But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and the despised of the people.
Psalm 22 gives us the words of Christ on the cross. Just before this verse He recalls that the fathers trusted God and God rescued them every time — so why did this one perfect Sufferer cry and get no answer?
Everything here turns on one contrast. The fathers cried and God delivered them; He cried and God did not. One writer says this forsaking is not the ordinary suffering of faithful people. Many believers have cried and no rescue came, yet God never left them.
This forsaking stands apart from anything a righteous man ever suffered. Think of the long line of martyrs. As far as rescue from the hands of enemies goes, great numbers have cried and no deliverance came. Their sufferings only proved that God had not forsaken them. He held them up and made them able for all they went through, and His power showed itself all the more in this way. How many before and since have proved Paul's experience, "Persecuted, but not forsaken"! Yet none of these patient sufferers — however precious and acceptable their patience was to God — touched even the border of the darkness of the cross, when the cry of the holy One found no answer.
The word is not a general term for something small. It names one creature, and the way that creature died gives the verse its weight.
It was nothing unusual for a man to suffer and die. Man has gone through almost every form of death you can imagine. But this unique Sufferer says, "I am a worm, and not a man." He went down to a depth far below that of any man at all. The word (tolaath) points above all to the small creature that gave the tabernacle its scarlet dye — and it gave it by dying. What a picture of the One before us! But this could only be true of Him as He suffered under the judgment of sin. In fact Isaiah 1:18 uses the same word for the colour of sin, and of serious sin at that. So the meaning is clearer still: "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21.)
Older translations read "and no man" where the ESV has "and not a man." Either way, this is poetry. It says nothing against His true manhood.
We should not forget that words are sometimes used in a poetic or figurative way. In such cases no one would seriously argue for their literal meaning. The Spirit of Christ in the psalmist, speaking of the Holy Sufferer, said, "I am a worm, and no man" (Psalm 22:6). The expression is a figure of speech, and it refers to His abandonment on the cross. And no one sees any contradiction between the "no man" of the Psalm and the Lord's own words about Himself to the Jews, "a Man who has told you the truth" (John 8:40).
The scorn runs on into the next verse. One writer counts it out step by step.
In contrast to the fathers, here is One treated as less than a man. He is left to bear the full weight of man's contempt, and it comes in seven forms. (1) They count Him less than a man — "a worm". (2) They count Him of no value — "no man". (3) They hold Him in contempt — "a reproach of men". (4) The Jew despises Him — the "despised of the people". (5) He is the target of man's sneering ridicule — they laugh Him "to scorn". (6) He is the target of insult — they "shoot out the lip" at Him. (7) He is the target of mockery.
These are His own words about Himself, not just a report of how others saw Him.
The patience and lowliness of our Lord come into view in that dark hour. As the forsaken One, He says, "But I am a worm and no man." He accepts a place of nothingness among the sons of men. He puts self completely aside. Now, as always, "Christ did not please Himself." As a "worm and no man," He gave up every claim on deliverance from God. This is the crowning proof of that Blessed One's perfect humility and self-denial. The worm is a picture of utter weakness.
One writer traces this cry to His complete identification with His people, and then points to where He is now.
He identified Himself with His people so completely that we hear Him cry, "I am a worm" (Psalm 22:6). What grace in Him who was altogether perfect! And now, raised from among the dead, He is exalted to God's right hand.
- Contrast. The fathers trusted and God delivered them. He cried and got no answer. The cross stands outside every other record of God's dealings.
- Depth. "Worm" names the little creature that died to give the tabernacle its scarlet dye. Isaiah 1:18 uses the same word for the colour of sin. He went lower than any man.
- Figure. "Not a man" is poetry about His abandonment, not a denial that He was truly Man.
- Reach. The contempt comes in seven forms, from counting Him worthless to laughing at Him and insulting Him.
- Result. He took that place by choice and gave up every claim to rescue. Now He is raised and exalted at God's right hand.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying]
The Sufferer of this psalm looks around at the faces watching Him die. He sees open laughter, a curled lip, heads shaking. These words were written long before the cross, yet they came true there. Why did such contempt fall on Him? And what did He do with it?
