Chapter Twenty-One

“Upon the help of the morning” – (according to the Slavonic text) understood in its literal sense, this superscription indicates the petition-like content of the psalm for “morning,” or possibly speedy help. This superscription is also understood to mean an indication of the time for the liturgical performance – in the morning, which the Hebrew superscription confirms – “at the appearance of dawn.” (There is a translation: “upon the morning hart,” that is, the motif of the vocal performance should resemble the motif of a song beginning with the words “morning hart”). David depicts his situation as hopeless: he becomes the object of mockery and finds himself in humiliation (Ps 21:3-9); his enemies are numerous and strong (Ps 21:13-14); they are “crafty,” wicked, and David is alone (Ps 21:22), so that he considers his destruction inevitable and foresees how he will be subjected to execution through crucifixion (Ps 21:17-19). In this psalm David nowhere speaks of his guilt before God, and therefore his sufferings, being undeserved, are especially grievous. Such hopelessness in David’s situation relates to the times of Saul, when he was surrounded on one side by mountains and on the other by wilderness, and Saul with his army was advancing toward him. This was in the wilderness of Maon. David’s destruction seemed inevitable, but news of an attack at that time upon the southern borders of the state by the Philistines (1 Sam 23:24-28) prompted Saul to go out to defend the state, and David was thus saved.

My God! Why have You forsaken me? (2–3). I will still cry out to You (4–6). I am despised among the people: everyone mocks me (7–10). My only hope is in You, my Creator, to whom I have been attached since childhood. Do not turn away from me, but protect me from enemies ready to crucify me, abandoned by all (11–23). I bless You, Lord, for Your protection. Let all who seek Him praise Him! May His name become great among all peoples and be sung throughout the world (24–32).

Psalm 21:2. My God! My God! [hear me] why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my cry. David points to the hopelessness of his situation in this case. By human understanding and the natural course of events, David’s destruction seemed inevitable, which is why he sometimes found himself utterly abandoned by God, and thus cries out: “Why have You forsaken me?” Such a state, bordering on despair, was not prolonged. David later says that “such words,” words of “cry,” bordering on despair, are sinful, for they show wavering faith in a person; because of this revealed lack of faith in God, a person does not deserve the salvation he asks of God.

Psalm 21:3. My God, I cry out in the day, and You do not hear me; at night, and there is no rest for me. Psalm 21:4. But You, O Holy One, dwell in the praises of Israel. Psalm 21:5. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted, and You delivered them. Psalm 21:6. They cried to You and were saved; they trusted in You and were not put to shame. Yet such a state of insufficient faith, as we have said, was an expression of temporary spiritual despondency from the hard conditions in which David was placed. He condemns himself for this cowardice and then prays to God: I will cry to You day and night, that is, constantly; I do this, although I do not see Your help immediately (“You do not hear me”) and do not consider such constant and, apparently, fruitless prayer – to be unnecessary, unwise. I am convinced of this, first, by the fact that “You, O Holy One, dwell in the praises of Israel,” that is, You are holy, and therefore You appear as the protector and defender of holiness, righteousness, innocence; for which Israel continually gives You glory. As the Holy One, You will not leave me, innocent as I am, without Your protection. The meaning of these words is that David justifies the sleeplessness of his prayer to God and faith in His protection by the fact that his present misfortunes are undeserved and by His justice, which will not permit the destruction of a righteous person; second – by historical facts from the life of the Hebrew people: when the latter cried out to God in their misfortunes, He showed them His protection. Such facts fill Hebrew history. The words of verse 2, expressing in David a feeling of abandonment by God, were literally repeated later by Jesus Christ on the cross (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34). And as David further expresses complete faith in God and, consequently, submission to His will, so Jesus Christ also showed the same obedience on the cross to the Father’s will, when He said: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Psalm 21:7. But I am a worm, not a man, scorned by people and despised by the nation. Psalm 21:8. All who see me mock me, they speak with their mouths, wagging their heads. Psalm 21:9. “He trusts in the Lord; let Him deliver him, let Him save him, if He is pleased with him. In all the subsequent content up to verse 24, David depicts the severity of his situation. He is mocked, as an enemy of the king; he is helpless and weak, like a worm which one can easily crush. But David’s helplessness not only fails to awaken a natural feeling of compassion in anyone, but even provokes mockery of his faith in God. David underwent the same humiliation as Christ, when, hanging on the cross and turning to God, he uttered a dying cry: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” to which those surrounding his cross answered with disbelieving and mocking curiosity (Matt 27:41-50).

