Psalm 22:16-18 meaning

This passage prophetically describes the treatment Jesus received from the Romans when they crucified Him. They pierced His hands and feet. They crucified Him naked for all to see. And they cast lots to determine which of them will possess His clothing. 

The Immediate Meaning of David’s Psalm 22:16-18

After describing the physical conditions he was suffering, (Psalm 22:14-15) David, the psalmist, begins to detail how his enemies are torturing him. 

For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me; (v 16a)

The first thing David describes in this passage are his enemies. Instead of describing them as bulls or lions as he did in Psalm 22:12-13, David labels them as dogs. The term dogs suggests that his enemies may be Gentiles, because dogs was a term Israelites often used to refer to Gentiles, particularly evil or hostile Gentiles.

If Psalm 22 is describing the events of 1 Samuel 21, then dogs likely refers to the Philistines, who were the Gentile enemies holding David in their custody. 

The other term David uses to describe his enemies is a band of evildoers. This term could refer to any group in Israel or among the Gentiles who does not respect or follow God’s moral law. A band of evil doers is a group of people who have joined together for the express purpose of doing evil. In this case, they have banded together to ruin or destroy David, God’s anointed king. 

By saying dogs have surrounded me, particularly that a band of evildoers has encompassed me, David is describing himself as having been captured by his enemies. The Hebrew word translated as encompassed implies that David was detained and ensnared. 

The only time the Bible mentions that David was captured by his enemies is when he was “in their [the Philistines under King Achish of Gath’s] hands” (1 Samuel 21:12). Psalm 56 describes David’s thoughts during this event (Psalm 56, superscript). 

David next describes what his enemies did to him while he was in their custody:

They pierced my hands and my feet (v 16b).

This expression could mean that they bound David’s hands and feet. The Hebrew word which is translated here as pierced literally means “bore” or “dig into.” This could describe how tight the knots were that were tied around David’s hands and feet. The cords were so tight that they sharply bit into his wrists and ankles and made the skin around his hands and feet painfully sore and raw. 

Next, David describes his appearance while he is in the custody of his enemies.

I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me (v 17).

The expression I can count all my bones likely describes one of two things. 

It could describe how malnourished and famished David was while he is in the custody of his enemies. He was so malnourished and near death, that he had no body fat left; his skin was clinging to his bones so that he can count all of them. 

The expression—I can count all my bones—could also mean that David was naked while he is a prisoner of his enemies. This would have been a painfully humiliating experience—one that could easily tempt David to question God’s plan and promise that he was the anointed (messiah) king of Israel. But even in his humiliation, David held steadfast to the promise that God would somehow deliver him. 

The expression could also refer to both David’s severe malnutrition and nakedness. 

Speaking of his enemy captors, David says: They look, they stare at me. This could be an additional indicator that he was naked. Whether this expression meant David was naked or not, it does mean that his enemies saw him in his humiliation, which added to his shame. 

David says his enemies also took his clothes.

They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots (v 18).

David’s enemies are claiming his clothing for themselves. Because there is more than one enemy, they are casting lots (rolling dice/playing games of chance) to see which of them gets what article of clothing.

This could refer to when David was in the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 21:10-15). If so, it would be a third indicator that David was naked during this time. And David may have even stripped himself naked as part of his act pretending to be insane while he was in captive exile (1 Samuel 21:13).

Another option is that this could refer to an unrecorded incident after David was king over Israel, in which case David’s garments would have been very rich or valuable. If so, this may be in reference to an event that happened after David fled Jerusalem while fleeing from his rebellious son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15:14-16).

For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots.

Psalm 22:16-18 as a Messianic Prophecy

This portion of Psalm 22 is especially prophetic of Jesus the Messiah.

For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me; (v 16a)

The expression For dogs have surrounded me is prophetic of the fact that Gentiles played a key part in Jesus’s murder. Jews used the term dogs to describe Gentiles, specifically if they were evil or hostile Gentiles. Jesus the Messiah was put to death under Roman rule, by Roman soldiers, and according to Roman crucifixion. The Roman governor Pilate heard His case and condemned Him to death, rather than face the wrath of the crowd (Matthew 27:2, 11-26). Jesus was marched to Golgotha by a contingent of Roman soldiers where they executed Him on a cross (Matthew 27:27-37, 50, 54). 

Jesus, the Jews’ Messiah, was surrounded by dogs—hostile Gentiles—who tortured and murdered Him.

The expression A band of evildoers has encompassed me is prophetic of the various groups who decided to band together and successfully managed to capture and put Jesus to death. This band of evildoers was made up of Jews and Gentiles alike. It included:

• The Pharisees—the protectors of Jewish culture and religious tradition who led the local synagogues (Matthew 12:14).  

• The Sadducees—the priests who operated the sacrificial system in the Temple at Jerusalem (Matthew 21:45-46).

• The Sanhedrin Council—the highest Jewish tribunal, consisting of prominent Pharisees (“elders”), religious lawyers (“scribes”), and prominent Sadducees (“chief priests”). The Sanhedrin was led by Caiaphas the high priest, and influenced by Annas, a former high priest and Caiaphas’s father-in-law (Matthew 16:21, 26:1, 26:57-68, Luke 22:52, 22:66-71, John 11:47-53, 18:12, 19-24).

