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The Lord is my Shepherd. Psalm 23 Exegesis of the Psalm T. H. Rich, D. D. This Psalm, so personal and tender in its tone, may be called a lyric; and its reference to shepherd life makes it a pastoral; and being such, it becomes by its brevity and finish an idyll — an idyll excelling in naturalness and truth any that Theocritus, the father of idylls, ever wrote. But in its simplicity it sets forth the weightiest theme. Feeble man may have constant companionship with the mighty and everlasting God, may cast all his anxiety upon Him, for He careth for each one of us. The Psalmist was not unacquainted with the shepherd's office; for he had fed his father's sheep in the mountains about Bethlehem, and often in solitude shut up to their lowly and loving companionship, by sympathising in their wants, he had loved them much, and for their sake had struggled hard with lion and bear. Ver. 1. The Lord Jehovah; from derivation, the "Everlasting One" — the "One that is." Ver. 2. Lie down — Applies to animals that lie upon the breast with the limbs gathered under them. Pastures — The place where one settles down. It can stand for the dwellings of men, for dens of wild beasts, for encampment of flocks. Green — Implying grass in its early growth. Still waters — or waters of rest. Ver. 3. Soul — or spirit; used of animals as well as men. They and we lose spirit by exhaustion. We lose spirituality by sin. Paths of righteousness — Not only a right course, but one which ends in righteousness or safety. Ver. 4. Valley — Not death, but a deep ravine overhung with rocks or trees, and full of gloom, even at midday. Rod and staff — In the Himalayas the shepherd has been seen using his crook to draw a straying sheep from the brink of a precipice. Ver. 5. Preparest — We set a table, putting all upon it in fit order. Runneth over — Literally, my cup (is) abundance. Original of abundance is used of draught that satisfies for quantity. Ver. 6. Follow — Its original is often used of the eager pursuit of enemies and persecutors. ( T. H. Rich, D. D. ) The Psalm of faith Talbot W. Chambers, D. D. This has sometimes been called the Psalm of faith, and certainly with great reason. It breathes in every line the air of serene and happy confidence undisturbed by a single doubt. Nowhere else is the absence of misgiving or anxiety so remarkable. Yet equally noteworthy is the connection of this state of safety, rest, and peace with the statement made in the opening words; for the fact that Jehovah condescended to be the writer's shepherd was the underlying basis of the whole experience. The representation of God as a shepherd is found first in Jacob's blessing of Joseph ( Genesis 48:15 ), "the God which fed me," — literally, who was my shepherd. It was afterwards often used in reference to Israel as a people, and in the New Testament is applied to our Lord both by Himself and by His disciples. The whole tone of the lyric is personal, and this it is that makes it so precious. Jehovah cares for the flock just because He cares for each member of it. The believer is never lost in a crowd. "I shall not want." The expression is absolute and unlimited. Neither food, nor protection, nor guidance, nor loving care and sympathy shall be lacking. The believer is sure not only of repose, restoration, and guidance, but also of protection and deliverance even in the most trying circumstances...The last verse of the Psalm summarises what went before, with the additional thought of its continuance. "Only goodness and loving kindness" means that the favour bestowed on the believer is unmixed, or that the exceptions are so few as to be unworthy of consideration. Goodness supplies our needs, and mercy blots out our sins. ( Talbot W. Chambers, D. D. ) A Psalm of personal trust in God A. Maclaren, D. D. The world could spare many a large book better than this sunny little Psalm. It has dried many tears, and supplied the mould into which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith. To suppose that the speaker is the personified nation chills the whole. The tone is too intense not to be the outcome of personal experience, however admissible the application to the nation may be as secondary. No doubt Jehovah is the Shepherd of Israel in several Asaphite Psalms and in Jeremiah; but notwithstanding great authorities, I cannot persuade myself that the voice which comes so straight to the heart did not come from the heart of a brother, speaking across the centuries his own personal emotions, which are universal because they are individual. It is the pure utterance of personal trust in Jehovah, darkened by no fears or complaints, and so perfectly at rest that it has nothing more to ask. For the time desire is stilled in satisfaction. One tone, and that the most blessed that can be heard in a life, is heard through the whole. It is the Psalm of quiet trust, undisturbed even by its joy, which is quiet too. The fire glows, but does not flame or crackle. The one thought is expanded in two kindred images, that of the shepherd and that of the host. The same ideas are substantially repeated under both forms. The lovely series of vivid pictures, each but a clause long, but clear cut in that small compass like the fine work incised on a gem, combines, with the depth and simplicity of the religious emotion expressed, to lay this sweet Psalm on all hearts. