Barnes New Testament Notes

Verse 12. Saying. This passage is found in Ps 22:22. The whole of that Psalm has been commonly referred to the Messiah; and in regard to such a reference there is less difficulty than attends most of the other portions of the Old Testament that are usually supposed to relate to him. The following verses of the Psalm are applied to him, or to transactions connected with him, in the New Testament, Ps 22:1,8,18; and the whole Psalm is so strikingly descriptive of his condition and sufferings, that there can be no reasonable doubt that it had an original reference to him. There is much in the Psalm that cannot be well applied to David; there is nothing which cannot be applied to the Messiah; and the proof seems to be clear, that Paul quoted this passage in accordance with the original sense of the Psalm. The point of the quotation here is not that he would "declare the name" of God, but that he gave the name brethren to those whom he addressed.

I will declare thy name. I will make thee known. The word "name" is used, as it often is, to denote God himself. The meaning is, that it would be a part of the Messiah's work to make known to his disciples the character and perfections of God -- or to make them acquainted with God. He performed this. In his parting prayer (Joh 17:6) he says, "I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world." And again, John 17:26, "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it."

Unto my brethren. The point of the quotation is in this. He spoke of them as brethren. Paul is showing that he was not ashamed to call them such. As he was reasoning with those who had been Jews, and as it was necessary, as a part of his argument, to show that what he maintained respecting the Messiah was found in the Old Testament, he makes his appeal to that, and shows that the Redeemer is represented as addressing his people as brethren. It would have been easy to appeal to facts, and to have shown that the Redeemer used that term familiarly in addressing his disciples, (comp. Mt 12:48,49; 25:40; 28:10; Lu 8:21; Joh 20:17,) but that would not have been pertinent to his object. It is full proof to us, however, that the prediction in the Psalm was literally fulfilled.

In the midst of the church. That is, in the assembly of my brethren. The point of the proof urged by the apostle lies in the first part of the quotation. This latter part seems to have been adduced, because it might assist their memory to have the whole verse quoted; or because it contained an interesting truth respecting the Redeemer -- though not precisely a proof of what he was urging; or because it implied substantially the same truth as the former member. It shows that he was united with his church; that he was one of them; and that he mingled with them as among brethren.

Will I sing praise. That the Redeemer united with his disciples in singing praise, we may suppose to have been in the highest degree probable -- though, I believe, but a single case is mentioned -- that at the close of the Supper which he instituted to commemorate his death, Mt 26:30. This, therefore, proves what the apostle intended -- that the Messiah was among them as his brethren, that he spoke to them as such, and mingled in their devotions as one of their number.

{d} "Saying" Ps 22:22