Deeper Commentary
Psa 23:1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall be in need of nothing- There is a repeated Biblical theme that the believer's relationship with the Father is essentially mutual. David was a shepherd, but Yahweh was his shepherd (Ps. 23:1), and he was to shepherd Israel (2 Sam. 5:2 Heb.). It seems this Psalm was written when David was on the run from Absalom, having fled Jerusalem for his life, and now making his way along the banks of the river Kidron into the wilderness (2 Sam. 15:23), to be surprised by the feasts prepared for him in the desert (:5) by Ziba (2 Sam. 16:2) and Barzillai (2 Sam. 17:27-29). With no clear plan or course of action apart from to get away from Jerusalem, wandering in the desert... David felt all the same that God was his shepherd and was leading him. As having nothing, he had all things.
Shepherd is a title for a king. Although himself not effectively king, and with Absalom's claim to kingship lacking legitimacy, David is confident that in any case, Yahweh is the shepherd / king of His people; and of David too. We see in this David's humility. He was losing his crown, but he in any case had always seen Yahweh as Israel's true king.
An element of unreality in the imagery here is that sheep are herd animals; separated from the flock, they will always seek to return to the flock. But this sheep, or even lamb (see on :2), has a one on one relationship with the shepherd. There is no mention of the flock. This reflects how David felt at the time, fleeing from his narcissistic son, betrayed by many of his inner cabinet and lifetime friends and political allies. And this is indeed the comfort of personal relationship with the good shepherd. We could go further and posit that the one on one relationship here between shepherd and sheep is because this is about a lost sheep. David would thereby be tacitly recognizing that his flight from Absalom was because he had gone astray; but through his exile, through the crisis of apparent failure, he was being led back to God.
The promise that we shall lack nothing is repeated and clear in
Ps. 34:10; 84:11. It takes some perceiving. As it did for David at that
time. Being "in need of nothing" or "I lack nothing" was an amazing thing
for David to feel at a time when materially and socially, he had lost
everything. Absalom had even slept with David's wives on the rooftop of
the palace. But like Jacob, David was brought to realize that if we have
God's grace (:6), we have "all things". David quotes here from Dt. 2:7,
where Israel "lacked nothing" in the wilderness. They of course thought
they lacked everything- new clothing, the food of Egypt etc. But they
"lacked nothing" because they had been saved from Egypt and were assured
of salvation- if they remained within the covenant. Israel doubted whether
Yahweh could "spread a table in the wilderness" (Ps. 78:19)- but He did in
that He provided manna and quail. And provided David likewise with a table
in the wilderness (:5).
Psa 23:2 He makes me lie down in green meadows, He leads me beside still
waters- This is the language of sheep lying down and being led. As
noted on :1, David had no clear plan when he suddenly had to flee Jerusalem.
But he has a strong sense of being led. The still waters and green meadows
may refer to how the Kidron brook began, but 2 Sam. 15:23 notes that David's
path soon went from there into the desert. So maybe he is perceiving the
wilderness as "green meadows" because God is leading him. Perhaps he had in
view how God lead (s.w.) Israel through the desert, but with the waters of
the stream from the rock going with them (Ex. 15:13). The restoration
application is to God's promise to "lead" (s.w.) the exiles on the desert
journey back to Zion (Is. 40:11; 49:10).
We can equally translate: "In grassy pastures he lets me lie, chewing the cud". It has been observed: "Sheep remain standing while they are eating, but they lie down to chew the cud, that is, ruminate on their food, which they will happily do for several hours a day". This is the picture of not only a sheep but specifically a lamb. Lying down and peacefully feeding. And yet David was madly rushing against the clock, trying to escape death at the hand of his own narcissistic son. Despite that external reality, he felt inwardly this kind of peace. And we must make the beloved point that the Hebrew shepherd lead rather than drove the sheep.
Psa 23:3 He restores my soul-
As God doesn’t faint or weary, so somehow those who identify their lives
with His will also keep on keeping on- even now (Is. 40:31 cp. 29). David
felt that his youth was renewed like the eagle's in his repeated
experience of God's grace (Ps. 103:5), that his soul was restored (Ps.
