9. What event does this prophetic psalm portray? Psalm 22:1, 16-18.
NOTE: In ‘the twenty-second Psalm, we have the most unmistakable evidence that it is a description of Christ’s experience, and yet it is most intensely human. In it every soul can read his own struggles and temptations, and discouragements, and, if he has faith, his own victories. . . . Let us note a few verses which show us that it comes as a whole right from the heart of Christ.
Verse 1: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.” Compare Matthew 27:46.
Verse 6: “But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Compare Isaiah 52:14; 53:3.
Verses 7, 8: “All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.” Compare Matthew 27:39, 43.
Verse 16: “They pierced My hands and My feet.” Verse 18: “They part My garments among them, and cast lots for My vesture.” Compare John 19:23, 24.
These verses show us that the Psalm is the outpouring of Christ’s soul in His most trying earthly experiences. Nevertheless it is “a Psalm of David.”’ E. J. Waggoner: Present Truth, September 9, 1897.
10. How exactly was this prophecy fulfilled? Matthew 27:35-36, 46.
NOTE: ‘The prophecy concerning His garments was carried out without counsel or interference from the friends or the enemies of the Crucified One. To the soldiers who had placed Him upon the cross, His clothing was given. Christ heard the men’s contention as they parted the garments among them. His tunic was woven throughout without seam, and they said, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.”’ Desire of Ages, page 746.
‘Through the psalmist Christ had foretold the treatment that He should receive from men: “I am ... a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.” “I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon Me. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.” “I am become a stranger unto My brethren, and an alien unto My mother’s children. For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me.” “Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Psalm 22:6-8, 17, 18; 69:8, 9, 20.’ Acts of the Apostles, page 225.