Friday, February 22, 2008
Psalm 22:12-13 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.
CRY OF HELPLESSNESS
This phrase focuses first on the numerous ("Many bulls") enemies that surrounded Christ and then also on their great strength ("Strong bulls"). Bashan was the fertile land northeast beyond the Jordan that was known as a pasture-land that raised the best and strongest bulls in the area. That area of Palestine now known as the Golan Heights is within the region the Bible here refers to as Bashan. Christ cries out in the psalm that He is surrounded not just by men but also by the strongest and fiercest of men, and many of them. Satan has gathered the full strength of His army and now surrounds our Lord in the midst of His agony.
Furthermore, Satan has so filled the hearts of these men with hatred for the Lord that there is nothing but evil intentions within them, so that they surround Him and every one of them acts like a lion who is stalking his prey. Their hatred overspills in the rage of their voices against Him, the rage of their voices calling for His death and destruction.
I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. The Savior is physically exhausted to the point where all will, all desire, all strength is like water that flows out of His pierced and beaten body. He has no ability or energy to do anything. His very bones are stretched out on the cross to the breaking point; they are pulled apart and out of joint with one another. Some of you know the pain of having a single bone pulled apart from another, but all of the Savior's bones are thus being wrenched apart. Even His heart, His life, His inner being feels as though it is mere wax which under a flame is dripping away, which has no strength. Even as the enemies of the Lord close around Him with the strength of young bulls, the strength of the Lord to stand against them is dripping away, is poured out like water.
And yet still He continues to trust and wait on the will of Father. Even now He could have simply walked away, but for our sakes He remained.