23:3), and that a right spirit could be renewed by God within him (Ps.
51:10). This is the equivalent of the "newness of life" which is promised
to us through acceptance of God's Spirit.
The great restoration prophecies of Jer. 23:1-8 and Ez. 34:1-31 speak
of the flock of Israel going astray due to bad shepherds, being saved by
the good shepherd, being delivered / gathered, and then returning to the
land. The Hebrew word shub means both 'to return' in the sense of
returning to the land, and 'turning' in the sense of repentance. But these
restoration prophecies are packed with allusion to the great shepherd
Psalm 23. Here, David says that the good shepherd 'causes me to repent'
(Ps. 23:3 Heb.). This is matched in Ez. 36 by the idea of God giving
Israel a new heart. And the Lord's amazing parable of the good shepherd
(Lk. 15:1-7) brings together Ps. 23 and also these restoration passages,
in speaking of how He goes out and finds the lost sheep and brings it back
home (Kenneth Bailey brings together all the many points of similarity
between Ps. 23, Jer. 23:1-8, Ez. 34:1-31 and the parable of the lost sheep
(Lk. 15:1-7) in his book Jacob And The Prodigal (Downers Grove:
IVP, 2003) p. 70). The sheep is found, and accepts being found- there is
no actual mention of repentance. Thus the 'return' of Judah to their land
was intended as a work of God- He would make them return, He would give
them repentance [note how Acts 11:18 speaks of God granting men
repentance]. This is all such wonderful grace. The even more incredible
thing, though, is that Judah refused to accept this grace; they didn't
'return' to the land because they saw no need to 'return' to God. They
willingly forgot that they were only in Babylon because of their sins; to
'return' to the land was a 'return' to God, which He had enabled. But they
were like the lost sheep refusing to sit on the shepherd's shoulders,
preferring to sit in a hole and die... and this is the warning to us. For
truly, absolutely all things have been prepared for us to enter the
Kingdom. It's only those who don't want to be there who won't be.
Psa 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death-
The sheep has just been led through the picture of tranquility in
:2,3, and now it finds itself in danger, in a dark valley. Through these
sudden changes of circumstance, with things coming at us out of left
field, the Lord is still our shepherd. After the valley of death, or even
within it, there is the surprise feast prepared. And then the hope that
the sheep will be led to live in the Lord's house for ever. The immediate context was David fleeing Jerusalem at the time of Absalom's
rebellion. He passed through a valley from the top of which Shimei, one of
Absalom's supporters, threw rocks at him and cursed him (2 Sam. 16:13).
There was naturally the fear of an ambush, for David's location was
thereby clearly known to his enemies.
The place of the shadow of death is a term used in Job 10:21 for death itself. David knew that even if he died at Absalom's hand at that time, the good shepherd would lead him through that valley to resurrection. The allusion is also to the wilderness journey of Israel, through the land of the shadow of death (Jer. 2:6).
Shepherds keep sheep in order for them to be slaughtered. Any care they may show the sheep is only within the context of that final overall intention. But this shepherd restores the life of the sheep (:3), and guides it through the valley of death to eternal life at the end; the Psalm ends with the word "forever" (:6).
I will fear no evil, for You are with me- This was the fear of ambush just described. David's sense that 'God is with me' is that of 'Emmanuel', God with us, the great comfort to the exiles in Isaiah's restoration prophecies. He felt the essence of the result of the yet future work of the Lord Jesus.
Your rod and staff, they comfort me- This returns to the idea of David being God's sheep in :1. He believed he was suffering God's rod of correction, the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba; and yet at the same time, God's staff of protection against his enemies. "Comfort" is the word used for repentance or change of mind. Although he had repented for the sin with Bathsheba, his experience of the ongoing consequences led him to further repentance. And likewise in our experience, repentance tends to be a process, moving to ever deeper levels and further dimensions over time.
Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies-
We enquire: Who sets a royal banquet before someone? It is a king
who does this to show favour to His guests. David had himself done this to
Mephibosheth as a sign of grace and acceptance. The King is God, the
shepherd of David (:1). It's as if David saw in the feast of Barzillai a
reconfirmation of God's covenant love for Him, and assurance Yahweh was
still King regardless of what Absalom was playing at. I noted on :4 that David's flight from Jerusalem was not in secret; Shimei
and other "enemies" were aware of his path. The reference is to the feasts
prepared for him in the desert by Ziba (2 Sam. 16:2) and Barzillai (2 Sam.
17:27-29). But the phrase "prepare a table" is that used of the
preparation of the table of shewbread (Ex. 40:4), and it is used in a
religious sense in Is. 65:11; Ez. 23:41. Perhaps David held some kind of
religious ceremony whilst on the run, the equivalent to our breaking of
bread meeting. And his experience of the Lord's table strengthened him
with great encouragement, as we also can experience.
"Before me" suggests that the shepherd has gone in front of the sheep to prepare the table. The shepherd has been next to him in the valley of death ("You are with me"), and yet has led the sheep earlier, going before him. "He guides me" (:3) could suggest guidance from behind, as to be guided is a slightly different image to being led. Behind, next to / with and in front, the shepherd is always "there" on the journey which Ps. 23 describes. And the whole journey from pasture to wilderness, shadow of death and the temple, the Lord's house, is all relevant to the experience of the exiles by and for whom this Psalm was surely used.
You anoint my head with oil- RV has "anointed" in the past tense. David reflected as we can on the fact we have been anointed and called to kingship, even when it seems a bridge too far, too great a disconnect, between present experience and that future weight of glory. David recalls how Samuel had anointed him as a teenager. He was the anointed king of Israel. And he had learnt from Saul's demise that this could only be undone by God and not by man. We too have to recall our earlier calling to the Kingdom, for "He that anointed us is God", and the anointing, as John says, abides within us. But in times of crisis and rejection we have to consciously remember that.
My cup runs over- With everything against him, fleeing from his own son Absalom who had garnered mass support, with no clear plan as to where to go or how now to act, David felt he had blessing above blessing- because he had experienced God's grace. The cup can refer to destiny, and the Lord in Gethsemane spoke of His cup in this way. Our cup . destiny is overflowing; and David perceived this when at the nadir of human experience.
This verse must be read with the awareness that the previous four verses have been about a sheep or a lamb being led by a loving shepherd. Instead of assuming that the metaphor now changes to that of a host, we could see an element of total unreality in the story at this point: the lamb / sheep finds itself suddenly confronted by a banquet table, is anointed, and is given an overflowing cup. This is the extremity of the inappropriate grace David felt he had encountered. The Lord uses the same figure when His parable speaks of the lost sheep coming into the home of the shepherd and apparently attending the banquet to which the neighbours are invited.
Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and grace shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever- see on Gen. 28:20,21. As explained on :5, despite being at the nadir of his life at the time of Absalom's rebellion, David felt he was so blessed with God's grace and kindness. The fact God had saved him from execution after the Bathsheba incident... was felt by David to be such an experience of saving grace, that nothing else mattered. Although now heading away from the sanctuary in Zion, he was certain that finally he would dwell in Yahweh's sanctuary eternally. Perhaps he is displaying faith that he would ultimately return to Zion; but more likely he has in view his eternal future in the Kingdom yet to come. Indeed "I shall dwell" is strictly "I shall return". David at this time was being followed by Absalom's men; but he feels God's grace is following him. In this Psalm he inverts everything; the dry desert becomes green meadows, the roaring stream becomes still waters, his random path is in fact a path that is under Divine guidance, God's rod of correction is a source of comfort. Moffatt renders "Goodness and Kindness wait on me", continuing the banquet image of the previous verse. God's grace and kindness are as it were the waiters at the feast. They refer to the covenant mercies to David; that covenant, like God's covenant with us, endures through rejection by men and death itself. We can experience something of this at the breaking of bread, where we take the cup of the covenant to again proclaim ourselves in that covenant.
I discussed on :5 the possibility that the metaphor of sheep and shepherd continues throughout the Psalm. Shepherds keep sheep in order to lead them to slaughter at the end of their lives. That is why shepherds keep sheep. All this is reversed; this unusual shepherd leads the sheep to eternal life, in God's house.
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