Notice that Y‘shua speaks as Man to YHWH, not as Son to Father. His prayer addresses, ―My God, My
God", not "My Father". Y‘shua is functioning as a man functions and dies on the crucifixion stake functioning
as a man.
As it addresses YHWH, it is not a cry of total despair. It is a cry of submission and dependence. In Psalm 22,
the context is of one who is trusting in YHWH.
"The question has been asked, 'How can God forsake God?' The answer must be that God the Father
deserted the Son's human nature..." (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary on Matthew, page
971). Y‘shua is YHWH incarnate, with all the qualities which make man; including a human spirit and
emotions.
Wayne Grudem maintains that "It is better to understand the question... as meaning, 'Why have you left me
for so long. This is the sense it has in Psalm 22." That would make sense in terms of Jesus adopting limited
knowledge in His incarnation. Grudem goes on to observe, "Jesus in his human nature knew he would have
to bear our sins, to suffer and die. But, in his human consciousness, he probably did not know how long this
suffering would take." (Systematic Theology, page 576)
On the cross Y‘shua never ceased to be who He is – Elohim. ―God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself" (2 Cor 5:19). Y‘shua functioned as a man, really and fully man – and He died as a man,
experiencing suffering and death and the unknown as a man. He was forsaken not only as our sin bearer,
but as a man. He was forsaken as our substitute... He was forsaken that YHWH might never leave nor
forsake us. (Heb 13:5; Rom 8:31-39)
27:47-50 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias―(47) Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. (48) And
straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him
to drink. (49) The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. (50) Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.‖
Although the tradition of Elijah returning is associated with Passover (as previously discussed) – why they
are saying that Y‘shua is calling for Elijah, when He is obviously calling out to YHWH – is quite interesting.
The only explanation I can give is that the people standing at the foot of the crucifixion stake heard Elias,
which is very close to ―Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani‖.
Matthew first transliterates the Aramaic / Chaldean (according to the Vatican manuscript), the words used by
Y‘shua: El‘i, el‘i, lama sabachthani – in the Hebrew, it is Eli, Eli, lama Zaphthanei.
This is the only one of the seven sayings of Y‘shua on the Crucifixion stake given by Mark and Matthew. The
other six occur in Luke and John. This is the only sentence of any length in Aramaic preserved in Matthew,
though he writes Aramaic words like amen, corban, mammon, pascha, raca, Satan, Golgotha. The so-called
Gospel of Peter preserves this saying in a Docetic (Cerinthian) form: "My power, my power, thou hast
forsaken me!"
Y‘shua cried with a loud voice, as in great distress; having been silent during the three hours of darkness and
patiently bearing all his soul sufferings. He was under a sense of divine wrath and the hidings of his Father's
countenance, and his conflicts with the powers of darkness; but now in the anguish of his soul, he calls out,
saying: ―Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani‖; which words are partly Hebrew and partly Chaldee. The three first are
Hebrew and the last Chaldean, substituted in the room of "Azabthani"; as it was (and still is) in the Chaldean
paraphrase of the text in Psalm 22:1, from whence they are taken.
The moment of deathSome feel that Y‘shua either died of heart failure or suffocated on the crucifixion stake. However, if either of
these beliefs is true, how do we reconcile what Y‘shua said about his body and blood as he instituted the
new rituals and symbols for the Passover; and how do we reconcile the prophecies that speak of his death?
―And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink
you all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt
26:26-28 KJV)
Y‘shua told his disciples that his blood would seal the New Covenant and offer forgiveness for sin.