Psalm 22:16

Originally composed as a psalm of individual lament (attributed to David), the speaker describes intense suffering using vivid metaphors: dogs surrounding, lions attacking, bones pulled apart. The Hebrew text at the crucial point reads either 'ka'ari' (like a lion -- my hands and feet) or 'karu' (they pierced/dug). The Masoretic text preserves 'like a lion,' while the Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls support 'they pierced.' In its original context, this was a cry of personal anguish, not explicitly messianic.

Justin Martyr in his 'Dialogue with Trypho' cited Psalm 22 extensively as a prophecy of Christ's crucifixion, following the Septuagint's 'they pierced my hands and my feet.' He argued that the detailed correspondence between Psalm 22 and the crucifixion narrative (casting lots for garments, mocking words, physical suffering) constituted irrefutable proof that Jesus was the promised Messiah. This christological reading became standard in early Christian apologetics.

Medieval Jewish commentators like Rashi read Psalm 22 as David's own lament or as a corporate expression of Israel's suffering in exile. Rashi followed the Masoretic reading 'like a lion, my hands and my feet' and rejected the Christian 'pierced' interpretation. He argued the psalm described David's enemies or the persecution of the Jewish people, not a future messianic figure. This counter-reading intensified the Jewish-Christian interpretive divide during the Crusades.

Luther emphatically read Psalm 22 as a prophecy of Christ, citing Jesus' quotation of verse 1 from the cross ('My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'). He accepted 'they pierced' and preached that David spoke prophetically through the Holy Spirit about sufferings he himself never experienced in full. Luther used this psalm to teach the theology of the cross: God is most present precisely where He seems most absent, in the suffering and death of His Son.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (particularly the Nahal Hever scroll, 5/6HevPs) provided manuscript evidence supporting 'they pierced' (karu) over 'like a lion' (ka'ari), as the scroll reads 'k-r-w.' Modern scholars recognize this as a textual variant rather than a translation bias. Many scholars hold a both/and position: the psalm has an original context of personal lament but was read messianically by Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. The correspondence with crucifixion details is historically acknowledged regardless of theological conclusions.