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Serenity of soul Phillips Brooks, D. D. Is there anything in the religious life outside of Christianity that shows such trust in God as this Psalm? There are psalms of the pantheistic religions in which the soul seems to lose itself in the great current of the Divine Being, and become but one drop in the ocean of universal existence. They have the idea of rest and repose and freedom from disturbance and trouble. But in this Psalm there is something different. There is indeed the individual consciousness of love resting on the soul, that still has its own right to live and to know its past. Every religion bears its testimony to us of God dwelling in human nature. I do not know of a religious yearning of mankind in any part of his spiritual history which has not sought to see beyond the clouds the peace of God resting on the human soul. That is the great mission of religion in the human soul. There are times in our experience when we are inclined to overstate the necessity for turmoil in the soul. The soul at times needs to be disturbed and broken hearted; but always in anticipation and preparation for the calm that lies beyond. The ultimate condition of the human soul is repose, such as fills the sweet rich verses of this Psalm of David. It is a man who has been through great experiences who thus lifts up his voice and sings to God in absolute trust in the Divine goodness and strength. This Psalm is an outpouring of the soul to God, never matched in all the riches of the Christian day. It is the utterance of a soul absolutely unshaken and perfectly serene. In the New Testament many of the expressions of deepest faith have their origin in this Psalm. Jesus said, "I am the good Shepherd,"..."I shall not want." There are two ways of not lacking a thing in this world. He lacks nothing who has everything. The better way is for a man to look up, and bring his desires down to that which God sees fit to give him. This applies emphatically to things of faith...There are two ways by which we come to "green pastures and still waters." God had led David into sweet and beautiful circumstances, where it was easy for him to walk. But a place is not simply a thing of the outward life. It is a thing of the inward life. To go with calm soul, because it calmly trusts in God in the midst of tempests and tumults, and say, "I am at peace and rest," — that is the triumph of the Christian state. First of all comes a peaceful condition within the soul, and by and by comes the kingdom of heaven with all its scenery..."For His name's sake." The poor soul loves to think that God is taking care of him for his own sake, because it is precious to Himself. Many a time the soul has to flee from the sense of its own little value to the thought that God values it because it is dear and precious to Him "In the presence of mine enemies." This does not mean separation from our enemies, nor driving them away. God gives us peaceful moments in the midst of the distress and struggle of our lives Let your souls rest in peace on God. Only, be sure it is really He on whom you rest. He is continually caring for your souls, and will not let you rest in absolute torpor. You cannot rest too peacefully, too tenderly on the love of God, if only it is really God's love. ( Phillips Brooks, D. D. ) Religious conceptions coloured by secular vocation Charles H. Parkhurst, D. D. This Psalm does not provoke our thinking: it touches us away down below our philosophy and our theology; comes to us rather like a covert from the heat, a refuge from weariness, a shelter from the rain, and folds as unthinkingly into the creases of our souls as water adapts itself to the thirsty. The longings of the human spirit have their own beatitude, and better than any other interpreters make clear the meaning of the Holy Word. Round this oasis of truth, this 23rd Psalm, tired, hungry, erring, and anxious men and women have gathered, and found green pasturage, still waters, recovery from their wanderings, and gentle light to guide them through the valley of the death-shadow. This Psalm brings us not only near to God and our own souls, but also near to one another. It is a great, roomy catholic Psalm. The things which the Gospel has to supply are the great, deep, common wants of all human souls. We can all stand up in front of this Psalm, and feel ourselves so far perfectly "brothered" in each other. David must have written this Psalm when he was a good deal more than a youth. It is not dated, yet its quality is its own date, as the wine tester finds the age of the wine in the flavour of the wine. Time is a factor in the arithmetic of all life and growth. Experience and discernment ripen much in the same way as corn and wheat ripen. Ripeness is not to be extemporised, nor is it transferable. Time is one factor, suffering is another. The two together and the product sanctified is Christian maturity. This writer had learned the lesson of weariness; he had passed under the discipline of sin. He had learned to know himself by sinning, and learned to know God by enjoying the Divine deliverance and recovery from sin. He had tested God, and found Him faithful, and tested Him so many times that he knew He would always be faithful. The imagery of the Psalm suggests to us as a passing lesson that every man paints religious truth in the colours furnished by his own character of life and mode of occupation. Objects and relations that are familiar to us furnish us with a vocabulary whose terms even the Holy Ghost Himself will have to use if He is going to make to us any revelation. A shepherd, familiar only with pastoral relations, can apprehend the bearing of God toward us only under the figure of a shepherd. He thinks in that way. The one impression that flows from off this