Post 2: Why King David Did Not Believe God Turned Against or Away from Him
Pictured: The prophet Samuel anoints David to be king over Israel, from a painting on the wall of a house church in Dura Europos, Syria, in the 3rd century AD.
Introduction
This is the second post in a series about Jesus’ cry from the cross, the quotation from Psalm 22:1. In Part 1, I analyzed John Stott’s interpretation of the cry, stating the case that Stott seriously mishandles both the original Psalm and Jesus’ use of it. In this post, I offer evidence for this argument.
The Portrayal of David and the Holy Spirit
First, we must ascertain the relationship between David, the human author of Psalm 22, and the Holy Spirit. David based his trust in God at least partially on his anointing by the prophet Samuel, which was the anointing of the Holy Spirit: ‘the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward’ (1 Sam.16:13). The phrase ‘from that day forward’ includes the occasion of Psalm 22, whatever period David felt forsaken to the Gentiles in the wilderness. The author (or final editor, as the case may be) of the Book of Samuel extends the narration into the last years of David’s reign. So even if we take the view that Psalm 22 was not rooted in one particular moment in David’s life, but was a poetic composition which he came back to time and time again, the extent of the narrative of Samuel covers all those possibilities. David never lost the Spirit. His clearest personal basis for trusting God in the wilderness was the presence of the Holy Spirit who anointed him for the kingship and remained upon him ‘from that day forward.’
Thus, God did not withdraw from David at the time he composed the Psalm, and David knew it. So if this Psalm of David is now in our canon, how could God have forsaken David in any vertical sense pertaining to Himself, especially when David composed it? Vertical abandonment by God is not what David actually said in Psalm 22, even in the season(s) of his life when he felt forsaken horizontally into the midst of hostile kings and powers.
The notion of divine abandonment troubles not only exegesis, as I will demonstrate below, but also orthodox creedal confessions. Within the scope of creedal statements – especially, Jesus’ baptismal creed of Matthew 28:18 – 20 and its eventual expansion into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 AD – the Holy Spirit is confessed to be fully God. If we believe David wrote by the Spirit (e.g. Acts 2:29 – 30), then we must also believe that God did not abandon David. If we believe Scripture is ‘God-breathed’ (e.g. 2 Tim.3:16; Jn.16:13, 15), following in the pattern of creation where God breathed life into Adam (Gen.2:7), and new creation where Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples (Jn.20:22), then we must also believe that God did not abandon David. Any theory of divine abandonment jeopardizes the full divinity of the Holy Spirit.
By extension, penal substitution advocates who assert that Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 from the cross in order to testify to some divine abandonment vertically, or rejection from God the Father, run afoul of many, many exegetical and theological problems. Like David, Jesus’ anointing was also the Holy Spirit, who had been manifested as anointing Jesus for kingship at his baptism in Matthew 3:13 – 17. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and inheres in the Son-Word as the divine energy who carries out God’s spoken promises (in early Eastern theology influenced by Athanasius), or the very bond of love between Father and Son (in early Western theology influenced by Augustine). In any case, the persons of the Trinity act inseparably and in unison. Therefore, it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of the Holy Spirit being withdrawn from Jesus in any manner.
The Place of Psalm 22 in the Life of David
What place did Psalm 22 have in the life of David, at least in the way the Psalm portrays itself? Answering that question will reinforce the conclusion that there was no divine abandonment of Jesus.
Psalm 22 was part of David’s pre-enthronement experience of being hunted by Saul, the reigning and paranoid king, forced into the Judean wilderness, and occasionally pushed even further out among the Gentiles (1 Sam.18 – 31). This pre-enthronement period of David’s life is contrasted with his enthronement (2 Sam.1 – 5) and troubled reign, including the time he abdicated the throne to avoid civil war with his son Absalom (2 Sam.6 – 24). David did feel extremely vulnerable among certain hostile Gentiles, and penned Psalm 22 as part of that experience. His references to ‘enemies’ are many (Ps.22:6 – 8, 11 – 18, 20 – 21), which were probably, in the main, hostile Gentiles; but we cannot exclude the agents of King Saul.
