Bulls of Bashan

Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Psalm 22:12

In the Army they gave New Testaments to the Christian soldiers and books of Psalms to the Jews. I told one of the Jewish men I could make a point by reading Psalm 22 to him. I opened the book. There was the familiar 23rd Psalm, but Psalm 22 was missing. Now why would this be, I wonder?

Could it be that in this Psalm we find the most intimate portrayal of Christ's agony in the whole Bible? It is so inescapable that it must not be read by those who deny Him. In many churches, where selected readings are used to soothe, but not to portray literal truth, Psalm 22 goes unread. Here we find not only His physical agony in detail, but a description of those who mocked Him.

Bashan was the cattle country of Israel. It began to be so from the first occupation after their wilderness wandering.

We went to an animal park in Springfield, Missouri. It was strictly drive through. We paid to feed the animals from bowls that were provided. At one stop I saw the largest cattle I have ever seen, even at state fairs. As they approached our car I realized they could crush it like tin foil. They were as immense as nightmare animals and reddish in color.

When I read of the mocking crowds around the cross I think of them. What a picture of hostile people surrounding God's son. How helpless he had allowed himself to become. Not only in horrible pain, but laughed at by those with out thrust lips. And He did this all for us.