entire Psalm is that of a man who has come now where he is able and glad simply to trust and let himself be taken care of; and that, too, is a long and very slow lesson. Faith is distilled from unquiet experience. We have to learn to trust. ( Charles H. Parkhurst, D. D. ) Sufficiency in God G. S. Reaney. I. THE GREAT NAME — Jehovah. In Egypt thousands of gods, but no Jehovah. II. A GREAT FAITH — "My Shepherd." III. A GREAT SUFFICIENCY — "I shall not want." The insatiable character of man. Life a hunger and thirst, intellectual, social, emotional. David's contentment arose from finding sufficiency was in God. The Lord was more to him than the manna, or the stream in the wilderness. He is sufficing beyond all thought, feeling, hope. To whom is He thus? To the weary, troubled, perplexed, and penitent. ( G. S. Reaney. ) The shepherd God L. A. Banks, D. D. But let us notice the result in us. 1. First, there is the banishment of want. David says, "I shall not want." 2. The Good Shepherd banishes fear. David says, "I will fear no evil." Perhaps there is no blessing so great for the happiness of the soul as the driving away of fear, which God does for those who give their hearts to Him. He rescues us from the fear of punishment. He takes away the fear of the judgment. The man who has received a pardon from the President of the United States has no longer any fear of punishment for his crime. What a blessed relief that is! God takes from us also the fear of death. How many have been held slaves to the fear of death. Many people are so afraid of death that they will not attend a funeral service. 3. Finally, what a beautiful and glorious hope the shepherd God holds out to us of the future life, toward which He is willing to lead us through all our life's journey. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Our Good Shepherd said to His friends just before He went away, "In My Father's house there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." ( L. A. Banks, D. D. ) Personal relationship with God James Stuart. "My Shepherd." Every believer is not only permitted to say, but has that within him which constrains him to say, "O God, Thou art my God." It should be to us a source of unfailing comfort to know that His nature undergoes no change or modification when it is directed towards us and the exigencies of our condition. The wisdom, the power, the goodness with which He controls the affairs of the universe are in their measure available for our individual needs. And as the shepherd knows each sheep of the flock, and calleth it by its name, so God knoweth each of us, and gives Himself to us with the whole energy and affectionateness of His being.. There exists between God and ourselves a distinct personal relation. He recognises the individuality of every human soul, and ascribes to it a separate worth. Bound as we are by innumerable ties to the great brotherhood of men, we are, in the deepest centre of our life, isolated from them, and stand before God alone. Under many current systems of thought this individuality is endangered. Beyond the ken of an omnipresent spirit and the power of an almighty friend we cannot go. He is about our path and our bed, and the secret thoughts and desires and needs of all hearts are open to Him. We may be weak, obscure, despised, but He thinks of us with as special a care and as devoted a love as if we alone, in all the vast universe of men, were dependent upon Him and claimed His gracious aid. ( James Stuart. ) Confidence in the Shepherd Anon. It is not as a literary gem, rich and rare though it be in that respect, that its chief attraction lies. What renders it so exceedingly precious to the experimental believer are the blessedness of its truths and the sublimity of its sentiments — the delightful spirit it breathes and the hallowed impressions it produces. By it the faith of God's people in every age has been confirmed, their hearts have been gladdened, their hopes elevated, and their strength renewed. "The Lord is My Shepherd." Our faith is greatly lacking as respects three things — 1. It is not sufficiently confiding. 2. It is not sufficiently realising. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." 3. It is not sufficiently appropriating. ( Anon. ) A deep consciousness of God Alexander Field. I. THE DEEP CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD THAT PERVADES THE PSALM. Its great outstanding thought is God. And God, too, present to the mind and heart of the writer: a living, personal agent, who touches his life at every point, and with whom he holds conscious and happy intercourse. Here we have a man evidently walking not by sight but by faith. This consciousness of God manifested itself in two ways. 1. He found in his own humble employment as a shepherd a representation of God, and a means of fellowship with Him. By the thoughtfulness, tenderness, sympathy, and care he exercised in his shepherd calling he learned and realised the heart and character of God. 2. His daily employment was to him a symbol of God, and of God's relation to him. II. THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE. Nowhere is God presented in such close relations with individual life and experience as in the Psalms of David. We have here the precious scriptural doctrine of a special providence. It is objected to this doctrine, that it is derogatory to the greatness of God that He should be thought of as concerning Himself with the minutiae of life. But "great" and "little" are only relative terms. It enhances His greatness that He can comprehend at once the vast and the minute. III. THE HAPPINESS OF THE MAN WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD. One characteristic of the Psalm is its repose, its serene enjoyment. IV. THE MAN WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD CAN LOOK HOPEFULLY INTO THE FUTURE. In order to do this he must be reconciled to God, and regenerated and renewed in the spirit of His mind. ( Alexander Field. ) The God of the world as seen by the good Homilist. He appears as a Shepherd to the good. Those who follow this Shepherd are truly blest. 