| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. |
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| 1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? |
My God, my God – Jews read from Psalm 22 and cried aloud these words at the wailing place in Jerusalem. C275*
Forsaken me – There came a time when the gate of earth and the door of heaven were both closed to Jesus. He hung suspended between the earth and heaven; he had given up earth at his consecration, and now the door of heaven was also closed. R4529:5*
Such a dark moment might be permitted to even the most worthy followers of the Lamb. F143
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| 2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. |
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| 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. |
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| 4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. |
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| 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. |
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| 6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. |
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| 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, |
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| 8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. |
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| 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. |
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| 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. |
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| 11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. |
None to help – Pray, pleading our need. R5380:5*
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| 12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. |
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| 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. |
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| 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
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It is melted – As every particle of the meat offering was exposed to the fire. R84:2*
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| 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. |
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| 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. |
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| 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. |
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| 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. |
Part my garments – Minutely fulfilled. R1394:5, R3370:3
Little did the soldiers think, as they divided his garments, that they were fulfilling prophecy. R3901:5
Upon my vesture – Symbolizing the righteousness of Christ, which can be appropriated only as a whole. R2474:1
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| 19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. |
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| 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. |
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| 21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. |
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| 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. |
Unto my brethren – The Little Flock, the Bride class. R5007:1
Who have received the spirit of adoption. E109
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| 23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. |
That fear the LORD – Perfect love casts out slavish, but not reverential, fear. R2289:4
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| 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. |
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| 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. |
My vows before them – Nothing in the Scriptures intimates that our Vow to the Lord must be kept secret. Indeed, our baptismal vow we are required to symbolize or profess publicly. R4266:4
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| 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. |
The meek shall eat – The table of the Lord has been spread for his Church from the very beginning of the Gospel age, and has always been supplied with meat in season. R1899:2
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| 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. |
Shall remember – The resurrected ones shall have personalities identical to those with which they went into the grave, able to recall their former degraded conditions. R360:5, R604:3*
Turn unto the LORD – In due time. (1 Tim 2:4) SM311:1
The Christian church has been right in believing in the eventual conversion of the world, but it is the work of the Kingdom and not of the Gospel age. HG14:2
All the kindreds – Including those who have perished from the earth, for the Scriptures assure us of the awakening of all the sleeping millions of earth's population. HG434:2
Worship before thee – "All nations shall come and worship before thee" (Rev 15:4); the ultimate result of the work of Christ. R99:2*
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| 28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. |
Kingdom Is the LORD'S – The conversion of the world is not due while the devil is "the prince of this world." R532:4, R256:4, R321:1, R5:2
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| 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. |
Keep alive his own soul – The soul can be destroyed by its Creator. R1882:1; HG334:5
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| 30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. |
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| 31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. |
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