“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (1)
By the Anagnostes/Wahib Attallah
(The late Anba Gregorios, Bishop of Scientific Research)
Sunday School Magazine – May 1950
If you return to Psalm 22 from the Psalms of the Prophet David, you will find it begins with this phrase:
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
Then the prophet goes on to describe sufferings that completely align with the sufferings of our Lord on the cross. Among these are his words:
“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
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!’
Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They gape at me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax; it has melted within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws;
You have brought me to the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me.
They pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
They look and stare at me.
They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
It is worth noting that none of this happened to the Prophet David in his personal life. So when were his hands and feet pierced? When did people divide his clothes and cast lots for them?
There is no doubt that he spoke these words in the spirit of prophecy, referring to the Lord Christ and the events of the crucifixion.
If you carefully follow what all the Gospel writers recorded, you will be convinced that the Holy Spirit had already revealed to the prophets what would happen to the Redeemer and what sufferings He would endure.
Thus, when the Lord said on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, He was in fact quoting the opening line of Psalm 22, drawing the attention of the Jews—who were well-versed in the Scriptures—to the fact that they were fulfilling with their own hands what the Prophet David had spoken of long before.
Therefore, Christ was not a deceiver or a blasphemer as they had claimed, but rather the awaited Messiah, in whom all the prophecies were fulfilled, as spoken by the prophets through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was keen during His holy life on earth, even before the crucifixion—and after His resurrection as well—to explain this truth to His disciples:
“Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’
And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day’” (Luke 24:44-46).
Even before this, He rebuked the two disciples on the road to Emmaus for their doubt:
“Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’
And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
Some Church interpreters believe that the Savior may have recited Psalm 22 silently in its entirety while on the cross, and that He cried out loud at both its beginning—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”—and at its end—“It is finished.”
They base this interpretation on the fact that the final phrase of Psalm 22, “He has done it,” is equivalent in Hebrew to “It is finished.”
There is nothing that negates the possibility of this view. In fact, it is supported by logical, spiritual, and scriptural reasoning.
إلهي إلهي لماذا تركتني؟ (١)
الأناغنوستس/ وهيب عطا الله (المتنيح الأنبا غريغوريوس أسقف البحث العلمي)
مجلة مدارس الأحد – مايو ١٩٥٠
لو رجعت إلى المزمور ٢٢ من مزامير النبي داود، لألفيته يبدأ بهذه العبارة : “إِلهِي، إِلهِي، لِمَاذَا تَرَكْتَنِي؟”، ثم يمضي النبي فيصور آلاماً تطابق آلام سيدنا على الصليب مطابقة تامة، ومن ذلك قوله : “أَمَّا أَنَا فَدُودَةٌ لاَ إِنْسَانٌ. عَارٌ عِنْدَ الْبَشَرِ وَمُحْتَقَرُ الشَّعْبِ. كُلُّ الَّذِينَ يَرَوْنَنِي يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ بِي. يَفْغَرُونَ الشِّفَاهَ، وَيُنْغِضُونَ الرَّأْسَ قَائِلِينَ: “اتَّكَلَ عَلَى الرَّبِّ فَلْيُنَجِّهِ، لِيُنْقِذْهُ لأَنَّهُ سُرَّ بِهِ”. أَحَاطَتْ بِي ثِيرَانٌ كَثِيرَةٌ. أَقْوِيَاءُ بَاشَانَ اكْتَنَفَتْنِي. فَغَرُوا عَلَيَّ أَفْوَاهَهُمْ كَأَسَدٍ مُفْتَرِسٍ مُزَمْجِرٍ. كَالْمَاءِ انْسَكَبْتُ. انْفَصَلَتْ كُلُّ عِظَامِي. صَارَ قَلْبِي كَالشَّمْعِ. قَدْ ذَابَ فِي وَسَطِ أَمْعَائِي. يَبِسَتْ مِثْلَ شَقْفَةٍ قُوَّتِي، وَلَصِقَ لِسَانِي بِحَنَكِي، وَإِلَى تُرَابِ الْمَوْتِ تَضَعُنِي. لأَنَّهُ قَدْ أَحَاطَتْ بِي كِلاَبٌ. جَمَاعَةٌ مِنَ الأَشْرَارِ اكْتَنَفَتْنِي. ثَقَبُوا يَدَيَّ وَرِجْلَيَّ. أُحْصِي كُلَّ عِظَامِي، وَهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ وَيَتَفَرَّسُونَ فِيَّ. يَقْسِمُونَ ثِيَابِي بَيْنَهُمْ، وَعَلَى لِبَاسِي يَقْتَرِعُونَ”.
