The Messiah’s Vicarious Suffering
PLEA FOR VENGEANCE. — V. 22. Let their table become a snare before them, spread for a banquet as it appeared, Ps, 23, 5, it should become a trap to the enemies; and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap, literally, “and to the secure for a snare.” Since no amount of seeking and calling could bring the enemies to their senses; since they persisted in rejecting Him and His Gospel, therefore the Messiah calls upon God to punish them as the hardness of their hearts deserved.
V. 23. Let their eyes be darkened, in spiritual blindness, that they see not, and make their loins, commonly regarded as the seat of strength, continually to shake, in terror, dismay, and feebleness.
V. 24. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, so that they would be submerged in the flood of righteous divine wrath, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them, overtaking them like a victorious enemy, for the purpose of enslaving and punishing them.
V. 25. Let their habitation be desolate, their tents standing empty; and let none dwell in their tents, not one inhabitant remaining to relieve the horror of utter desolation.
V. 26. For they persecute Him whom Thou hast smitten, pursuing the Messiah, stricken by the Lord as He was; and they talk to the grief of those whom Thou hast wounded, mockingly telling about the pains which the Lord’s wounds caused Christ as He hung on the cross.
V. 27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, charging their trespasses to their account with full interest; and let them not come into Thy righteousness, by their own fault they would not become partakers of the salvation which was gained also for them.
V. 28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, where the redemption of the Messiah would have entered their names for eternity, and not be written with the righteous, to whom the perfect righteousness of the Savior is imputed by faith.
Such is the fate of those who consistently refuse to accept Jesus Christ and His salvation, who reject the counsel of God which has planned their righteousness. They have no one but themselves to blame if the righteousness of the Savior is not imputed to them, if their names are stricken from the book of life.