The mockery here was no accident of history. Scripture had foretold it, and it built toward one moment.
Sadly, such ridicule from man fell within the sufferings appointed for the Messiah. But it was written of Him, "All who see me mock me" (Ps. 22:7), and this Scripture reached the high point of its fulfilment at the cross. He was the Servant whom man despised and the nation hated (Isa. 49:7).
The mockers never saw what they were doing. One writer traces their blindness to its root:
The Gospels note this wagging of the head by those passing by. They also note the very words of the psalm, used by the chief priests with the scribes and elders as they mocked Him. On the surface it would look as if the government of God gave them this reproach. In fact something else kept them from seeing the meaning of the Scriptures they were fulfilling so openly: their hardness, and their blindness to what they themselves deserved and to the holiness and mercy of God.
The verse names three acts: laughter, the lip, the head. One commentator places them at the top of a rising scale of scorn that starts in the verse before. (Older translations render the line "they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.")
Here is One who is treated as being less than a man. He is left to endure the fullness of man's contempt expressed in a sevenfold form. (1) He is esteemed as less than a man — "a worm". (2) He is of no value — "no man". (3) He is held in contempt — "a reproach of men". (4) He is despised by the Jew — the "despised of the people". (5) He is an object of man's sneering ridicule — they laugh Him "to scorn". (6) He is an object of insult — "they shoot out the lip" at Him. (7) He is the object of mockery — "they shake the head."
The next line of the psalm gives what the shaking heads said. At the cross, the men who repeated it were not only the crowd.
It was not only the rabble of the street, the lowest sort, the uneducated mob that mocked Him. The chief priests and the elders had gone out to help in reproaching Him... It is astonishing that these cultured religious men quoted Scripture in their terrible blindness as they gazed at Him... In earlier times the Jewish synagogue itself had read this Psalm as speaking of the Messiah... The psalm gives the very words they would speak in front of the forsaken Sufferer, the words they would use to insult Him.
Human cruelty caused real pain here. Yet that pain is not what sets Psalm 22 apart.
In Psalm 22 we have a totally different thing. It is Christ forsaken of God. That is not to say the people do not despise Him here. Strong bulls of Bashan surround Him. Dogs close in on Him. The assembly of the wicked shuts Him in. He felt all of it as no one but Christ could feel it. Yet what was all that next to the awful reality of Christ suffering from the hand of God — of Christ suffering for sin?
He heard every word the watchers said. None of it broke His confidence in God.
On the cross, the Lord is not unaware of the thoughts and words of the bystanders. They add to His sorrows and sufferings. He is reproached and despised by the people. They taunt Him because no deliverance comes to Him from God, though everyone knew He trusted God. The onlookers cannot see it, but in the middle of His crucifixion Christ keeps unbroken confidence in His God... Man mocked, Christ suffered, God was glorified.
Behind the human faces there was a purpose aimed at that trust:
He had neither reply nor reproach for the men who mocked Him... He was laughed to scorn because God did not help Him in His hour of great need. The enemy's cruel purpose was to make Him cast off His faith. Yet no complaint and no rebuke were heard in His cries as He poured out His sorrow before God.
- Written — the mockery was foretold, not improvised. It belonged to the sufferings appointed for the Messiah, and it peaked at the cross.
- Wagged — the verse names ridicule, insult and mockery. They are the top of a sevenfold ladder of contempt aimed at One treated as less than a man.
- Worded — the psalm gave the taunts in advance. The religious leaders said them out loud, blind to the Scripture they were fulfilling.
- Weighed — man's scorn was cruel, but it was not the depth of this psalm. Being forsaken by God was, and that is what makes Psalm 22 stand alone.
- Withstood — the enemy aimed to break His trust. He met the mockery with silence and kept unbroken confidence in God. Man mocked, Christ suffered, God was glorified.
Commit it to Jehovah -- let him rescue him; let him deliver him, because he delighteth in him!
At the cross, His enemies turn His own faith into a weapon against Him. They use His trust in God as proof that God has left Him — in words the psalm had recorded long before, and with a demand that went unanswered.
