Psalm 22:16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 22:11-21

In these verses we have Christ suffering and Christ praying, by which we are directed to look for crosses and to look up to God under them. I. Here is Christ suffering. David indeed was often in trouble, and beset with enemies; but many of the particulars here specified are such as were never true of David, and therefore must be appropriated to Christ in the depth of his humiliation. 1. He is here deserted by his friends: Trouble and distress are near, and there is none to help, none to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me ,.... By whom are meant wicked men, as the following clause shows; and so the Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "the wicked who are like to many dogs"; and to these such are often compared in Scripture, Matthew 7:6 ; and it may be the Roman soldiers, who were Gentiles, may be chiefly intended, whom the Jews used to call dogs, Matthew 15:26 ; these assembled together in Pilate's hall and surrounded Christ, and made sport with him; to these were committed the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me - This may refer to the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers, and others by whom our Lord was surrounded in his trial, and at his cross. They pierced my hands and my feet - The other sufferings David, as a type of our Lord, might pass through; but the piercing of the hands and feet was peculiar to our Lord; therefore, this verse may pass for a direct revelavion. Our Lord's hands and feet were pierced when he was nailed to the cross, David's never were pierced. But... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 22:16

Verse 16 16.They have pierced my hands and my feet. The original word, which we have translated they have pierced, is כארי, caari, which literally rendered is, like a lion. As all the Hebrew Bibles at this day, without exception, have this reading, I would have had great hesitation in departing from a reading which they all support, were it not that the scope of the discourse compels me to do so, and were there not strong grounds for conjecturing that this passage has been fraudulently... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 22:1-31

The psalm is composed, manifestly, of two portions—the complaint and prayer of a sufferer ( Psalms 22:1-21 ), and a song of rejoicing after deliverance ( Psalms 22:22-31 ). According to some critics, the first of these two portions is also itself divided into two parts—each consisting of two strophes ( Psalms 22:1-10 and Psalms 22:12-21 ), which are linked together by a single ejaculatory verse ( Psalms 22:11 ). A further analysis divides each of the three strophes of ten verses... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 22:1-31

From darkness to light; or, the song of the early dawn. This is one of the most wonderful of all the psalms. It has gathered round it the study of expositors of most diverse types—from those who see in it scarcely aught but a description beforehand of the Messiah's suffering and glory, to those who see in it scarcely any Messianic reference at all, and who acknowledge only one sense in which even the term "Messianic" is to be tolerated, even in the fact that light gleams forth after the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 22:1-31

A struggle from the gloom of adversity to peace and joy. It was said among the heathen that a just man struggling with adversity was a sight worthy of the gods. Such a sight we have here. We see a truly just man struggling from the gloomiest depths of adversity upwards to the serene heights of peace and joy in God. Three stages may be marked. I. THE WAIL OF DESERTION . ( Psalms 22:1-10 .) Suffering is no "strange thing." It comes sooner or later to all. Always, and especially... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 22:11-21

Prayer in suffering. The persecuted exile continues to speak of his sufferings, but seems to rise up out of the despair of the first verse into the faith implied in prayer. Much of the suffering here described, if not productive, was at least typical , of the suffering of Christ. An argument is still going on in the sufferer's mind as to whether God had finally forsaken him or not. He has been trying in the first ten verses to argue down the feeling, but has not yet succeeded; and now... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me. "Dogs" now encompass the Sufferer, perhaps the subordinate agents in the cruelties—the rude Roman soldiery, who laid rough hands on the adorable Person ( Matthew 27:27-35 ). Oriental dogs are savage and of unclean habits, whence the term "dog" in the East has always been, and still is, a term of reproach. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me ; or, a band of wicked ones have shut me in. The "band" of Roman soldiers ( Mark 15:16 ) seems foreshadowed. ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me - Men who resemble dogs; harsh, snarling, fierce, ferocious. See Philippians 3:2, note; and Revelation 22:15, note. No one can doubt that this is applicable to the Redeemer.The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me - That is, they have surrounded me; they have come around me on all sides so that I might not escape. So they surrounded the Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane when they arrested him and bound him; so they surrounded him when on his trial before the... read more

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