Thou hast known My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before Thee … I looked for some to take pity, but there was none one; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave Me also gall for My meat, and in My thirst, they gave Me vinegar to drink” Psalm 69:19-21 KJV
You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You… I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalms 69:19-21 NASB
It was Passover and the population of Jerusalem normally swelled several-fold during this season. The city would be teeming with pilgrims from all over Asia Minor and beyond. The crowds mingling in the city streets and eventually at the cross would be significant in number.
We read of the “passers-by” and should understand that there would likely be a large number who witnessed the cross. Along with the insolent leaders and soldiers, there was an indifferent multitude. Different, and standing apart from all, there was an interested few. Those few, Mary, John, and three other women, looked on with grief and broken hearts as the Savior suffered on the cross.
But whether we think of the leadership, soldiers, passers-by, or friends, all alike were unable to comprehend the depths of His reproach, shame, and dishonour. It would seem at first reading, however, that contrary to Psalm 69:20, there were those who did take pity and attempted to comfort Him. Yet, Scripture is true: no one really understood the extent of the injustice in the treatment He was receiving.
Over against the lack of genuine comforters and those who could not take pity on the Lord, there was One Who alone could measure the “contradiction of sinners” He was receiving. In the text of Psalm 69, the word “Thou” is emphatic. It would be the equivalent of our saying, “You and You alone!”
The seeming anticlimactic end to the passion portion of the Psalm is meant to set in stark relief how men responded to His grief – gall and vinegar – and how God alone knew the full measure of His sorrow and shame.
No one, even His most devoted followers, had ever seen the Lord in His majestic appearance in heaven. John had a brief glimpse of the Lord on the mount, but it was limited and transient. They all lacked a reference point from which to begin to measure His shame on the cross. None have ever been privy to the worship of heaven as angelic beings veiled their faces before Him. How then could they begin to measure the reproach and dishonour as men had blindfolded Him, spit upon Him, and now impaled Him to a tree?
But there was One Who alone could measure the distance from the throne to the tree, from glory to Golgotha. He knew the reproach, shame, and dishonour which His Son was enduring. And what must have been so special to this Father’s heart, what must have brought infinite joy to His heart, was that it was a Son’s love for His Father which brought Him to that point.
All the shame, reproach, and dishonour were borne out of devotion and love to His Father. God alone could appreciate the depth of the motive; God alone could measure the extent of the shame. But if in the divine sphere the principle of sowing and reaping is valid, then He will reap what He has sown. And just as He has known immeasurable shame and sorrow, so He will know a corresponding exaltation and glory eternally.
Consider:
Psalm 69 is the psalm that highlights the “reproach” which Christ knew. Note the different mentions of this word and the various contexts in which it occurs (vv 7, 9, 10, 19, 20).