Those who mocked at the cross were quoting Scripture without knowing it.
It is astonishing that these cultured religious leaders quoted Scripture in their fearful blindness, even as they stared at Him... The wicked enemies of the great sufferer speak in that Psalm. The psalm gives the very words they would speak in front of the forsaken Sufferer, the words they would use to insult Him. The sneering chief priests, elders and scribes spoke them at the cross.
The irony was total. As one writer notes, what marks their blindness is that they quoted lines which, in the psalm, belong to the mouths of the ungodly.
That which marks the frightful blindness of these poor priests is, that they cite the words which, in the Psalm where His death is described just as it is described here, come out of the mouth of the godless and the wicked (Ps. 22:7-8).
Verse 8 does not stand alone. It completes a descent that begins earlier in the psalm, where contempt is heaped on Him step by step.
He is left to endure the full weight of man's contempt. It comes in a sevenfold form. (1) He is esteemed as less than a man — "a worm"; (2) as of no value — "no man"; (3) He is held in contempt — "a reproach of men"; (4) He is despised by the Jew — the "despised of the people"; (5) He is an object of man's sneering ridicule — they laugh Him "to scorn"; (6) He is an object of insult — "they shoot out the lip" at Him; (7) He is the object of mockery — "they shake the head."
The Hebrew behind the opening phrase is stronger than the English suggests. It is the picture of a weight being transferred.
There is no help for Him in His God. Others had cried in their need and been heard and answered (Ps. 22:4-5), but now righteousness is alone and unheard. His enemies read this, and in one solemn sense they read it rightly, as if God were against Him. They say, "He trusted in God" — literally, "rolled Himself on Jehovah," compare Ps. 22:8, margin with Matt. 27:43 — "let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him." They daringly claim God as on their side against His blessed Son.
Every fact in the taunt was accurate. The conclusion they drew from those facts was false.
Yet the scoffers around the cross meant a lie even while they spoke the truth. Their taunt charged Him with being a real impostor. God's word and human experience alike said that God had never failed to deliver anyone who truly trusted Him.
They also chose their moment. The demand was not for deliverance someday, but for deliverance on the spot.
"Let Him deliver Him now." Now — with hands and feet pierced, with disciples fled, with the crowd gaping, the rulers sneering, the soldiers making fun of Him, the robbers hurling insults. Now was the moment when perfect trust, if it existed, should be proved. So they reasoned, while He endured in meekness and silence the reproaches heaped on Him.
He stayed on the cross for a reason His mockers never guessed.
In fact, He could not save Himself, because He could not think of Himself. The love which had saved others went further and gave Himself for us. Perfect love for His Father, obedience to His commandments, His perfect love to us, kept Him from saving Himself... If He was to save others, He could not save Himself.
They quoted God's delight in Him as proof of their own case. The reason for that delight was the very thing they were watching.
"Let Him deliver Him, seeing [or, if] He delighted in Him." This was how the murderers of the Just One justified themselves in triumph. But they did not know the way or the reason of Jehovah's delight in His Chosen One. Perhaps they had even heard Him when, in riddles of judgment, He spoke in their hearing the new words of gospel promise: "Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life for the sheep."
The rescue they jeered at did arrive — just not on their timetable.
So men mistake God's patience for indifference, or for letting things pass. But God's time is not man's, and in His own time He will intervene, as He did after Christ had been crucified and buried. What a deliverance then when Christ was raised from among the dead!
- Foretold — The taunt was not made up on the spot. The psalm had already put those words in the mouths of His enemies, long before the chief priests, scribes and elders said them.
- Rolled — The word means He rolled Himself on the Lord. His enemies got His faith right, then used it as evidence against Him.
- Reversed — Every part of their sneer was true. Only their conclusion was false. God had never failed anyone who trusted Him, so they judged Him a fraud.
- Refused — He would not come down. If He was to save others, He could not save Himself. Love and obedience held Him there.
- Raised — God's delight in Him was real. The rescue came in God's time, not theirs — resurrection from among the dead.