Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 22:14
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.
14. Cp. Jos 7:5; Psa 6:2 ff. It is the experience of the dying man. Cp. Newman’s Dream of Gerontius,
“This emptying out of each constituent
And natural force, whereby I come to be.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 17. The effects of anxiety and persecution. Vital strength and courage fail; his frame is racked and tortured; he is reduced to a skeleton.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I am poured out like water – The sufferer now turns from his enemies, and describes the effect of all these outward persecutions and trials on himself. The meaning in this expression is, that all his strength was gone. It is remarkable that we have a similar expression, which is not easily accounted for, when we say of ourselves that we are as weak as water. An expression similar to this occurs in Jos 7:5 : The hearts of the people melted, and became as water. Compare Lam 2:19; Psa 58:7. My bones are out of joint. Margin, sundered. The Hebrew word – parad – means to break off, to break in pieces, to separate by breaking; and then, to be separated, or divided. It is not necessary to suppose here that his bones were literally dislocated or put out of joint, anymore than it is necessary to suppose that he was literally poured out like water, or that his heart was literally melted like wax within him. The meaning is that he was utterly prostrated and powerless; he was as if his bones had been dislocated, and he was unable to use his limbs.
My heart is like wax – The idea here also is that of debility. His strength seemed all to be gone. His heart was no longer firm; his vigour was exhausted.
It is melted in the midst of my bowels – Or, within me. The word bowels in the Scriptures is not restricted in its signification as it is with us. It embraces the upper parts of the viscera as well as the lower, and consequently would include that part in which the heart is situated. See the notes at Isa 16:11. The meaning here is that his heart was no longer firm and strong. As applied to the Redeemer, this would refer to the prostration of his strength in his last struggle; and no one can prove that these thoughts did not pass through his mind when on the cross.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 22:14-18
They pierced my hands and my feet.
Our Lords passion
The great mystery of the passion of our Lord is one which in all its fulness the human mind cannot comprehend. In what manner His sufferings purchased our redemption, and what was the precise nature of those sufferings, are points which we shall in vain attempt to ascertain or demonstrate by words, however forcible; but that Christ died for our sins, and that we are redeemed by His precious blood, are amongst the many declarations of Scripture which place beyond all doubt the truth that the sufferings of Christ were an atonement for our sin.
I. The sufferings of Christ as man. Every kind of pain tortured His body. The closing scenes of His life mark Him most conspicuously as the Man of Sorrows.
II. The sufferings which Christ endured as the Son of God. The sins of the whole world oppressed Him. Sin when duly felt is a heavy burden. How heavy, then, must have been the weight of the sins of the whole world! How wondrous is the outpouring of such love on the part of Jesus and of God! Let the memory of it guard us from attempting to extenuate sin, or in any way making light of it. And when we are called upon to suffer, let the example of our Lords meekness and humility be that which we shall follow. (T. R. Redwar, M. A.)
The influence of a great sacrifice
It is strange to think that any man should think lightly of sin viewed in the light of Calvary Cross. It has a wonderful power and influence if you would view it aright. One day a little girl, sitting by her mothers side, gazed very intently at her parents hand. A mere stranger would have said, What a deformity! as the hand was blurred and twisted. The girl asked her mother why the hand was different to the other. The mother told her that years ago when her little child was a baby the cot in which she lay caught fire, and her mother in her terror and anxiety tore off the curtains to stop the flames and wrap the child in. In doing so she so burned her hand that for months after she was unable to use it. You can think how the childs love multiplied beyond all words as she heard the story. Her future delight was to save that injured hand all the work she could possibly.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. I am poured out like water] That is, as the old Psalter: Thai rought na mare to sla me than to spil water.
The images in this verse are strongly descriptive of a person in the deepest distress; whose strength, courage, hope, and expectation of succour and relief, had entirely failed.
Our Lord’s sufferings were extreme; but I cannot think there is any sound theologic sense in which these things can be spoken of Christ, either in his agony in the garden, or his death upon the cross.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I am poured out like water; my heart faileth, my spirits are spent and gone like water, which once spilt can never be recovered; my very flesh is melted within me, and I am become as weak as water. See the like phrase Jos 7:5, and compare 2Sa 14:14; Job 14:11.
