with John 16:32, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." That
these words in David were notwithstanding the words of Christ, there is no
true believer ignorant; yet how cross our Lord's words in John! Answer:—
It is one thing to speak out of present sense of misery, another thing to be
confident of a never-separated Deity. The condition of Christ in respect of
his human state (not the divine), is in all outward appearances, like ours;
we conceive the saints' condition very lamentable at times, as if God were
for ever gone. And Christ (to teach us to cry after God the Father, like
children after the mother, whose very stepping but at the door, ofttimes
makes the babe believe, and so saith that his father is gone for ever),
presents in his own sufferings how much he is sensible of ours in that case.
As for his divine nature, he and his Father can never sunder in that, and so
at no time is he alone, but the Father is always with him.
William Streat, in "The Dividing of the Hoof," 1654.
Verse 1. "My God, my God," etc. There is a tradition that our Lord,
hanging on the cross, began, as we know from the gospel, this Psalm; and
repeating it and those that follow, gave up his most blessed spirit when he
came to the sixth verse of the thirty-first Psalm. However that may be, by
taking these first words on his lips, he stamped the Psalm as belonging to
himself.
Ludolph, the Carthusian (circa.1350), in J. M. Neale's Commentary.
Verse 1. "My God, my God," etc. It was so sharp, so heavy an
affliction to Christ's soul, that it caused him who was meek under all other
sufferings as a lamb, to roar under this like a lion. For so much those
words of Christ signify, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why
art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" It
comes from a root that signifies to howl or roar as a lion, and rather
signifies the noise made by a wild beast than the voice of a man. And it is
as much as if Christ had said, O my God, no words can express my anguish, I
will not speak, but roar, howl out my complaints. Pour it out in volleys of
groans. I roar as a lion. It's no small matter will make that majestic
creature to roar. And sure so great a spirit as Christ's would not have
roared under a slight burden.
Did God really forsake Jesus Christ upon the cross? then from the
desertion of Christ singular consolation springs up to the people of God;
yea, manifold consolation. Principally it's a support in these two
respects, as it is preventive of your final desertion, and a comfortable
pattern to you in your present sad desertions. 1. Christ's desertion is
preventive of your final desertion. Because he was forsaken for a time
you shall not be forsaken for ever. For he was forsaken for you. It is
every way as much for the dear Son of God, the darling delight of his soul,
to be forsaken of God for a time, as if such a poor inconsiderable thing as
thou art shouldst be cast off to eternity. Now, this being equivalent and
borne in thy room, must needs give thee the highest security in the world
that God will never finally withdraw from thee. 2. Moreover, this sad
desertion of Christ becomes a comfortable pattern to poor deserted souls
in divers respects; and the proper business of such souls, at such times, is
to eye it believingly. Though God deserted Christ, yet at the same time he
powerfully supported him. His omnipotent arms were under him, though his
pleased face was hid from him. He had not indeed his smiles, but he had his
supportations. So, Christian, just so shall it be with thee. Thy God may
turn away his face, he will not pluck away his arm. When one asked of holy
Mr. Baines how the case stood with his soul, he answered, "Supports I have,
though suavities I want." Our Father in this deals with us as we ourselves
sometimes do with a child that is stubborn and rebellious. We turn him out
of doors and bid him begone out of our sight, and there he sighs and weeps;
but however for the humbling of him, we will not presently take him into
house and favour; yet we order, at least permit the servants to carry him
meat and drink: here is fatherly care and support, though no former smiles
or manifested delights. . . . Though God forsook Christ, yet at that time
he could justify God. So you read, "O my God (saith he), I cry in the day
time; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent; but
thou art holy." Is not thy spirit according to thy measure, framed like
Christ's in this; canst thou not, say even when he writes bitter things
against thee, he is a holy, faithful and good God for all this! I an
deserted but not wronged. There is not one drop of injustice in all the sea
of my sorrows. Though he condemned me I must and will justify him: this
also is Christ-like.
John Flavel.
Verse 1. "My God, my God." The repetition is expressive of fervent
desire— "My God," in an especial sense, as in his words after the
resurrection to Mary Magdalene, "I ascend unto my God, and your God;" "My
God," not as the Son of God only, but in that nature which he hath assumed,
as the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased; who is loved of the
Father and who loveth the Father more than the whole universe. It is
observed that this expression, "My God," is three times repeated.
Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams.
Verse 1. "My God." It was possible for Christ by faith to know that
he was beloved of God, and he did know that he was beloved of God, when yet
as to sense and feeling he tasted of God's wrath. Faith and the want
of sense are not inconsistent; there may be no present sense of God's love,
nay, there may be a present sense of his wrath, and yet there may be faith
at the same time.
John Row's "Emmanuel," 1680.
Verse 1. This word, "My God," takes in more than all the philosophers
in the world could draw out of it.
Alexander Wedderburn, 1701.
Verse 1. That there is something of a singular force, meaning, and
feeling in these words is manifest from this—the evangelists have
studiously given us this verse in the very words of the Hebrew, in order to
show their emphatic force. And moreover I do not remember any one other
place in the Scriptures where we have this repetition, ELI, ELI.
