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Home , Psalm 22, Psalm 43, Psalm 50

Lament #1A - Psalm Couplets – Psalms 22 and 23

The psalms are often read in isolation from each other. When we are reading other parts of the , we often read the chapter before or the chapter after to get the context. But we tend not to do this with Psalms. However, doing this mean that we miss out on a richness than comes from reading psalms in context.

There are some well recognised collections of psalms.

Psalms 42-49 (Sons of Korah)1 Psalms 73-83 (Asaph)2 Psalms 93-100 ( Reigns)3 Psalms 120-134 (Songs of Ascents)4 Psalms 146-150 (Hallelu-Yah) Psalms 9-10* 17-18 20-21 22-23 38-39 42-43* What is less well recognised is that some 46-48 50*-51 56-57 psalms are grouped together in couplets 111-112 104-106 or triads. The asterisk highlights indications that these psalms are means to be This arrangement creates a dialogue read as couplets Psalm 10 - only psalm in book I missing “of ”; between adjacent psalms. Here’s a list of - missing “sons of Korah”; some noticeable couplets and triads. - only psalm of Asaph not in the Asaph collection

The significance of these couplets and triads is that they often present two truths side by side, either from a different point of view, or in apparent tension. We see this particularly in Psalm 22 and . Psalm 22 and Psalm 23 – together – help us to understand what it is like to say “God is with us”. Psalm 22 describes the experience of the absence of God – of being God-forsaken. Psalm 23 describes the experience of the presence of God.

These two psalms are both Psalms “of David”. David knew what it was like to be god-forsaken. And David knew what is was to know God’s presence. These two psalms need to be read together – we need to listen to the dialogue between the psalms – to get the full picture. Let me say this another way – if we expect that the Christian life is going to be a succession of Psalm 23 moments – then we haven’t got it right. Or if it only feels like the god-forsakenness of Psalm 22 is what we are experiencing, then we haven’t got it right either.

Psalm 22 It is hard for us not to think of Jesus when we read Psalm 22. This psalm is quoted from or alluded to in each of the Gospels in the , specifically in relation to the Jesus’ death on the cross: • Jesus’ anguished cry from the cross – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” – is a quotation from the first verse of the psalm. (:34) • The mocking taunts in verses 7 through 8 are echoed by the religious leaders as they watch Jesus die: “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him” (:43).

1 These psalms begin with “[A Maskil] of the Sons of Korah.” – taking and 43 as originally one psalm. ”See also Psalm 50, which is “out of .( ִמ ְז ֗מ ֹור ְל ֫ ָא ָ֥סף) ”These psalms begin “A psalm of Asaph 2 3 These psalms have the refrain “The Lord reigns” – 93:1, 96:10, 97:1, 99:1. The other psalms also stress the Kingship/Lordship of Yahweh - Great King about all gods – Ps 95:3 ; The King the Lord – Ps 98:6, Lord is God 100:3 ( ִשׁיר ַל ַמּ ֲע תו ) ”Each psalm begins with “A song for ascents 4 • Jesus dies in the manner described in verse 16 – “a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.” • And the soldiers actions at the foot of the cross parallel verse 18: “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” (cf. :24)

However, even though Jesus comes so readily to mind when we hear the psalm, it is vital that we remember that before this was a psalm about Jesus, it was a psalm about King David. David is the prototype – or better, the archetype – of the righteous sufferer in the . That is not to say that David was always righteous. On other occasions, David suffered because of his own sin or folly – is a clear example of this. But in this psalm, and often elsewhere, David is suffering through no fault of his own. David is God’s man, and he is suffering because God’s enemies also oppose God’s anointed king.

In Psalm 22, it feels to David that God has abandoned him. David appeals to God with a question in the first verse. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And the same idea is repeated in the next clause -“Why are you so far from saving me”?

Psalm 22 follows the typical pattern of a lament psalm. After the opening appeal to God, there is a complaint, followed by a petition, followed by praise. The complaint stretches from verses 2 through 18. The essence of the complaint is in verse 2: “O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer”. David is crying out to be delivered from his enemies, but God seems to be ignoring him.

In verses 3 to 5, David contrasts this to the experience his forefathers - In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them… Well, like them, David has put his trust in the Lord, but instead of being delivered from his enemies, the enemies mock him – verses 6 to 8. And the thing in particular they mock is that David trusts in the Lord. What brought deliverance for the forefathers only brings mockery to David. David’s trust in the Lord is not a new-found thing– verses 9 to 10 – he has trusted in God since the day he was born, but seemingly to no avail.

So, in verse 11, David repeats his plea: Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

The next section, from verses 12 to 18, are a catalogue of affliction – the reasons why trouble is near; why God seems far; and why David needs the Lord to save him. David is oppressed by three terrors: psychological distress, physical deprivation, and the distain of enemies.

The first terror is there in verses 12 and 13 – the distress of being surrounded and encircled by his enemies – that his enemies are right there beside him, seeking to take him down to the pit of death.

The second terror is in verses 14 to 15 – Physical deprivation and affliction – “my bones are all out of joint... 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth”.

The third terror – verses 16 to 18 – is being despised and distained by evildoers: “people stare and gloat over me”. That may not seem on par with the other two terrors, but in fact it is the worst of the three, because David is being mocked for trusting in the Lord, and yet the Lord does nothing – maybe the Lord really has abandoned David.

For the moment, just remember those three terrors –distress, deprivation, distain. I’ll come back to those in a moment. Having outlined his complaint in verses 2 to 18, David makes his petition to God in verses 19 to 21. 19 O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.

