More significant perhaps is
Matthew’s enhancement of other points of connection with Psalm 22, and in
particular the further allusion to Psalm 22.8 and the chief priests’ mocking
invitation to Jesus to let God deliver him (Matt. 27.43). Both Matthew and Mark
have the derisive cry for Jesus to save himself and come down from the
cross (Matt. 27.40; Mark 15.30), through with Matthean addition of ‘if you
are the Son of God’ (perhaps an echo of the temptation narrative—4.3, 6).
Technically, the mockers of Psalm 22 exhort God to deliver the sufferer (rather
than it being a case of self-deliverance), and hence it is the common imagery
of Psalm 22.8 and Mark’s wider use of the psalm (rather than the explicit
language) that justifies the allusion, for Mark 15.30 at least. Matthew,
however, offers a further or expanded allusion to Psalm 22.8. Where Mark has
the chief priests and scribes effectively echoing the derision of the
passers-by to self-salvation (15.31), Matthew incorporates the psalm’s
exhortation to divine intervention and urges God to deliver the
crucified, suffering Jesus (27.43). Where the psalmist portrays the mockers
urging the sufferer to commit his cause to YHWH in the expectation of
deliverance, Matthew’s mockers likewise parody the crucified Jesus that he
should similarly put his trust in God in the expectation of divine deliverance.
Matthew’s allusion to Psalm 22.8 is thus ‘louder’ than the Markan example and,
indeed, becomes more like a quotation in this regard, with a closer lexical and
thematic similarity between the text and its source. Like 27.40, it also
species Jesus as ‘God’s Son’, to add further irony to the challenge for divine
deliverance. Commenting on this ‘expansion’ of the Markan source, Marcus
surmises that ‘in the transition from Mark to Matthew . . . we can see the
narrative growing right before our eyes.’ There are even other potential
allusions to the psalm, beyond that used by Mark. For example, albeit within
the resurrection narrative, it is possible that Jesus’ exhortation to go to
Galilee so that his brothers might see him (Matt. 27.10) echoes Psalm 22.22-23,
particularly as Hebrews 2.12 also picks up such a reference. (David Allen, According
to the Scriptures: The Death of Christ in the Old Testament and the New [Eugene,
Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2025], 37-38)
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