My strength is dried up like a potsherd
The radical moisture of his body was dried up through his loss of
blood and spirits, and through the violent fever upon him,
brought on him by his being hurried from court to court; and
which generally attends persons under a panic, in consternation
and fear of danger and death, and at crucifixion; or this was
occasioned by the inward sorrow and distress of his mind, which
affected his body and dried his bones, as a broken spirit is said
to do, ( Proverbs
17:22 ) ; and chiefly it was brought upon him through the
sense he had the wrath of God, which like fire dried up his
strength, just as a potsherd burnt in a furnace; which expresses
his dolorous sufferings, which were typified by the passover lamb
being roasted with fire, and the manna being baked in pans;
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;
so that he could not, or rather would not, speak; this phrase
sometimes signifying silence, ( Job 29:10 ) ( Ezekiel 3:26
) . Thus Christ answered not a word to the charges of the false
witnesses before the high priest, nor to the accusations of the
chief priests and elders before Pilate; nor did he open his
mouth, when he was led to be crucified, neither against the law
and justice of God, nor against his people for whom he suffered,
nor against his enemies who used him cruelly; when he was reviled
he reviled not again; but rather this was occasioned by thirst,
through the violent fever that was upon him; see ( Lamentations
4:4 ) ; Hence, when he hung upon the cross, he said, "I
thirst", ( John 19:28 ) ;
and thou hast brought me into the dust of
death;
meaning either death itself, which brings to the dust, and which
is signified in this psalm by going down to it, ( Psalms 22:29
) ; or the grave, where the body crumbles into dust, and where it
is covered with dust, and therefore is said to sleep in the dust
of the earth, ( Daniel 12:2 ) ; and
accordingly the Targum renders it here, "thou hast shut me up in
the house of the grave": now Christ both died and was laid in the
grave, though he did not lie there so long as to corrupt and
decompose, yet he might be truly said to be laid in the dust: and
this is attributed to God, to his counsel, disposal, and
Providence; and even whatever was done to Christ antecedent to
his death, and which led on to it, were what God's hand and
counsel had determined to be done; and though it was with wicked
hands the Jews took Christ and used him in the manner after
related, and crucified and slew him, he was delivered to them by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; and by these he
was delivered into the hands of justice, and brought to death
itself, ( Acts 2:23
) ( Acts 4:27
Acts 4:28 ) .
