Psalm 22 is a unique psalm because of the insights it gives to the experience of the Saviour. In verses 1-21, the psalm is about the cross and verses 22 to the end are about the crown. Or in the words of Peter, we have in the psalm an account of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. Obviously, the psalm is a prophecy and it is on the level of prophecies such as Isaiah 53 concerning the details that it provides of the work of the Saviour.
There is, however, a unique aspect to the psalm in that we see the work of Jesus from his perspective. Isaiah 53 is written from the point of view of an external observer describing what took place whereas Psalm 22 takes us inside, into the thinking and feelings of Jesus when on the cross and shows us his intentions when the subsequent glory appears.
Moreover, the psalm is a conversation between Jesus and the Father. This is a common feature of the Messianic psalms as we can see from Psalms 2, 16, 40 and 45. Yet this is the longest conversation in this type of psalm, and it reveals details not even recorded in the New Testament. Here we have an example of the incredible nature of the Word of God, that such a detailed description could be given of events that would occur far in the future.
In the first section of the psalm, the suffering Speaker uses animals to describe his opponents. There seem to be three enemies in mind. First, there are those likened to wild oxen. From the New Testament accounts of what the Jewish leaders said at the cross we can see that the same words are linked to the wild oxen in the psalm. Therefore, it is straightforward to identify who is depicted by the bulls of Bashan. Second, there are the dogs and the New Testament links their actions mentioned in the psalm to the activities of the Gentile soldiers supervising the crucifixion. Third, there is a third enemy called both a lion and a dog, and it is not difficult to see in the references in the psalm the activities of the devil.
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