Psalm 22:30-31 meaning

The Immediate Meaning of David’s Psalm 22:30-31

David concludes his psalm of anguish and praise with a triumphant prophecy about the Messiah.

Posterity will serve Him (v 30a).

At first blush, it would seem that posterity refers to the descendants of Israel. But this is unlikely the case. The Hebrew word for posterity is זֶרַע (H2233—pronounced: “zeh-rah”). 

When plural, “zehrah” can refer to “descendants.” This was how it was used in Psalm 22:23,  

“You who fear the Lord, praise Him;
All you descendants [‘zehrahs’] of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants [‘zehrahs’] of Israel.”
(Psalm 22:23)

But when “zehrah” is singular in form, it is a term that describes the Messiah. “Zehrah” is its singular form in Psalm 22:30. When it is singular, “Zehrah” is usually translated as “seed.” One of the first occurrences of “zehrah” in the Old Testament is one of Genesis’s first prophecies concerning the Messiah, when the LORD speaks to the serpent,

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed [posterity/‘zehrah’] and her seed [posterity/‘zehrah’];
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
(Genesis 3:15)

In Genesis 3:15, “her seed”, refers to Eve’s eventual offspring—the Messiah who will crush the evil serpent and those who follow the serpent.

In Psalm 22:30, when David writes, Posterity will serve Him, he is alluding to Genesis 3:15 and expanding upon that prophecy to express how the Messiah (posterity, the seed, “zehrah”)—will serve Him (the LORD—Psalm 22:28).

David’s prediction of the Messiah’s service to the LORD is in harmony with Isaiah’s “Servant Songs” which prophesies of the Messiah’s service to Him (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:2-3, 50:4-5, 52:13, 53:10-11).

It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation (v 30b).

The word translated as Lord in this verse is a form of the Hebrew word, אֲדֹנָי (H136, pronounced: “ad-ō-nai”). “Adōnai” is a title of authority and is frequently used to describe God’s position as the Ruler and Lord over all things. As Lord, God is absolute King of the universe. 

All the other occurrences of LORD in Psalm 22 are a form of “Yehovah” or “Yahweh.” LORD is God’s self-description to Moses—יְהֹוָה (H3068, prounced “yeh-ho-vaw”) where God told Moses “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God is the source and essence of all things, the very definition of existence. This is His covenant name with Israel. 

The translators make the distinction between “adonai” (lord) and “Yahweh” (LORD) by capitalizing all the letters of LORD when God’s proper name is used (Yehovah or Yahweh) and only capitalize the “L” in Lord when His title is used (Adōnai).

In this context, Lord (Adonai) is used to describe the Messiah—because in addition to being a Servant, the Messiah will also be a King. His kingdom and rule will serve the LORD, the Suzerain (Ruler) of Israel. David may have chosen to use Adōnai in this verse (rather than Yehovah) to emphasize the kingly authority of the Messiah and the triumphant victory of what God has done through Him.

The coming generation would be the generation after the Messiah comes. As we will later see, when we look at how this prophecy pertains to Jesus, the Messiah will come twice to earth as a human. In the first advent, Jesus came as a servant (Matthew 20:28). Because He served faithfully, He was given all authority (Matthew 28:18; Philippians 2:5-9; Hebrews 2:9-10). 

When He comes a second time it will be to install His physical reign upon the earth (Revelation 19:11-16). Those among the coming generation will be told of how the Messiah is the Lord Adonai. This could refer to the generation between His first advent, when He served and died for the sins of the world, and His second advent, which is still in the future as of this writing (2024). They will hear of His greatness and goodness, and the amazing things He has performed. This should cause that generation to believe that He will return and do all that scripture foretells.  

When the coming generation hears of what the Lord Adonai has done, they will tell their children what they have been told of Him. 

They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it (v 31).

The expression: a people who will be born refers to the children of the coming generation. They are the people who will be born to them. This verse indicates that the knowledge of the Messiah and His famous righteousness will primarily occur through the agency of the family—from one generation to the coming generation. 

After the Messiah comes, children will first learn from their parents of the many blessings the Messiah performed for them. This is in keeping with the admonition the LORD gave to Israel to teach their children His ways from dawn to dusk (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). 

