“Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?”: A Cry Of Dereliction? Or Victory? -- By: L. Paul Trudinger

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 17:4 (Fall 1974)
Article: “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?”: A Cry Of Dereliction? Or Victory?
Author: L. Paul Trudinger


“Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?”:
A Cry Of Dereliction? Or Victory?

L. Paul Trudinger*

Arlington, Virginia 22207

Several recent commentators have insisted that our Lord’s words from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” must be read not as coming from one defeated and frustrated by despair.1 Rather, we must read them within the context of Psalm 22 as a whole, as the confident prayer of One who did not lose faith even in the midst of his aloneness. My purpose is to make some further observations in support of this view-point, and, in particular to underscore some seldom discussed insights of a profound and thoroughly evangelical scholar, the late Professor Karl Bornhaeuser, of Marburg.2

While it is true that Psalm 22 comes to its conclusion in a mood of confidence, let me suggest that we do not need to go to the later sections of the psalm to find the context of faith and hope. The psalm from its very beginning is set within the context of victory and expectation of deliverance. For the psalm begins with its title, which sets the stage for what is to come. The title in Hebrew is notoriously difficult to translate. Luther renders it thus: “A Psalm of David to be chanted by the precentor about the Doe which is hunted in the early dawn.” The King James Version translators did not attempt to give meaning to the words which Luther construes as “doe” and “dawn,” but just left the Hebrew as it stood. Moffatt made the suggestion that “Doe of the Dawn” was a popular tune of that time to which the psalm was to be sung. Fantastic! If the setting of the psalm had to do with a hunted deer in the early dawn, then the mood would indeed be one of desperation. The psalm would echo the feelings of one driven into sore straits, indeed of one trapped, by his enemies. Have we rightly understood the meaning of the psalm’s title, however?

The Hebrew word translated as “precentor” or “choirmaster” is a participle from the verb “to achieve mastery,” sometimes translated “to conquer,” (natsach), and being in the causative mood, may well mean: “to the one who brings about victory.” The word’s interpretation and use in some places as “choirmaster,” stems from the fact that the director of the temple singers in a sense controls or achieves mastery over them. Some of the earliest translations of this psalm, however, attest to the meaning here,

*Teaching Minister, Rock Spring Parish, and Professor of Religion, Northern Virginia Community College....

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