Psalm 22:22-25 meaning

Psalm 22:22-25 is prophetic of how the Messiah appears after He has risen from the dead. Because the Messiah came back to life after He was crucified, every descendant of Israel has much cause to praise God. The cross was not the LORD’s rejection of the Messiah as Jesus’s enemies claimed, but God honored the faithful suffering of Jesus, and has now exalted Him.

The Immediate Meaning of David’s Psalm 22:22-25

Psalm 22 is both “a Cry of Anguish” and “a Song of Praise” (Psalm 22 superscription). Psalm 22:1-21 is the Cry of Anguish. The Song of Praise begins in this verse and runs from Psalm 22:22-31.

Having been delivered from evil and/or having the faith to believe his life will be spared from violent death at the hands of enemies (Psalm 22:19-21), David, the psalmist, expresses how he will respond to the LORD’s faithfulness. 

I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You (v 22).

David says he will tell of the LORD’s name to his brethren. The term, my brethren, refers to his fellow Israelites and/or those who support David as God’s anointed king. 

The expression—tell of Your name—does not just merely mean speaking the LORD’s name, though it includes that. To tell of Your name means David will tell what the LORD has done for him. The psalmist will describe and explain how the LORD has delivered his soul from the sword, his only life from the power of hostile Gentiles (Psalm 22:20), and how the LORD saved him “from the mouth of the lion” (Psalm 22:21a) and “the horns of the wild oxen” (Psalm 22:21b). In other words, David will eagerly and enthusiastically give credit to the LORD for sparing his life from certain, violent death. 

Psalm 22 itself, specifically Psalm 22:22-25, is one way David made good on his promise to tell of the LORD’s name to his brethren and give God credit for saving his life.

David also promises to personally praise the LORD in the midst of the assembly. This means David promises to praise God publicly (in the assembly) for saving him. David will ensure that everyone, not just the psalmist’s close friends and allies, will hear about how the LORD hastened to his assistance and was not far off during his perilous distress. 

The psalmist then proclaims his praise of the LORD to his brethren for saving him. He begins by exhorting them to worship God.

You who fear the LORD, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel (v 23).

The first line of David’s exultant exhortation is directed to: You who fear the LORD. People who fear the LORD are people who care about what God thinks more than what people think in any matter or situation. People who fear the LORD seek to please God with their actions. People who fear the LORD seek to adopt God’s values and perspective of events. 

We serve what we fear. For example, if we fear being thought of as poor, we serve material wealth. Any master other than God will only abuse and exploit. That is why fearing God leads to our greatest possible fulfillment. 

The LORD’s perspective is wisdom. The Bible tells us that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:12). When we fear what God thinks of us over the opinions of others, we are set free from false perspectives and are free to live in the reality of God’s (good) design (wisdom). 

David exhorts You who fear the LORD to praise Him (God). 

The reason David exhorts God-fearing people to praise the LORD is because God is triumphant. His ways are ultimately for our best.

He has successfully protected his servant, David, and spared his life from the many dangers he was in. God-fearing people do not need to be ashamed or afraid of men. To anyone who fears the LORD, God’s rescue of David and His vindication of David is worth celebrating. It is indicative that God turns all things to good, even bad things (Romans 8:28). 

David’s second line of exultant exhortation is directed to: All you descendants of Jacob. Jacob was Isaac’s second son. God’s promise to Abraham and Isaac to make them a mighty nation extended to Abraham’s descendants through Jacob. David bids all the descendants of Jacob to glorify God because He has rescued David, their messiah and king, from a violent, disgraceful death at the hands of their enemies. 

Glorify means to recognize the essential essence of someone of something—in this case the descendants of Jacob are called upon to glorify and recognize the awesome nature, power, and worth of God who rescued David. His ways are for our best. 

In David’s third line of exultant exhortation, he states the directive to praise God to the recipients of the directive: the people of God.

The directive is: And stand in awe of Him. To stand in awe means to stop what you are doing in wonderous pause over something you have just heard or witnessed. People stand in awe when they see or hear about tremendous and unthinkable events. It means be shocked. Depending on one’s perspective, this shock can be a joyful or horrifying occasion. 

In this case, the directive applies to the psalmist’s recipients: all you descendants of Israel. God’s work is an unqualified good thing that God’s people are to stand in awe of. They are to stand in awe of God and His stunning deliverance of David. 

The descendants of Israel are identical to the descendants of Jacob because Israel was the name God gave to Jacob after Jacob and He wrestled on the plain (Genesis 32:24-28). 

