Thoughts on Psalm 23 Part 2

 In part one of my thoughts on Psalm 23, I talked about verses 1, 2 and 3.  In part two, I would like to finish discussing the rest of the psalm.

I know that in part one I talked about the fact that to me this psalm spoke about the calming influence of personally knowing God and His Son, Jesus in your life.  That when you are stressed, when you feel the chaos of the world closing in on you so much that you are apprehensive and afraid, that God calms you, restores your soul and allows you rest.  I still believe that this is part of what is said from this psalm.  But there is another part of this that speaks to me as well, and I wanted to share that with you, with the remaining verses.

Verse four is perhaps one of the most quoted verses of the Bible.  If you have ever been to a funeral, or seen one on T.V., or have read about one in a book, chances are you have read or heard the following:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psa 23:4)

We will all die someday.  It is a fact that one day, we will cast off these bodies of flesh and depart from this world into the next.  To most people, this is a frightening thought, a day looked upon with dread and fear.  Not so for the person who has that personal relationship with Christ.  For a true follower of Christ, one who has trusted his life, his eternal salvation to Jesus, that day is looked upon with longing and joy.  As Paul said, "to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord"!

When David was speaking of the "shadow of death,", what exactly was he speaking of?  In the original Hebrew, the term "shadow of death" was  צלמות (tsalmâveth pronounced tsal-maw'-veth) which meant

shade of death, that is, the grave (figuratively calamity): - shadow of death.

So I believe David meant the grave here.  David was not afraid to die, as he knew his God was with him, and not only that but God protected David as well. "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  Imagine the sheep that a shepherd took care of.  The rod and staff of the shepherd was what was there normally to provide protection to the flock as well as help lead a wayward sheep or lamb back on the path with a gentle nudge.  This is what David is conveying here, I believe.

Then we come to verse five, which again I believe to have more than one meaning here, both in this life and the next.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. (Psa 23:5)

In biblical times when you were invited into a camp or house, you were the honored guest and as such you were afforded certain rules of hospitality.  One was that you were anointed with sweet smelling oil, as well as offered water to wash off the dust with.  Another was that even if you had enemies pursuing you, you would be protected and given food and drink.  Here we see that as David knew that God would provide for him, and believed that with all his heart, so should we believe that God will provide for us as well in this life.  And God provides for us in the next life as well, and this is even in the presence of our spiritual enemies, Satan and his demons.  Jesus himself said:

Joh 14:2-3 NASB  "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  (3)  "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

So if we are having places prepared for us, then doesn't it stand to reason that we will have tables, oil and cups prepared for us as well?  To be honest, I am both thrilled and overjoyed at this prospect!

Finally David ends his psalm with verse six.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.(Psa 23:6)

What a great message to us, especially in this chaotic day and age.   The word "surely" to me acts as a promise from God.  In all the days we live, from the happy, joyful days, to those days that are the blackest and darkest, God's goodness and lovingkindness (mercy in the King James Version) are there with us.  You can count on that.  And knowing that you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, well, what more could you say. 

David's 23rd psalm is one of the most recognized and quoted from the Bible.  But when you hear it or read it, don't just think of it as mere words to be spoken or read; think of it as God's promise to David.  And to you.


Eric

Thoughts on Psalm 23 Part 1

Psalm 23 is perhaps one of the most well known parts of the Bible, as it, or at least a part of it is said at almost every funeral I have attended, seen, heard, or have talked about.  It is also the subject of last weeks sermon at my Church and the topic of discussion at our community group meeting we had this week.

There were several things said about this Psalm, and I wanted to convey some of them here.  I am using the NASB translation.

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.(Psa 23:1)

The first thing that was looked at, was not the fact that the Lord was being compared to just any shepherd, but this was an intimate, personal saying.  The Lord is my shepherd.  Not just any shepherd on the block, or not just anybody's old shepherd, but mine.  This reveals a very personable relationship that goes beyond friendship.

