The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1932-03-25

because, in the very wording of His
prayer, God Is still to Him my
God" But, secondly. because
these words were not original with
Him, and because ell quoted them
with their original meaning point
eddy in view.
Many of us will have noticed |
what most commentators remark.
that the Fourth Word from the |
Cross Is the opening verse of Psalm |
xxi. Moreover, the quotation was
more exact than it may seem to us.
l nour English version of this
Psalm, the repeated address my
God" Is followed Immediately by
the words Look upon me-" Here
the Vulgate's respice in me has its
counterpart in the elder Greek of
the Septuagint. But these words
cannot be traced further back;
they are neither in the Hebrek nor
in it's Aramaic versions (the Tar
gums'D. Thus, the briefer version
of Psalm xxi. /. as ascribed by
the Evangelists to our Lord, Is in
accord with our extant Hebrew
text. In st Matthew the verb
alone, instead of being Hebrew, is
Aramaic, as was Christ's usual
speech and that of the masses
about Him. But even in st Mat
thew, Eli, Eli, is Hebrew; and, as
Dalman observes. the fact that
familiar with the Biblical tongue
as with Aramaic) thought that
Elias (Eliyah) was invoked, shows
that st Mathew has reported the
actual word, and makes 1t possible,
IL not probable, that the whole ut
terance was in the Hebrew of the
Old Testament.
This would be instantly recog-
nized by the prisests and scribes
who stood by. and who had been
the real leaders of all opposition to
our Lords claim and ministry. He
had chosen from their Scriptures
q telling message for themselves.
It's remoter force lay in the fact
that this very Psalm was regarded
by the Jews themselves as contain
ing several Messianic predictions.
Schottgen collects from Rabbini-
cal sources Messianic interpreta-
lions of seven different passages.
Fina Fini had in the the 18th CEN
fury done the like for the first
verse itself, though the passage he
cited has since mysteriously dis
appeared from its source.
But more pertinent than this
prophetic character Of the Psalm
in Jewish belief Is the role played
by one Of its verses in the drama
Of the Passion. before the utetr-
ance Of the Fourth Word. st
Mathew (xxvii. 41-43) tells us that
"the chief priests, with the scribes
and arcients. hooking said" among
- <htnoc. uha fri,Sfnd ~, Gnls
let him now deliver him, if he
will have hint! Not only is this
an almost verbatim citation of
Psalm xxi, 9, but, Furthermore. this
ninth verse, put to so strange and
striking a use by Christ's oppres-
sors. Is one of those to which Mes
sianic meaning has been attributed
by Jewish writer's themselves.
And to what use it was put on
Calvary! It's words were not those
of the afflicted Prophet, but cited
by him as the gibe of his persecu-
tors. Can the priests at Calvary
have remembered this, pushing
their mockery of our Saviour's
claim even to this refinement OF
subtlety? 1t hardly seems likely,
since, even in accommodating the
words to what they would consider
a reversed situation, they would
still be consciously borrowing the
words of evildoers aimed against
the just. More probably the words
came naturally to hand as being so
familiar. They flung at Christ a
taunt recorded as unjust. without
for the moment recalling its in
spired source. Mad with the very
frenzy Of their malicious triumph.
any appropriate words would serve
them, even a blasphemous calumny
heaped upon q blameless sufferer
and Prophet.
The force of these words in their
original connection could not es-
cape our Lord. Here was chal-
lenge, even If unconscious. to pro-
claim Himself once more with His
dying breath. An hour later He ac-
cepted that challenge. Then, when
the darkness was deepest all about
the Cross, the pain of loneliness
was keenest in the soul of the Vic
time. 1t must not pass unspoken.
this anguish of His soul: we must
be given to know that, even here.
He goeth before us. And yet in
utetring His woe. He will have
words that serve at the same time
greater purpose still-the pur-
pose of one last confession of His
Messiahship in the teeth of its de-
famers.
Back at His boastful Knockers.
out OF the silence and the dark
come the words they know so well:
Eli. Eli lamma sabachthani? Back
come those words in all the power
of their Camistakable source. an
acceptance of the challenge. and
dying repetition of His Identity.
The priests may have forgot the
source of their own taunt but they
now recall II In a flash. They
have spoken the language OF un.
Just oppression. they are answered
with the prayer OF the oppressed.
who was he. the Psaimist. but
prophet OF the Messianlc daysY
And who IL this present sufferer,
L a. L. ~ -