وجدير بالذكر أن شيئاً من ذلك لم يحدث للنبي داود في حياته الخاصة، وإلا فمتى ثُقبت يداه ورجلاه؟! ومتى اقتسموا ثيابه واقترعوا على لباسه؟!
فليس من شك أنه نطق بما نطق بروح النبوة مشيراً إلى السيد المسيح في أحداث الصليب. ولو تابعت بدقة ما ذكره البشيرون جميعاً، لاقتنعت بأن الروح القدس سبق فأعلم الأنبياء بما سيحدث للفادي وما سيعانيه من آلام.
فإذا قال السيد على الصليب : “إلهي إلهي لماذا تركتني؟”، إنما هو يردد مطلع المزمور ٢٢ لينبه اليهود – وهم حفظة الكتاب المقدس – إلى أنهم يتممون بأيديهم ما سبق وأشار إليه النبي داود من قبل.
فليس المسيح إذاً مضلاً أو مجدفاً على الله كما كانوا يدّعون، وإنما هو المسيا المنتظر، والذي تم في شخصه كل ما ذكره الأنبياء عنه بوحي الروح القدس.
ولقد كان السيد المسيح حريصاً كل الحرص على أن يبين هذه الحقيقة دائماً لتلاميذه أثناء حياته المقدسة على الأرض قبل الصليب، بل وبعد قيامته كذلك “وَقَالَ لَهُمْ:”هذَا هُوَ الْكَلاَمُ الَّذِي كَلَّمْتُكُمْ بِهِ وَأَنَا بَعْدُ مَعَكُمْ: أَنَّهُ لاَ بُدَّ أَنْ يَتِمَّ جَمِيعُ مَا هُوَ مَكْتُوبٌ عَنِّي فِي نَامُوسِ مُوسَى وَالأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمَزَامِيرِ”. حِينَئِذٍ فَتَحَ ذِهْنَهُمْ لِيَفْهَمُوا الْكُتُبَ. وَقَالَ لَهُمْ:”هكَذَا هُوَ مَكْتُوبٌ، وَهكَذَا كَانَ يَنْبَغِي أَنَّ الْمَسِيحَ يَتَأَلَّمُ وَيَقُومُ مِنَ الأَمْوَاتِ فِي الْيَوْمِ الثَّالِثِ” (لو٢٤: ٤٤-٤٦).
ومن قبل ذلك وبخ تلميذي عمواس على شكهما في حقيقة شخصه “فَقَالَ لَهُمَا:”أَيُّهَا الْغَبِيَّانِ وَالْبَطِيئَا الْقُلُوبِ فِي الإِيمَانِ بِجَمِيعِ مَا تَكَلَّمَ بِهِ الأَنْبِيَاءُ! أَمَا كَانَ يَنْبَغِي أَنَّ الْمَسِيحَ يَتَأَلَّمُ بِهذَا وَيَدْخُلُ إِلَى مَجْدِهِ؟” ثُمَّ ابْتَدَأَ مِنْ مُوسَى وَمِنْ جَمِيعِ الأَنْبِيَاءِ يُفَسِّرُ لَهُمَا الأُمُورَ الْمُخْتَصَّةَ بِهِ فِي جَمِيعِ الْكُتُبِ” (لو٢٤: ٢٥-٢٧).
ولقد ذهب بعض مفسري الكنيسة إلى أن المخلص قد ردد سراً في الغالب المزمور ٢٢ كله من أوله إلى آخره، وأنه صرخ حينما تلا أول عبارة فيه، وصرخ كذلك حين ردد آخر عبارة فيه : “قد أُكملَ” استناداً إلى أن عبارة “قد فعل” التي يختتم بها المزمور ٢٢ يقابلها في اللغة العبرانية “قد أُكملَ”. وليس لدينا ما ينفي صحة هذا الرأي، وإنما تسنده احتمالات منطقية وروحية ونقلية.