You might wonder why a shepherd?  Well, if you look at a shepherd, you would see a few things that make a shepherd stand out.  In biblical times, a shepherd was usually not the best profession around.  A shepherd was looked down upon by most people.  They spent time among the sheep they tended, probably didn't bathe very regularly, and well, you get the picture.  However, the shepherd protected the sheep they looked after, fighting off wild animals, looking for them if one or more became lost, and carrying one if it were injured and could not walk.

A shepherd also was around the sheep so much that the sheep knew the shepherd's voice and would come if called.  There was much trust there, between sheep and shepherd.

So David calls the Lord, his shepherd, his personal shepherd, as we all should.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.(Psa 23:2)

The second verse of this Psalm caused a little bit of an animated discussion among our community group.  One person wanted to know, why wold God make anyone do anything, as David says, makes me lie down.  Now the Hebrew word here is רבץ (râbats pronounced raw-bats') and means the following:

A primitive root; to crouch (on all four legs folded, like a recumbent animal); by implication to recline, repose, brood, lurk, imbed: - crouch (down), fall down, make a fold, lay (cause to, make to) lie (down), make to rest, sit.

 So the question posed was, "why would God make us (or David) lie down as a sheep in a green pasture?".  Personally I think that there is a couple of reasons. One, there is that matter of trust.  Do we trust God to know us better than we know ourselves, and two, sometimes we may not know when we need a rest.  Have you ever gone on doing something, say, like working, to the point of exhaustion simply because something needed to be completed on time?  I believe that this would be the case of God knowing when we needed a rest and therefore would make us lie down to rest.  Do we follow the doctor's orders if we are placed on bed rest?  Well, then if the greatest physician of all tells us to rest, who are we to argue?

In this particular verse,  I believe that we are God's sheep and as such we must trust the shepherd to know what is best for us.  David did.  Now before you decide to take offense at being called a sheep of God, please remember a couple of things about Sheep in biblical times.  One, sheep were considered a very valuable possession and as such sheep were bought at a great price.  Two, a person's or a family's wealth would sometimes be measured in how much livestock was owned.  And yes, that included sheep.  So God would value you as a prized possession, purchased with the greatest cost imagined.  I don't mind being thought of as one of God's sheep.  I am glad he purchased me!

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.(Psa 23:3)

Let me ask you a couple of questions.  Have you ever experienced stress?  Have you ever taken a path in life that you regretted as it perhaps made you do things you thought you never would or could?  Most stress in life, at least the way I perceive it, is self induced, and usually brought on by walking down paths you really shouldn't have.  Having stress brought on by financial problems?  Was it perhaps because you decided to purchase things you didn't need, or you were living above your means?  That is but one example.  In verse 3, the Shepherd of David's psalm, the Lord God, does two things to David.  He restores David's soul, and He guides David in the righteous pathways for His (God's) own sake.  So what exactly does this mean?

Once again, I would like to go back to the original Hebrew.
The word restores in the original Hebrew is שׁוּב (shûb pronounced shoob) and one of the meanings of this word is:

A primitive root; ... recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, render (again).

Now, I have to be honest is saying that I am not sure as to what period of David's life that the 23rd Psalm was written in, though I will find out if I can.  But two things come to my mind that would make David's soul need restoring, or refreshing.  Those times would have been when David was being pursued by King Saul, and when David sinned greatly with Bathsheeba. Both of those times surely must have caused David much stress in his life, to the point that his soul was probably restless and troubled.  Yet both times, David's soul was restored at the time God deemed it ready to be restored.

Now the other part of this verse is that God leads David (and us) in the path of righteousness, for His (God's) name's sake.  I want to highlight the word "sake" here.

Sake in the Hebrew is  שׁם (shêm pronounced shame) and means

A primitive word (perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064); an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character: -  + base, [in-] fame [-ous], name (-d), renown, report.

What I take out of this is that God leads us on this path because one, this is his character and his character is one of perfect righteousness, and two, he does it to bring glory to himself.  If his people (including me) are living lives of righteousness, then we bring glory to God.  I know that I want to live a life of righteousness, but there are times in which I do stray, just like a wayward sheep.  God, as my shepherd, leads me back on that path of righteousness that I should not have strayed off of.

As for the rest of the verses of this psalm, I will continue this discussion in a second post a little later as it is late and I am ready to retire for the evening.

Eric