The descendants of Jacob/Israel are the psalmist’s “brethren” whom David promised he would tell the LORD’s name to in Psalm 22:22. They are all brethren, descendants of/belonging to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

After exhorting his brethren to praise, glorify, and stand in awe of the LORD, David tells them the reason why they should do these things.

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard (v 24).

The reason why they should praise God was because He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.

To despise something is to think little of it, or to give it no value. To abhor something is to revolt against something or to hate it. God did not despise David’s affliction and suffering. David’s naysayers were completely wrong when they mocked him as being wicked and slandered him, saying the LORD had rejected him (Psalm 22:6-8). 

The LORD assigned great worth to David’s faithfulness through his affliction. God was not put off by David’s physical frailty, weakness, and pain. He respected David and was greatly pleased that David trusted Him during his troubles and sufferings. 

God understands how difficult it is to trust Him in our pain, anguish, and suffering—when we rely on Him during these trials He is greatly pleased: 

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.”
(Psalm 34:18-19)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:3-10)

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
(1 Peter 1:6-7)

Everyone else seemed to, or perhaps did, abandon David when he was afflicted, perhaps thinking “lest his affliction affect me” (Psalm 22:6). God however was not spooked by this. God did not abhor David in his afflictions. 

Nor had God hid His face from David. 

The idiom to hide your face from someone is an expression that demonstrates shame, disappointment, and disapproval as when someone looks away, or how someone has removed their friendship, blessing, or aid. When David wrote: Nor has He hidden His face from the afflicted, he is saying that God has not done any of those things to him. To the contrary, the LORD approved of David’s faith and actions. The LORD remained David’s friend and continued to bless and assist him throughout his troubles. 

David explained: But when he (David, the afflicted) cried to Him (the LORD) for help, He (the LORD) heard and answered David’s cries.

Despite any human assumptions or misgivings to the contrary, God had not abandoned nor forsaken David (Psalm 22:1). The LORD remained faithful to never forsake any of His people—including David (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8). The LORD was always with David in his sufferings—even when it did not seem or feel like He was present with him. 

David confesses: 

From You comes my praise in the great assembly (v 25a).

The great assembly is the main group or gathering of Israel. David infers that the great assembly has much praise of David—for victoriously surviving and escaping the harrowing ordeal of being prisoner of his Gentile enemies. Everyone is marveling at his success. But David acknowledges that his success and victory was not his—but the LORD’s. This is why he confesses to God that their praise really comes from You. Without the LORD’s help, David’s life would not have been spared and the great assembly would not have any praise of his success.  

I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him (v 25b).

David concludes this section of his Song of Praise by reiterating how he shall pay his vows—to praise the LORD—before those who fear Him. The vows to which David is referring were the vows he made at the beginning of this section in verse 22. They were: I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

The lines between Psalm 22:22, Psalm 22:25b bookend a written fulfillment of the psalmist’s vows (Psalm 22:23-25a).

I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.
From You comes my praise in the great assembly;
I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him.

Psalm 22:22-25 as a Messianic Prophecy

As David’s “Cry of Anguish” (Psalm 22, superscription) which ran from Psalm 22:1-21 was prophetic of Jesus, the Messiah’s, death, so too is his “Song of Praise” (Psalm 22, superscription) which is from Psalm 22:22-31 prophetic of the Messiah’s victory over sin and death.

Looking at the beginning of this song of praise from a Messianic perspective, we see that these lines can be understood as spoken by Jesus, the resurrected Messiah and Son of God, to God the Father.

I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You (v 22).

From the prophetic Messianic perspective, the—I—throughout this passage refers to Jesus, the Messiah; and the—You—refers to The LORD, God the Father. 

Jesus will tell of the LORD’s name to His brethren. Here brethren likely refers both to the nation of Israel (over which He was appointed king) as well as to all who follow His ways (Hebrews 2:10-11). 

The expression tell of your name means to tell of what that person has done for them. The risen Son will tell of what His Father, the LORD has done—how He did not let His body decay in the grave (Psalm 16:10), but raised Him back to life. Jesus will publicly praise His Father for reviving Him in the midst of the assembly.

Paul testifies how after He was resurrected from the dead, that Jesus appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). It is possible, if not likely, that Jesus told of the LORD’s name and said something about how He was raised from the dead at this great assembly. 

The word often translated as “church” in the New Testament is the Greek word “ekklesia” which was commonly used in Greek culture to refer to assemblies of people. The modern church consists of those who have believed on Jesus. New Testament believers are encouraged to offer words of praise to God as a sacrifice of our lips (Hebrews 13:15). 

In this assembly, Jesus likely also exhorted His brethren to trust the LORD as He had trusted the LORD, as David prophesied:

You who fear the LORD, praise Him;
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel (v 23).

