Psalms 20, 21, and 22: A Study

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So, Psalm 20, 21 and 22 with 22 being only Part I. So let’s read through Psalm 20 first, touch on the highlights then do the same with 21 and then spend most of our time in chapter 22.
Psalm 20, 21 and Psalm 22 Part I
February 16th, 2025

Psalm 20

Psalm 20:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. YAHAVAH hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: YAHAVAH fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that YAHAVAH saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of YAHAVAH our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, YAHAVAH: let the king hear us when we call.

Psalm 21

The occasion of this Psalm is variously understood. Some think it was composed to celebrate the victory obtained over Sennacherib; others, that it was made on the recovery of Hezekiah, and the grant of fifteen years of longer life on account of verse 4. Finally the most popular view is that it was composed by David as a song of rejoicing for his victory over the Ammonites, which ended in the capture of the royal city of Rabbah, the crown of whose king David put on his own head, which correlates to verse 3. Of course, there are those who see it speaking entirely of the Messiah. You decide.

Psalm 21:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Where this verse says, the King shall joy, the Targums read, “the King Messiah.”
2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. The word, selah means to pause, so it seems to be a musical directive.
3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. In English, preventest would mean to stop, but in Hebrew the word means, “to go before” so, “thou went before him (the King) with the blessings of goodness,” and the line, “thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head,” probably is referring to a crown that once belonged to the king of Rabba, David took it and put it on His own head in 2nd Samuel 12:26-30.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

Hezekiah’s Life Extended

As stated, this line may refer to the prolonging of days of a goodly King over Israel whose name is Hezekiah. He was the one who would take the brazen serpent that Moses made for the people to look upon but later worshiped, and smashed it, calling it, “a thing of brass.”

Well after years of serving YAHAVAH, Hezekiah got sick and we read, 2nd Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God.. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.'" 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 5 "Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my

Reflections on Hezekiah and Messianic Psalms

Of course, this story proves a lot of things, like God can heal, God can change the course of our days, God can choose to prolong life. I believe this. But that said, remember, Hezekiah was in a position to say to YAHAVAH, “Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight."

I am personally of the opinion, at least in my case, that I have no room to make such an ask, and instead look to Him and trust He will take me according to His will and ways and bartering is not an option. Perhaps you are different, so if you are ill and want to live, give it a go? Why not? All He can say is, “no.”

Messianic Significance in Psalms

Now, I tend to see verses 5-8 as being clearly Messianic, with the added potential to include David and his reign as it says,

5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7 For the king trusteth in YAHAVAH, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.
8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand (Christ?) shall find out those that hate thee.

And from verse 9-12 many see these verses as speaking of the afterlife for all disobedient souls but I see them as clearly describing the great and dreadful day of the Lord carried out on His own in 70AD along with other times and places in their history of God dealing with them harshly. Let’s read,

9 Thou shalt make them (the enemies of the King) as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: YAHAVAH shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. (via a once and for all diaspora or scattering from which they have not recovered)
11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
13 Be thou exalted, YAHAVAH, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

Sometimes we might think of YAHAVAH’s power as only being destructive, but I suggest we remember that His power and strength are manifested in all expressions including His patience, love, goodness, mercy, and light, and not just in the exercise of wrathful might.

Analyzing Psalm 22

And now to Chapter 22 where we will spend a couple of weeks.

Psalm 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.

The words, Aijeleth Shahar translate to, “the Hind of the Morning” but we really don’t know if these words refer to an instrument or a band. The fact of the matter is, these titles typically mean little.

Okay, just like chapter 18 and many of the Psalms, we are in a position to choose when, who and why were these words written? Some say they all speak to David in his life and places where they apply to Christ are typically because Christ was citing them, (like in this first verse where we read, “My God my God why hast thou forsaken me?”)

Others think the Psalm speaks of David as the forerunner of Christ and so both are meant. Quite possible. Then there are variations over these main views. I want to suggest another view which may NOT have been the intention of the writer, but today is the ultimate spiritual reality – and of course, I could be wrong.

We know very little of Christ’s life from birth to about 30 years of age. We know some from His ministry and some from His passion.

I tend to read Psalm 22 as a complete recitation of either the Spirit of His entire life (along with points from David) and from actual events which we are familiar with. In the Spirit, we might wonder, does Psalm 22 borrow from David his heart and mind over personal feelings and directly have application to Yeshua – as a

Spiritual Alienation on the Cross

Let the Spirit guide you and your interpretation as we read beginning with the rest of verse 1 where it says,

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Of course, we read of Yeshua saying the first words on the cross, as reported in Matthew 27:46 where it says,

Matthew 27:45-46 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

I maintain that this was the moment that Yeshua died spiritually, just as Adam did the same in the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, introducing sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and its wages, death.

