This Psalm is the appeal of Messiah, on behalf of the oppressed Remnant of the Jews, in His own Person. It is not the cry merely of the Remnant at the ungodliness that surrounded them amongst the Jews, nor for help against the Gentiles, but the critical intervention of Messiah, in respect of the whole purpose of God concerning them. It regards especially the triumph of the ungodly Jews at the apparent oppression of those, of whom they had been long weary, the saints amongst them, and their deliverance from them, they having joined the Gentiles; verse 18 marks the result. Psa. 22 applies itself personally to Messiah—this, to the Remnant exclusively in the latter day, identifying Him with them, and spoken, as on His behalf; see verse 27, as showing the manner of the identification.
From this Psalm to the end of Psalm 40 Christ is viewed more as in the midst of the unrighteous, and trying evil within, hindered in the practicability of making (by following His ways) the cause of the nation the cause of God. He—the cause of the servant of God—is in the presence of enemies, but while the enemies without hate it, the whole name of the people of God on account of this, the body of the people within hate it because of righteousness, and are in fact one with the enemy. Thus it was with the chief priests and Pilate—thus shall it he at the close, which in these Psalms is prophetically taken up in Israel in Jerusalem. The righteous cause of Christ, hated by those within, as evil by their evil state, and the enemies coming from without—Christ and His cause, and those who favor it being the only real stay of the people. In the meanwhile the religious leaders of the Jewish people, trusting in the flesh, hate the sentence on their state by the Spirit—so with the Lord—so with Jeremiah who was, as it were, a representant of this; a trying case when He, who can trust Jehovah, knows Jehovah is hated by those He would defend, because of that which can alone be their defense. In the midst of this Christ, the Spirit of Christ found Himself—He was faithful—He trusts, and He alone in Jehovah alone—the righteousness which Jehovah can defend. The chief pressure here is the evil and hostility connected with evil within (v. 8). This Psalm notices a leader of this wickedness and evil—first Judas, then Antichrist.
18. This verse takes in the Remnant as the nation, the great congregation (kahal ray).
Compare these two verses, which omit the brethren, and praise in the congregation, with Psa. 22:20-2520Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. 21Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. 22I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 23Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 24For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. 25My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. (Psalm 22:20‑25). This Psalm may perhaps, give the example of how the Lord speaks in His own name, identifying Himself with the Remnant who walk with Him and in His Spirit in the latter day; see also verse 27, and indeed all through. Note this well.
19. This first speaks of enemies—Christ being thus distinguished with the Remnant. They are now “mine enemies" (o-y'vay). This verse is a sort of hinge to the difference between Christ in Person and the Remnant. The hope of the just is in Jehovah, for there is no refuge in the heart of man, for the fear of God is not there. But the exaltation of Jehovah against the pride and wickedness of man (the wicked) makes way for the outflowing of His goodness—for what He is as God—towards the sons of Adam. Verse 10 is the application of this to the present circumstances of Israel, by the Spirit of Christ. There is something large and magnificent, beautiful and sweet in this Psalm. It leads one forth from the sufferings which affect, into the wide scene, the garden of goodness, through which the streams of the fountain of life flow, through the means of those blessed and loving sufferings.