David did not believe that God had turned against or away from him. What he meant was, ‘Why have You forsaken me to the Gentiles?’ In the Psalm itself, David recognized God’s providential care for him from his conception. And David also recognized that, although his circumstances as a young man were far more dangerous than any that confronted him while in the womb or at his mother’s breast, God’s love and care for him had not changed:
‘Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb
Be not far from me, for trouble is near
For there is none to help.’ (Ps.22:9 – 11)
‘But You, O God, be not far off
O You my help, hasten to my assistance.’ (Ps.22:19)
Despite the external threats, David still experienced God as loving and protecting him, as having His face turned toward him with favor:
‘For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.’ (Ps.22:24)
Because Psalm 22:22 – 31 uses the past tense, some interpreters suggest that this section corresponds to Jesus’ voice in his resurrection and enthronement, after his crucifixion and death. But when David ostensibly penned this Psalm, he was not yet enthroned, and not yet out of danger. David was merely voicing his confidence in God during his difficult historical circumstances. Vocalizing thanks and praise to God in the past tense as if God had already brought deliverance was a common literary device to express confidence in God, that He will surely act in the future (e.g. Gen.49:15; Ex.15:13 – 17; Ps.3:4; etc.).
There was a time when David did worry about losing the Holy Spirit: When he sinned with Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Sam.12). Psalm 51:11 expresses that concern: ‘Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.’ As a young man serving in Saul’s court, David had somehow perceived that king Saul had lost the anointing of the Spirit to reign (1 Sam.16:14). But Psalm 22 was not an occasion where David was considering his own sin and mourning it. Instead, David was still confident of God’s presence, receptivity to his prayers, and favor (Ps.22:3 – 5, 9 – 11, 19 – 31; cf. 34:6 – 7; etc.). So Psalm 22 refers to David feeling horizontally forsaken into the midst of enemies, but not vertically abandoned by God.
The Place of Psalm 22 in the Book of Psalms
Does the Book of Psalms as a whole understand Psalm 22 as part of David’s pre-enthronement experience? Yes, and the following exegesis will reinforce the theological argument. The Book of Psalms as a whole tells the story of David’s house; biblical scholars increasingly recognize this.[1] The Book of Psalms conveys this story through the traditional Jewish division of the Psalms into five literary units.[2]
Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41 reflect the calling and early life of David. In David, God has prepared a man who meditates on Him and His teaching (Ps.1). God then anoints him as king (Ps.2), fulfilling His promise from the Torah to bring forth a king that will rule over the nations (Gen.49:8 – 12; Num.24:1 – 19; Dt.17:14 – 20). But David faces enemies who persecute him (Pss.3 – 7; 9 – 14; 17 – 18; 20 – 23; 25 – 28; 30 – 31; 34 – 38). Psalm 23 is a chiasm whose central point is walking through the valley of the shadow of death because of surrounding enemies (Ps.23:4); so the placement of Ps.23 after Ps.22 suggests that the final editor of the Book of Psalms believed that David could address trust and complaint to God more or less simultaneously during his difficulties, in case that was not already evident in certain individual Psalms. After all, one does not complain to a God one does not trust to fulfill His promises. David, perhaps by reflecting on the Torah, marvels at the creation and the majesty of God (Pss.8, 19) and confesses his sin (Pss.32, 38). Eventually, however, David recognizes that the Torah foresaw a godly king for Israel, and he is now that king: ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book, it is written of me’ (Ps.40:7 – 17; probably referring to Gen.17:6, 16; 49:8 – 12). David says in song that God has delivered him from his enemies so that he might reign on the throne (Ps.41:11 – 13).
