The epistle to the Hebrews cites a passage from Psalm 22 that we wouldn’t expect. This isn’t the cry of dereliction on the cross, nor is it the declaration of resurrection, nor is it the future look towards nations and generations being saved. But it’s a line that you may have missed. “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 

A Familiar Psalm

Let’s look closely at Psalm 22 together. And because it’s a long psalm, we’re going to look at only a few selected verses that give us the storyline of the whole thing. You’re going to find when we jump into this psalm, that it’s remarkably familiar to you, or at least its first verse is. But I want to see where the whole psalm goes, not just where it starts. Let’s read.

To the choir master. According to the Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Moving to verse 12:

Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I’m poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.

Moving to verse 21:

Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him.

To verse 27:

All of the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nation shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

We’ll stop there. As I said, this psalm is likely, at least in its beginning, a very familiar psalm to you. Psalm 22:1 is what Jesus himself says when he’s up on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Because of this, it’s likely, at least in some degree, familiar to us from Good Friday services or through preaching from the Gospels.

David, we do seem to have a description of Jesus’s death at the crucifixion—that his joints are stretched out, his heart melts away like wax, and we even find within it people dividing his garments and casting lots (Ps. 22:18). So Psalm 22 does meet us with the crucifixion scene. It is a prophecy, even as it is a psalm, telling us of how Jesus was to die. And Jesus wanted us to see it that way.

But is that all that’s here? The reason why I didn’t stop at those portions and why I wanted us to read through the latter half of the psalm is that this isn’t just one scene, but it’s a story.

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