詩篇廿二篇的苦難與榮耀The Suffering and the Gloryof Psalm 22
作者: W. Robert
Godfrey 翻譯:
Maria Marta
詩篇廿二篇以人類歷史上最痛苦的呼喊開始：「我的神！我的神！為什麼離棄我？為什麼遠離不救我？」這些話是耶穌在十字架上極度痛苦時說的。耶穌那一刻的痛苦是獨一無二的，因為祂為祂自己子民的罪獻上自己。故此，我們傾向於認為這種呼喊是耶穌獨有的。但這樣理解這些話顯然是錯誤的。耶穌並沒有發明獨特的詞匯來解釋祂的苦難。相反，祂是引用詩篇廿二章1節。這些話最初是大衛說的，是對上帝所有的子民說的。為了充分理解這些話和整首詩篇，我們需要思想，因為它們與基督和祂所有的子民有關。
詩篇的開頭部分以大衛的痛苦禱告為主（1 – 21節）。大衛首先表達自己經歷被上帝拋棄的感受。這是上帝仆人所能知道的最強烈的痛苦------不僅僅敵人包圍他（7,
12 – 13節），身體劇痛（14–16節），而且他還感到上帝不聽他的禱告，不在乎他的困苦。這種體驗不單單是大衛所經歷的，也是所有上帝子民在面對可怕困難時所經歷的。我想知道我們身處這樣的危難時，慈愛的天父怎能袖手旁觀?
然而，即使在極度的悲痛中，大衛也從未失去信心或陷入切底的絕望。他的痛苦引發他禱告，禱告的第一句話是「我的神」，即使他悲痛欲絕，對上帝的道路滿腹疑惑，他也沒有放棄對祂的認識：上帝是他的神。他痛不欲生的時候，也能清楚表達信仰。他回憶在以色列歷史上上帝過往的信實：「我們的祖宗倚靠你，他們倚靠你，你便解救他們。 他們哀求你便蒙解救，他們倚靠你就不羞愧。」（4 – 5節）他也回顧在他個人生命中上帝以往的看顧：「但你是叫我出母腹的，我在母懷裡，你就使我有倚靠的心。我自出母胎就被交在你手裡，從我母親生我，你就是我的神。」（9 – 10節） 詩篇反復出現一種屬靈治療法，那就是讓上帝昔日信實的回憶充滿思想，好叫我們確信祂現在的信實。
在懇切祈求解除當下困苦的禱告中，我們也看到大衛的盼望。他知道上帝能幫助他，所以他求助上帝，因為祂是唯一的幫助者：「耶和華啊，求你不要遠離我！我的救主啊，求你快來幫助我！」（ 19節）即使萬念俱灰，我們也決不能停止禱告。
約翰•加爾文在他的註釋書中總結說，被上帝拋棄的感覺遠非耶穌基督獨有，或對信徒來說是罕有的，反而它是信徒經常與頻繁的掙紮。他寫道：「沒有一個敬虔人每天不在心裏經歷同樣的事。根據肉體的判斷，他以為他被上帝拋棄與離棄，但藉著信心，他領悟到上帝的恩典，這恩典對感性與理性的眼睛來說是隱藏的。」我們切莫認為基督徒的生活是容易的，或者我們每天不必背起十字架。
這首詩篇不僅是所有信徒的體驗，更是耶穌苦難極其顯著、具體的預言。從這些經文中我們看到耶穌被釘十字架的清晰情景：「 犬類圍著我，惡黨環繞我，他們紮了我的手、我的腳。我的骨頭我都能數過，他們瞪著眼看我。 他們分我的外衣，為我的裡衣拈鬮。」（16 – 18節）在這裡，我們確實看到這首詩在耶穌身上得到最完全的應驗！
耶穌認識這首詩篇，並引用第一句話來認同我們的苦難，因為祂在十字架上承受了我們的痛苦和苦難。「孩子們既然同有血肉之體，他自己也照樣成為血肉之體，為要藉著死，消滅那掌握死權的魔鬼」（來二14）。耶穌為我們的罪成為我們的替代者和犧牲的祭，藉此來拯救我們。
在這首詩篇的第二部分，詩人的心情和語調發生戲劇性的轉變。痛苦的禱告變成熱切的讚美。詩人的心充滿讚美：「我要將你的名傳於我的弟兄，在會中我要讚美你。」（22節） 他呼籲他的兄弟們與他一同頌讚：「你們敬畏耶和華的人，要讚美他！」（第23節）
這是對上帝事業成功的熱烈讚美。詩篇開頭似乎確定了的失敗，現在被勝利淹沒了。這種成功不僅屬於個人或獨有的，而是也是普世的。讚美以豐盛的應許為依據：「地的四極都要想念耶和華，並且歸順他，列國的萬族都要在你面前敬拜。地上一切豐肥的人必吃喝而敬拜，凡下到塵土中不能存活自己性命的人，都要在他面前下拜。」（27,29節） 苦難過後，定會迎來普世國度的榮耀。
上帝的成功不僅影響全世界，而且對世世代代也影響深遠：「他必有後裔侍奉他，主所行的事必傳於後代。」（30節）這幅圖畫並非描繪上帝事業成功的短暫時期，而是保證苦難時期將帶來上帝知識在世上廣泛傳播的時期。當然，自五旬節以來，我們已看到這個應許的應驗。今天耶穌在世界各地家喻戶曉，備受尊崇。盡管苦難一直存於世上，但我們也看到基督應許的實現：「我要在這磐石上建立我的教會，死亡的權勢不能勝過他」（太十六18）。
這是主耶和華取得的勝利，「因為國權是耶和華的，他是管理萬國的。」（28節）。祂是主動的神，最終使祂的事業獲得勝利。主耶和華藉著祂使用的器皿取勝。大衛視自己為器皿，特別在他宣揚上帝良善與憐憫的時候：「我要將你的名傳於我的弟兄，在會中我要讚美你。」（22節） 耶穌也說過22節這句話，這是希伯來書二章12節告訴我們的（這句引文再次顯示新約聖經對耶穌在詩篇集的說話的了解是何等的全面）。
事實上，詩人在宣揚上帝的名，特別在祂施恩憐憫，施行拯救方面：「因為他沒有藐視、憎惡受苦的人，也沒有向他掩面，那受苦之人呼籲的時候，他就垂聽。」（24節） 這樣的宣揚對上帝在世上的使命至關重要。如加爾文寫道，「上帝唯獨藉著聖道建立和加倍增加祂的教會」。那些經歷了上帝憐憫的人務必要將上帝的憐憫告訴其他人。
