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Psalm 22:7: All those who see me mock at me: they thrust out

the lip, and shake the head.

7. All those who see me mock at me, etc., fa469 This is an explanation of the

preceding sentence. He had said that he was an object of scorn to the

lowest of men, and, as it were, to the refuse of the people. He now

informs us of the ignominy with which he had been treated, — that not

content with opprobrious language, they also showed their insolence by

their very gesture, both by shooting out their lips, and by shaking

their heads. ...I have therefore preferred rendering the original words, they thrust out the

lip; which is the gesture of those who mock openly and injuriously. The

reproachful language which follows was much more grievous when they

alleged against him that God, who he openly avowed was his father, was

turned away from him. We know that David, when he saw himself

unjustly condemned of the world, was accustomed to support and console

himself with the assurance, that since he had the approving testimony of a

good conscience, he had God in heaven for his guardian, who was able to

execute vengeance upon his revilers. But now, all who saw him

reproached him, that with vain arrogance he had groundlessly boasted of

the succor he would receive from God. Where is that God, say they, on

whom he leaned? Where is that love to which he trusted? Satan has not a

more deadly dart for wounding the souls of men than when he endeavors

to dislodge hope from our minds, by turning the promises of God into

ridicule. David’s enemies, however, do not simply say that his prayers

were in vain, and that the love of God of which he boasted was fallacious;

but they indirectly charge him with being a hypocrite, in that he falsely

pretended to be one of the children of God, from whom he was altogether

estranged.

Commentaries on the Psalms