Has anyone checked out the LXX (septuagint) on Psalm 22’s final line? I think it’s not that far off the greek that Jesus uses as his final words in John on the Cross.
My aramaic’s non-existent, but I’d be curious to know if anyone had any thoughts on whether or not there might be a similarity there.
It’s make for an interesting theory - Synoptic Gospels quoting the begining of Ps.22 - John quoting the end!
Re: Does John also refer to Psalm 22
It’s a nice idea but probably a bit of a long shot.
There is direct allusion to Psalm 22 in John’s account of the crucifixion (John 19:24), so it’s not out of the question to think that ‘It is finished’ corresponds to the psalmist’s statement about God having accomplished an act of salvation or deliverance - though the Psalm is about the deliverance of the one who suffers, not the salvation of others through his suffering. Jesus’ words would then be an expression of confidence that God would not abandon him to death and traditional ideas about him completing the world’s salvation would be out of place. Having said that, the proclamation about what the Lord has done comes as part of the expectation that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the Lord (Ps. 22:27-29).
However, John 19:28 seems to suggest a rather different sense for ‘it is finished’: ‘After this Jesus, knowing that now all things were finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, says, “I thirst”.’ This sounds to me like a general statement about things having come to a conclusion (or all Scripture being fulfilled? ‘fulfilled’ and ‘finished’ are basically the same word) rather than a specific allusion to Psalm 22. On the whole, I think it more likely that Jesus is speaking about the moment of his death as being the fulfilment of his calling.