“For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but I have no rest” (Ps 22:1-2).
It is a tragedy caused by critical biblical scholarship that the superscriptions of the psalms are not give verse numbers in the Christian translations of the Bible. Because the superscriptions are not tagged with verse numbers (although they are considered verses in the Hebrew Bible), many readers of the Bible either completely ignore them or relegate them to “second class citizens” in their interpretation of the book of Psalms.
But make no mistake about it: The superscriptions are inspired Scripture. They appear in all the earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible (Dead Sea Scrolls) and in the ancient translations of the Bible (Greek Old Testament, Latin Vulgate, Syriac, Aramaic Targums). The New Testament not only assumes the superscriptions are inspired Scripture, Yeshua and Peter both refer to the information provided in the superscriptions as proof David was prophesying about the Messiah (see Matt 22:45; Acts 2:25).
Superscriptions Are Important
What can we learn from the superscription of Psalm 22? First, God is able to turn our deepest mourning into joy (Ps 30:11-12). Psalm 22, the most gut-wrenching lament in Psalms, was put to music. The superscription of Psalm 22 mentions the “choir director” and calls this lament a “psalm,” a word in Hebrew which is related to singing and the playing of instruments (see Ps 71:22; 92:1). In times of suffering, our heads are typically filled with a cacophony of negative voices. But in retrospect, periods of suffering often become key moments of discovering more of God’s grace and love in our spiritual journey.
periods of suffering often become key moments of discovering more of God’s grace and love in our spiritual journey.
Second, the superscription of Psalm 22 proves that David’s laments were used as part of Israel’s sacred liturgy in the first and second temples (see Neh 12:45-46). Psalm 22, along with other psalms of David, were collected, put to music, and sung by God’s people in the temples. To be clear, the superscription makes clear that Psalm 22 was treated as sacred Scripture: it is simultaneously David’s word to God and God’s word to us.
Third, and perhaps most encouraging of all, music and musical instruments in the Hebrew Bible are often associated with prophets and prophecy (see Exod 15:20; 1 Sam 10:5). The prophet Elisha, for instance, demanded musical accompaniment to prophesy for the king (2 Kings 3:15). By calling this a “psalm,” the superscription encourages us to read Psalm 22 as prophecy. This point is made crystal clear in 1 Chronicles: “Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals; and the number of those who performed their service was: Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king” (1 Chron 25:1-2).
It comes as no surprise Yeshua quoted this psalm from the cross. By referring to the first words of this psalm, Yeshua was making it clear that God would turn the tragedy of his crucifixion into the victory of his resurrection. By citing this psalm, moreover, Yeshua was claiming that David’s words in Psalm 22, as well as other psalms, are inspired prophecy which speak of HIM!
“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY'” (Acts 2:29-31).
