Just a brief note about another case where an idea in the Old Testament is re-interpreted in the New Testament.
In Psalm 6, King David was again having a hard time, and trying to convince himself to maintain confidence in God. In verses 3 and 4 he writes:
My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O Lord—how long?
Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
As a side note, I love the realistic anguish in those words. David can’t even get a grammatical sentence out, just “while you … oh Lord … how long?” But as E. M. Blaiklock notes*, “God never mistakes the voice of pain for the voice of impiety.” The Bible, and perhaps the Psalms in particular, encourage us to cry and argue and yell at God.
David’s plea for God to save him from the time of trouble contrasts markedly with Jesus’ attitude. In John 12:27, as he approaches his final week, Jesus is recorded as saying:
Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.
In the Greek versions of Psalm 6:3 and John 12:27, the leading words are the same—my soul is troubled (ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται). There’s a good chance that Jesus was consciously quoting Psalm 6.
David deals with his anguish by pleading to be spared from it, and Jesus asks whether he should do the same. “What should I say—’Father, save me from this hour'”? Was Jesus struggling with that decision, or were those words spoken rhetorically for his disciples around him? In either case his decision is clear, immediate, and the opposite of David’s. He embraces the trouble, knowing that it has a purpose, and that through the coming challenges God’s glory would become evident.
(*) In Blaiklock’s Commentary on the Psalms Vol 1.