Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Purpose: Today we shall see the three seasons in our lives in which Christ is our shepherd so that we would trust in Him and have Him as our Shepherd today.
The Lord is my shepherd during ordinary times (v.1-3)
The Lord is my shepherd during difficult times (v.4-5)
The Lord is my shepherd for eternity (v.6)
Some words about Shepherd: The verse opens up right away with the declaration that “The Lord is my shepherd” (v.1)
- “Lord” here literally is “Yahweh.” It is the subject and appears twice in this Psalm, with it appearing here in the beginning of the Psalm and also in the last verse in the end of the Psalm.
- Why is the person that says “my” here? This is a Psalm by David according to the subscript above verse 1: “A Psalm of David”
- Remember David was once a Shepherd and he would have written about something he knew about.
- The imagery of a shepherd is also one in which the people of Israel would have been familiar with as well.
- The first person singular suffix here indicates this is David speaking possessively of the Shepherd. That is, God isn’t just “a Shepherd” but “my Shepherd.” We need to see God as “my shepherd” too.
- More about Shepherd in the Bible
- King Saul was told by God to shepherd God’s people and Scripture in 2 Samuel 5:2 and Ezekiel 37:24 he failed in this task; this point shouldn’t be missed since David authored Psalm 23 and he recognized that God was His Shepherd.
- There are also other Psalms that talk about God as Shepherd in Psalms 28:9; 80:1. But more importantly Jesus also saw Himself as the Shepherd in John 10:11-15.
- Ultimately I see Psalm 23 to be talking about Jesus because Psalm 23 is part of a three part Psalm about the Messiah.
- Psalm 22 is about Jesus in the past: He is the one suffering on the Cross.
- Psalm 23 is about Jesus in the present: He is our Shepherd.
- Psalm 24 is about Jesus in the future: He is the coming King.
- I think we can use interchangeably God and Christ for shepherd in this Psalm.
1. The Lord is my shepherd during ordinary times (1-3)
- Passage: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”
- Proof
- I take the situation described in verses 1-3 to be ordinary times. Everything describe here is what we would expect shepherds to do.
- How is the Lord a Shepherd in ordinary times? Four ways:
- “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (2a)
- The Hebrew verbal form for the verb “lie down” strongly implies God is the one who is making this happen, thus emphasizing that God is the one who is doing this for us.
- “green” in the Hebrew is literally “grass.” But there is more than one word for grass. This kind of grass is the fresh grass that first comes out of the ground during raining season (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-2-3a-2/).
- “He leads me beside quiet waters” (2b)
- My translation would be different than some of the other Bible translation: “He leads me to rest besides waters”
- “quiet” is literally rest in the Hebrew. The noun “rest” is not an adjective and it is not describing the water. Instead “rest” describes where the sheep will be at: a resting place. Where the resting place is is besides the water.
- “He restores my soul” (3a)
- The same verb and verbal form appears in Lamentation 1:19 with the idea of reviving from food which matches the analogy here in verse 3 in light of the previous context of verse 2 with sheep eating fresh grass (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-2-3a-2/).
- God and Christ is the business of restoration! This includes our soul.
- “He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”” (3a)
- Here we see David saying God is guiding him.
- Note the noun “paths” is plural. This show all the roads of life we walk in, so long as God and Christ is our guide it means that it would be righteous.
- Why does He guide us? Purpose statement: “For His name’s sake”
- “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (2a)
- How does it benefit me with the Lord as my Shepherd?
- “I shall not want” (1b)
- The term “want” is not referring merely to what we desire but the idea of lacking something we really need (Barrick, 3).
- Because God is one’s shepherd one ultimately does not lack anything.
- The benefit of the Lord as shepherd is emphasized in verses 2-3, where the object in the sentence is placed before the verb and subject for emphasis. These are the benefits that God doesn’t want us to miss of Christ as Shepherd:
- We enjoy “pasture” (2a)
- We enjoy being “besides waters” (2b)
- Our “soul” benefits (3a)
- “I shall not want” (1b)
- Picture: When I talk to my kids they sometimes they say they “need” something when they mean they “want” something. Likewise we can talk to God what we “need” when we mean what we want.
- Practice
- In ordinary times have you trusted in God for your needs?
- Do you thank God for your needs that He provides?
2. The Lord is my shepherd during difficult times (4-5)
- Passage: “4 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.”
- Proof
- Two situations described:
- “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (4a)
- Verse 3 earlier mentioned that God leads us on the righteous paths but let us not be mistaken that means it will never be easy as this verse indicates (Barrick, 3).
- Here in this valley it is of death.
- “in the presence of my enemies” (5b)
- “enemies” is plural to indicate more than one is in view.
- Think of how bad one already is, and now multiple!
- “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (4a)
- How is the Lord a Shepherd?
- He is the reason David has no fear: “for You are with me;” (4b)
- There is a switch from talking about God in the third person in verses 1-3 to now being a direct address towards God: “You” (Barrick, 4).
- Note also this direct address to God occur not during the good times but during a time of darkness and difficulties which reveal how during times of trials helps it reminds us of how close God is and that we talk to Him (Davis, 167).
- The phrase “because you are with me” is the central focus of this Psalm with 26 words before this clause and 26 words after this Psalm (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-4ab/).
