Psalm 22 is both poetic and prophetic, an echo from the future into the time of David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit!
The following details are included:
• Despised and sneered at, “Let God rescue him because he delights in him.”
• Bones are out of joint, heart melted like wax, strength dried up, tongue stuck to jaw
• Laid in the dust of death
• Surrounded by evil doers
• Pierced hands and feet (in Christian translations)
• Counted his bones, stared at him
• Divided his garments between them, cast lots for them
Does this sound like a crucifixion?
Because it’s poetry and we have no record of David literally suffering bones out of joint or having his garments the objects of gambling, a reasonable conclusion is that this psalm is from a vision of the future Son of David, Son of Man, Messiah ben Joseph, and King of Israel.
Important Note: Chapter and verse numbers weren't available in the first century CE. According to Bible Gateway, "The person credited with dividing the Bible into chapters is Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1207-1228. While Langton’s isn’t the only organizational scheme that was devised, it is his chapter breakdown that has survived."
What Torah teachers and others did at the time of Yeshua/Jesus/Joshua was to quote the first phrase in a Psalm to identify it. This is what Jesus did as he hung on the cross. Also note that Jesus remained completely silent at his trial and scourging as Isaiah 53:7 indicates.
Controversy
Yes, but there’s a firestorm of controversy about the word “pierced.” The Septuagint translation, as quoted from the Apostolic Bible Polyglot, reads as follows:
16 For many dogs encircled me; gathering of the ones wicked compass
me. They dug into my hands and my feet.
The Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint in Alexandria a few hundred years BCE chose the Greek word, oruxan (ορυξαν). In other contexts, this word is used for digging a well or through a wall. In contrast, here’s the literal reading from the Hebrew text used in creating the translations for modern Jewish Bibles:
17 For dogs have encircled me, an evil congregation surrounded me like
a lion my hands and my feet.
The reading "like a lion" doesn’t fit the grammar and makes no sense, so words were inserted to make the phrase into, “like a lion they are at my hands and my feet,” which fixes the grammar, but leaves one wondering about the strange behavior of these lions.
The controversy between “like a lion” and “pierced” depends on a single Hebrew character that determines whether the word in question is k’ari or k’aru. Reading from right to left . . .
In k’ari, the last letter is a yod. The word means “like a lion,” and is used in the Masoretic text, the source for the translations of the Jewish Bible.
In k’aru, the last letter is a vav. The word means “dug,” “dug through,” or “dug into” depending on context.
Reading from right to left in the enhanced Dead Sea Scroll fragment below, we can clearly see in the second-to-the-last word, the four characters kaf, aleph, resh, and . . . (drumroll) vav. So the correct word is k’aru, dug, which is a graphic depiction of the brutal process of gouging and pounding nails between the bones of a person’s wrists and ankles. The orange line points to the first character of the word that follows k'aru.
Nevertheless, it has been argued that the yod is elongated in some texts, which can make it ambiguous. However, as you can plainly see above, the very next word to the left, “my hands,” begins with a yod—the orange line points to it. Thus, the lengths of the two characters can be compared side-by-side.
This fragment, 5/6Hev – Col. XI, frag. 9, has been dated between 50-68 CE, and was translated by Dr. Peter W. Flint, who is considered a leading authority on Herodian Hebrew. The presence of the aleph in k’aru is a spelling variation, and there are controversies regarding the grammar. However, the fact that vav and yod are successive characters in the text destroys any argument that the writer wanted them both to be a yod.
Bible scholar and published author, Craig Davis, points out that a second Dead Sea Scroll fragment of this Psalm (4Q88 Psf ) dated 100 – 25 BCE, also attests to k’aru. While the last letter, a vav or yod, is missing from this manuscript, the absence of an aleph in the word eliminates the possibility of the word being k’ari.
According to the scholars who actually handled this fragment, this discovery reinforces the Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate readings. They also assert that the text could not have been changed by Christians, who at that time were busy being arrested, imprisoned, and executed for their faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah.
Hebrew Poetic Structure Provides More Evidence
Psalm 22 provides compelling internal evidence as well. The psalm is organized into a chiastic structure, a literary form with symmetric reversal that’s typical in David's poetry and Hebrew poetry in general. In this case, the chiastic structure follows this pattern of paired references:
A. v. 12 - Bulls
B. ...v. 13 - Lion
C. ......v. 16 - Dogs
D. .........v. 16 – Dug/Pierced (in Christian translations)
E. ............v. 17 - Nakedness
E' ............v. 18 - Garments
D' .........v. 20 - Sword
C'......v. 20 - Dogs
B' ...v. 21 - Lion
A' v. 21 - Wild oxen (Hebrew re'em or רֶאֵם)
Dug or pierced is obviously related to sword, but as you can see, the chiastic structure is disrupted if verse 16 is rendered "like a lion."
Evidence from Hostile Sources
Sadly, the religious leadership in Jerusalem rejected Yeshua and tried to suppress his resurrection, which came as a profound shock to them. However, for the next 40 years, they noticed strange signs at the Temple as recorded in both the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.
The Talmud is a collection of Jewish historical traditions, civil and ceremonial law, and commentaries. There are two similar versions: the Jerusalem Talmud dating from around 375 CE and the Babylonian Talmud dating from around 500 CE.
We read the following in the Jerusalem Talmud:
"Forty years before the destruction of the Temple [in 70 CE], the
western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the
lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the
gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them
wide open." - Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157
A similar passage in the Babylonian Talmud states the following:
"Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction
of the Temple the lot ['For the Lord'] did not come up in the right
hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the
western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would
open by themselves." - Soncino version, Yoma 39b
The “lot for the Lord” and the crimson-colored cord were associated with the yearly Jewish temple rituals for the atonement of sins. Both ritual elements behaved in a manner disturbing to the priests.
Imagine the miraculous and puzzling signs involving the bronze massive temple doors and the solid gold temple menorah, which was three cubits high. Historically, a priest was assigned to tend the seven lamps on the temple menorah, filling them with oil, preparing the wicks, and lighting them every day. The middle lamp was called the lamp of Elohim (God) and was always supposed to be lit continuously. Disturbingly, this middle lamp kept going out.
And then after 40 years, the Temple was destroyed as prophesied in Daniel 9:
And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and
shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood,
and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. – Daniel
9:26 (ESV)
So, what exactly happened 40 years before the destruction of the Temple? Forty years before 70 CE is 30 CE, the year that most modern scholars believe to be the year of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Conclusion
Psalm 22 is prophetic poetry reflecting the literal agony of Yeshua HaMashiach during his brutal crucifixion under Roman authority as the Lamb Of God sacrificed for our sins.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and
with his wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 53:5 ESV
And Pesach (Passover 2024) is a perfect day to post this!
