The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 22:12

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Many bulls have compassed me. The Sufferer represents the adversaries who crowd around him under the figure of "bulls"—fierce animals in all parts of the world, and in Palestine particularly' wild and ferocious.

"Bulls,, and buffaloes are very numerous, says Canon Tristram, "in Southern Judaea; they are in the habit of gathering in a circle around any novel or unaccustomed object, and may be easily instigated into charging with their horns".

Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Bashan, the richest pasture-g"round of Palestine, produces the largest and strongest animals (Ezekiel 39:18). Hence "the kine of Bashan" became an expression for powerful oppressors (Amos 4:1).

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