The Messiah’s triumph will be directly linked to His righteousness. Through righteousness, the Messiah will overcome His adversaries who surrounded Him like strong Bulls of Bashan (Psalm 22:12) and opened wide their mouth at Him like a ravening and roaring lion (Psalm 22:13). This is similar to the way David overcame his adversary, Saul, through righteousness (1 Samuel 24:17, 26:23-27).

Psalm 22:30-31 as a Messianic Prophecy

Jesus is the Messiah and these prophetic verses are referring to Him. Some of these predictions have been and are being fulfilled following His first advent to earth, when He came as a servant. The rest will be fulfilled after His second advent, when He will return and be installed as King. 

Posterity will serve Him (v 30a).

As mentioned above, the Hebrew term translated as posterity is “zehrah.” When it is used in a singular form, it most often translated as “seed” and it describes the Messiah. The Apostle Paul makes the argument that the term “seed” refers to Jesus the Messiah/Christ when we see it in the singular:

“Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ.”
(Galatians 3:16). 

In this passage from Galatians, Paul quotes the ancient Messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15.

When Jesus came to earth the first time, He proved Himself to be the Messiah because He came to serve (Matthew 20:28) and perform the LORD’s law and will (Matthew 5:17, Luke 22:42, John 6:38). As the Messiah, Jesus served His Father perfectly, learning obedience and walking without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 2:8). 

Accordingly, Jesus fulfilled this Messianic prophecy completely. Posterity (Jesus, the “seed”) will serve Him (God). When Jesus came to earth, He served God’s will exclusively, despising the rejection of men (John 6:38; Hebrews 12:1-2).

It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation (v 30b)

The Lord (“Adonai”/master) is Jesus, the Messiah, who for His obedient service to God was granted all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). Jesus is Adonai, King of the Universe.

The coming generation refers to the generation of people who come after Jesus the Messiah comes. 

Recall that Jesus has two arrivals to earth: 

• one in the first century A.D. (primarily detailed in the Gospels) 
• one at the end of the age (primarily detailed in Matthew 24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 19-22)

Because Jesus has two advents, this means there are two versions of the coming generation, and therefore, there are two fulfillments to this prophecy.

The first version of the coming generation refers to the generation of people who were born after Jesus the Messiah came to earth the first time and fulfilled Psalm 22:1-18’s prediction of being crucified on the cross. This generation includes all the people who have lived since that time; all the people who are living at the time of this writing (2024); and all the people who will live until He comes a second time. He will return just as He left, descending on to the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:11, Zechariah 14:4). 

This then likely includes the entire generation that scripture refers to as the “fullness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25). 

This is the time between the 69^th and 70^th week spoken of in Daniel: “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” (Daniel 9:24). The Daniel 9 prophecy speaks of weeks of years, so 70 weeks is 490 years. The Messiah was predicted to be “cut off and have nothing” after the end of the 69^th week (Daniel 9:26). The 69^th week occurred during the life, death, and burial of Jesus, and the rejection by that generation that He is the Messiah. After Jesus’s rejection, the clock stopped at week 69, and will resume when the prophetic events of the end time begin. 

As of this writing, we still seem to be in the age of the Gentiles. The prophetic clock for the predicted time of the Jewish people will restart upon the making of a treaty between Israel and the world ruler which scripture calls the “beast.”  

To learn more about Daniel’s “Seventy-weeks prophecy,” see The Bible Says commentary for Daniel 9:24-25. 

The coming generation (the church/all believers) will declare His triumphs of righteousness to their children—to a people who will be born (after them). They will give the Messiah all the credit when they tell their children about His righteous victory—they will declare that He, the Lord, their king, the Messiah (and none other) has performed, secured, and accomplished their salvation and success. 

The first fulfillment of the prophecy—It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation—has and is taking place as people are told about Jesus as the Lord. In other words, this prophecy has been and is being fulfilled every time the good news of Jesus Christ is taught, lived, and proclaimed. 

