Verse 1
1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me The quotation of these words by Matthew (Matthew 27:46) and Mark (Mark 15:34) decides their application to Christ. The words mark the deepest soul suffering of Christ upon the cross, as “I thirst” expressed the point of his bodily agony. The “why” is not the cry of despair, impatience, or a rebellious heart, but of mystery. Into that mystery, as it applies to Christ, we may not curiously inquire. It was not, however, that the “Only Begotten of the Father” was enduring the wrath of God. He was still the “beloved Son, in whom the Father was well pleased,” and still he confidingly calls him “ my God.” Yet he trod “the wine press alone,” (Isaiah 63:3,) and suffered “the just for the unjust.”
Forsaken The word simply has the negative signification of to leave, to withdraw from, as Psalms 71:11; Isaiah 54:7, but describes the point of the Saviour’s mysterious complaint, and the depth of his vicarious sufferings. In Matthew 27:46 the Saviour uses the Aramaic form, σαβαχθανι , ( sabachthani,) given in the Chaldee, שׁבקתני , ( shebahktanee,) conformably to the dialect of the Palestine Jews, instead of the Hebrew עזבתני , ( ‘azabhtanee.)
Far from helping me Hebrew, Far from my salvation. By the law of parallelism this is exegetical of forsaken, in the previous line.
Roaring Better, outcry, or loud complaint.
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