1. They are blest with deliverance from the fear of want. "I shall not want," or as some render it, "I do not want." The fear of "want" is one of the most disturbing fiends of the human soul. Men are everywhere fearing that they shall lack a something which they regard as vital to their interests, Godliness expels this fear from the human heart by inspiring unbounded confidence in the bountihood of heaven. 2. They are blest with the enjoyment of satisfying good. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." He has allayed my appetite, dispelled my anxieties, satisfied my nature, and caused me to "lie down" amidst the affluence of His love. 3. They are blest in being calmly led along the river of life. He leadeth me beside the still waters. 4. They are blest with the reinvigoration of soul. "He restoreth my soul." There is a wear and tear of soul as well as of body. The holiest and the strongest angel would soon get exhausted were it left to depend upon itself. God is the strength of all finite intelligences, however pure and strong. 5. They are blest with being divinely conducted into the paths of rectitude. "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness." There are as many paths of life as there are men. As every star has its own orbit, so every man has his own particular path. No two men can walk in exactly the same way, from the diversity of their faculty and their training. All human paths are of two descriptions, the morally right and the morally wrong; The good man's path, whether it be that of a labourer, mechanic, artist, poet, philosopher, statesman, king, or preacher, is "a path of righteousness." 6. They are blest with the moral heroism in their march to eternity. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil." ( Homilist. ) The life of faith J. O. Keen, D. D. I. FAITH'S RECOGNITION (ver. 1). "The Lord is my Shepherd." A spiritual recognition made through the medium of His surroundings, Faith makes the same recognition today. It is an old recognition. It is a comforting recognition. Recognising God as our Shepherd, what an infinitude of tenderness, watchfulness, love, and carefulness that recognition involves! "I shall not want." This is no guarantee against poverty; because poverty may be, in the Divine estimation, better for us than riches. It is no arrant for indolence or thriftlessness. Work and diligence in it are again and again commended. No want would be universal were it not for these two widespread evils! II. FAITH'S EXPERIENCE (vers. 2, 3, 5). Ver. 2 expresses repose rather than feeding. Repose in "pastures of tender grass," hard by the "waters of quietness." It is also expressive of satisfaction. "To lie down." Sheep stand to eat, but lie when filled. Life only finds satisfaction in God; the world is too small to fill the soul. The fulness of the Godhead alone can meet this moral necessity. Ver. 3 sets forth restoration and guidance. Leadeth, not driveth. Law drives, love leads. Example is more forceful than command. Eternal footprints He has left on the pathway of virtue, patience, purity, self-sacrifice, benevolence, obedience, that we may plant our feet in them and be as He was in this world. Ver. 5 suggests plenty and protection. God gives banquets in unlikely places and at unexpected times. III. FAITH'S PROSPECT (vers. 4, 6). 1. Celestial attendants all the days of life. 2. Companionship in the shadowed valley. Inspiring confidence and courage; and preventing unrest and disquietude. ( J. O. Keen, D. D. ) What the Lord is to the believer Arthur T. Pierson D. D. What the Lord is to the believer is here set forth in a poem peculiarly Oriental in imagery. Two figures are employed, the Shepherd and the Host. The one is expressed, the other is implied. Two figures are employed because either alone is inadequate. Each is complemental to the other. The second uniformly is an advance upon the first. Seven suggestions are very prominent. 1. All wants are met in God. 2. All energy and joy are supplied in God. 3. All needed guidance. 4. All blessed companionship. 5. All security. 6. All comfort in sorrow. 7. An abiding place for homeless souls.All this depends on our faith, whether we can appropriate god and truly say, "my shepherd." it is curious to notice how the second figure is left to be inferred. Why did not David, in introducing the second part, say, "Jehovah is my Host"? Perhaps because the feelings of this relationship waited to be revealed ( John 1:11, 12 ). God is in Christ more than host, and we are more than guests. He is our Father, and we are His sons and daughters. Hence our welcome home, and our dwelling place there. He is ours and we are His, and all that is His is ours, To the Jew He was Shepherd, to the Christian believer He is Father. ( Arthur T. Pierson D. D. ) The Shepherd figure for Jesus F. B. Meyer, B. A. "Shepherd." That precious word for God was uttered first by Jacob — himself once a shepherd — as he lay a-dying in his hieroglyphed chamber; and with the long thoughts of old age went back to the imagery of his early life, speaking of God as having "shepherded him all his life long." All through the Bible the golden thread runs, until in its closing pages we read of the Lamb who leads His flock to the rivers of the waters of life. The Eastern shepherd occupied quite a unique position towards his flock; and a friendship sprang up between him and the dumb creatures of his care to which there is no counterpart among ourselves. He can do almost as he wills with any of them, going freely in and out amongst them, without exciting the slightest symptom of alarm. Now, all this is true of the Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. 