Martin Luther.
Verse 1. "Why?" Not the "why" of impatience or despair, not the
sinful questioning of one whose heart rebels against his chastening, but
rather the cry of a lost child who cannot understand why his father has left
him, and who longs to see his father's face again.
J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 1. "My roaring." (Heb.), seems primarily to denote the roaring
of a lion; but, as applied to intelligent beings, it is generally expressive
of profound mental anguish poured forth in audible and even vehement
strains. Psalm 38:9; 33:3; Job 3:24. Thus did the suffering Messiah pour
forth strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from death.
Hebrews 5:7.
John Morison.
Verse 1. When Christ complains of having been forsaken by God, we are not
to understand that he was forsaken by the First Person, or that there was a
dissolution of the hypostatic union, or that he lost the favour and
friendship of the Father; but he signifies to us that God permitted his
human nature to undergo those dreadful torments, and to suffer an
ignominious death, from which he could, if he chose, most easily deliver
him. Nor did such complaints proceed either from impatience or ignorance,
as if Christ were ignorant of the cause of his suffering, or was not most
willing to bear such abandonment in his suffering; such complaints were only
a declaration of his most bitter sufferings. And whereas, through the whole
course of his passion, with such patience did our Lord suffer, as not to let
a single groan or sigh escape from him, so now, lest the bystanders may
readily believe that he was rendered impassible by some superior power;
therefore, when his last moments were nigh he protests that he is true man,
truly passible; forsaken by his Father in his sufferings, the bitterness and
acuteness of which he then intimately felt.
Robert Bellarmine (Cardinal), 1542-1621.
Verse 1. Divines are wont commonly to say, that Christ, from the moment
of his conception, had the sight of God, his human soul being immediately
united to the Deity, Christ from the very moment of his conception had the
sight of God. Now for our Saviour, who had known experimentally how sweet
the comfort of his Father's face had been, and had lived all his days under
the warm beams and influences of the Divinity, and had had his soul all
along refreshed with the sense of the Divine presence, for him to be left in
that horror and darkness, as to have no taste of comfort, no glimpse of the
Divinity breaking in upon his human soul, how great an affliction must that
needs be unto him!
John Row.
Verse 1. Desertion is in itself no sin; for Christ endured its
bitterness, ay, he was so deep in it, that when he died, he said, "Why hast
thou forsaken me?" A total, a final desertion ours is not; partial the
best have had and have. God turns away his face, David himself is troubled:
"The just shall live by faith," and not by feeling.
Richard Capel.
Verse 1. Oh! how will our very hearts melt with love, when we remember
that as we have been distressed for our sins against him; so he was in
greater agonies for us? We have had gall and wormwood, but he tasted a more
bitter cup. The anger of God has dried up our spirits, but he was scorched
with a more flaming wrath. He was under violent pain in the garden, and on
the cross; ineffable was the sorrow that he felt, being forsaken of his
Father, deserted by his disciples, affronted and reproached by his enemies,
and under a curse for us. This Sun was under a doleful eclipse, this living
Lord was pleased to die, and in his death was under the frowns of an angry
God. That face was then hid from him that had always smiled before; and his
soul felt that horror and that darkness which it had never felt before. So
that there was no separation between the divine and human nature, yet he
suffered pains equal to those which we had deserved to suffer in hell for
ever. God so suspended the efficacies of his grace that it displayed in
that hour none of its force and virtue on him. He had no comfort from
heaven, none from his angels, none from his friends, even in that sorrowful
hour when he needed comfort most. Like a lion that is hurt in the forest,
so he roared and cried out, though there was no despair in him; and when he
was forsaken, yet there was trust and hope in these words, "My God, my
God."
Timothy Rogers.
Verse 1. Here is comfort to deserted souls; Christ himself was
deserted; therefore, if thou be deserted, God dealeth no otherwise with thee
than he did with Christ. Thou mayest be beloved of God and not feel it;
Christ was so, he was beloved of the Father, and yet he had no present sense
and feeling of his love. This may be a great comfort to holy souls under
the suspension of those comforts and manifestations which sometimes they
have felt; Christ himself underwent such a suspension, therefore such a
suspension of divine comfort may consist with God's love. Thou mayest
conclude possibly, "I am a hypocrite, and therefore God hath forsaken me;"
this is the complaint of some doubting Christians, "I am a hypocrite, and
therefore God hath forsaken me;" but thou hast no reason so to conclude:
there was no failure in Christ's obedience, and yet Christ was forsaken in
point of comfort; therefore desertion, in point of comfort, may consist with
truth of grace, yea, with the highest measure of grace; so it did in our
Saviour.
John Row.
Verse 1. Lord, thou knowest what it is for a soul to be forsaken, it was
sometime thine own case when thou complainedst, "My God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" not, O my Lord! but that thou hadst a divine supportment, but
thou hadst not (it seemeth) that inward joy which at other times did fill