All my bones are out of joint; I am as weak and unable to move or help myself, and withal as full of torment, as if I were upon a rack, and all my bones were disjointed. Or, all my bones are separated, one from another; as they were in some sort in Christ, by the stretching of his body upon the cross.
My heart; the seat of life, and fountain which supplies spirits and vigour to the whole body.
Is like wax; melted, as it follows, through fear and overwhelming grief: compare Psa 68:2; 97:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14, 15. Utter exhaustion andhopeless weakness, in these circumstances of pressing danger, are setforth by the most expressive figures; the solidity of the body isdestroyed, and it becomes like water; the bones are parted; theheart, the very seat of vitality, melts like wax; all the juices ofthe system are dried up; the tongue can no longer perform its office,but lies parched and stiffened (compare Gen 49:4;2Sa 14:14; Psa 58:8).In this, God is regarded as the ultimate source, and men as theinstruments.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I am poured out like water,…. This may refer to Christ’s sweat in the garden, when through his agony or conflict with Satan, and his vehemency in prayer, and the pressure on his mind, in a view of his people’s sins, and the wrath of God for, them, and the accursed death he was about to undergo on that account, sweat in great abundance came from all parts of his body, and not only stood in large drops, but fell to the ground like great drops of blood; so that his body was all covered with water, or rather seemed to be dissolving into water, or else to the quantity of tears he shed both there and elsewhere; his sorrow was great even unto death, which vented itself in floods of tears; his prayers were offered up with strong crying and tears; his head was, as Jeremiah wished his might be, as waters, and his eyes a fountain of tears, yea, his whole body seemed to be bathed with them: or else to the shedding of his blood, and the pouring out his soul unto death for his people, which was voluntarily done by himself, or by his enemies; which they shed like water, and made no account of it,
Ps 79:3. Some have thought this respects the opinion some had of him, even some of his own disciples, when he was dead; all their hopes of his being their Redeemer and Saviour being gone, he was as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up; see 2Sa 14:14; but rather the phrase intends his being quite dispirited, his heart failing, his soul sorrowful unto death, his hands feeble, his knees weak like water, and he just ready to faint and die; see Jos 7:5 Eze 7:17;
and all my bones are out of joint; not through the stretching of his body on the cross, which seems to be designed in Ps 22:17; but as it is with persons in a panic, their joints seem to be loosed, and their bones parting asunder, their legs tremble, no member can perform its office, but as if everyone was dislocated and out of its place; see Ps 6:2;
my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels; as wax melts before the fire, so did the heart of Christ at the wrath and fury of God, which was poured forth like fire upon him; and which he had a sense of, when in the garden and on the cross, bearing the sins of his people, and sustaining the punishment due unto them for it was not because of his enemies, nor merely at the presence of God, and his righteous judgments, which is sometimes the case; see 2Sa 17:10; but at the apprehension of divine wrath, and feeling the same, as the surety of his people; and what an idea does this give of the wrath of God! for if the heart of Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, melted at it, what heart can endure, or hands be strong, when God deals with them in his wrath? Eze 22:14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 22:15-16) Now he described, how, thus encompassed round, he is still just living, but already as it were dead. The being poured out like water reminds us of the ignominious abandonment of the Crucified One to a condition of weakness, in which His life, deprived of its natural support, is in the act of dissolution, and its powers dried up (2Sa 14:14); the bones being stretched out, of the forcible stretching out of His body ( , from to separate, cf. Arab. frd, according to its radical signification, which has been preserved in the common Arabic dialect: so to spread out or apart that the thing has no bends or folds,
(Note: Vid., Bocthor, Dict. fran.-arabe, s. v. Etendre and Dployer.)
