Psalm 22:10

EXPOSITION

Verse 10. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Into the Almighty arms he was first received, as into those of a loving parent. This is a sweet thought. God begins his care over us from the earliest hour. We are dandled upon the knee of mercy, and cherished in the lap of goodness; our cradle is canopied by divine love, and our first totterings are guided by his care.

Thou art my God from my mother's belly. The psalm begins with "My God, my God", and here, not only is the claim repeated, but its early date is urged. Oh noble perseverance of faith, thus to continue pleading with holy ingenuity of argument! Our birth was our weakest and most perilous period of existence; if we were then secured by Omnipotent tenderness, surely we have no cause to suspect that divine goodness will fail us now. He who was our God when we left our mother, will be with us till we return to mother earth, and will keep us from perishing in the belly of hell.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 9-10. See Psalms on "Psalms 22:9" for further information.

Verse 10. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. There is a noble passage in Eusebius, in which he shows the connection between our Lord's incarnation and his passion: that he might well comfort himself while hanging on the cross by the remembrance that the very same body then "marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men" ( Isaiah 52:14 ), was that which had been glorified by the Father with such singular honour, when the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. That this body, therefore, though now so torn and so mangled, as it had once been the wonder, so it would for ever be the joy, of the angels; and having put on immortality, would be the support of his faithful people to the end of time. J. M. Neale, in loc.

Verse 10. I was like one forsaken by his parent, and wholly cast upon Providence. I had no father upon earth, and my mother was poor and helpless. Matthew Poole.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 6-18. Full of striking sentences upon our Lord's suffering.