Psalm 22

Psalm 22 is a well-known messianic Psalm: v1 (“My God, my God was hast Thou forsaken me?”); v.16 (“They pierced my hands and my feet.”); v. 17 (“I can count all my bones.”); v18 (“And for my clothing they cast lots.”).  But as often as these verses are cited and discussed, the prophetic verses in the later half of the psalm are ignored.  Here are the verses to which I am referring:

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee.
For the kingdom is the Lord’s
And He rules over the nations.”

Psalm 22:27-29.  My question is, “How did David expect that all the earth would turn to the Lord and worship Him?”   At the time David spoke these words, Israel occupied a modest portion of the Middle East.  King David knew the Philistines, the Moabites and the Egyptians didn’t yet worship the Lord.

I suspect when David spoke these words, he was looking down the road thinking his kingdom or his descendants’ kingdom would continue to expand and bring the knowledge of the Lord to the ends of the earth.  Of course, a prophet needn’t understand fully the meaning of his prophecy, and I believe that was the case here.  Here, I believe David was prophesying of the coming kingdom of God.  He was speaking of the kingdom, whose ruler is not a man, but the Lord, “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over nations.” (v. 28).

Anyway, that’s how it reads to me.  Your thoughts? GS

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