當上帝使用器皿來實現祂的目的時，榮耀唯獨歸於祂，因為祂藉著他們作工，並確保他們成功。 故此，這首詩篇以這一堅定信念結束：「他們必來把他的公義傳給將要生的民，言明這事是他所行的。」（31節） 我們的上帝垂聽我們的禱告，實現祂的應許，用讚美充滿我們。「因為萬有都是本於他，倚靠他，歸於他。願榮耀歸給他，直到永遠。阿們。」（羅十一36）
為了能夠引用和使用詩篇廿二篇，在我們尋求明白這首詩篇時，我們需要從中看到教會歷史的發展方向：先受苦而後得榮耀。我們還需看到教會和個體基督徒的虔誠模式：在這個墮落的世界，人生中真實、不可避免的問題應該引起我們禱告。禱告應該引發我們回顧和默想上帝的應許，無論是過去已實現的，還是我們相信將來會應驗的。牢記上帝的應許將幫助我們讚美祂，如我們應該讚美祂那樣。當我們讚美祂時，我們就能繼續以恩典和信心來面對日常生活中的問題。
本文摘錄自W. Robert Godfrey所著的《Learning to Love the Psalms》一書。
（原譯版2017-02，修正1版2018-7。Reformed and Always
Reforming.）
The Suffering and the Glory
of Psalm 22
FROM W. Robert Godfrey
Psalm 22 begins with the most
anguished cry in human history: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
These are the words that Jesus took on His lips at the depth of His suffering
on the cross. His suffering was unique at that point as He offered Himself up
for the sins of His people. And so, we have tended to see this cry as unique to
Jesus. But such an approach to these words is clearly wrong. Jesus was not
inventing unique words to interpret His suffering. Rather, He was quoting Psalm
22:1. These words were first uttered by David, and David was speaking for all
of God’s people. We need to reflect on these words and the whole psalm as they
relate to Christ and to all His people in order to understand them fully.
The psalm begins with a
section dominated by the agonized prayer of David (vv. 1–21). David is
expressing in the first place his own experience of feeling abandoned by God.
Here is the most intense suffering God’s servant can know—not just that enemies
surround him (vv. 7, 12–13) and that his body is in dreadful pain (vv. 14–16),
but that he feels that God does not hear him and does not care about his
suffering. And this is not just the experience of David. It is the experience
of all God’s people in the face of terrible trouble. We wonder how our loving
heavenly Father can stand idly by when we are in such distress.
Yet, even in this extreme
distress, David never loses faith or falls into complete hopelessness. His
anguish leads him to prayer, and the first words of the prayer are “My God.”
