| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 To the chief Musician. Upon Aijeleth-Shahar. A Psalm of David. My *God, my *God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou far from my salvation, from the words of my groaning? |
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
|
| 2 My God, I cry by day, and thou answerest not; and by night, and there is no rest for me: |
|
| 3 And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel. |
|
| 4 Our fathers confided in thee: they confided, and thou didst deliver them. |
|
| 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered; they confided in thee, and were not confounded. |
|
| 6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and the despised of the people. |
|
| 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying: |
|
| 8 Commit it to Jehovah--let him rescue him; let him deliver him, because he delighteth in him! |
|
| 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou didst make me trust, upon my mother's breasts. |
|
| 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my *God from my mother's belly. |
|
| 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*
|
| 12 Many bulls have encompassed me; Bashan's strong ones have beset me round. |
|
| 13 They gape upon me with their mouth, as a ravening and a roaring lion. |
|
| 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is become like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. |
It is melted – As every particle of the meat offering was exposed to the fire. R84:2*
|
| 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my palate; and thou hast laid me in the dust of death. |
|
| 16 For dogs have encompassed me; an assembly of evil-doers have surrounded me: they pierced my hands and my feet. |
|
| 17 I may count all my bones. They look, they stare upon me; |
|
| 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
|
| 19 But thou, Jehovah, be not far from me; O my strength, haste thee to help me. |
|
| 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the power of the dog; |
|
| 21 Save me from the lion's mouth. Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me. |
|
| 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
|
| 23 Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and revere him, all ye the seed of Israel. |
That fear the LORD – Perfect love casts out slavish, but not reverential, fear. R2289:4
|
| 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. |
|
| 25 My praise is from 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
|
| 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise Jehovah 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
|
| 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families 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*
|
| 28 For the kingdom is Jehovah's, and he ruleth 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
|
| 29 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and he that cannot keep alive his own soul. |
Keep alive his own soul – The soul can be destroyed by its Creator. R1882:1; HG334:5
|
| 30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. |
|
| 31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it2. |
|