p416 * * * If we compare Hebrews 5:7 and Gethsemane's* cry, I think the force of the Psalm will be evident. The answer in the Psalm is not being preserved from dying, but life as risen in glory above, made most blessed for ever; not sparing life for a time here, but honour and great majesty laid upon Him as man in a higher and more glorious condition. Christ as a man, though mighty to do all things, asked everything of His Father. Dependence was His perfection. At Lazarus' tomb He asked, knew His Father heard Him always; asked in John 12; asked that the cup might pass. Only the word αἱτέω is not used of Him. The necessity of an event does not hinder asking. Everything in God's purpose will be necessarily accomplished; but He leads men's hearts to ask, as the moral filling up of their relationship with Him. In Christ, as man, this was perfect.
{*'Psalm 21:2, 4 - What is meant by "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him?" and when did He ask? Was it as the Messiah, as in Psalm 102:24, and answered in resurrection? But why asked for? Was it not of necessity, so to speak, that as a man He should ascend to His Father? - Psalm 16:11.'}

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