Psalm 21:10. But You brought me forth from the womb, You gave me hope while I was at my mother’s breast. Psalm 21:11. On You I have been cast since my birth; from my mother’s womb You have been my God. The meaning of these verses explains why the Lord is the only object of hope and trust for David. “You brought me forth from the womb,” that is, I was born by Your special favor; by my birth, the beginning of my life, I was indebted to You; “You gave me hope while I was at my mother’s breast” – I was raised by my mother with attachment to You. Probably, David’s mother, when she still nursed him with her own milk, spoke to him of God and together with his mother’s milk he received lofty notions of Him, reverence and devotion to Him. The more ancient such attachments are in a person, the deeper and more durable they are; laid in David since childhood and strengthened in him by subsequent facts of his life, they became an unshakeable treasure of his spiritual life and consciousness.

Psalm 21:12. Do not turn away from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Psalm 21:13. Many bulls have encircled me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me. Psalm 21:14. They have opened their mouths against me, like a lion, hungry for prey and roaring. Psalm 21:15. I am poured out like water; all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melted within me. Psalm 21:16. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue clings to my jaw, and You have brought me down to the dust of death. God’s help is all the more necessary to David as danger draws closer and becomes more threatening. David has nowhere a defender; his enemies, on the other hand, are so numerous and so secure in their wellbeing, like the numerous and well-fed cattle of Bashan, and they are also as terrifying to him as lions are to ordinary animals. Bashan had rich pastures, and therefore the primary occupation of its inhabitants was cattle-raising, and there was especially much livestock. David’s strength has wasted away, disappeared like water poured on dry ground is invisibly absorbed; “his bones,” being the harder part of the human organism and therefore – a symbol of his strength, are disjointed, that is, the persistent persecution by Saul, which forced David into constant flight, has so exhausted him that he finds no more strength in himself to continue this flight. “His heart” has melted like “wax” from the action of fire; he has lost courage at the sight of the hopelessness of his situation, like a figure made of wax turns into a shapeless mass when heated by fire; his strength has wasted away like water evaporates from a clay vessel when the potter heats it; his “tongue clings to his jaw,” which is a sign of his exhaustion. His situation is so hopeless that he considers himself already at the threshold of death (in the “dust of death”).

Psalm 21:17. For dogs have surrounded me, a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 21:18. I can count all my bones; they stare and gaze upon me. Psalm 21:19. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. David calls his enemies “dogs” and a “company of evildoers,” indicating by this both their multitude and their moral worthlessness. They are crafty, false, incapable of acting for any higher ideal and justice, but for personal gain, turning in whatever direction has strength and benefit; they also deserve contempt like “dogs,” which the Hebrews regarded as despised animals. The danger to David is so great, and his destruction seems so inevitable, that he already envisions the picture of his execution. He, as a state criminal who has attempted to seize royal power, as an enemy of the ruler, is to be subjected to the cruelest and most shameful execution – crucifixion on the cross. David already sees blood flowing from his wounds; on his body, from the stretching of muscles, his bones stand out especially clearly, so that they can be counted. Although these sufferings from muscle strain are terrible in their duration and the pain associated with them, his enemies regard his sufferings with contempt, without sympathy. Everything upon him, his clothing – they divided into equal parts; “for my clothing they cast lots,” probably – for his upper garment, his tunic, which was not sewn but woven as a single piece and was made of finer material. The sufferings depicted by David throughout the content of the psalm, especially in these verses, were fulfilled in full and with complete accuracy in Christ, as witnessed by all the evangelists (Matt 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:24). What David experienced in his imagination, what was the possession of his thought, found complete external factual expression in the actual sufferings of the Messiah.