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72 reflect the actual reign of David. There are psalms of praise and thanksgiving that celebrate God as help, deliverer, and refuge. The Psalms of the sons of Korah (Pss.42 – 49) might reflect a choir that David installed in for service in the sanctuary when he was king. Psalm 45 celebrates the king’s marriage. Psalm 51 is David’s confession of sin and failure connected to Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Sam.12). The book ends with a psalm ascribed to Solomon, the immediate heir of David, and has allusions to the covenant God made with David in 2 Samuel 7. This section is also called ‘the Elohist Psalter’ because the name of God used most often is not ‘YHWH Elohim,’ the covenantal name of God, but ‘Elohim,’ the creational and universal name of God. This emphasis reflects the role of the Davidic king to lead the praise of all humanity to God.
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89, the darkest section of the Psalms, reflect the tragic history of the Davidic royal line. Psalm 89 contrasts God’s promises to David’s royal line (89:1 – 37) with the decline and sinfulness of David’s house (89:38 – 51). As the kings sin, and as the people of Israel decline into sin and ruin, the promises of God offer Israel her only hope. The collection of Asaph’s Psalms (Pss.73 – 83) reflects Asaph the chief worship leader who accompanied David when he brought the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chr.16:5). This may be why Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph, is located in book two, which seems to represent the actual reign of David. However, Asaph’s sons led worship and prophesied under the direction of the king (1 Chr.25), so this collection of Psalms may reflect the institutionalization of worship at the temple under David’s heirs.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106 reflect Israel’s exile and a renewed focus on Moses and Torah. Moses’ voice is heard in Psalm 90, which suggests a reminder of the Sinai covenant which occurred long before a king had emerged in Israel (1 Sam.8), and suggests the wilderness wandering. David’s voice, meanwhile, is not heard. The section of Psalms 93 – 99 brings into focus the theme of God being the true king of Israel despite the waywardness of the people. The book ends with Psalm 106, which recounts God’s promises to regather the nation from exile.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150 reflect hopes for God to renew the covenant, restore the place of true worship, and bring people back to true observance of His relational vision and commands. God will regather Israel (Ps.107; note Mary quotes Ps.107:9 in Luke 1:53, because she signals her awareness that the messianic era is dawning). David’s line will be renewed (Pss.108 – 110). The observance of Torah within Israel will be renewed (Pss.112, 119). A new Temple will be built (Psalm 118). But this is not the doing of the first David, who was flawed and broken; it must be a new David, the Messiah (Pss.110; 138 – 145). That is one way to understand why the Psalter says that ‘the prayers of David son of Jesse are ended’ at the end of the second book (Ps.72:20), yet why the voice of ‘David’ reemerges in Psalm 110 and 138 – 145. Though, another way to understand the reemergence of ‘David’ is to note that the ascriptions of the Psalms could be dedications: ‘A Psalm to David’ (as the Hebrew word can be translated ‘of’ or ‘to’). So as the Songs of Ascent (Pss.120 – 134) were repeated by the Jews whenever they made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, they were reminding themselves of these promises and giving voice to God’s own yearnings for the restoration of the Davidic house, Israel, and all creation.
Furthermore, the ‘compositional seams’ between the five books of the Psalms are (1) attributed to David, or (2) are about David, or (3) are reflections on God’s covenant promise to David:
Book 1: 1 – 2; 40 – 41
Book 2: 42; 72
Book 3: 73; 89
Book 4: 90; 106
Book 5: 107; 145 – 150
Reinforcing the division of the Book of Psalms into five units, each ‘book’ of the Psalms ends with a doxology, which serve as intermediate markers:
41:13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
72:18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel,
Who alone works wonders.
19 And blessed be His glorious name forever;
And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.89:52 Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen.106:48 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.
And let all the people say, ‘Amen.’
Praise the LORD!145:21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.
