"For DOGS have SURROUNDED me;
A band of
evildoers has encompassed me;
They PIERCED
My hands and my feet"
(Ps 22:16).
Christian and Jewish scholars
(as well as Christian and Christian scholars)
argue about the original Hebrew of verse 16.
Is the original Hebrew,
"They PIERCED" or "like a LION"?
I do not believe the Messianic interpretation of this
verse is in any way threatened
by "like a lion,"
but in all honesty I am convinced "pierced"
represents the original Hebrew.
Though I can provide many reasons, for now I
will offer
just two. First, for every complaint with an
animal metaphor in this psalm there is
a parallel request to be
rescued from that specific animal.
Complaints about
"bulls and lions" (Ps 22:12–13) are
met with
requests to be rescued from "bulls and lions" (Ps 22:21).
If original reading of verse 16
was "dogs and lions"
then the request should be for deliverance from
"dogs and lions."
The request, however, is to be delivered from
"dogs and swords" (Ps 22:21).
Given the fact that "sword" appears alongside "dog"
in the request, and
a "sword" is an instrument
of piercing,
it makes most sense the original complaint was about "dogs and piercing," not about "dogs and lions."
The second reason
"like a lion"
is most likely not the original reading has to do with
the unusual spelling of "lion" in the
Masoretic Text
of this verse. In the two
other verses "lion"
appears in this psalm (vv. 13, 21), it is spelled differently
(אריה instead of ארי).
Given the fact that the Masoretic Text
of verse 16 represents the only occasion in the
entire
book of Psalms
where "lion"
is spelled this way (ארי), the most likely conclusion is
that "like a lion" represents a
scribal error rather than the original reading.
So for those of you who are worried that
Christian translators intentionally corrupted the
Hebrew Bible,
let me encourage you to relax. In the case of
Psalm 22:16,
the Christian translations really do represent the most accurate translation of the original Hebrew.
"I WILL tell of Your NAME to
my brethren;
In the MIDST of the assembly
I will PRAISE You"
(Ps 22:22).
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