Psalm 23

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:33:17utc

The twenty-third psalm is one of the most famous poems in world literature. Even after years of using this psalm as a subject in the homiletics class I taught, I do not feel that I have exhausted its content, or that the beauty of it has faded because of familiarity.

The psalm is obviously from the hand of David, who was a shepherd boy, keeping his father's sheep when he was called to appear before Samuel.^¹ In this psalm David sublimates this personal experience, and he sees that the role he played is a projection of the work of God. He must have loved his sheep and tended them conscientiously and faithfully; otherwise, he would not have been able to paint this picture so sublimely. Spurgeon calls this psalm "David's Pastoral Symphony." The smell of nature, the greenness of the grass and the stillness of the water give great charm to this psalm. David gives to us in this poem the rest and restoration we need so sorely as hunted human beings.

The calm of this psalm has, however, a deceptive character. What David describes is not the harmony of Paradise. David lived in a world that was torn by human sin. Need and want lie in wait; there are crooked paths of unrighteousness, and there is the stillness and darkness of death. His world is full of evil and of enemies who are after his life. The fact that those negative factors are put in a positive frame does not change their character. God does not take away these evil things for David, but the presence of the Shepherd compensates for them and eventual leads to victory. Evil, however, is not only a reality that surrounds David, it is also the inner corruption of his soul. We do not read this in so many words in this psalm, but it is implied.

We often hear some romantic nonsense about the twenty-third psalm, in terms of being little sheep of the Good Shepherd. It is true that Jesus Himself says some great things about His being the Good Shepherd of His flock,² but this does not take away anything of the truth that a sheep is one of the dumbest creatures in God's creation. The best description of a sheep's nature is given by the prophet Isaiah: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way."³ The Bible compares men to sheep, because they are lost. A sheep is one of the few animal that does not know the way to its own home. The comparison is, therefore, rather appropriate. God says to Isaiah: "The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."⁴

David says nowhere specifically in this psalm that he considers himself to be a sheep, but what other conclusion can we draw when we read the words: "The LORD is my shepherd?" Jesus' words in John chapter ten are, undoubtedly, based on this psalm. But the image originates with Moses who said about Israel: "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."⁵

In the first place, we should see in the image of the sheep a confession of sin and weakness, and accept our own position as sheep before the Lord in this way. We should also realize that in doing this we are far removed from the human dignity to which God originally called us. The first thing this psalm says about us, as human beings, is that, without God we would be in want in a hard and hostile world, which is full of unrest and injustice. The presence of YHWH and our relationship with Him makes all the difference between destitution and sufficiency. A sheep may be stupid, but he knows the voice of his master. Jesus said: "The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."⁶

Very rarely does a person discover that he has no want, or, as TLB puts it: "I have everything I need!" The greed of our hearts will usually try to convince us that we are not satisfied. When asked by a reporter, how much a person needed to be content, J. D. Rockefeller answered: "Just a little bit more!" The experience of satisfaction has little to do with the size of one's possessions, but with our spiritual condition. Our hearts will only cease to want when we find satisfaction in God. Augustine's words confirm this eternal truth: "Thou hast made us for Thyself… and our hearts are restless until they repose in Thee!"⁷

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want" is, therefore, a complete confession of the soul. The two part of the phrase are equal: The Lord being my shepherd means complete satisfaction. It speaks of lostness, but also of salvation and fulfillment.

The second verse expresses this fulfillment beautifully with its images of "green pastures" and "quiet waters." The color green has a quieting effect upon the human mind. The Hebrew word for "green" is deshe', which comes from dasha', meaning "to sprout." It conveys the idea of young tender grass. A sheep that lies down has had enough to eat. The picture speaks of complete satisfaction. Man has reached his goal; he has entered into the rest that God prepared for him. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews says this so beautifully: "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his."⁸ The "quiet waters" convey the same idea.

Something is lost in all translations of this psalm. David uses allegories by giving names to the places, much the same as Bunyan does in Pilgrim's Progress. The name of the water is "still," the path is called "righteousness," and the valley is called "shadow of death." The stress falls upon the physical aspect of the experience, although this cannot be separated from the mental, emotional, and spiritual in man. Man is a unity, and although our physical needs may not be the most important ones, they have to be satisfied first. A person who is starving and in weakened condition is an easy prey to spiritual foes. The remarkable implication of David's words is though, that the acknowledgment of the spiritual relationship: "the Lord is my shepherd" an immediate effect has upon the physical needs of man. God is interested in our physical well-being because He loves us. And it is amazing what green grass and quiet water can do to a person's emotions. Our soul needs trees! Few exercises are so relaxing as a walk through the forest. God uses natural means to restore our soul; we should make use of them. If we let the Lord have His way in our lives, we will cultivated also and intimate relationship with nature around us.

But this is not all; a person does not become morally good because he does a lot of walking. This can be of help only after we have become morally good. Real health is brought about through righteousness. That is what the path, or track stands for. In Hebrew poetry, which operates on the principle of parallels, "he restores my soul" is equated with "He guides me in paths of righteousness." The daily practice of righteousness means restoration of the soul.

Righteousness is a morally loaded word. It means acting in accordance with the character of God. If the Lord is our shepherd, there will be a moral change that takes place in our lives. He makes us partakers of His Name; which means that we will start to resemble Him in the way we live and act. "For His Name's sake" also implies that it is God who sanctifies us. He does this, first of all, not for our sakes, but for His own sake. God saves us, not because we are worth much in our present condition, but because of His Name. We are valuable for God, even in our fallen state, because we are the bearers of His image. The Name of God represents His love and holiness, which are the pillars of our salvation. The Name of God is both the beginning and the end of our salvation. We read in Revelation about the people who serve God in the New Jerusalem: "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."⁹ This same Name guides us on the way that leads to the fullness of glory.

As we said above, we live in a hostile world in which want and unrighteousness lie in wait to destroy us. The presence of the Lord does not take us out of this world; even the bad circumstances do not always change, but the presence of God changes us. This becomes particularly clear in vs. 4. God does not save us from "the valley of the shadow of death." Several commentators see in this image a picture of our dying. For a man who lives without God, death is the end of all things; it is the only factor that makes life devoid of all meaning. For the man who walks with God death is a valley through which we pass. David could not have known that God Himself would literally walk through the valley of death in the person of Jesus Christ. If God will be with us during this most extreme of all experiences, we may assume that He will also be with us in places where the darkness is less.