They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. – Psalm 22:18
When the government speaks of trillions, it is a number difficult to wrap one’s mind around. A trillion is a thousand billion—1 followed by 12 zeros. Now picture the number 1 followed by 28 zeros. That is the odds of just 300 of the prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament being fulfilled in one person. And yet they were!
Psalm 22, from which today’s verse is taken, is probably the most famous of collected prophecies about the torment, rejection, and death of Messiah Jesus. Even the ancient rabbis understood that the psalm’s author, King David, was not referring to himself. The Roman means of crucifixion were unknown to David, yet he foresaw what would happen, even to the obscure reference to the soldiers gambling for Jesus’ cloak and tunic. John Calvin wrote, “Christ was stripped of His garments, that He might clothe us with righteousness; that His naked body was exposed to the insults of men, that we may appear in glory before the judgment-seat of God.”
Dr. Lance Waldie writes, “While the Jews remained on site to watch Jesus die, the Roman soldiers took time to gamble for His clothes. They were likely dividing Jesus’ sandals, belt, outer robe, and head covering among the four of them. But it was the seamless tunic that they did not want to tear, so they cast lots for it.” He adds that they saw Jesus’ seamless tunic as “not a piece of designer clothing… such a garment would not have taken exceptional skill to weave and was thus not a luxury item. Wearing a seamless piece of clothing was simply Jesus’ obedience to the command of Moses that two materials be not joined together (Leviticus 19:19).”
You have an opportunity to choose as did these soldiers. You can look upon Jesus and believe that His death was for you, or you can focus only on material things and ignore, or worse, mock, the Savior’s agony. “See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow, and love flow mingled down.” No one else could do for you what Jesus has done. Don’t gamble with your eternal life. Trust Jesus!
Today’s Verse: Psalm 22:18
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: John 19:16-24
16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things,
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