(Psalms 146 – 150 are praises)
The relationship between Psalm 2 and Psalm 22 is important in our study of the Gospels and the life of Jesus. Psalm 2 describes the anointing of the king from David’s house and corresponds to David’s own personal anointing. God quotes from Psalm 2 during the baptism of Jesus, to anoint Jesus with the Spirit to become king. But this anointing, for Jesus as for David, began his experience of facing very active opposition from the existing Jewish leadership to give birth to a kingdom movement prior to being enthroned. We will see that Jesus’ own quotation of Psalm 22:1 from the cross is part of his pre-enthronement experience. It is part of Jesus’ faithful response to being anointed by God to be king, while suffering at the hands of the Gentiles and the existing Jewish leadership.
The Book of Psalms and the Heir of David
The entirety of the Book of Psalms also draws our attention to the role of David’s messianic heir in gathering up the praise of all creation to God.
Psalms 1 and 2 as Beginning Bookend
Both Psalms conclude (1:6; 2:12) by referring to a ‘way’ that will cause human beings to ‘perish’ if they travel down it
Both Psalms speak of folly, either opposing the way of God (Psalm 1) or opposing God’s Messiah (Psalm 2)
Both Psalms speak of ‘meditating’ or ‘plotting’ (Ps.1:2; 2:1), which are the same word in Hebrew; and ‘sitting’ and ‘scoffing/laughing’ (Ps.1:1; 2:4)
The first word of Psalm 2 is ‘hina’ (so that), which suggests a continuation of ideas begun in Psalm 1
The Western manuscript family of the book of Acts includes a reference to Paul’s quotation of Psalm 2:7 in Acts 13:3. There, Luke refers to what is ‘written in the first Psalm’; which suggests that Psalms 1 and 2 were once recognized as one unified Psalm.
Psalms 146 – 150 as Ending Bookend
All end with ‘hallelujah,’ which calls together the praise of all creation to God
This literary and canonical approach to the Book of Psalms gives us two major lessons for exegesis and hermeneutics. First, the entire Book of Psalms, with all one hundred and fifty Psalms, needs to be considered whenever we are interpreting any individual Psalm. That is, the incorporation and placement of individual Psalms into the larger Book of Psalms is important. Doing piecemeal exegesis on an individual Psalm is vital but not enough.
Second, thematic development within the Book of Psalms is significant for the treatment of other themes, especially themes related to the Christian doctrines of atonement and mission. Take, for example, the thematic treatment of ‘enemies’ in the Psalms. Who is an ‘enemy’? Certainly many Psalmists take the perspective of calling other people ‘enemies of God.’ Yet, David recognized in Psalm 51 that he, too, was also an ‘enemy of God’ because of his own sinfulness. Does that affect how we read his imprecatory Psalms when he calls down God’s judgment on his enemies? A literary and canonical approach strongly suggests that it should. The implication is that we are all beloved by God, and yet because of the corruption of our human nature, we at times oppose and resist God as well (Ps.51:5 – 8). That part of us that needs to be defeated, then, God will indeed defeat. So we say with David, ‘Create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit in me’ (Ps.51:10 – 11).
By saying this, we attest and confess that our creational identity as bearers of God’s image is more fundamental than our resistance towards God. While most individual Psalms do not do this, the Book of Psalms as a whole, does. If the kings, judges, and peoples of the Gentiles are commanded to do homage to the kingly Son of Psalm 2 (Ps.2:10 – 12), then they are also commanded to walk in ‘the way’ of the righteous, not ‘the way’ of the wicked (Ps.1:6; 2:12). And they too will also be gathered from exile by God (Ps.107). Psalm 107, the first psalm of the final collection, arranged to reflect the impact of the messiah and quoted as such by Mary and Luke, says, curiously:
‘He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions/pits’ (Ps.107:20)
God will restore people from exile through and around the heir of David, who, though he will suffer a devastating betrayal (Ps.109), will nevertheless be crowned as the Lord of David (Ps.110). His people will become a just and generous community (Ps.112), a new temple community (Ps.118) in which the law of the Lord is taught (Ps.119), sin is forgiven because the damage we have done to our image-of-God selves is healed (Ps.130). Remarkably, our iniquities will be undone as we are redeemed from them (Ps.130:7 – 8), which is a medical-ontological paradigm because we will become as children again (Ps.131); we will be co-heirs with this son of David on his throne, sharing in his royal sonship, and possibly even be God’s new resting place (Ps.132); we will live in unity (Ps.133); the presence of God on earth will be renewed (Ps.134); God will fulfill His covenant promise to renew His creational blessing (Ps.135); God’s goodness and lovingkindness will resound (Ps.136); the exile will be a distant memory (Ps.137); God will sustain and not forsake the work of His hands (Ps.138), which is shown especially by a renewed appreciation for being created in God’s image (Ps.139), including our willingness to be internally cleansed (Ps.139:23 – 24).
