Psalm 22

"I am a worm...."

Read the psalm. (Full text at bottom.)

• Jesus quotes/prays the first verse of this psalm on the cross. (“My God, my God….”)

• The church has always read the psalm in its entirety as referring to him there, so it is often read on Good Friday.

• The familiar phrase “I am a worm, and no man…” [6] is not just a figure of speech concerning his lowly and contemptible situation. (Though it is that.)

• The worm is the serpent.

  • Modern thought goes to the differences, but ancient thought goes to the similarities.

  • Even our English “worm” derives from Old English “wyrm” or “wurm,” originally meaning “serpent, snake, or dragon.”

  • The Hebrew for “worm” (tola) does not refer to, say, an earthworm but to the coccus ilicis, a scarlet or crimson worm used in ancient times to produce red dye.

    • And so tola can even just mean “red/crimson” or “red fabric.” [Isaiah 1:18; Lamentations 4:5; Leviticus 14; etc.]

    • The worm’s life cycle—attaching to a tree, dying to birth offspring, and leaving a crimson stain—has been symbolically linked to Christ on the cross.

• Remember the fiery serpents.

  • Moses was instructed to make a bronze image, to which the snake-bitten could look as a cure.

  • The penalty for sin is flipped, to become the source of healing!

  • Jesus spoke of this as foreshadowing himself. [John 3:14]

• Jesus was “made sin” on our behalf, so that we could “become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

  • God condemned the serpent there, making Jesus the cure for our wretchedness.

  • Ancient Near Eastern symbolism often links serpents not just to harm, but also to healing, life, resurrection (shedding old skin), and divine authority—attributes that align with Jesus’ roles as healer, giver of eternal life, and King.

So…

• Look at the image below.

• Pray:

  For our sake, God, you made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we—so that I—might become the righteousness of God. [based on 2 Corinthians 5:21]

Psalm 22
Deus, Deus meus

1	My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, * 
			and are so far from my cry, and from the words of my complaint?
2	O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear; * 
		in the night season also, but I find no rest.
3	But you remain holy, *
		enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4	Our fathers hoped in you; *
		they trusted in you, and you delivered them.
5	They called upon you, and were delivered; *
		they put their trust in you, and were not confounded.
6	But as for me, I am a worm, and no man, * 
			scorned by all, and the outcast of the people.
7	All those who see me laugh me to scorn; *
		they curl their lips, and shake their heads, saying,
8	“He trusted in God, that he would deliver him; * 
		let him deliver him, if he will have him.”
9	But you are he that took me out of my mother’s womb; *
		you were my hope, when I was yet upon my mother’s breasts.
10	I have been cast upon you ever since I was born; * 
		you are my God, even from my mother’s womb.
11	O go not far from me, for trouble is near at hand, * 
		and there is none to help me.
12	Many oxen have come around me; *
		fat bulls of Bashan close me in on every side.
13	They gape at me with their mouths, * 
		like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14	I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; * 
		my heart also in the midst of my body is like melting wax.
15	My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my gums, *
		and you bring me into the dust of death.
16	For many dogs have come about me, *
		and the council of the wicked lays siege against me.
17	They pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones; * 
		they stand staring and looking upon me.
18	They part my garments among them, *
		and cast lots for my clothing.
19	But be not far from me, O Lord. *
		You are my succor; hasten to help me.
20	Deliver my soul from the sword, * 
		my life from the power of the dog.
21	Save me from the lion’s mouth, *
		and my soul in misery from among the horns of wild oxen.
22	I will declare your Name to my brethren; *
		in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
23	O praise the Lord, you that fear him; *
		magnify him, all you seed of Jacob, and fear him, all you seed of Israel.
24	For he has not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor; *
		he has not hidden his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard him.
25	My praise is of you in the great congregation; *
		my vows will I perform in the sight of those who fear him.
26	The poor shall eat and be satisfied; *
		those who seek after the Lord shall praise him; may your hearts live for ever.
27	All the ends of the world shall remember, and be turned unto the Lord, *
		and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28	For the kingdom is the Lord’s, *
		and he is the Governor among the peoples.
29	All those who sleep in the earth, how shall they worship him? * 
		All those who go down into the dust, how shall they kneel before him?
30	But my life shall be preserved in his sight, and my children shall worship him; *
		they shall tell of the Lord to the generations to come;
31	And to a people yet unborn shall they declare his righteousness, *
		that he has brought it to pass.


New Coverdale Psalter