Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 22:4
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
4, 5. The thought of the preceding line is developed in an appeal to the past history of the nation. Cp. Psa 44:1, Psa 78:3, Psa 9:10. ‘Thou didst deliver them: why then am I deserted?’ The emphasis is throughout on thee.
In thee did our fathers trust:
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Unto thee did they cry, and escaped:
In thee did they trust, and were not put to shame.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Our fathers trusted in thee – This is a plea of the sufferer as drawn from the character which God had manifested in former times. The argument is, that he had interposed in those times when his people in trouble had called upon him; and he now pleads with God that he would manifest himself to him in the same way. The argument derives additional force also from the idea that he who now pleads was descended from them, or was of the same nation and people, and that he might call them his ancestors. As applicable to the Redeemer, the argument is that he was descended from those holy and suffering men who had trusted in God, and in whose behalf God had so often interposed. He identifies himself with that people; he regards himself as one of their number; and he makes mention of Gods merciful interposition in their behalf, and of the fact that he had not forsaken them in their troubles, as a reason why he should now interpose in his behalf and save him. As applicable to others, it is an argument which the people of God may always use in their trials – that God has thus interposed in behalf of his people of former times who trusted in him, and who called upon him. God is always the same. We may strengthen our faith in our trials by the assurance that he never changes; and, in pleading with him, we may urge it as an argument that he has often interposed when the tried and the afflicted of his people have called upon him.
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them – They confided in thee; they called on thee; thou didst not spurn their prayer; thou didst not forsake them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 22:4
Our fathers trusted in Thee.
The God of our fathers.
A sermon to young men
The age in which we live is an enlightened age. And no man is bound to be religious for no better reason than that his father was religious before him. With advancing light and knowledge great changes are coming, or have already come. But how far do such things affect our attitude and utterance like those of the text? Offer first one or two regulative thoughts.
1. It is only right and fair to remember that the great facts of human nature and of human life with which religion has to do remain substantially the same throughout the ages. In the great matters of essential religion, in the main, no one age is more favoured than another. Our fathers disease is our disease; and may not our fathers cure be our cure?
2. Scepticism and unbelief are not new. It is ignorance of the history of unbelief that makes modern unbelief, to many minds, so formidable. Scepticism may change its form,–now the light raillery of a Voltaire, now the learning and logical acumen of a Hume, now the bitter wail of a Mill,–but it is one thing, one principle, one substance. Every age has its sceptic, or its sceptics. It looks almost as if Almighty God permitted them that, intellectually, the Church might be kept from going to sleep.
3. Science is doing grand things today. Her beneficent step is heard almost everywhere. But physical science is comparatively young. And you know the characteristic defects of youth. It is headstrong and impatient, and often irreverent.
It is sometimes not over reticent, even on matters concerning which it cannot form reliable judgments I now speak on the claims of the religion of our fathers.
1. It was our fathers. That the sires trusted in God is a very sufficient reason why the sons should hesitate, and hesitate long, before they reach the grave conclusion that there is no God, or that if there be He cannot be trusted because He cannot be known. One of the healthiest facts of human nature and of human life has ever been that spirit of reverence for the past which links generation to generation, and practically makes the race one. We Englishmen are by no means destitute of this fine sentiment.
2. Our fathers proved it. What is the testimony borne by honest men who have preceded us? It is that the religion of Jesus is a grand reality and not a human dream; that the Bible contains a Divine and all-satisfying revelation of God; that it is not a fabrication or an imposture; that the heart of man is weary till it find rest in Christ; that there is such rest in Christ; that in the Cross of the Crucified One there is hope for all, comfort for all, heaven for all! And how are we asked to receive that testimony Some would have us believe that it is untrustworthy. Surely our fathers were not mere intellectual weaklings? What are we to say of the testimony they bore? We will go long before we speak ill, or listen with patience to ill spoken, of the bridge which bore them over!
3. They died in the faith of it. For me, I believe in the God of my fathers. I believe in the religion of my fathers. I will take the liberty of expressing it in forms suited to the spirit and the habits of thought of the age in which we live; but the essential Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I keep. (J. Thew.)
Gods faithfulness to ancient saints good ground for trust and hope
Those who look upon this Psalm as having a primary reference to the King of Israel attribute great beauty to these words, from the very pleasing conjecture that David was, at the time of composing them, sojourning at Mahanaim, where Jacob, in his distress, wrestled with the angel and obtained such signal blessings. That, in a place so greatly hallowed by associations of the past, he should make his appeal to the God of his fathers, was alike the dictate of patriarchal feeling and religion. (John Morison.)
