Comentario sobre Salmos 22:17

like a lion, my hands and feet As though they are crushed in a lion’s mouth, and so did Hezekiah say (in Isa. 38:13): “like a lion, so it would break all my bones.”

For there have surrounded me: – They are the enemies, and I am in the midst of them like one who is surrounded by

dogs: – from whom there is no way of escape. And (the clause) For dogs have surrounded me is to be explained after a figurative manner; and the metaphorical interpretation is

The assembly of evil-doers have encircled me like a lion my hands and my feet: – for they have encircled me like the lion which makes a circuit with his tail in the forest, and no creature which sees that circle moves out thence for fear of the lion and the terror he inspires, but they fold their hands and their feet, and the lion finds his prey in the midst of his circle. So we in exile are in the midst of a circle from which we cannot emerge lest we fall into the hand of the spoilers; for if we should escape from the power of the Mohammedans we should fall into the power of the uncircumcised, and so we fold our hands and feet and stand fearful and terror-stricken before them; for we have no power either to escape on foot or to fight with our hands. Behold, it is just as if our hands and feet were in fetters !