Summary

Psalm 22 is the primary OT text behind Jesus's cry from the cross ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34). Sam Shamoun argues it is not an expression of despair or divine abandonment but a deliberate quotation of a psalm of deliverance: Jesus was announcing the fulfillment of its prophetic arc, not expressing a crisis of faith. The psalm moves structurally from lament (vv. 1–21) to universal praise (vv. 22–31), and Christ quotes its opening to invoke the whole. The Father never abandoned the Son; the darkness at Golgotha signaled God's judgment on sin being completed, not God's absence.

Key Points

• Not despair — a declaration: First-century audiences understood citing a psalm's opening as invoking the entire psalm; Jesus's quotation signals the moment of prophesied deliverance, not abandonment
• The full arc: vv. 1–21 = lament and urgent plea; vv. 22–31 = praise, proclamation, universal worship — the cry is the prelude to vindication, not the conclusion
• Psalm 22:24 is definitive: "He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried, He heard" — the Father did not hide His face from the Son
• Isaiah 53 contrast: Humanity hid its face from the Suffering Servant (Isa 53); God did not — two different actors, two different responses to the same event
• The darkness: The three-hour supernatural darkness (impossible as a solar eclipse at Passover full moon) = God's judgment on sin being poured out; its removal after the cry = visible confirmation that the work was complete
• Psalm 22:10 — when the Father became Jesus's God: "I was cast upon you from the womb; you are my God from my mother's belly" — the Father-as-God relationship began at the Incarnation (conception), not in eternity; it is a human-nature relationship, not a diminishment of deity
• The Incarnation resolves the "God having a God" objection: The Word (not the Father, not the Spirit) became flesh; in His human nature Jesus properly calls the Father "My God," as all humans do; His divine nature remains co-equal with the Father
• Christ as the primary speaker of Psalm 22: The Holy Spirit spoke through David, but Christ was the ultimate voice — prophetically declaring from before His Incarnation what He would pray and experience (confirmed by Heb 2:12 citing Ps 22:22; Heb 10:5-7 citing Ps 40)
• The pivot at verse 22: "I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You" — quoted in Heb 2:12 as Christ speaking post-Resurrection to the Church; the suffering voice becomes the herald
• Psalm 22:27 — universal scope: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before Him" — the Passion produces universal praise; the Psalm's telos is not one man's vindication but cosmic worship

Details

The Structural Arc

The shift at v. 21b–22 is the resurrection moment: no description of how deliverance came — it simply arrives. The silence between lament and praise mirrors the empty tomb.

The "My God" Objection — Answered by the Incarnation

Critics (Muslim, Unitarian, Arian) ask: "How can God have a God over Him?"

Shamoun's answer in three steps:

1. John 1:14 — "The Word became flesh" — specifically the second person took on human nature
2. Jeremiah 32:27 — "I am the LORD, the God of all flesh" — God is God to all who possess flesh
3. Psalm 22:10 — the Father became Jesus's God precisely at the Incarnation (conception in the womb)

Therefore: In His divine nature, Jesus is co-equal with the Father. In His human nature, He properly relates to the Father as "My God," as all humans do. This is not contradiction but Chalcedonian precision: one person, two natures, united without confusion or separation.

The economic Trinity (functional roles in redemption) differs from the ontological Trinity (essential co-equality). Jesus submitting to the Father in His human nature does not contradict His equality in divine nature — just as a judge who also happens to be a citizen submits to the law he himself authored.

Psalm 22:24 vs. Isaiah 53 — Two Different Actors

These are not contradictory but complementary. At the cross: humanity turned away in rejection; God remained present and attentive. The Father did not abandon the Son — He was actively receiving the sacrifice and judging the sin Christ bore. Isaiah 59:1-2 clarifies further: sin causes God to hide His face, not suffering itself. Jesus bore sin but committed none; therefore God's face remained toward Him even as judgment fell on the sin He carried.

Psalm 22:10 and the Incarnation's Timing

"I was cast upon you from the womb; you are my God from my mother's belly."

This verse, spoken prophetically by Christ through David, establishes:

• The Father-as-God relationship began at conception (not birth, not baptism, not the cross)
• This corresponds to the Incarnation's commencement — when the Word became flesh in Mary's womb
• Before the Incarnation, the eternal Word existed only in divine nature, with no human nature through which to call anyone "My God"
• At conception, the new human-nature relationship began — genuine, permanent, not degrading

Secondary application Shamoun draws: if Christ's humanity began at conception, all human life is a person from conception.

The Pivot and the Church (vv. 22–31)

Verse 22 — "I will declare Your name to my brethren" — is quoted in Hebrews 2:12 as Christ speaking to the Church after the Resurrection. The suffering one becomes the herald. This pivot:

• Has no narrative explanation of how deliverance came (mirrors the Resurrection silence)
• Immediately expands from one voice → the assembly → all nations → unborn generations
• Maximum isolation (v. 1) produces maximum community (vv. 27–31)

This pattern connects directly to John 4: the well encounter is the Psalm's universal arc being enacted — the forsaken Samaritans being found by their God, and St. Photini (the Samaritan woman) becoming the Psalm 22:22 herald to her city.

Cross-References

• concept_christology_and_trinity — Christological claim embedded in the Psalm; Incarnation resolving "God having a God"; two-natures framework (Chalcedon); economic vs. ontological Trinity
• source_samaritan_woman_covenant_betrothal — Psalm 22 typological connections to John 4: sixth-hour alignment, universal praise arc (v. 27), St. Photini as the v. 22 herald; the Psalm's arc enacted at the well
• concept_eschatology_and_salvation — Christus Victor reading of the cross (Passion as victory, not defeat); the Psalm's movement from suffering to universal praise as eschatological vision; no divine abandonment = no fracture of Trinitarian unity
• concept_orthodox_catechesis — the Psalm as the liturgical heart of Holy Friday; patristic interpretation (Athanasius, Chrysostom) of the cry as prayer, not despair

Source

th_christology_the_true_meaning_of_my_god_my_god_why_have_you_forsaken_me_complete_analysis.md — Tier 3 theology analysis note
Source video: Sam Shamoun, "The TRUE Meaning of 'My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?'" (Faith With Reason channel, October 19, 2025, ~10 min)