Psalm 21:20. But You, O Lord, do not turn away from me; my strength, come quickly to my aid. Psalm 21:21. Deliver my soul from the sword and my solitary self from the dogs. Psalm 21:22. Save me from the mouth of the lion and from the horns of the wild oxen, hear me and deliver me. Psalm 21:23. I will declare Your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will praise You. In view of the inevitability of such a fate, if his enemies were to capture David, the latter begs God for deliverance: “deliver my soul from the sword, from the dogs – my solitary self,” that is, me, alone, save me from enemies; “from the horns of the wild oxen” – from the horns of the wild ox, the rhinoceros, with which David figuratively depicts the strength and cruelty of his enemies. For his deliverance, David promises to sing of God “in the midst of the congregation,” that is, publicly, in poetic songs, and will praise God as the only protector of every suffering righteous person. From verse 24 onward, the content of the psalm changes: previously it was sorrowful and supplicatory in character; now it is grateful and hymnic. One may suppose that the second part of the psalm was written by David after the end of the persecutions.

Psalm 21:24. You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All descendants of Jacob, glorify Him. Reverence Him, all you descendants of Israel. Psalm 21:25. For He has not despised or scorned the affliction of the suffering; He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard him when he cried out to Him. In view of the extraordinariness of the misfortunes and deliverance from them, David together with himself invites all Hebrews to glorify God for the fact that the Lord heard the prayer of the “suffering,” powerless in his own strength, person.

Psalm 21:26. My praise is of You in the great congregation; I will pay my vows in the presence of those who fear Him. “My praise is of You in the great congregation.” The protection which the Lord has shown to David serves as a source of praise to God before the assembled people. In this lies the fulfillment of the vow which David made in the moment of danger (23).

Psalm 21:27. Let the poor eat and be satisfied; let those who seek the Lord praise Him; may your hearts live forever! David’s deliverance serves as a testimony that all the wretched will find protection in God: He will give them what is necessary for life and will always feed them; therefore one must reverence and honor Him. In this verse, the Holy Fathers see an indication of the mystery of the Eucharist, because here the partaking of some kind of banquet from God has as its consequence eternal life, a quality which ordinary food cannot possess. Under a banquet, therefore, they understand not ordinary food or a meal, but the partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, which give eternal life to those who partake worthily.

Psalm 21:28. They will remember and turn to the Lord, all the ends of the earth, and all the families of the nations will bow before You. Psalm 21:29. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations. Psalm 21:30. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and bow down; all who go down to the dust will bow before Him, and those who cannot keep alive their own souls. Psalm 21:31. Posterity will serve Him, and will be called His forever. Psalm 21:32. They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born, what the Lord has done. David speaks of the conversion of the entire world to God: all peoples will remember the help which the Lord has shown to His righteous ones and will bow before Him as the one true God, which is right, since the whole earth and all peoples belong only to the Lord; the recognition by the heathen nations of this inalienable right of His is only a matter of time. David even depicts a picture of the conversion of all peoples to God. When “all the prosperous of the earth,” all the mighty on earth – rulers of peoples – will bow before Him: all mortals “who go down to the dust” will bow, will reverence the One to Whom I, says David, live in my soul, am attached with my whole being. My posterity will serve the Lord. By posterity one cannot understand the ordinary descendants of David, who were not always faithful to God, but that seed which was born from him according to the Divine promise, that is, the Messiah. The mercies shown to David by God will be kept in the memory of subsequent generations of people; each of them will glorify God and declare the deeds which He has accomplished among men, protecting the righteous and punishing the wicked. This prophecy of David has already been fulfilled and will be fulfilled: his songs, as well as the history of the life of the Hebrews and all their sacred books in general, have been read and will always be read by people, thereby passing down knowledge from generation to generation of the great deeds of God. In the first part of the psalm we already saw that everything experienced by David during his persecution by Saul found a complete and precise repetition and expression in the life of the Messiah Christ, and therefore this part should be called prefiguring. In the second part of the psalm David depicts a picture of the universal conversion to God of all peoples. The latter became possible only since the Messianic times, when the preaching of the teachings of Christ spreads among all countries and peoples. As a prediction in word of future events of the Messianic period, this part of the psalm is prophetic.