Matthew 27:46: “… My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Had God, the Father, truly forsaken Jesus as He suffered the agonies of death upon the cross?  As so many in great suffering ask the question, Jesus also asked:  “Why?”  Was He accusing God by asking this question? Or, did He cry out of self-pity?

No.  He was quoting Psalm 22, the prophetic Song of the Scapegoat. Perhaps He even sang this whole Psalm to tell the people He was dying, as the Scapegoat, for their sins.

This cry of Jesus cost Him great agony. He would have to pull Himself up against the nails in His hands and wrists in order to draw enough air into His lungs to make an utterance. This verse tells us that “Jesus cried with a loud voice.” In spite of all the pain and labor that it took, He uttered this message.

The origin of the Scapegoat ceremony is recorded in Leviticus 16:5-26. It describes how this sacrifice was to be made for the sins of the people under the Mosaic Covenant. The High Priest was to carry out these sacrifices:

(7) And he [the High Priest] shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (8) And Aaron [the High Priest] shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat. (9) And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. (10) But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go into the wilderness. (Leviticus 16: 5-10)

((21) And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.

The animals for these sacrifices were to be perfect, without blemish. They could not be blind, lame, deformed, lack parts or be scarred in any way. From the traditions we learn that, typically, the Levites were responsible for raising these animals to protect them from any possible blemish. Remember that the shepherd was to his sheep as God is to His people, Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

We learn that the birth of this Scapegoat of Psalm 22 was attended by its Good Shepherd: “(9) But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. (10) I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.”

The shepherd had assisted in the birth of this goat and may have bottle fed it. These little goats for the sacrifices were probably taken into the households as the family pets, the “darling.” It probably frolicked with the children as their playmate and companion and was dearly loved.

The presentation of these animals would have been a very emotional and truly sacrificial act of worship. Perhaps as the Levite carried the goats to the atonement ceremonies his children would ask: “Why are we taking the goats this time, Father?” And he would perhaps answer them: “The Lord has prepared Himself a sacrifice for our sins.”

This Scapegoat was born of the flock that this Shepherd had cared for: “(4) Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. (5) They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.” This Scapegoat had every reason to trust in this Shepherd, which his forefathers had trusted for generations.

According to the commandment, when the High Priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat and placed the sins of the nation upon his head, the scapegoat then symbolically became sin. At this, the congregation would begin to curse him, spit upon him, revile him and make faces at him. In Psalm 22:6-8 we see this happening: “6) But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. (7) All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, (8) He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”

Then the shepherd Levite would carry the scapegoat out through the midst of the congregation, out into the wilderness, to a cliff, a precipice, over which he would then hurl the little goat. Here we can take up the experience from the viewpoint of the Scapegoat in Psalm 22. He has been hurled over the cliff by his Good Shepherd and he begins to cry:

(1) My God [Shepherd], my God [Shepherd], why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (2) O my God [Shepherd], I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. (3) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Then he reminds the Shepherd of his faithfulness in times past, of the unfair persecution of the congregation, of the fact of the Shepherd’s care for him from his birth:

(Verse 11) Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

Then it seems that the little scapegoat may have started running, trying to find his way back home, and encounters a herd of wild bulls:

(12) Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. (13) They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. (14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (15) My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Then, it seems that the herd of bulls passes and the Scapegoat is left wounded and helpless and the packs of wild dogs that follow the herd attack him, tearing his flesh off of his bones:

(16) For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. (17) I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. (18) They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”

Again he cries out to his good shepherd:

(20) Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. (21) Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”

Meanwhile, at home, the Good Shepherd has been watching the fields and wilderness area in the slim hope that the Scapegoat would find his way back home. And here, in the middle of verse 21 the Scapegoat finds that the Good Shepherd has heard him, even “from the horns of the unicorns.” Suddenly the lament of this Scapegoat turns to triumphant praise:

(22) I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. (23) Ye that fear the Lord; praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. (24) For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. (25) My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. (26) The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. (27) All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship thee: (28) For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations. (29) All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. (30) A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. (31) They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

The Song of the Scapegoat continues in Psalm 23 as he exults and rejoices in his restoration to the Good Shepherd:

(1) The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. (3) He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (5) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

In His agony on the cross Jesus sang this Song of the Scapegoat to tell the world that He was fulfilling the prophecy given so many years earlier of the Scapegoat that would carry away the sins of the nation. He knew He was about to enter into the Great Shepherd’s fold and abide in the house of the Lord forever.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!”