Prior to this, He called God, His Father. But when the Darkness fell between the sixth to the ninth hour I believe Yeshua of Nazareth, while alive and in flesh, fully – fully understood what it was like to be separated from His Father and God – literally, in the spirit, from Himself. This would not be possible IF the man (please catch that point – if the Man was God. The man was not – yet. What was in Him – certainly, and the hard thing to understand is what happened within Himself to believe that He was forsaken?)

So certainly these three hours of Darkness and His being forsaken by His God and Father are actually difficult to understand because God certainly approved his life, and work and heart. And God certainly approved of His Son calling Him beloved at least twice. And God certainly knew His Son was innocent so personally there was no reason for God to leave or forsake Him.

What makes this moment even more horrific and incomprehensible to me is that as a man abandoned by God, He may have experienced the very same ignorance and feelings of abandonment we have when God appears to be absent or even worse, what all human beings experienced prior to His victorious achievement from the tomb. I am not so sure people today can understand what it is like to live in a world without God in them.

But I think before Christ people certainly could – which is why the earth was so dark and ferocious. The relationship between God and man is so two way, however, that even with the Spirit of His Son abiding within all of us today, it seems our will to ignore Him is the norm.

To Yeshua, it seems like He, with God having left Him, could not, in His first experience with alienation from His Father ever in His life and perhaps ever in eternity, understand why?

Darkness and Separation

Isn’t that heart wrenching? Isn’t that the most sublime human moment in history, where the man who came from out of His Father, was sired in flesh by His Father, walked by faith, did miracles, talked with His father, represented His Father, loved His Father, had three hours of Darkess where He wondered out-loud why His very Father, forsook Him?

We know His Father still loved Him and so all we can really say is God forsook Him . . . on account of us. That our sin, the sins of the world, alienated His own Son from Him who died on our behalf!

In Luke 22 we read about Yeshua being taken outside of the Garden of Gethsemane and after Peter chops off the ear of Malchus and Yeshua healing him, we read at verse 52 -53,

The Hour and the Power of Darkness

Luke 22:52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, “Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. “

In other words, this was the time when His enemies, including the synagogue of Jews and the power of Darkness, were allowed to do what they wanted to Him.

Going all the way back to Genesis 3:15 YAHAVAH said to the serpent, (In a better translation)

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

We also recall that after He was tempted in the

The Wilderness and The Garden

Luke 4 tells us that the tempter "departed from him for a season." In the garden, Ha Satan returned, and remained, first upon Him spiritually in the pressures to turn from His mission and then collectively in the Nation at that time, which was the very synagogue of Satan.

For this reason, Isaiah proclaimed in Isaiah 53:4-5:
"He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:13-14:
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And 2nd Corinthians 5:21 adds, speaking of Him and His suffering:
“For he (God) hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Expressions of Suffering

As we move on now, try, if inclined, to hear how David may have been expressing his heart through His own experience, but even more so, ask yourselves how many of these very expressions could also be applied to Christ.

Verse 2:
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (meaning, YAHAVAH dwelled in the place where Israel praised Him in the tabernacle/temple)
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

I see these as so applicable to David and only see them applicable to Christ on the cross.

Verse 6 is intriguing because it can only be attributed to either person through imagination. It says,
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

The Symbolism of the Worm

Job is thought to be one of the oldest books in the Bible and in one of the speeches of his friend, Bildad the Shuite said,
Job 25:6: How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

Isaiah 41:14 also uses the term, worm, and says:
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Then three times in the Gospel of Mark 9 we read the line, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

The things He says to them/then was relative to their expected afterlife condition which they would experience if they refused to receive Him as King. Take a listen,

Mark 9:43: And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

So, first of all, these repetitions are NOT found in the oldest manuscripts as they appear to have come from the Western and Syrian (Byzantine) classes and seem to be just repetition of verse 48.

So again, for those KJ Onliest folks explain that! In terms of the couplet, “their worm” it does not seem to mean that every one of them would personally possess “a worm” but that “their worm (a gnawing thing that chews upon their soul) and “burning flame” (a consuming flame that burns away the dross of their soul) appear to be literary devise Yeshua employed to describe their destination in BOTH gehenna (which is translated to hell in the Mark verses) and the lake of fire (translated from the Greek).

Trust in Times of Mockery

Asbestos), which means never stops burning.