- Think of all those time God has announced to those who needed encouragement with the truth that God is with them: Genesis 26:24; Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5, 9 (Barrick, 4).
- God’s comfort: “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”
- The use of both terms shows’ God’s strong presence (Davis, 168).
- The first instrument is a shorter rod used for defense (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-4b/).
- The second instrument is a longer staff, used for support (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-4b/). It is also use to guide sheep.
- The “they” in “they comfort me” is nuanced, redundant even though the verb already supplied the third person plural. Literally in the Hebrew it is “they they comfort me”
- He is the reason David has no fear: “for You are with me;” (4b)
- How does it benefit me with the Lord as my Shepherd?
- We need not fear (4)
- In the presence of enemies David said to God: “You prepare a table before me” (5a)
- The word table is standing in for a meal (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-5a/).
- The imagery now changes to that of God as a host.
- In the presence of enemies David said to God: “; You have anointed my head with oil” (5b)
- In the presence of enemies David said to God: “My cup overflows” (5a)
- Whereas earlier the analogy is of God as shepherd providing for the sheep without any lack, now God as host provides more than enough for us (source: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-5b/).
- Two situations described:
- Picture: We need to follow the Shepherd’s guidance and not just another sheep; news story of the danger of sheep following sheep off a cliff: http://www.nydailynews.com/50-sheep-commit-mass-suicide-jumping-cliff-turkey-article-1.455912#bmb=1
- Practice
- Are you trusting in God and Christ in the difficulties of your situation?
- How do you know if you are truly trusting in Christ with your situation and just thinking you are trusting in Christ but you are not? Do you turn to His word for instruction? Don’t forget there is God’s rod for outside threat but He also has the staff to guide His wayward sheep! That staff is the Word of God and His discipline.
- A question we should ask is if God can be there for you before your enemies how much more so can we trust in God with all other circumstances in our lives (Davis, 170)?
3. The Lord is my shepherd for eternity (6)
- Passage: “6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
- Proof
- The situation described:
- “all the days of my life” (6a)
- “forever” (6b)à Here it is not just life but eternity in view (Davis, 172).
- How does it benefit me with the Lord as my Shepherd?
- “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life” (6a)
- It is communicating certainty.
- “follow”
- Most of the time this verb is used to describe the chase of someone to harm them (Daily Dose of Hebrew: https://dailydoseofhebrew.com/scripture-passage/psalm-23-6a/).
- An example of this verb being used is of Pharaoh chasing after Israel in Exodus 14:8-9 and Israel with the Midianites in Judges 7::23, 25 (Davis, 171).
- Thus David use of the verb is ironic. God causes not bad but goodness and lovingkindness to follow David.
- “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (1)
- David wrote this before the temple was built.
- David was also prohibited from building the Temple: “But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.” (1 Chronicles 28:3)
- How could David talk about dwelling in the house of the Lord when it was not yet built in His lifetime? He’s looking way into the future!
- The way to dwell with the Lord in the future has to be with believing in the Gospel. The Gospel is the Good News that the Shepherd Himself has become the sacrificial lamb for your sins.
- “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life” (6a)
- The situation described:
- Practice
- Have you trusted in Jesus to be the shepherd of your life even in heaven?
- We can’t have Psalm 23:6 unless Psalm 22 happen (with the suffering of the Messiah). Again have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your savior and Shepherd?
Thanks for the teaching on one of my favorite Psalms!
Wow nice, I didn’t know that was your favorite Psalm! My favorite Psalm is actually the one before it: Psalm 22. I think that is an amazing Messianic prophecy. What other Psalms do you enjoy over the years?
Yeah, Psalm 22 is a great Messianic Psalm. Psalm 69, another Messianic Psalm also resonates with me because of the imagery of being close to drowning and the Lord reaching down and rescuing me. But keeping track of particular Psalms is difficult for me. I have one of those brains where I can watch an entire football game, but can’t tell you the final score a minute after it’s over.
This is very encouraging SlimJim, praise God He is our Shepherd! I know doing Hebrew translations is always more challenging, thanks for sharing 😊.
Amen! Going to print this for tomorrow’s devotion. 🙂
Wow what an honor to hear this, praise the Lord! I pray it would encourage God’s people.
God hear your prayer…😊Thanks!
Reblogged this on Averagechristiannet and commented:
A thorough and thought-provoking breakdown of Psalm 23. Reposted from Domain of Truth
Thank you Nicholasv56 for the reblog!
You wrote, “The first person singular suffix here indicates this is David speaking possessively of the Shepherd. That is, God isn’t just “a Shepherd” but “my Shepherd.” We need to see God as “my shepherd” too.”
Amen and Amen…He is my Shepherd! Wonderful post.
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Happy Trinity Sunday! Such a beautiful study of a comforting passage for this special day.
My pastor has never gone over this psalm. I hope he does a good exposition like you provided
I continue to Praise God my shepherd during the dark times Amen and Amen
The shepherds the night He was born was visiting the Chief Shepherd
Într-adevăr este cea mai mare bogăție,dar mulți prefera altfel de “bogății”
If you’re struggling with sin then you need to focus on Christ’s work for you outside of you aka the gospel, because the gospel is what gives you power over by His grace.
Don’t go to your own performance to get power over your own performance..Go to the Chief Shepherd