• The Herodians—the political entourage of King Herod the Great’s dynasty. Herod’s offspring were empowered to govern the Roman province of Judea on Rome’s behalf. The Herodians were paganized Jews (Matthew 22:15-22, Luke 23:8-12). 

• Judas Iscariot—Judas was one of Jesus’s twelve disciples. He joined the conspiracy to destroy Jesus, and betrayed the Messiah into the hands of His enemies (Matthew 26:14-15, John 12:21-30, Matthew 26:47-50).

• Pilate—The Roman governor who presided over Jesus’s Civil Trial and condemned Him to death, rather than face the wrath of the crowd (Matthew 27:2, 11-26).

• Roman Soldiers—the Praetorian Legionaries who scourged Jesus, mocked Him, marched Him to Golgotha, and who executed Him on a cross (John 19:1-3, Matthew 27:27-37, Matthew 27:50, Matthew 27:54).

• The Crowds of People—who gathered at Jesus’s Civil Trial and shouted for Pilate to “Crucify Jesus” (Matthew 27:22-26, John 19:13-15)

In one way or another, all of these evildoers decided to band together in collusion against Jesus the Messiah to put Him to death. Perhaps this was why Jesus likened His generation to a demon-possessed man that became seven times more evil than before (Matthew 12:43-45). He concluded:

“That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
(Matthew 12:45b)

The number seven in scripture typically indicates completion, so this verse likely speaks of the fulfillment of evil. That is certainly consistent with the comprehensive nature of evildoers surrounding Jesus. 

The next statements which David wrote were prophetic of Jesus’s crucifixion.

They pierced my hands and my feet (v 16b).

Jesus was executed by Roman crucifixion (Matthew 27:26-50). This method of execution was artfully cruel. It entailed nailing someone through the bones of their wrists (hands) and ankles (feet) to a wooden beam and leaving them to die. 

To learn more about Roman Crucifixion, see The Bible Says article—“Bearing the Cross: Exploring the Unimaginable Suffering of Crucifixion.”

Jesus the Messiah’s hands and feet were literally pierced by nails when they crucified Him. This prophecy by David in Psalm 22 predicted this concerning the Messiah’s death hundreds of years before this method of crucifixion was invented, and a thousand years before Jesus was born.

I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me (v 17).

Rome typically crucified its victims naked to add to their humiliation. David’s line: I can count all my bones may refer to this fact, that Jesus was naked on the cross. It also could refer to Jesus’s rib cage protruding for all to see as He suffocated and hung from the cross. 

Rome used crucifixions to terrorize its conquered peoples, suppressing lawbreakers and would-be lawbreakers into submission by making them bloody spectacles. The Romans crucified their victims publicly, typically at eye level along the road, for all to see and stare at. Jesus was crucified outside the gate of Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:12) at Passover so that many would pass by, and all passing by could look and stare at Him. 

They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots (v 18).

The Romans typically crucified their victim’s completely naked to the cross. Most artistic depictions of Jesus on the cross are historically misleading in their modesty. The Roman detachment assigned to oversee the execution were entitled to keep any clothing that belonged to the man they were crucifying. 

The typical first century Jew wore six articles of clothing:

• Head Covering 
• Outer Robe
• Sleaved Tunic 
• Belt
• Sandals
• Undergarment

John, who was an eyewitness to Jesus’s crucifixion, explained how the Roman detachment who executed Jesus fulfilled Psalm 22:18 to the letter,

“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier.”
(John 19:23a)

According to John, four soldiers were assigned to crucify Jesus and the two robbers. These four soldiers divided among themselves Jesus’s outer garments, (i.e. His head covering, outer robe, belt, and sandals) with each taking one article for himself. The soldiers probably discarded Jesus’s under garments. 

The soldiers’ divvying up Jesus’s clothing among themselves fulfilled the first prophecy in Psalm 22:18—They divide my garments among them.

Next John describes Jesus’s final article of clothing—His tunic—“now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece” (John 19:23b). 

A Jewish man’s tunic was his largest article of clothing. Apparently, Roman soldiers would sometimes tear and divide the tunic of the convict they were crucifying into pieces among themselves—with each getting a piece of the material. Cloth was a valuable commodity in the ancient world. 

However, it seems that Jesus’s tunic was particularly fine and valuable. This expensive article of clothing may have been given to Jesus from the wealthy women who were contributing to His ministry (Luke 8:2-3). When the Romans considered what to do with Jesus’s tunic, they decided it would have been a waste to tear and divide it, 

“So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be.’”
(John 19:24a)

The soldiers cast lots, that is they played a game of chance (such as rolling dice), to see which of the four of them would get to keep Jesus’s tunic. John then recorded: “the soldiers did these things” (John 19:25a).

The casting of lots for Jesus’s tunic fulfilled the second prophecy in Psalm 22:18—And for my clothing they cast lots.

Included in John’s commentary of these events was his observation of how the soldiers’ actions explicitly fulfilled Psalm 22:18,

“This was to fulfill the Scripture: ‘They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’”
(John 19:24b)

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record a summary of the soldiers’ division of Jesus’s clothing. 

“And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.”
(Matthew 27:35)

“And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take.”
(Mark 15:24)

“And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”
(Luke 23:34b)

Because Psalm 22 was such a well-known psalm to their audiences, the brief mention of this fact was a sufficient inference of how Psalm 22:18 was fulfilled in the life of the Messiah.