Bulls of Bashan
Ps. 22:12,13,16
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.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Known as "The Psalm of the Cross"
Psalm 22 speaks of the Shepherd dying for the sheep
Psalm 23--caring for His sheep
Psalm 24--coming for His sheep
A psalm of David as he suffers innocently. He feels deserted by God.
At the same time, this psalm is a prophecy of our Saviour Jesus Christ and His death upon the cross.
From the first verse, there is a cry to God the Father. It is a painstaking shrill of one who is in a state of utter lonliness.
The only One whom Jesus could look to for help was His father, God. Having wilfully accepted the sins of the whole world upon His Person, God the Father was repulsed to look on such a monstrousity of vileness.
Bashan is mentioned 60 times in the Bible.
Bashan was a city on the east side of the Jordan River. Probably to the far north. Most likely what is the Golan Heights today.
It is known for cattle grazing on its hills and for the many oaks that grow on it.
Dt. 3:10-13
10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
12 ΒΆ And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.
13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.
Og, who was king of Bashan, was the last of a line of giants that Moses was to conquer.
Og was a descendent of Rephaim. Known in Hebrew as the "walking dead".
Amos 4:1
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
Herein is the picture of the Innocent who has been surrounded by wild, raging creatures. They encircle their prey. The prophet, Amos, tells us that they make a party out of their misdeeds.
Those who took part in the crucifiction of Christ are likened to three savage animal:
1. strong bulls
2. ravening, roaring lions
3. wild dogs
There are those who believe that Bashan was the land that the fallen angels who married the sons of men dwelt. These would be fallen angels. Thus, the prophecy could very well be refering to the evil spiritual forces that were present around the cross. Their goal was to do away with Jesus once and for all. One can imagine the foaming at the mouth, the pawing of the hooves, the snorting, and the swaying of the head.
Gen. 6:4
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The "bulls of Bashan" represent the demonic spiritual forces that would want to invalidate, or make less, the CROSS and all it is meant to be, related to the complete work of Christ.
The ysmbolism of the bulls surrounding the cross, with Christ in the center is a figure of the mark of the beast (picture an X with a circle around it).
When you are fighting a spiritual battle against the evil spirits, remember that Christ already conquered them for your benefit, if you are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Psalm 22
I. The REPROACHED ONE (v. 6)
II. The REJECTED ONE (v.7)
--the Devil's Zoo---bulls, lions, dogs, oxen, wolves
III. The RISEN ONE (v.22)
IV. The RULING ONE (v.28)
V. The RIGHTEOUS ONE (v.31)