1. He has a shepherd's heart, beating with pure and generous love that counted not His life-blood too dear a price to pay down as our ransom. 2. He has a shepherd's eye, that takes in the whole flock, and misses not even the poor sheep wandering away on the mountains cold. 3. He has a shepherd's faithfulness, which will never fail nor forsake, nor leave us comfortless, nor flee when He seeth the wolf coming. He has a shepherd's strength, so that He is well able to deliver us from the jaw of the lion or the paw of the bear. 4. He has a shepherd's tenderness; no lamb so tiny that He will not carry it, no saint so weak that He will not gently lead, no soul so faint that He will not give it rest. He pities as a father. He comforts as a mother. His gentleness makes great, he covers us with His feathers, soft, warm, and downy, and under His wings do we trust. ( F. B. Meyer, B. A. ) The pasture gate Marvin R. Vincent, D. D. If David's shepherd life had furnished nothing else than the materials for this wonderful pastoral ode we should all be inclined to say that no period of David's history would have compensated the Church for the loss of his shepherd life. Yet the Psalm is not the utterance of the shepherd days, though it perpetuates their memory. This peaceful idyll is a voice out of the maturer life of the Psalmist; a voice that tells that peace and rest of heart depend not upon the absence of life's burdens, nor on the presence of nature's tranquillising scenes, but solely upon the shepherding of God. The keynote of the whole song is — God's servant finds his all in God. He wants nothing. All needs are met for him by that one fact — the Lord is my Shepherd. The problem of life is thus reduced to its very simplest statement. "But one thing is needful." The possession of all gifts is included in possessing the Father. Then the true end of every man's life is to become one of God's flock. And here the figure, while it magnifies the wisdom and tenderness of God, correspondingly depreciates the wisdom of man. The dependence of man upon God must be just as absolute as that of the sheep upon the shepherd. The guidance of the life cannot be shared between God and man, any more than between the shepherd and the sheep. There is a comforting assurance in the comparison of man to a sheep. A sheep is not a wild animal. He is a property. And man is God's valuable property. The Spirit leads us forth into the pastures. 1. Provision is made for two sides of man's life in his new relation to God. A godly life, if it be healthful, must be both an active and a contemplative life. 2. Provision is made for restoration. "He restoreth my soul." Here we see restoration under three phases. (1) Forgiveness. (2) Rest and refreshment. (3) Righteousness or rightness. ( Marvin R. Vincent, D. D. ) The Lord a Shepherd John Hill. I. GOD GIVES HIS PEOPLE NOURISHMENT. One of the first duties of an Eastern shepherd was to provide ample pasture for the flock, to lead them hither and thither that plenty might be found. The Lord, as David's Shepherd, would make provision for his necessities. And not for David only, but for all His people "the Lord will provide." We have here — 1. A repudiation of naturalism. The advocates of this system maintain that though God made the world and its noblest inhabitant — man, He now feels no interest in the work of His hands. "He is so great," say they, "that it would be beneath Him to notice the little things of earth or the concerns of man." The love, compassion, and Fatherly goodness of God are here ignored. A meagre view of the Divine character is this. God is a Shepherd, and will never neglect His flock. 2. A truth to which God has pledged Himself God cares for less important creatures than man: the blade of grass, the lily, the sparrow ( Matthew 6:24-34 ). II. THAT GOD GIVES HIS PEOPLE PROTECTION. It was as really the duty of the shepherd to protect his flock from harm, as to supply them with food. He would even expose himself to danger for the safety of his flock. David did when he grappled with the lion and the bear. God protects His people. 1. The good have enemies — (1) Numerous. (2) Cunning. (3) Powerful. 2. The Great Shepherd is engaged to protect them. (1) He protects their bodies. He gives "His angels charge," etc. (2) He gives spiritual protection. He is — to change the figure — a "Shield," "a wall of fire," etc. God is "more than all" who are against His people. III. THAT GOD GIVES HIS PEOPLE REST. God, as a Shepherd, will give His followers rest. 1. Here. From storm within, and from oppression, etc., without. 2. Hereafter. He will take His own to be in His presence forever.Learn — 1. The importance of being "the sheep of His pasture." Only those who are such have any claim to this provision, protection, and rest. 2. The value of trust in Him who has condescended to sustain to us these gracious relationships. ( John Hill. ) The Lord our Shepherd E. H. Hopkins. I. HOW HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE SHEEP. 