The coming generation after the Messiah has been and will be told of the amazing work that Jesus did upon the cross. It is inferred that as a result, many will believe. This has in fact occurred, as billions of people across the globe have heard the good news of Jesus and believed upon His name as of this writing. Billions more have been told of Jesus. Practically almost everyone alive today has heard about Jesus, even if in no other way than through the Western calendar, which even its secular form (B.C.E. and C.E.) is based upon the beginning of Jesus’s first advent to earth. 

They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it (v 31).

This indicates that there will be a great spreading of the gospel of Christ, and it will primarily occur through the people who are born during that era. This would infer that His righteousness will be declared as Jesus commanded, through the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) with individual people influencing those within their sphere of influence. This would naturally include the agency of the family as well as relationships in the various communities of each believer. This has arguably taken place to a large extent in the current age.

The second version of the coming generation refers to the generation of people who will come after Jesus returns to earth the second time. Consequently, the second fulfillment of the prophecy—It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation—will take place after Jesus returns again.

When Jesus returns, He will establish the LORD’s kingdom on earth,

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
(Revelation 11:15). 

Revelation, again, speaks of a time when Jesus will physically reign in the earth, and the earth will be filled with righteousness. This will take place for a thousand years, at which time Satan will be released from the abyss in which he has been imprisoned for the thousand years (Revelation 20:4-10). According to this understanding, the psalmist is also being prophetic of the Messianic kingdom and how everyone (believer and unbelievers) will serve Him during this thousand-year era.

David’s usage of Adonai (the Lord) to describe the Messiah, prophetically alludes to Jesus’s Kingship. 

As was the case when Jesus came the first time, so it will be when He returns. It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. In this case, this will be accompanied by a physical reign of Jesus upon the earth.

When the Lord comes the second time, the things which will be told of Him will have expanded. In addition to His work on the cross, it will also be told of His work in establishing His kingdom. According to the second fulfillment of this prophecy, the coming generation refers to those who will live on the earth during the time of Jesus’s physical kingdom. 

Pulling these prophetic threads together, we can better see that the coming generation refers to those who are citizens of the Lord’s kingdom—the Church—and/or those who live on the earth during Jesus’s thousand-year reign. 

When the coming generation who will live on the earth during Jesus’s thousand-year reign (Revelation 20:4-6) hear of what the Lord has done, they will tell their children who will be born to them what they have been told of Him. 

They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it (v 31). 

They will declare how Jesus the Messiah defeated His enemies (Satan, the beast, their armies, etc.) and overcame His battles with and/or by His own righteousness. The Messiah’s triumph is prophesied to occur at the end of this age, when Jesus returns to earth (Zechariah 14:1-4, Revelation 11:11-16, 19:11--21). 

It seems that one of the fulfillments of Psalm 22:30-31’s prophecy is when the “song of the Lamb” is sung during the end times (Revelation 15:3a),

“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
(Revelation 15:3b-4)

After Jesus’s thousand-year reign (Revelation 20:1-6), and the devil’s casting into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-10), and after the great white throne judgement (Revelation 20:11-15), “there will no longer be death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21:4). The Messiah’s second work as the redeemer of the world will be fully completed, and a new heaven and earth will be inaugurated (Revelation 21:1).

At the end of His first coming, just before He died on the cross, Jesus declared “It is finished!” (John 19:30). His main point was that He had successfully accomplished what it was that He had come to do—fulfill the Law and open a path for redemption by sacrificing Himself on humanity’s behalf. It was a declaration of victory. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) it was His way of saying that His task had been perfectly performed. Because Jesus has finished His redemptive work, all who believe can have eternal life through Him (John 3:14-15). 

To learn more about eternal life, see The Bible Says article, “What is Eternal Life? How to Gain the Gift of Eternal Life.”

New Testament believers are among those people who will be born. This is true in two senses. 

First, New Testament believers are among a people who will be born after David’s time in history, because none of us were alive when he was living. And second, we are among a people who will be born if we have believed in Jesus for eternal life, because we are “born again” through believing in Jesus on the cross (John 3:3, 14-16). 

As a people who believe in Him and who benefit from what He has done for us, it is altogether proper and fitting that we should proclaim that He has performed it. And whenever we proclaim this of Jesus, we too participate and fulfill the first fulfillment of this three-thousand-year-old prophecy of David. Further, when we proclaim His name through deed and word, we anticipate its second fulfillment when Jesus returns.