Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 22:17
I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me.
17. I may tell ] i.e. I can count. He is reduced to a living skeleton. Cp. Job 33:21.
they look &c.] While they they gaze &c. The original expresses the malicious delight with which these monsters of cruelty feast their eyes upon the sorry spectacle.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I may tell all my bones – That is, I may count them. They are so prominent, so bare, that I can see them and count their number. The idea here is that of emaciation from continued suffering or from some other cause. As applied to the Redeemer, it would denote the effect of long protracted suffering and anxiety on his frame, as rendering it crushed, weakened, emaciated. Compare the notes at Isa 52:14; Isa 53:2-3. No one can prove that an effect such as is here referred to may not have been produced by the sufferings of the Redeemer.
They look and stare upon me – That is, either my bones – or, my enemies that stand around me. The most obvious construction would refer it to the former – to his bones – as if they stood out prominently and stared him in the face. Rosenmuller understands it in the latter sense, as meaning that his enemies gazed with wonder on such an object. Perhaps this, on the whole, furnishes the best interpretation, as there is something unnatural in speaking of a mans own bones staring or gazing upon him, and as the image of his enemies standing and looking with wonder on one so wretched, so crushed, so broken, is a very striking one. This, too, will better agree with the statement in Isa 52:14, Many were astonished at thee; and Isa 53:2-3, He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. It accords also better with the statement in the following verse; they, that is, the same persons referred to, part my garments amoung them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. I may tell all my bones] This may refer to the violent extension of his body when the whole of its weight hung upon the nails which attached his hands to the transverse beam of the cross. The body being thus extended, the principal bones became prominent, and easily discernible.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I may tell all my bones; partly through my leanness, caused by excessive grief, which is much more credible of Christ than of David; and partly by my being stretched out upon the cross.
They look and stare upon me, to wit, with delight and complacency in my calamities, as this phrase is used, Psa 35:21; 37:34; 54:7; 59:10; Oba 1:12. Compare Luk 23:35.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. His emaciated frame, itselfan item of his misery, is rendered more so as the object of delightedcontemplation to his enemies. The verbs, “look” and”stare,” often occur as suggestive of feelings ofsatisfaction (compare Psa 27:13;Psa 54:7; Psa 118:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I may tell all my bones,…. For what with the stretching out of his body on the cross, when it was fastened to it as it lay on the ground, and with the jolt of the cross when, being reared up, it was fixed in the ground, and with the weight of the body hanging upon it, all his bones were disjointed and started out; so that, could he have seen them, he might have told them, as they might be told by the spectators who were around him; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, “they have numbered all my bones”; that is, they might have done if: the Targum is, “I will number all the scars of my members”, made by the blows, scourges, and wounds he received;
they look [and] stare upon me; meaning not his bones, but his enemies; which may be understood either by way of contempt, as many Jewish interpreters explain it: so the Scribes and elders of the people, and the people themselves, looked and stared at him on the cross, and mocked at him, and insulted him; or by way of rejoicing, saying, “Aha, aha, our eye hath seen”, namely, what they desired and wished for,
Ps 35:21; a sight as was enough to have moved an heart of stone made no impression on them; they had no sympathy with him, no compassion on him, but rejoiced at his misery: this staring agrees with their character as dogs.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. I will number. The Hebrew word עצמות, atsmoth which signifies bones, is derived from another word, which signifies strength; and, therefore, this term is sometimes applied to friends, by whose defense we are strengthened, or to arguments and reasons which are, as it were, the sinews and the strength of the defense of a cause. Some, therefore, put this meaning upon the passage, — I will profit nothing by reckoning up all my arguments in self-vindication; for my enemies are fully determined to destroy me by some means or other, whether fair or foul, without having any regard to the dictates of justice. Others explain it thus: Although I should gather together all the aids which might seem to be capable of affording me succor, they would avail me nothing. But the exposition which is more generally received seems to me to be also the more simple and natural, and, therefore, I embrace it the more readily. It is this – that David complains that his body was so lean and wasted, that the bones appeared protruding from all parts of it; for he adds immediately after, that his enemies took pleasure in seeing him in so pitiable a condition. Thus the two clauses of the verse are beautifully connected together. The cruelty of his enemies was so insatiable, that beholding a wretched man wasted with grief, and as it were pining away, they took pleasure in feeding their eyes with so sad a spectacle.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
17. I may tell all my bones In Psa 22:14: “All my bones are out of joint.” The protrusion of the bones, so that one could count them, is not merely the effect of a wasting suffering. but of violent and unnatural treatment, as the crucifixion.
They look and stare upon me They closely watch me. Compare the watching of Jesus, Mat 27:36-54. The idea of satisfaction is also suggested. They feast their eyes upon me. They behold me not only with indifference, but are regaled at the sight of my misery.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘I may count all my bones. They look and stare at me.’
His hours on the cross, by distorting His whole body as a consequence of the unnatural strain exerted on it, resulted in His bones thrusting themselves up under His skin, so that every bone could be counted, and meanwhile the spectators stared at His naked body and gazed at Him with astonishment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me.
Ver. 17. I may tell all my bones ] Now especially, when stretched out upon the cross, Quando pendens extentus erat in ligno, saith Austin. Derident maciem meam, saith Kimchi.
They look and stare upon me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
tell = count. The whole description applies to death by crucifixion only.
look and stare = look for and see. In this idiom the former verb includes the feeling implied by the context. Compare 1Sa 17:42.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 22:17-18
Psa 22:17-18
“I may count all my bones.