1. AS the good Shepherd Love ( John 10:11 ) — His death. 2. As the great Shepherd Power ( Hebrews 13:20 ) — His Resurrection. 3. As the chief Shepherd Glory ( 1 Peter 5:4 ) Second Advent. II. WHAT HE DOES FOR THE SHEEP. Gives His life for them and to them ( Zechariah 13:7 ; Matthew 26:31 ; John 10:11, 15, 28 ). Seeks them out and brings them home ( Ezekiel 34:12 ; Luke 15:4, 5 ). Gathers them and heals them ( Isaiah 40:11 ; Ezekiel 34:4 ). Guides and feeds them ( Psalm 23:1-3 ; John 10:3, 4, 9 ). Protects and preserves them ( Job 31:10 ; John 10:28 ). III. WHAT HE EXPECTS FROM THE SHEEP. That they should — 1. Hear His voice ( John 10:3 ). 2. Follow His leading ( John 10:4 ; Matthew 9:9 ; John 21:22 ). 3. Rest under His protection ( Psalm 23:1, 2 ). ( E. H. Hopkins. ) The song of the flock J. R. Macduff, D. D. View it — I. AS EXPRESSING THANKFULNESS FOR THE PAST. Jehovah, all-sufficient, has been my Shepherd. Many there are who can see no better law or principle regulating the allotments of their daily life than accident and capricious fortune. They see the shuttles of apparent chance darting hither and thither in the loom of existence. They do not see that the shuttle is in the hands of the Great Artificer. Life is not a mere kaleidoscope. II. AS IMPLYING CONFIDENCE IN THE PRESENT. Jesus, all-sufficient, is my Shepherd. How blessed thus to repose our present in God, and to say, "Undertake Thou for me." He does not consult our short-sighted wisdom in what He does. A necessary result of this confidence in the wisdom of God's shepherd dealings will be contentment with our lot, whatever it is. And if we thus confide in God He will confide in us. III. AS EXPRESSING TRUST FOR THE FUTURE. Jehovah, all-sufficient, shall be my Shepherd. That dark future. How many are speaking of it as such. It is in the Shepherd's keeping, and we may well leave it there. Let us banish all unholy distrust of the future. ( J. R. Macduff, D. D. ) The shepherd king of Israel A. Maclaren, D. D. We do not know at what period of David's life this Psalm was written, but it sounds as if it were the work of his later years It is very beautiful to see the old king looking back with such vivid and loving remembrance to his childhood's occupation, and bringing up again to memory in his palace the green valleys, the gentle streams, the dark glens where he had led his flocks in the old days. The faith which looks back and. says, It is all very good, is not less than that which looks forward and says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. The train of thought in the Psalm is clear and obvious. The Psalm falls into two halves. I. THE DIVINE SHEPHERD AND HIS LEADING OF HIS FLOCK. The various methods of God's leading of His flock, or rather, we should say, the various regions into which He leads them, are described in order. These are rest, work, sorrow. 1. God leads His sheep into rest. The Psalm puts the rest and refreshment first, as being the most marked characteristic of God's dealings. It is so. The years are years of unbroken continuity of outward blessings. The reign of afflictions is ordinarily measured by days. But it is not mainly of outward blessings that the Psalmist is thinking. They are precious chiefly as emblems of the better spiritual gifts. The image describes the sweet rest of the soul in communion with God, in whom alone the hungry heart finds food that satisfies. This rest and refreshment has for its consequence the restoration of the soul, which includes in it both the invigoration of the natural life by the outward sort of blessings, and the quickening and restoration of the spiritual life by the inward feeding upon God, and repose in Him. 2. God guides us into work. The quiet mercies are not in themselves the end of our Shepherd's guidance; they are means to an end, and that is — work. Life is not a fold for the sheep to lie down in, but a road for them to walk on. Rest is to fit for work, work is to sweeten rest. All this is emphatically true of the spiritual life. It is not well that our chief object should be to enjoy the consolations of religion; it is better to seek first to do the duties enjoined by religion. Joy in God is the strength of work for God, Rut work for God is the perpetuation of joy in God. Here is the figurative expression of the great evangelical principle, that works of righteousness must follow, not precede, the restoration of the soul. We are justified, not by works, but for works. The basis of obedience is the sense of salvation. 3. God leads His people through sorrow. The "valley of the shadow" means any and every gloomy valley of weeping through which we have to pass. Such sunless gorges as we have all to traverse at some time or other. It is never given to the human heart to meditate of the future without some

