comes back to who God is. He’s feeling many emotions. He’s surrounded, but yet he keeps coming back to God as his only help. I think that’s something we can learn from David’s transition here, even though nothing has changed about his circumstances, he recognizes God as his only help and he cries out to him.

As we look toward Easter and the cross, it’s good for us to remind ourselves that it was our sin that put him on the cross. It was our sin that caused him to be in agony like this. It was our sin that caused him to feel like his strength was dried up, that his bones were out of joint and his heart was melted like wax. He was physically thirsty for us and they cast lots for his garments, sealing the fact that he would die. All of these things were describing his experience in detail; he did this for us.

Verse 21 ends the Sufferings of Christ section in this psalm and tomorrow we will move into the Subsequent Glory. I think it’s important to keep in mind that when we see Christ in the Gospels it’s as if we’re bystanders or spectators, but in Psalm 22 we are getting a peek into the agony he experienced on the inside. The pain he experienced should cause us to reflect on the WHY of the cross and the WHY of the Resurrection.

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