“You have answered me?”: Situational Shift (or Not) in Psalm 22

Abstract

Abstract Psalm 22 receives most of its notoriety from its reception history—from the numerous citations and allusions thereof in the NT and early Christianity, particularly in the Synoptic passion accounts. This article wrestles not with the insertion of this psalm into later stories but with the story of the psalm itself. The shift from lament to praise in Ps 22:23 (MT; v. 22 in ET) is quite drastic and in need of explanation, and that explanation has come for many in the final word of the previous verse: עניתני. This verb is taken to indicate a sudden divine intervention such that God has now acted on behalf of the psalmist, thus bringing about the exultation of vv. 23–32.This article disputes that reading and argues that for literary and form-critical reasons, עניתני, or whatever the original form of that word may have been, should be read as part of the lament rather than a transition statement to explain the movement from lament to praise. Thus, no divine intervention is indicated by that word, for indeed no such intervention has taken place. Rather, the psalmist has recognized from within their suffering that there will come a moment when redemption will have taken place, and at that time the psalmist will lead the whole people of God in uttering his praises.