Those who followed God and entrusted their hope in Jesus as His Son and the Messiah have reason to rejoice and praise God after He was crucified. The reason they can and should praise the LORD after the death of His Son was because He came back to life and defeated death. 

All the descendants of Jacob, which in Jesus’s day would have been the Jews—should glorify the LORD for restoring to life their Messiah and for His defeat of sin and death on the cross. They should stand in awe of Him for this wonderful event of working the worst evil in the world—the unjust murder of God—into the biggest blessing for the world: its salvation. The New Testament presents those who have believed in Jesus as having been grafted into spiritual Israel, like the grafting of wild olive branch (Romans 11:17). In that respect, all who believe are brethren in Christ and should glorify the LORD. 

Jesus’s resurrection was a stunning turn of events—which is why all the descendants of Israel are called to stand in awe of Him. Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for this awesome turn of events when He told them:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.”
(John 16:20)

Throughout His ministry, Jesus’s message to His disciples was that if they will fear the LORD—i.e. trust God and follow His ways—then they will not be disappointed. They will praise Him. Even if they lose their lives for His sake, they will gain infinitely more than they gave up (Matthew 19:29, Luke 9:24). Now, through His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus had demonstrated that God is faithful and can be completely trusted to deliver. God always keeps His promises, but in His time. 

As David explained how God was faithful in his sufferings, so too Jesus can testify:

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted (v 24a).

Jesus’s crucifixion—His affliction—did not demonstrate God’s disapproval and rejection of Him as a false Messiah, as His enemies claimed (Psalm 22:6-8). God did not despise (give little value to) or abhor (reject) His Son’s humiliating and sacrificial death. The LORD greatly valued the obedient sacrifice of His afflicted Son. Far from disqualifying Jesus as the Messiah, the prophecies of Psalm 22 reveal how His crucifixion proves that Jesus was and is the Messiah.

The LORD was pleased with His Son’s obedience through His anguish and affliction,

“As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;”
(Isaiah 53:11a)

The LORD honored Jesus’s affliction,

“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”
(Philippians 2:8-9)

The LORD used Jesus’s affliction to redeem the world,

“My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.”
(Isaiah 53:11b)

“He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.”
(Isaiah 53:12b)

Jesus was rejected and shamed by the world. But He “despised” the world’s rejection, even though He suffered so greatly. This was because He compared it to the glory He could gain from His Father by following His will, as this verse from Hebrews explains, which exhorts us to avoid sin and focus our attention on Jesus as our example to follow:

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Hebrews 12:2)

The “joy” set before Jesus was to gain the great reward of sharing with His Father rulership over the earth in fellowship with Him (Matthew 28:18, Revelation 3:21). 

We too, can benefit from following Jesus’s example by having this perspective (1 Corinthians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Hebrews 12:1).

The next verse of Psalm 22 explains the temporal limit of God’s forsaking of Jesus on the cross.

Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard (v 24b).

Even though God forsook His Son on the cross for a period of time (Matthew 27:45-46) God did not keep His face hidden from Jesus forever. When Jesus gave up His spirit and He cried out to the LORD for help in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), the LORD, His Father, heard Him. As a result of His obedience, the Father raised Jesus’s name above every name (Philippians 2:9). 

Jesus, the Messiah, was exalted and vindicated of all slanders by His resurrection from the dead. And as Christ’s ancestor David boasts in the LORD’s deliverance, so too does Jesus prophetically boast and give credit to His Father’s power for restoring Him to life from the dead.

From You comes my praise in the great assembly;
I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him (v 25).

As this passage speaks prophetically of Jesus the Messiah, Christ confesses that the reason the great assembly gives praise to Him is because of what His Father had done for Him. Jesus’s public praise in the assembly by the people comes from the LORD and is a by-product of what His Father had done for Him.

And as David made vows to give God credit for sparing his life, so too has Jesus, the Messiah, prophetically made vows to His Father to give Him credit for His salvation from the dead. This portion of Psalm 22 is a fulfilment of those vows and a promise made by God the Son to continually honor those vows to praise God before those who fear the LORD. 

Psalm 22:22 is where the vows of David and the Messiah are first recorded: I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. Psalm 22:23-25 are how they are fulfilled. 

It is remarkable to consider how this passage of Psalm 22 is a prophetic script of a divine dialogue between God the Son and God the Father composed by David one-thousand years before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  

During His time on earth, Jesus’s prayers to His Father were recorded for us, and we get to peer in on additional dialogues between Him and His Father. In John 17, Jesus says something similar to this passage of praise:

“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.’”
(John 17:1)