Verse 6
"But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn:
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying
Commit thyself unto Jehovah; let him deliver him:
Let him rescue him, seeing he delighteth in him."
"But I am a worm" (Psalms 22:6). Jesus is not speaking here of his own estimate of his own true importance and worth, but of the estimate that his enemies have made concerning him, as proved by the second half of the verse. "He is despised (as men despise a worm) and is not recognized by his contemporaries as a human being with rights."[6]
"They laugh me to scorn ... shoot out the lip ... shake (or wag) the head" (Psalms 22:7). The apostle Matthew recorded the fulfillment of this: "They that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads" (Matthew 27:39).
"Let him (God) deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him" (Psalms 22:8). These were the very words of Christ's enemies while he suffered upon the Cross. "He trusteth in God; let him deliver him, if he desireth him" (Matthew 27:43).
Barnes described this mockery by the rulers and High Priests of Israel as, "One of the most remarkable instances of blindness and infatuation that has ever occurred in the world, that the Jews should have used this language to taunt the dying Redeemer, without even suspecting that they were fulfilling the prophecies, and demonstrating at the very time when they were reviling him that he was indeed the true Messiah."[7]
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