When David writes, “But I am a worm and no man,” he appears to be speaking of the vile parts of his flesh, which were not even really human. Perhaps our Lord, in the midst of having taken on our sin with His father abandoning Him, perhaps in that state of body, mind and soul, this self-description was on His heart as well, enabling Him as our Lord to understand us and our feelings of destitution when our flesh rises up and convicts us as such? It's just a thought. Now I cannot help but see a direct Messianic prophecy in verses 7-8 where the Psalmist writes,

7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on YAHAVAH that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

We see a direct application to this when Yeshua was on the cross and we read in Mark

The Mockery of Christ

Mark 15:31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

Matthew adds a bit more to this description and says

Matthew 27:39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Talk about power and dedication to His cause! Talk about an example of strength! What a king we have in Him! Excuse the anecdote but I completely LACKED this trait before knowing and following Him. Our God has taken me through the gauntlet in terms of having a deep seated weakness to confront laughter and mockery and criticism personally and to confront it directly with the arm of the flesh. Being in His service I have learned to know, as Christ always knew, that when we serve Him alone there is no reason to get defensive when others, many others, most others, started to mock, then continued to mock and scorn my efforts to teach and find the truth and to not fear their laughter or criticism. Our King, of course, set the bar really high – I mean He was on the cross and his enemies took advantage of that particular time to rip His very life and work and teachings to SHREDS. God that makes me angry – but He was silent! Our King was silent. He bore that out of LOVE for His father and for us. What more could we want from Him??? From a real King?? Praise Him.

David's Experience with Mockery

Now there is an application to David too when he was insulted too. When? We read about when David’s son Absalom turned against him and we read in 2nd Samual

2nd Samual 16:5 And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came. 6 And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. 7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: 8 The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.

So, both David and Christ had men speak and treat them caustically.

But, again, verse 8 says . . .

8 He trusted on YAHAVAH that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when

Trust in YAHAVAH

I was upon my mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

In verse 7 David speaks of his mistreatment of men but at verse 8 he speaks of trusting in YAHAVAH to deliver Him (WHY) David says, “seeing he delighted in him.” Then at verse 9 and 10 David explains that God had been with Him from the start of his very life for it was God “Who took him out of the womb” and he adds, “and thou did make me hope when I was upon my mothers breast,” a line that better means, “you kept me in safety” and/or “You caused me to trust in you because from that day I was kept safely.” This was the very same thing YAHAVAH did with His only Son.

References to the Cross

From verses 11-22 we have passages that distinctly seem speak of Chris on the cross and again could reference something David was also feeling or experiencing. Imagine that some of these lines were in the mind of Yeshua as He was taken away from the garden after His disciples all abandoned him.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Or when he was stripped and scourged after standing before His own who rejected Him and called for His death.

12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. Bashen was a vicinity nearby that was known for having lush valley’s where cattle were raised on the best foods and were bigger and stronger than others. David uses them as an image for the power and strength of those around him in Absalom’s rebellion which was a type for Christ and the hateful religious leaders surrounding Him in His day.

Descriptions of Suffering

Now go to the cross as David adds, 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.

We remember that when the Roman soldier stuck a sword in His side water and blood poured forth, something medical professionals say is normative in the case of extreme duress when water surrounds the heart sort of in a way of fluid rushing to a broken bone and swelling around the area to cushion it.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. And we recall reading in John 19:25-28 where it says, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Of course, the last line, “thou has brought me to the dust of death” was poetic and not literal in the case of Christ as His body never saw corruption – but David’s certainly did as mentioned by Peter at Pentecost.

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. References to the dog, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament usually imply insult. Culturally in Israel, a dog, and especially a dead dog, was a figure of insignificance as we read in the story of Goliath saying toto David when he saw him as the one Israel sent forth, "Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?" 1st Samuel 17:43

David said to Saul:

1st Samuel 24:14 "After whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea."

Mephibosheth humbly says to David in 2nd Samuel 9:8,

"What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?"

And to a Semite no death was worse or more terrible than when the body of a soul is consumed by dogs as 1st Kings 14:11; 16:4, and 21:19 prove).

Then in Philippians 3:2 and Revelation 22:15 dogs are representative of evil-workers, sorcerers.

Finally, we remember when Christ Himself says in Matthew 7:6, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine."

Prophetic Fulfillment in Scripture

How fitting that David would prophetically describe the following scene by saying,

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Crucifixion of Jesus

When we read from Matthew

Matthew 27:26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. 32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

David prophesied of these things when he wrote in this Psalm our last verses for today,

17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

David's Prophecy Fulfilled

Neither of these passages seem to have any bearing on David but they certainly did with Our Lord. Where David wrote, “I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me,” it may speaks to the weight of His body being held together by His Frame hanging on the cross and causing His bones to stare at him with wonder and horror – very vivid language.

And of course verse 18 where David writes They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Another fulfillment related directly to Christ at His crucifixion where soldiers divided his upper garment into four parts, each soldier taking a part; but his tunic or inward vestment being without seam, woven in one entire piece, they agreed not to divide, but to cast lots whose the whole should be. Of this scripture the Roman soldiers knew nothing; but they fulfilled it to the letter and it was foreseen by the Spirit of God which provided this direct revelation concerning Him.

Believe it, receive it . . . or not. And we will stop here.

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