Benson Commentary Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 23:1 . The Lord is my shepherd — He hath showed himself to be so by his gracious providences toward me; and he hath kindly taken upon himself that office, and condescended to stand in that relation to me, having entered into covenant with me, and thereby engaged to rule, feed, and preserve, and heal me, and do all for me that shepherds do, or are under an obligation of doing for their flocks. David himself had been a shepherd, and, doubtless, well understood, and had carefully performed his duty, as such, to his flock. He knew by experience the cares and tender affections of a good shepherd toward his sheep, and was not unmindful what need they had of a shepherd, and what advantage it was to them to have one that was skilful and faithful. By this, therefore, he illustrates God’s care of his people, and by this he strengthens his own faith and confidence in him, and assists the faith and confidence of every pious reader. For he that is the Shepherd of Israel, of the whole church in general, Psalm 80:1 , is the shepherd of every particular believer; the meanest is not below his cognizance. He gathers even the lambs with his arm, Isaiah 40:11 ; nay, and carries them in his bosom. He takes them into the fold of his church, and then takes care of them: he protects and provides for them with more care and constancy than any shepherd can his sheep. If God be to us a shepherd, we must be to him as sheep, inoffensive, meek, and quiet, silent before the shearers; “nay,” says Henry, “before the butcher too;” useful and sociable, we must know the shepherd’s voice, and follow him. I shall not want — Namely, any thing that is really necessary for me, either for this life, or for the next. But foolish men may think many things to be necessary for them, which the all-wise God knows to be, not only unnecessary, but hurtful, and therefore mercifully denies what men ignorantly desire to their hurt. Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2 . He maketh me to lie down — Not only to feed, but to rest, and enjoy tranquillity, peace, and safety; in green pastures — Where there are both delight and plenty. “The loveliest image afforded by the natural world is here represented to the imagination; that of a flock feeding in verdant meadows, and reposing in quietness by the rivers of water running gently through them. It is selected to convey an idea of the provision made for the souls as well as bodies of men by His goodness who openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness.” — Horne. He leadeth me — Lest I should wander and perish, Hebrew, ?????? , jenahaleeni, He leadeth me, commode et leniter, says Buxtorf, fitly and gently; accommodating himself to my infirmities, as shepherds do to their sheep; beside — Or, to the still waters, Hebrew, ?? ????? , mee menuchoth, waters of rests, or refreshments: quiet and gentle waters, running in small and shallow channels, which are opposed to great rivers, which both affright the sheep with their great noise, and expose them to be carried away by their swift and violent streams, while they are drinking at them. Such is the difference between the gentle waters of the sanctuary, the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and the rapid, muddy, and noisy torrents and overflowing floods of worldly and carnal enjoyments. God provides for his people, not only food and rest, but refreshment also, and pleasure. The waters by and to which he leads them afford them both a pleasant prospect and many a cooling and refreshing draught, when they are thirsty and weary. The consolations of God, the joys of the Holy Ghost, are those still waters by which the saints are led, streams which flow from the fountain of living waters, and make glad the city of our God. Psalm 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:3 . He restoreth my soul — Hebrew, ????? ?????? , naphshi jeshobeb, my soul he bringeth, or, will bring back, namely, from its errors or wanderings. No creature is more ready to go astray than a sheep, or more at a loss to find its way back. And all we like sheep have gone astray, and are still too prone so to do; to leave the right way of truth and duty, and to turn aside into by-paths. But when God shows us our errors, gives us repentance, and brings us back to our duty again, he restores our souls; and if he did not do so, we would wander endlessly and be undone. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness — In the plain, straight, and safe paths, in which the sheep of the Lord’s pasture are neither hurt, nor wearied, nor in danger of wandering. By his word and his providence he directs me to the right ways of truth and holiness, and by his Spirit he inclines and enables me to choose those ways, and to continue to walk therein; for his name’s sake — Not for any merit in me, but merely for the demonstration and glory of his mercy, faithfulness, and goodness. Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 . Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death — Through a dark and dismal valley, full of terrors and dangers, as this phrase signifies, Job 24:17 ; Psalm 44:19 ; Jeremiah 2:6 ; that is, though I am in peril of death, though in the midst of dangers, deep as a valley, dark as a shadow, and dreadful as death itself: or rather, though I am under the arrests of death, and have received the sentence of death within myself, and have every reason to look upon myself as a dying man: I will fear no evil — I will not give way to my fears, but will confidently rely upon the word and promise of God, persuaded that his grace shall be sufficient for me, and that he will make even death itself work for my good. Observe, reader, a child of God may meet the messengers of death, and receive its summons, with a holy security and serenity of mind. He may bid it defiance, and say with Paul, O death where is thy sting? For thou art with me — Here is the ground of a true Christian’s confidence when in the valley of the shadow of death, God is with him, and his presence inspires him with confidence and comfort, hope and joy. It affords him light amidst the darkness of the valley, and life in the death of it. Thy rod and thy staff — Thy word and thy Spirit; comfort me — His gospel is the rod of his strength, and there is enough in that to comfort the saints, both while they live, even in their greatest troubles, and also when they