Earlier in the Psalm, David has stressed that he is someone who trusts in the Lord. He demonstrates that now in the psalm, because he trusts that God has heard and will answer his petition. Verses 22 to 24 are a vow of praise, in anticipation that God is about to act. Personal praise in verse 22 expands to corporate praise, as David exhorts his fellow- to praise God – why? Verse 24 – because the Lord “has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”

This praise expands even further from verse 25 onwards – out from the nation of Israel to the “ends of the earth”, to “all the families of the nations”. And it expands even further to intergenerational praise in the final verses – “future generations will be told about the Lord. 31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-- for he has done it.” David is confident that the Lord will ultimately answer his prayer, and he and all the people will give God praise for it.

Psalm 22 describes David’s experience of God in the midst of great distress. For David, God felt far away and was not hearing or heeding his prayers. At the start of the psalm, David cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, because he felt abandoned by God. But by the end of the psalm, David is able to articulate his confidence that God has NOT despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one.

Psalm 22 sits alongside Psalm 23. A psalm about the absence of God is in textual dialogue with a psalm about the presence of God. Like Psalm 22, Psalm 23 is a psalm of David. David who knows that the Lord is his shepherd, and all that this entails. A shepherd who watches over his sheep, who cares for his sheep, who provides for his sheep. There are obvious points of contrast with the previous psalm. Remember the three terrors in Psalm 22 – deprivation, distress, distain. Here, the situation is reversed.

Instead of the physical deprivation of Psalm 22 – “my mouth is dry, my tongue sticks to my mouth” – David in Psalm 23 can say “I shall not be in want”. And the reasons why are unpacked in the psalm. The Lord his shepherd “makes me to lie down in green pastures”… verse 5 – “he prepares a banquet table”…. “my cup overflows”. It is a picture of gracious and abundant provision.

So instead of the psychological distress of Psalm 22 – being surrounded and trapped by enemies – David in Psalm 23 knows peace and security: his shepherd – verse 2 – “leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.” Verse 4 - “your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Instead of the enemies who despise and distain, the tables are turned – both metaphorically and literally! Verse 5: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. This is not a banquet to be shared with the enemies – no, David eats in their presence, finally vindicated before them.

However, for all of the points of reversal, Psalm 23 is not oblivious to suffering. David was no stranger to suffering. The psalm acknowledges the reality – verse 4 – of “walking through the valley of the shadow of death”. But note what comes next – even in the valley of the shadow of death David says “I will fear no evil, for you are with me”. That is, the emphasis of this psalm is on the experience of the presence of God through all of life, even in the midst of suffering. In Psalm 23, this experience is not a momentary thing. This is a confidence for all of life – verse 6 - Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And indeed, not just for this life, but eternally – verse 6 again - I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 22 and Psalm 23 are a couplet, to provoke us to reflect on the presence – and absence – of God. The psalms are in contrast, not in contradiction. Each psalm acknowledges the reality of suffering and enemies and hardship, and each psalm recognises God’s presence in the midst of the struggles. But they come at the issue from opposite poles. In Psalm 22, the starting point – the starting experience – is the absence of God. In Psalm 23, the starting experience – is the presence of God.

These psalms communicate what the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin described as “dialogical truth”. He argued that some truths cannot be reduced to a series of simple propositions or ideas. Dialogical truths can only be conveyed through the multiple perspectives of unmerged voices. That is we need to hear this voice and that voice and another voice, and put it all together, and only then have we got the whole.

Psalm 22 and Psalm 23 are two unmerged voices, and we have to hear them both together. We mustn’t flatten their complex story into a simple narrative that ends “and they all lived happily ever after”. The experience of Jesus – the one who was God incarnate – who knew that my Father is always with me – he experienced God’s presence in absence and absence in presence. The same Jesus who cried out from the cross – “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” also says with his dying breath – “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (:46) It is not either-or, it is both-and.

When Jesus died on the cross – he was forsaken – that is forsaken to death. God let his son die a terrible death at the hands of sinful people. We know why he did this – Jesus died for us, for our sake, as a sacrifice for sin. But that doesn’t change the fact that the son of God was forsaken-unto- death. Jesus died experiencing the full terrors of Psalm 22 - deprivation, distress, distain – and he did all that for us. But that is not the end of the story. As the apostle Peter picks up this theme in his sermon in Acts 2 – quoting another psalm – – “he was not abandoned to the grave”. It is actually the same word – My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” “He was not abandoned to the grave”.5

The resurrection of Jesus is the vindication moment – the answer to that prayer of faith of Psalm 22. The turning of the tables on his enemies. Jesus experienced God’s presence in absence and absence in presence. And what was true for Jesus is also true for us – our experience is absence in presence and presence in absence. The same word – abandoned – also occurs in Hebrews 13:5: “God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake – abandon – you.” This is deeply true for every single Christian person – through all the ups and downs of life, even through the valley of the shadow of death – the Lord is present with us, present by his spirit dwelling within us. But this deep truth sits alongside – is in dialogue with – another deep truth. That our experience is one of absence in presence and presence in absence. Until the day when we see our Lord face to face, Psalm 22 is also part of our ongoing human experience – times of deprivation, distress, and distain – that sometimes makes it feel like God is not hearing or heeding our prayers.

These two psalms encourage us to embrace these twin truths, and like David, and like the Lord Jesus – to trust in the Lord, and cling tightly to the one who clings tightly to us. And in those moments when it feels most like God has forsaken us, to hear him say to us “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

( בזע Ps 22:1 + Ps 16:10: LXX Greek = ἐγκαταλείπω (in each case translating Hebrew 5 Mark 15:34 + Acts 2:27: Greek = ἐγκαταλείπω