Greek ) ; the heart being melted, recalls His burning anguish, the inflammation of the wounds, and the pressure of blood on the head and heart, the characteristic cause of death by crucifixion. , in pause , is 3 praet.; wax, , receives its name from its melting ( , root , ). In Psa 22:16 the comparison has reference to the issue of result (vid., Psa 18:43): my strength is dried up, so that it is become like a potsherd. (Saadia) instead of commends itself, unless, perhaps, like the Talmudic cidumlaT eht eki , also had the signification “spittle” (as a more dignified word for ). , with the exception perhaps of Pro 26:28, is uniformly feminine; here the predicate has the masculine ground-form without respect to the subject. The part. pass. has a tendency generally to be used without reference to gender, under the influence of the construction laid down in Ges. 143, 1, b, according to which may be treated as an accusative of the object; , however, is acc. loci (cf. Psa 137:6; Job 29:10; Lam 4:4; Eze 3:26): my tongue is made to cleave to my jaws, fauces meas . Such is his state in consequence of outward distresses. His enemies, however, would not have power to do all this, if God had not given it to them. Thus it is, so to speak, God Himself who lays him low in death. to put anywhere, to lay, with the accompanying idea of firmness and duration, Arab. tbat , Isa 26:12; the future is used of that which is just taking place. Just in like manner, in Isa 53:1-12, the death of the Servant of God is spoken of not merely as happening thus, but as decreed; and not merely as permitted by God, but as being in accordance with the divine will. David is persecuted by Saul, the king of His people, almost to the death; Jesus, however, is delivered over by the Sanhedrim, the authority of His people, to the heathen, under whose hands He actually dies the death of the cross: it is a judicial murder put into execution according to the conditions and circumstances of the age; viewed, however, as to its final cause, it is a gracious dispensation of the holy God, in whose hands all the paths of the world’s history run parallel, and who in this instance makes sin subservient to its own expiation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
14. I am poured out like water. Hitherto he has informed us that being surrounded by wild beasts, he was not far from death, as if he had been at the point of being devoured every moment. He now bewails, in addition to this, his inward distress; from which we learn that he was not stupid or insensible in dangers. It could have been no ordinary fear which made him almost pine away, by which his bones were disjointed, and his heart poured out like water. We see, then, that David was not buffeted with the waves of affliction like a rock which cannot be moved, but was agitated within by sore troubles and temptations, which, through the infirmity of the flesh, he would never have been able to sustain had he not been aided by the power of the Spirit of God. How these sufferings are applicable to Christ I have informed you a little before. Being a real man, he was truly subject to the infirmities of our flesh, only without the taint of sin. The perfect purity of his nature did not extinguish the human affections; it only regulated them, that they might not become sinful through excess. The greatness of his griefs, therefore, could not so weaken him as to prevent him, even in the midst of his most excruciating sufferings, from submitting himself to the will of God, with a composed and peaceful mind. Now, although this is not the case with respect to us, who have within us turbulent and disorderly affections, and who never can keep them under such restraint as not to be driven hither and thither by their impetuosity, yet, after the example of David, we ought to take courage; and when, through our infirmity, we are, as it were, almost lifeless, we should direct our groanings to God, beseeching him that he would be graciously pleased to restore us to strength and vigor. (512)
(512) “ Ace qu’il luy plaise nous remettre sus, et nous rendre force et vigueur.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) The state of hopeless prostration into which the victim of these terrible foes is brought could not be more powerfully described. It is a state of entire dissolution. Again Lam. 2:2 offers a close parallel.
Out of joint.Perhaps, better, stand out as in a state of emaciation. (Comp. Psa. 22:17.) Literally, separate themselves. In other places, however, bones is used in the sense in which we use fibres, in such a phrase as all the fibres of his frame.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. I am poured out like water A figure denoting a profuse waste of the vital forces. But in 2Sa 14:14, the figure implies that the loss is irrecoverable, “as water spill which cannot be gathered up again,” which gave to the ceremony of pouring out water “before the Lord” the significance of a confirmation of a covenant whose engagements could not be recalled. 1Sa 7:6. The life of Christ was freely given. “He poured out his soul unto death,” (Isa 53:12,) in his soul agony and bloody sweat. Mat 26:38; Luk 22:44.
