Verses 6-8: The Scorn Of Men
As if in justification of his Father’s absence from him, Christ disparages himself “I am a worm.” The lonely prisoner becomes more sensitive to the gloom to his dungeon walls when his visiting friend has withdrawn. So also the lofty spirit of this man is drawn to consider now the stark reality of his earthy tabernacle in its corruptibility not superior
to the lowliest of God’s creatures. Powerless and passive as a worm, he feels himself scornfully crushed beneath the foot of man.
Verses 6 -“I am a worm“: Yes, he was a worm ( Job 25:6). Shrouded in insuperable weakness, his words might well have been those of Job:
“I have said to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister Job 17 :14).
But for all that, Christ was a very special worm, as the Hebrew “toolath- indicates. This is the cochineal, a unique worm from which scarlet dye is produced by crushing. The dye was used in the manufacture of the priestly garments and the other fabrics associated with the tabernacle. When the soldiers prepared to lead Christ out to be crucified, they first stripped him and put on him a robe dyed scarlet (Matt. 27 :28). Was he not the greatest of all priests, and the tabernacle itself, which God pitched and not man?
The scarlet derived from the “too-lath” was required lor the cleansing of lepers and those defiled by the dead ( Lev. 11:1; Num. 19:6; Heb. 9:19). As he stood before his executioners in the scarlet robe, Christ was this very “toolath” lowly and contemptible, yet bringing cleansing to others by his death. “He was despised and rejected”; yet with his bruising u e are healed (Isa. 53:3-5), who were once “dead” in the “leprosy”of sin.
“And no man”: The word here is honorable man. “I am not what man is because of my sinlessness. I am not what man should be because of my nature. But I will vet become, through this death, what from the beginning God intended man lo be: perfect, glorious, and immortal, having dominion over all creation” (Gen. 1:26.28; Psa. 8:6).
“A reproach of men” : This word is Adam’. common, sinful man. Here we approach most closely the spirit of this Psalm’s greatest counterpart. Isaiah 53:
-He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not ..
Christ was not just reproached by his enemies as he hung upon the cross. He as and has often been since a reproach to Ins friends; this is in large part Isaiah’s message: -Ire hid our faces . . we esteemed him not , Have not each of us, at one time or another, felt ashamed or embarrassed to be associated with Christ! What man or woman among us has not glanced furtively at the spectacle of a crucified Saviour, and then like Peter slipped into the shadows, with perhaps an oath on the lips “I know him not; leave me alone!” Our Elder Brother went forward to his cross of nails and wood; all too often we flee from our cross of words and looks.
The perfect man, lifted up, draws all men to himself — that is, he offers all men the opportunity to come unto him. But, naturally speaking (and we are all more “natural” than “spiritual”) the uplifted Christ repels men! Faced with the awesome majesty of a righteous God and the unwelcome wages of our own sins, we all seek to hide in one way or another: from our duties to proclaim the gospel, from our call to a devout and holy life, from the task of loving the unloveable. And in so neglecting his commandments we also reproach Christ and “break his heart” (Psa. 69:20).
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?” (Lam. 1:12).
To weak and indifferent believers much like us, Paul sounded the call:
“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach“ ( Heb. 13:13; Compare 2 Cor. 12:10; Luke 6:22; 1 Pet 4:14).
“And despised of the people–: Many of Christ’s countrymen vainly expected that he would assume the power and glory of an earthly king. “We trusted that it would have been he who should have redeemed Israel” (Luke 21:21 ). Therefore, the bitterness of their disappointment is proportional greater. Due to this failed hope, and also the cunning deceit of the leaders, the people ‘disesteem” Christ and choose the brigand Barabbas instead. “His blood be upon us and our children,” they cry derisively, as though the guilt associated with the death of this man who betrayed their hopes were no more than that of a worm.
Verse 7: they that see me laugh me to scorn”: Scorn and mocking accompanied the Saviour from Gethsemane until he expired on Golgotha. Judas set the tone with his insidious kiss. The men that apprehended him mocked him, as did the officers of the various courts, the chief priests, the Pharisees, the servants, the soldiers, and finally the common mob (Matt. 27:39-13; Luke 23:35).
Unto the Gentiles, as Paul said, the crucified Christ was a “foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23) a source of laughter and
derision. In his sacrificial death, set forth before all men, Christ was paralleling the prophecied experiences of his nation Israel. As was Israel (Isa. -13:10,12: 11:8), he was also God’s “witness”: a curse and a byword to all nations (Deut. 28:37), ”the man that hath seen affliction” (Lam. 3:1).
“They shoot out the lip. they shake the head”: Their malevolence was too great to be expended in words only; there were also signs and gestures. They “curl the lip,” invoking the vision of a snarling pack of wild dogs (V. 16).
Verse 8: “He trusted on the LORD“. These were the very words of the priests and scribes who taunted him (Matt. 27:13). Literally, as the margin, “he rolled himself upon” Yahweh. The Hebrew is “galah” – from the word for circle; this root word gives rise to “Galilee” (the geographical circle of the Gentiles) and “Golgotha” (the skull, from its circular shape). It was at “Gilgal that Joshua cut off the flesh and “rolled away- the reproach of Israel (Josh. 5:9). And it was at Golgotha that the Galilean “rolled himself upon” his Father and “rolled away” for all time the reproach of sin from his brethren!
Verses 9- 11: God’s Care From The Womb
The bitterness of the taunts of his enemies has only the effect of driving the Messiah again to appeal directly to his Father. In these verses he reduces himself to the lowest point of frailty, when he had no separate existence in the womb of his mother; from that point he casts himself upon the Almighty. What more excellent representation is there of man’s utter dependence upon God! And so aptly chosen were these words, in that Jesus the Son of God and Saviour of the World graciously put himself on a level with the most humble man; he was one of us! Thus we may see ourselves in his plea to the father of his cry we partaker and the Father replies to all His children
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am he and even to hoar hairs will I carry you and I will deliver you (Isa 16:34)
Thou are he that took me out at the womb prominent Scripture references to the virgin birth of the Son of God(Gen 3:18, Matt 1:23, Luke ). Similar to this is Isa 49:1 which begins the section of that prophecy pertaining to the suffering servant
The LORD hath called me from the womb from the bowels of my mother hath made mention of my name
Thou hast make me hope when I was upon my mother breats. This should be make me repose upon or keep me in scales, A baby even Jesus could have no special knowledge or hope, What we see here instead is Christs acknowledgment of the special providence of God in his life from his infancy protecting him from such threats is the murderous Herod(Matt 2:20)
Unnumbered comforts to my soul Thy tender care bestowed Before my infant heart conceived
From whom those comforts flowed Verse 11: Be not far from me, for trouble is near for there is none to help’ All human and even all angelic sustenance, had deserted Christ as he had known it would
Behold the hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. (John 16:32)
And though the Father is still silent His Son is now persuaded that the Supreme Creator will never really desert His supreme creation. This momentary helplessness of the Son was designed by God that no flesh looking upon this spectacle could ever glory again in his absolute lack of strength Christ found the only help that was meaningful
Brethren and sisters may we do the same may we learn that our strength and safety lie in Yahweh alone. He that believeth shall not make haste (Isa 28:16) he shall not be ashamed (Rom 10 :11) he shall not be confounded (1 Peter 2:6). To the cross we come and learn that with God nothing is impossible and for His children ther is no ultimate evil, The Helper of the helpless is our God all things in the world are ours and we are His the sheep of His Flock scattered once but nw regathered through the great Shepherd’s sacrifice
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One