David
is writing this Psalm and he is personally crying out to the Lord for help in a
very desperate time in his life. But at
the same time, we can’t help but see that much of what David is saying and
praying for could not be actually happening to him personally. David is
describing Someone dying by crucifixion. In David’s day the punishment of death
was carried out by stoning. Crucifixion
was something that the Romans devised almost a thousand years later to publicly
and torturously put a criminal to death.
David
prophetically is seeing the details of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on
the cross. “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by
the people.” These words especially apply to our Savior. "I am a worm
and not a man" is a forgotten "I am" statement that speaks of
how little value the leaders of Israel and the Roman officials placed on Jesus
of Nazareth. A worm is a creature of the ground, helpless, frail, and unwanted.
Isaiah
predicted that Messiah would be terribly disfigured by His enemies and not even
look human. “Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred
more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). “I
gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the
beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). Even
before Jesus crucifixion, He was so terribly beaten in the face with fists and
rods, and His body with 40 lashes of a Roman whip, that you could not tell He
was human.
Isaiah also
predicted that Messiah would be a reproach, despised and rejected by men. “He
has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we
should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was
despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isaiah 53:2-3). This is exactly what happened to our Savior
that day as He was crucified.
David went on
to write: “All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let
Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" Matthew’s Gospel tells us: “And they bowed
the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when
they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him,
and led Him away to be crucified…And those who passed by blasphemed Him,
wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it
in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the
cross." Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and
elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King
of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He
trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am
the Son of God.' " Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled
Him with the same thing.” (Matthew 27:28-44)
My friend, Jesus
willingly took this rejection, abuse, and reproach, for you and me! We should be willing to bear the same for His
name’s sake today!
God
bless!