Even in his suffering and wondering about the ways of God, he does not let go
of his knowledge that God is his God. In the midst of his anguish, he articulates
that faith. He remembers God’s past faithfulness in Israel’s history: “In you
our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried
and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame” (vv. 4–5).
Then, David remembers God’s past care in his own personal life: “Yet you are he
who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you
was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God” (vv.
9–10). A recurring spiritual remedy in the Psalms is to fill the mind with
memories of God’s past faithfulness to assure us of His present faithfulness.
We see David’s hope also in
the earnestness of his prayer for present relief. He knows that God can help,
and he turns to God as the only one who will help: “But you, O LORD, do not be
far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!” (v. 19). We must never stop
praying, even in our deepest distress.
John Calvin in his commentary
concluded that a sense of being forsaken by God, far from being unique to
Christ or rare for the believer, is a regular and frequent struggle for
believers. He wrote, “There is not one of the godly who does not daily
experience in himself the same thing. According to the judgment of the flesh,
he thinks he is cast off and forsaken by God, while yet he apprehends by faith
the grace of God, which is hidden from the eye of sense and reason.” We must
not think that living the Christian life is easy or that we will not daily have
to bear the cross.
This psalm is not only the experience
of every believer, but it is also a very remarkable and specific prophecy of
the sufferings of Jesus. We see the scene of the crucifixion especially clearly
in the words, “A company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands
and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my
garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (vv. 16–18). Here we
see that indeed this psalm comes to its fullest realization in Jesus.
Jesus knew this psalm and
quoted its first words to identify with us in our suffering, since He bore on
the cross our agony and suffering. “Since therefore the children share in flesh
and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death
he might destroy the one who has the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). Jesus does
deliver us by becoming our substitute and the sacrifice for our sins.
In the second part of this
psalm, the mood and tone change dramatically. Agonized prayer turns to ardent
praise. The psalmist comes to be filled with praise: “In the midst of the
congregation I will praise you” (v. 22). He calls on his brothers to join him
in praise: “You who fear the LORD, praise him!” (v. 23).
This ardent praise is for the
success of the cause of God. The failure that at the beginning of the psalm
seemed certain is now swallowed up in victory. This success will not just be
personal or individual but will be worldwide. The praise rests on the abundant
promise: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and
all the families of the nations shall worship before you… . All the prosperous
of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust”
(vv. 27, 29). After suffering comes the glory of a worldwide kingdom.
God’s success will not only
affect the whole world, but will also span the generations: “Posterity shall
serve him; it shall be told of the LORD to the coming generation” (v. 30). The
picture here is not of a brief time of success for the cause of the Lord, but
the assurance that the time of suffering will lead to a time of great spreading
of the knowledge of God throughout the earth. And surely, since the time of
Pentecost, we have seen the fulfillment of this promise. All around the world
today, Jesus is known and worshiped. Even while suffering continues in this
world, we have seen Christ’s promise realized: “I will build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
This success is the Lord’s
doing, “for kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations” (v.
28). He is the active One who ultimately gives victory to His cause. The Lord
achieves His triumph through the instruments He uses. And David sees himself as
an instrument especially in his proclaiming the goodness and mercy of his God:
“I will tell of your name to my brothers” (v. 22). Jesus also is the speaker in
verse 22, as we are told in Hebrews 2:12 (this citation shows again how fully
the New Testament sees Jesus speaking in the Psalter).
The psalmist, indeed,
proclaims the name of God, particularly in terms of His saving mercy: “For he
has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not
hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” (v. 24). Such
proclamation is vital to the mission of God in the world. As Calvin wrote, “God
begets and multiplies his Church only by means of the word.” Those who have
experienced God’s mercy must tell others about it.
While God uses instruments to
accomplish His purposes, the glory is His alone, for it is He who acts through
them and ensures their success. For that reason, this psalm ends with this firm
certainty: “He has done it” (v. 31). Our God hears our prayers, fulfills His
promises, and fills us with praise. “From him and through him and to him are all
things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
As we seek to understand
Psalm 22 so that we can appropriate it and use it, we need to see in it the
direction of the history of the church: first suffering and then glory. We also
need to see something of a pattern of piety for the church and for the
individual Christian. The pattern is this: The real and inescapable problems of
life in this fallen world should lead us to prayer. Prayer should lead us to
remembering and meditation on the promises of God, both those fulfilled in the
past and those that we trust will be fulfilled in the future. Remembering the
promises of God will help us to praise Him as we ought. As we praise Him, we
can continue to face with grace and faith the problems that come daily into our
lives.
This excerpt is adapted from
Learning to Love the Psalms by W. Robert Godfrey.
