After having suffered a brutal whipping of forty lashes; after suffering the taunts and jeers of the public which only days before had idolized him; after carrying a large, heavy cross (the instrument of your impending death) through the streets and up a large hill; after being stripped and having nails thrust through your wrists and feet to impale him to the cross; after spending hours struggling for each breath and struggling through unbearable pain . . . after all this, Yeshua was nearing the end of his life.
He had one last thing he wanted to share before he gave up his spirit:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)
Why’d he say that?
I was taught that he had become our sins and therefore his Father could not look upon him. After all he had been through, he cried out in pain and suffering seeking some solace from an absent Father who had turned His back on His son.
Knowing what we know of Christ from the Scriptures, does this sound like a man who sought to do his Father’s Will in all things? Let us look a little deeper at what was going on and what was said.
“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” is Aramaic and should attract attention because of the infrequent use of that language in the Scriptures. The verse gives the translation in the verse, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Why use the Aramaic? Why not just start with the translation?
There is something more being conveyed here than a mere statement.
If ‘Yeshua became our sin, so Yahweh could not look upon him’. I have real problems with this explanation:
- If my child committed a crime punishable by death, I would be there for him. Not because I thought he was innocent, but because I would want him to know that I still loved him despite what he had done.
- If I knew he was innocent, I would definitely be there so he would know that he was not abandoned.
- I know I am not a more loving father than Yahweh.
So if we are going to say Yeshua was not literally accusing his Father, what reason would he have for making such an inflammatory statement? Sometimes we say something to spark a thought or a response from others.
If you said, “If at first you don’t succeed”, there is no need to finish the phrase because everyone knows you are telling someone who has failed to, “try, try, again”. By just stating the first part, the second half of the quote instantly comes to mind because it is so well known.
Psalm 23 is extremely well known. If I said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”, most people’s memories would trigger with the words, “I will fear no evil . . . .”
You know what else was very well-known to the Jews of the time of Christ? Psalms 22 and 24, on either side of Psalm 23.
The expression, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is actually the first verse in Psalm 22. David wrote this Psalm nearly 900 years before the crucifixion.
If you read the first half of the Psalm 22, it is a rather detailed description of the crucifixion of Yeshua (the second part concerns when he returns in glory).
- “strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round” (Pharisees were referred to as bulls)
- “I am poured out like water,” (water poured out when his side was pierced)
- “all my bones are out of joint” (one of the results of crucifixion)
- “my tongue cleaveth to my jaws” (Yeshua cried. “I thirst”)
- “For dogs have compassed me” (Romans were referred to as “dogs”. There would have been a detachment of Roman soldiers present to ensure no one interfered with the imposition of Pilate’s justice)
- “they pierced my hands and my feet”
- “I may tell all my bones”
- “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
Yeshua’s final words are, “It is finished”, which how Psalm 22 closes. Even the Centurion (who would know some of the Judean’s culture in order to be a more effective advisor to the Roman governor) recognized the evidence from Psalm 22 and stated, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54)
Based on the earlier usage of “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” in Psalm 22, I assert that it makes more sense – and is consistent with scripture – to believe that Yeshua was not using his last breath to condemn his Father, but rather, he was witnessing to the people watching his crucifixion.
They had to be demoralized to see their Savior beaten and crucified. He called their attention to a Psalm of David, written over 900 years earlier to remind them that all this was prophesized. I believe even the Centurion got the reference.