Bones out of joint As if the ligaments were dissolved and the muscles weakened, so that the limbs were uncontrollable. This would be the natural effect of crucifixion. But of Christ, not a bone was broken. Joh 19:36.
My heart is like wax The loss of courage and resolution through fear is often signified by the melting of wax. Psa 68:2; Mic 1:4; Jos 2:11. Jesus was “sore amazed” and “very heavy,” (Mar 14:33,) and fear was a leading feature of his sufferings. Heb 5:7. See Psa 22:19-21 of this psalm.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within me.’
The inevitable effects of crucifixion were having their effect. His body was being weakened as the blood poured from His many wounds like water, and as His body was twisted and stretched by the cross, His bones became distorted and out of joint, while His heart within Him was like melted wax, as a result of His sufferings, and at the awfulness of the burden of sin that He faced.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 22:14. I am poured out like water, &c.
As water spilt, and poured out, I seem As all my bones were out of joint. FENWICK.
By this comparison, and by that of wax, which melts before the fire, the speaker represents how much his strength was exhausted, and his spirits as it were dissolved. Nothing can be more pathetic and affecting than the description in this and the following verse; where the melancholy expression my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, was verified by our Saviour in the last agonies of his passion; when he cried out I thirst. Joh 19:28. The dust of death signifies the brink of the grave.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 22:14 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.
Ver. 14. I am poured out like water ] i.e. I am almost past all recovery, as water spilt upon the ground.
And all my bones are out of joint
My heart is like wax, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
in the midst of my bowels = within me.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I am: Jos 7:5, Mat 26:38, Luk 22:44, Joh 12:27
all: Psa 22:17, Dan 5:6
out of joint: or, sundered
heart: Psa 68:2, Jos 7:5, Job 23:16, Mar 14:33, Mar 14:34
Reciprocal: Exo 12:8 – roast Exo 29:13 – all the fat Lev 2:4 – meat offering Lev 2:9 – an offering Lev 3:11 – burn Lev 3:14 – the fat that covereth Lev 4:19 – General Lev 8:28 – Moses Num 19:5 – General Deu 16:7 – roast Jdg 15:18 – he was sore 2Sa 14:14 – as water 2Ch 35:13 – roasted Job 19:20 – bone Job 30:16 – my soul Psa 6:3 – My Psa 31:9 – my soul Psa 35:10 – All Psa 58:7 – General Psa 88:15 – while Psa 102:3 – my bones Psa 107:26 – their soul Psa 109:24 – knees Psa 119:28 – soul Psa 119:107 – afflicted Psa 142:3 – my spirit Isa 53:12 – poured Lam 1:13 – above Lam 1:20 – my bowels Lam 2:11 – my liver Lam 3:4 – he hath Jon 2:7 – my soul Nah 2:10 – the heart Mat 27:50 – yielded Joh 19:36 – that the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 22:14-15. I am poured out like water My spirits are spent and gone like water, which, once spilt, can never be recovered; my very flesh is melted within me, and I am become as weak as water. My bones are out of joint I am as unable to help myself, and as full of pain, as if all my bones were disjointed. My heart is like wax Melted through fear and overwhelming grief. My strength is dried I have, in a manner, no more moisture left in me, than is in a dry potsherd. My tongue cleaveth, &c. Through excessive thirst and drought. Thou hast brought me to death
By thy providence delivering me into the power of mine enemies, and by thy terrors in my soul.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:14 I am poured out like {h} water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
(h) Before he spoke of the cruelty of his enemies, and now he declares the inward grief of the mind, so that Christ was tormented both in soul and body.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
With many other graphic word pictures David described how distressed he felt because of the attacks of his enemies. As water poured out on the ground, he could not gather himself to resist them. He felt pained and incapable of defending himself, as when bones become dislocated. His spirit, rather than remaining firm, had melted away like hot wax. He felt as devoid of energy as a broken shard of pottery. He was in need of refreshment, as a thirsty person craves water when his mouth is dry. He concluded that he was almost in the grave, almost dead, because the Lord had not helped him.