CCRC: Psalm/Song of the Month for April, 2014

At CCRC we are endeavoring to learn/focus on a Psalm or song each month. Psalm 22:11-20 - "Be Not Far Off, for Grief is Near" from the Cantus Christi hymnal is April's song of the month. Below is a meditation for this month's Psalm. 

Psalm/Song of the Month for April, 2014

“Be Not Far Off, for Grief Is Near”

Cantus Christi – 31

Psalm 22:11 – 20

Psalm 22 has become a standard (classic) passage for Christian liturgical use during the Lenten Season; Jesus on the cross, identifying with the Psalmist, recited its opening line (v. 1), "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"(Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)

This psalm begins with the honest question, "Why, God, have you abandoned me?" It ends, however, with the triumphant conclusion (vv. 30-31), "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." Considering the arc of this psalm, one commentator has said, "From the initial cry of cosmic isolation, the poet now engages himself to live ‘for’ or ‘in’ the Lord. The generation to be born shall then proclaim the fidelity of Yahweh to his beloved servant” (Samuel Terrien, The Psalms, 234-235). In this psalm, the poet has aptly described both the emotional and temporal transformation from sorrow/defeat to joy/victory.

Christians see this transformation, firstly, in the Father’s resurrection of Jesus, and, secondly, in the growth of the Church—it is the total Christ, both Jesus Christ and his Body (the Church), who proclaims the fidelity of God the Father to his only begotten Son, the beloved and suffering servant who went to the cross to save the lost.

There are three structurally identifiable divisions in this psalm which build to the concluding remarks in vv. 30-31:

• vv. 1-11. With intimacy, cf. vv. 1-2, poet introduces theme of lament, however, v. 11 concludes with a cry of hope.
• vv. 12-23. He describes the "animality" of tormentors, yet, in v. 16, he acknowledges that God is sovereign/cause of his torment. Finally, he instructs those who fear the Lord, i.e., the seed of Jacob, the seed of Israel, to praise the Lord.
• vv. 24-29. Without an elaborate transition, the psalmist introduces a hymn of praise/thankfulness—the psalmist is “certain of his deliverance or his healing to come” (Terrien, 233).
• vv. 30-31. Intimacy of vv. 1-2 “transmutes into a future of glory” (Terrien, 230); the future generation will “proclaim the fidelity of Yahweh to his beloved servant.”

The majority of the verses rendered/paraphrased for singing in Be Not Far Off, for Grief is Near are from the second division—the verses move from the (1) cry of hope, (2) to the description of tormentors, and (3) concludes with petition for deliverance.

Meditating on the 22nd Psalm reminds us that in Redemptive History there is no triumph without sorrow, there is no resurrection without crucifixion, and there is no Easter without Good Friday. “The ultimate lament begins with the terror of the void, but it ends with the fervor of the saved” (Terrien, 236). As Habakkuk said, “O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: . . . in wrath remember mercy.”

Aids for teaching and meditation:

• Because we have been adopted by God (cf. Romans 8:15), we have an intimate relationship with the Father. Not in spite of but because Jesus is our mediator, we are able to call out to God with honest intimacy, e.g., "My God, my God . . ."
• God is Holy (v. 3). God is sovereign over our affliction (v. 15). In our affliction, we appeal to God, but we do so with trust, godly fear, and praise (vv. 20-23).

Below is an interlinear presentation of Psalm 22:11-20 – bold is KJV/English translation and italic is Cantus Christi’s verse rendering/paraphrasing for singing (taken from The Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973).

v. 11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

v. 11 Be not far off, for grief is near, And none to help is found;

v. 12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

v. 12 For bulls of Bashan in their strength Now circle me around.

v. 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

v. 13 Their lion jaws they open wide, And roar to tear their prey.

v. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

v. 14 My heart is wax, my bones unknit, My life is poured away.

v. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

v. 15 My strength is only broken clay; My mouth and tongue are dry, / For in the very dust of death You there make me to lie.

v. 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

v. 16 For see how dogs encircle me! On every side there stands / A brotherhood of cruelty; They pierce my feet and hands.

v. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

v. 17 My bones are plain for me to count; men see me and they stare.

v. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

v. 18 My clothes among them they divide, And gamble for their share.

v. 19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

v. 19 Now hurry, O my Strength to help! Do not be far, O LORD!

v. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

v. 20 But snatch my soul from raging dogs, And spare me from the sword.