Dialogue with Trypho

After saying these words, I continued: "Now I will show you that the whole Psalm refers to Christ by explaining the words once more. What is first said—'O God, my God, attend to me: why have You forsaken me?'—foretold what Christ would say. For when He was crucified, He spoke: 'O God, my God, why have You forsaken me?' And what follows: 'The words of my transgressions are far from my salvation. O my God, I will cry to You in the daytime, and You will not hear; and in the night-season, and it is not because I lack understanding.’ These, as well as the actions He would take, were predicted.

On the day He was to be crucified, He took three of His disciples to the hill called Olivet, across from the temple in Jerusalem, and prayed: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.' And again He prayed: 'Not as I will, but as You will;' showing that He truly experienced human suffering.

But lest anyone say He was unaware that He had to suffer, He quickly adds in the Psalm: 'And it is not because I lack understanding.' Just as God was not ignorant when He asked Adam where he was, or Cain where Abel was; but these questions were to reveal the true nature of each person, and so that through Scripture we might gain knowledge of all: similarly, Christ demonstrated that ignorance was not on His part, but on theirs, who believed He was not the Christ and thought they could kill Him, believing He would remain in Hades like any mortal."