Psalms 22:9

"But thou art he that took me out of the womb;

Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother's breasts.

I was cast upon thee from the womb;

Thou art my God since my mother bare me.

Be not far from me; for trouble is near;

For there is none to help."

"Thou art my God since my mother bare me" (Psalms 22:10). In a sense, this is true of all men, "But of the Holy Child, it was most true (Luke 2:40,49,52)."[8]

"Trouble is near; there is none to help" (Psalms 22:11). The agony of death itself was approaching; the disciples had all forsaken him and fled, with the exception of John; and in the excruciating agony of that situation, Jesus again cried out for help.

We simply cannot understand why any Christian writer could complain that the Scriptures here are so general, "That no particular illness, or distressful situation can be identified." It is no illness whatever that is described here. "This is not the description of an illness, but of an execution"![9] The torture described here is clearly that of a crucifixion, a form of execution, which, as far as we can determine, had never at that time been used by any government. Although it resembles the impaling of enemies upon stakes, as practiced by the Assyrians, the practice of crucifixion was never developed until a later time by the Romans.