They look and stare upon me;
They part my garments among them,
And upon my vesture do they cast lots.”
No Christian needs to be told that three of the holy gospels recorded the fulfilment of the prophecies in these two verses, namely, in Mat 27:35; Luk 23:34; and Joh 19:24.
“I may count all my bones” (Psa 22:15). “Crucifixion would have extended the frame and have thrown the bones of the thorax into prominence.”
“They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture do they cast lots” (Psa 22:16). These prophecies were fulfilled by the soldiers who executed Our Lord. There could not possibly have been any collusion or pre-arrangement by Jesus’ disciples to help bring this about. Oh no! Most of them were already far away, having forsaken the Lord and fled. Like many other of these prophecies, they were fulfilled by the enemies of Jesus, who were totally unaware that what they were doing had already been spelled out in the Bible 800 years before the occasion of their deeds. No infidel can laugh this off. No radical critic can get rid of the evidence in this chapter.
It should be noted that there were two methods of disposing of Jesus’ garments. First, by agreement, the soldiers distributed part of his clothes; but the presence of a valuable vesture, perhaps a garment very similar to that which the High Priest of Israel wore into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, if indeed not actually identical with it, prompted the soldiers to refrain from tearing it into pieces as they had probably done with Jesus’ other garments. So they decided to cast lots for it! What are the odds, really, against such a prophecy having been fulfilled accidentally? The size of such odds staggers the imagination. The hand of Almighty God is surely visible here.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 22:17. Tell means to count or number. It was the rule to break the bones of the legs of one crucified, near the end of the day. It was unlawful to let a body remain on a tree overnight (Deu 21:22-23), yet the mere fact of crucifixion would not ordinarily produce death before the end of the day. In order to hasten death the legs were broken, and the shock would put an end to the life that had already been weakened. For some reason not directly told us, Jesus died before the executioners got to the cross, making it unnecessary to break his legs. Instead of doing that, they pierced his side. That act opened the cavity near the heart where the blood had gathered after death, but it did not break any bone. The apparently whimsical act of the soldiers fulfilled, the prediction made here. It also carried out the antitype of the restriction about the Jewish passover that the bones of the lamb must not be broken (Exo 12:46). Stare upon me was fulfilled in Joh 19:37.
Psa 22:18. The physical reason for not dividing the garment of Jesus among the soldiers was the character of its making. It was woven “without seam” and hence could not be divided without destroying its use. They settled the matter by casting lots, thus fulfilling another prophecy. (Joh 19:23-25.)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I may: Psa 102:3-5, Job 33:21, Isa 52:14
look: Mat 27:36, Mat 27:39-41, Mar 15:29-32, Luk 23:27, Luk 23:35
Reciprocal: Job 16:10 – gaped Psa 22:14 – all Isa 45:22 – Look Isa 57:4 – draw Oba 1:12 – looked Oba 1:13 – looked Zec 12:10 – they shall look Mar 15:24 – crucified Mar 15:31 – also Joh 19:37 – They
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 22:17-21. I may tell all my bones Theodoret observes, that when Christ was extended, and his limbs distorted, on the cross, it might be easy for a spectator literally to tell all his bones. They Namely, my enemies; look and stare at me With delight and complacency, at my calamities, and I am a spectacle to earth and heaven. They part my garments among them This also cannot be applied to David, without a strained and unprecedented metaphor, but was literally fulfilled in Christ, Mat 27:35; Joh 19:24. Deliver my soul from the sword That is, from the rage and violence of mine enemies, as the next clause explains it, and, as the sword is often to be taken in Scripture. My darling Hebrew, my one, or only one, namely, his soul, as he now said, which he so terms, because it was very dear to him, or because it was left alone, and destitute of friends and helpers. From the power of the dog The ravening fury of the dog, says Dr. Horne, the lion, and the unicorn, or oryx, (a fierce and untameable creature of the stag kind,) is made use of to describe the rage of the devil, and his instruments, whether spiritual or corporeal. From all these Christ supplicates the Father for deliverance. How great need have we to supplicate for the same through him!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Again, David followed a metaphor of his enemies with a description of his own agony (cf. Psa 22:12-15). He was evidently weak and emaciated; his bones were showing prominently under his skin due to loss of weight produced by his distress. Apparently his enemies were so sure that David would perish they were already invading his wardrobe and dividing his clothes among themselves. This also happened when Jesus Christ’s enemies crucified Him (Mat 27:35).
"Psalms 22 is a graphic picture of death by crucifixion. The bones (of the hands, arms, shoulders, and pelvis) out of joint (Psa 22:14); the profuse perspiration caused by intense suffering (Psa 22:14); the action of the heart affected (Psa 22:14); strength exhausted, and extreme thirst (Psa 22:15); the hands and feet pierced (see Psa 22:16, note, but cp. Joh 20:20 also); partial nudity with the hurt to modesty (Psa 22:17), are all associated with that mode of death. The accompanying circumstances are precisely those fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ. The desolate cry of Psa 22:1 (Mat 27:46); the periods of light and darkness of Psa 22:2 (Mat 27:45); the contemptuous and humiliating treatment of Psa 22:6-8; Psa 22:12-13 (Mat 27:39-44); the casting lots of Psa 22:18 (Mat 27:35), were all literally fulfilled. When it is remembered that crucifixion was a Roman, not Jewish, form of execution, the proof of inspiration is irresistible." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 610.]