Strong warrant for trust
Our hope is not hung upon such untwisted thread as I imagined so or it is likely, but the cable, the strong hope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity; our salvation is fastened with Gods own hand and Christs own strength to the strong stake of Gods unchanging nature. (S. Rutherford.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Our fathers trusted in thee] David is supposed to have been, at the time of composing this Psalm, at Mahanaim, where Jacob was once in such great distress; where he wrestled with the angel, and was so signally blessed. David might well allude to this circumstance in order to strengthen his faith in God. I am now in the place where God so signally blessed the head and father of our tribes. I wrestle with God, as he did; may I not expect similar success?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This he adds for the reasons mentioned in the first note, Psa 22:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4, 5. Past experience of God’speople is a ground of trust. The mention of “our fathers”does not destroy the applicability of the words as the language ofour Saviour’s human nature.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Our fathers trusted in thee,…. By whom are meant Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whom our Lord descended; and the people of Israel when in Egypt, in the times of the judges, and in all ages before the coming of Christ, of whom, as concerning the flesh, or as to his human nature, Christ came, Ro 9:5; these, as they were sojourners, and went from place to place, especially the patriarchs, and were often in trouble and distress, when they called upon the Lord, looked to him, and put their trust and confidence in him; not in themselves, their own wisdom, riches, and strength, nor in others, in any mere creature, nor in any outward thing, or arm of flesh, but in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength; they believed in the power of God, that he was able to help and deliver them, and they had faith in him that he would; they depended upon his word and promise, and were persuaded he would never suffer his faithfulness to fail; they committed themselves to the Lord, and stayed themselves upon him;
they trusted; this is repeated not only for the sake of emphasis, pointing out something remarkable and commendable, and for the greater certainty of it, more strongly confirming it; or to observe the many that put their trust in the Lord, the numerous instances of confidence in him; but also to denote the constancy and continuance of their faith, they trusted in the Lord at all times;
and thou didst deliver them; out of the hands of all their enemies, and out of all their sorrows and afflictions; instances of which we have in the patriarchs, and in the people of Israel when brought out of Egypt, and through the Red sea and wilderness, and in the times of the judges, when they were distressed by their neighbours, and God sent them a deliverer time after time.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Our fathers trusted in thee. Here the Psalmist assigns the reason why God sitteth amidst the praises of the tribes of Israel. The reason is, because his hand had been always stretched forth to preserve his faithful people. David, as I have just now observed, gathers together the examples of all past ages, in order thereby to encourage, strengthen, and effectually persuade himself, that as God had never cast off any of his chosen people, he also would be one of the number of those for whom deliverance is securely laid up in the hand of God. He therefore expressly declares that he belongs to the offspring of those who had been heard, intimating by this, that he is an heir of the same grace which they had experienced. He has an eye to the covenant by which God had adopted the posterity of Abraham to be his peculiar people. It would be of little consequence to know the varied instances in which God has exercised his mercy towards his own people, unless each of us could reckon himself among their number, as David includes himself in the Church of God. In repeating three times that the fathers had obtained deliverance by trusting, there is no doubt that with all modesty he intends tacitly to intimate that he had the same hope with which they were inspired, a hope which draws after it, as its effect, the fulfillment of the promises in our behalf. In order that a man may derive encouragement from the blessings which God has bestowed upon his servants in former times, he should turn his attention to the free promises of God’s word, and to the faith which leans upon them. In short, to show that this confidence was neither cold nor dead, David tells us, at the same time, that they cried unto God. He who pretends that he trusts in God, and yet is so listless and indifferent under his calamities that he does not implore his aid, lies shamefully. By prayer, then, true faith is known, as the goodness of a tree is known by its fruit. It ought also to be observed, that God regards no other prayers as right but those which proceed from faith, and are accompanied with it. It is therefore not without good reason that David has put the word cried in the middle between these words, They trusted in thee, they trusted, in the fourth verse, and these words, They trusted in thee, in the fifth verse.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Psa 22:4-5. Our fathers, &c. i.e. My fathers, according to the flesh: the Israelites, to whom, whenever they cried unto thee in their distress, thou sentest a deliverer; such as Gideon, Samson, Samuel, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
One of the most blessed thoughts, in confirmation of Jesus acting as the surety of his people, and his people receiving all the blessings and benefits of that suretyship, is the testimony the Holy Ghost gives, in various parts of the scripture, concerning the faithful. Wherefore did they live and die so comfortably, but because Jesus had taken out the sting of sin, and removed the curses of the broken law, by the sacrifice of himself. And although the Old Testament saints all lived and died before this great sacrifice was offered, yet it was intentionally offered, for Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8 . Hence they died in the sure faith of it, as much as though it had already taken place, and were accepted in it. So that they trusted, and were not confounded.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Ver. 4. Our fathers trusted in thee ] They trusted, and trusted, and trusted, they lengthened out their trust. The Hebrew word for hope or trust signifieth also a line; because thereby the heart is stretched out as a line to the thing hoped for; and he that believeth maketh not haste.
And thou didst deliver them
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
trusted = confided. Hebrew. batah. See App-69.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 44:1-7, Gen 15:6, Gen 32:9-12, Gen 32:28, Exo 14:13, Exo 14:14, Exo 14:31, 1Sa 7:9-12, Rom 4:18-22, Heb 11:8-32
Reciprocal: Gen 22:14 – In Exo 3:8 – I am 1Ch 5:20 – because 2Ch 13:18 – relied Job 30:27 – General Job 33:24 – Deliver Psa 28:7 – heart Psa 31:1 – thee Psa 37:40 – because Psa 62:8 – Trust Isa 36:7 – We trust Jer 17:13 – the hope Jer 50:7 – the hope Dan 3:28 – that trusted Rom 5:5 – hope
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 22:4-5. Our fathers, &c. That is, my fathers, according to the flesh, the Israelites; trusted in thee, and were delivered Were not disappointed of that for which they prayed and hoped: but whenever they cried unto thee in their distress, thou didst send them deliverance, as by Gideon, Samson, Samuel, &c. To trust in God is the way to obtain deliverance, and the former instances of the divine favour are so many arguments why we should hope for the same; but it may not always be vouchsafed when we expect it. The patriarchs, and Israelites of old, were often saved from their enemies: but the holy Jesus was left to languish and expire under the malice of his. God knows what is proper for him to do and for us to suffer; we know neither. This consideration is an anchor for the afflicted soul, sure and steadfast. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Furthermore, David found encouragement as he remembered God’s answers to the prayers of the Israelites’ forefathers when they prayed in distress and experienced deliverance. Since God rewarded their trust, David believed He would honor his, too.