Israel’s greatest creed will be repurposed for a new relation between God and all creation. What began in Exodus 34:6 – 7 as:
‘The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
who keeps lovingkindness for thousands,
who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;
yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,
visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children
and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations’ (Ex.34:6 – 7)
becomes:
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works…
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy. (Ps.145:8 – 9, 14, 17 – 20)
Israel’s exile of three to four generations will be over, and the brunt of that exile, which was endured in Babylon by those later generations on no account of themselves, will be finished. So perhaps the particularity of the Sinai covenant itself will end, leaving simply God’s goodness to all, with healing offered to all through the judgment of God upon the corruption of sin in us. As Moses foresaw, God will circumcise the hearts of people after Israel’s exile (Dt.30:6). And as David foresaw, God will have to give us a cleansed heart (Ps.51:10). He will raise up that which has fallen. God’s goodness to all is shown precisely in His wrath against the corruption of sin in us, because of His love for us as human beings. When God destroys the wicked (as in ‘utterly defeats,’ not ‘annihilates into non-existence’), it will not be because their parents brought negative consequences on them, but because people will personally reject the goodness God offers. Even without jumping ahead into the New Testament, a literary approach to the Book of Psalms already strongly suggests that God’s goodness is offered chiefly through a healed and perfected human heart that loves Him.
David’s heir will gather our praise to God, as our worship leader (Ps.148:11 – 12). His people will be sent out across the world in praise (Ps.149), with the two-edged sword of his praise in their mouths, to execute a form of divine vengeance among the nations, which should now be interpreted within the Book of Psalms as demanding the repentance of all, and severing the people from their allegiances to their rulers, in favor of David’s heir. This will pointedly reverse the desires of those rulers to sever themselves from the kingly authority God granted to David (Ps.2:1 – 3; 8 – 12). It will fulfill God’s promise to His royal Son to make the nations his inheritance.
Hence, the canonical editor(s) who arranged the Book of Psalms looked ahead to the cleansing of human nature itself by the word/Word of God, offered to all humanity and not just the Jewish community, and connects this with its prophetic hope in the messiah from David’s house.
We are now ready to see how Jesus used Psalm 22, not just in isolation, but as part of the entire pre-enthronement story of David, to help us understand his identity. On to the next post!
[1] Gerald Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 1985); Gerald Wilson, ‘The Structure of the Psalter,’ in Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approaches (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006); Gordon Wenham, ‘Towards a Canonical Reading of the Psalms’ in Scott Hahn, Craig G. Bartholomew, Robin Parry, Christopher Seitz, Al Wolters, Canon and Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006)
[2] The Book of Psalms seems to be modeled structurally after the Torah, which existed in five scrolls due to its sheer length. This makes much historical and theological sense. God’s covenant with David concerning the Davidic kingship, and the specific hope of the messiah’s reign of peace and justice over the world, are built upon God’s prior covenant with Abraham and Sarah (Gen.12:1 – 3; 17:1 – 22; cf. ‘kings’ in 17:6 and 16), and also with Moses (Ex.19 – 40).