Meditations

Question from moody radio listener on September 28, 2019 on openline:

Do you see psalm 22 as one of the Messianic prophecies?

Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik:

You know, that’s actually one of the challenges that people have, don’t you think Ed? Because people think David is just writing about his own experience, not really about the Messiah. What would you say about that, Ed?

Dr Edwin Blum:

Well, we had some interesting discussions about whether or not the translation actually should be “they pierced me, my hands and my feet” and I remember sending an enquiry to one of the top scholars of the dead sea scrolls, see what the reading was there. It encouraged us in our understanding of that prophecy as a deliberate prophecy of the Messiah on the cross.

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

It talks about how they divided his clothes, right? His garments …

Dr Edwin Blum:

It’s quoted in John …

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

The new testament quotes it but never quotes that phrase, they pierced my hands and my feet and I think you’re on the money, I think there’s a textual dispute. And the earliest version we have of this Hebrew text is in the dead sea scrolls, the Qumran scrolls and there they have a fragment from Psalm 22 and it says they pierced my hands and my feet. And David could do it, in 2 Samuel 23, David says, the word of the Lord was on my tongue and His spirit spoke through me. So David understood himself as a prophet and so he could prophesy of the Messiah.

Psalm 22

For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
¹⁷ I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
¹⁸ They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots. -nkjv

2 Samuel 23

23 Now these are the last words of David.

Thus says David the son of Jesse;
Thus says the man raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

² “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue. -nkjv