are dying. And his Spirit is the Comforter himself, and where he is, support and comfort cannot be wanting. His rod of chastisement and correction also ministers to the comfort of his people, and much more his staff of support, his upholding grace, which, under all their trials, and even in their last and greatest trial, is sufficient for them. Or the rod may signify his pastoral care, and inspection of the flock, (alluding to the shepherd’s crook, or rod, under which the sheep passed when they were counted, Leviticus 27:32 ,) and the staff, the defence, and protection afforded them, the shepherd with his staff being wont to defend his sheep from the dogs and wolves that would worry them. Or, as others interpret the words, the rod here, in allusion to the rod of Moses, may be considered as an emblem of power, especially as the word ????? , shebet, here translated rod, often signifies a sceptre, or some other ensign of authority. And the word translated staff, ?????? , mishgneneh, properly signifies what a person leans upon for support. Thus interpreted, the clause means, The sceptre of thy kingdom, or thy power protects me, and thy support upholds me, and so both minister to my comfort. Psalm 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalm 23:5 . Thou preparest a table before me — Thou furnishest me with plenty and variety of provisions and comforts. In the presence of mine enemies — Who seeing, envying, and fretting at it, are not able to hinder it. Thou anointest my head with oil — Or ointment, as the Syriac and Arabic interpreters render it, namely, with aromatic ointments, which were then used in great feasts. The sense is, Thy comforts delight my soul. See Psalm 45:7 . My cup runneth over — Thou hast given me a very plentiful portion, signified by the cup given to the guests by the master of the feast. Thus “another set of images, borrowed from a feast, is introduced to give us ideas of those cordials and comforts prepared to cheer and invigorate the fainting soul; while, surrounded by enemies, it is accomplishing its pilgrimage through life; during which time its sorrows and afflictions are alleviated and sweetened by the joys and consolations of the Holy One; by the feast of a good conscience; by the bread of life; the oil of gladness, and the cup of salvation still full and running over.” — Horne. Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psalm 23:6 . Surely goodness and mercy — That is, God’s favour, and the blessed and comfortable effects of it; shall follow me — Hebrew, ??????? , jirdepuni, shall pursue me, by which emphatical expression he signifies God’s wonderful freeness and readiness to do good to his people, and that his blessings not only prevent us, but even pursue them who flee from them, or that they follow us in our journey through life, as the water out of the rock followed the camp of Israel through the wilderness. All the days of my life — From the former instances of God’s favour to him, he justly concludes that he would continue to show him favour in a similar way; for nothing can separate us from the love of God, if we do not separate ourselves from it: and the experience we have had of his goodness and mercy, already so often vouchsafed, naturally tends to beget an assurance of their being continued to the end. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever — Whereas I have formerly been driven from God’s house, I rest assured that I shall now constantly enjoy that blessed privilege of worshipping and enjoying God in his sanctuary, which I prize more than all my dominions. David’s words here, however, look still further, even to a perfection of bliss in a future state: as if he had said, The divine goodness and mercy having followed me all the days of my life, when that is ended, I shall remove to a better world, to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, the house of my heavenly Father, in which there are many mansions, where the church of God will constitute one fold, under one shepherd, “the fold into which no enemy enters, and from which no friend departs; where the servants of God rest from all their labours, and see a period to all their sorrows; where the voice of praise and thanksgiving is heard continually; where all the faithful, from Adam to his last-born son, shall meet together, to behold the face of Jesus, and to be blessed with the vision of the Almighty; where they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, or any heat. But the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters, Revelation 7:16-17 .” — Horne. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 23:1-6 THE world could spare many a large book better than this sunny little psalm. It has dried many tears and supplied the mould into which many hearts have poured their peaceful faith. To suppose that the speaker is the personified nation chills the whole. The tone is too intense not to be the outcome of personal experience, however admissible the application to the nation may be as secondary. No doubt Jehovah is the Shepherd of Israel in several Asaphite psalms and in Jeremiah; but, notwithstanding great authorities, I cannot persuade myself that the voice which comes so straight to the heart did not come from the heart of a brother speaking across the centuries his own personal emotions, which are universal just because they are individual. It is the pure utterance of personal trust in Jehovah, darkened by no fears or complaints and so perfectly at rest that it has nothing more to ask. For the time desire is stilled in satisfaction. One tone, and that the most blessed which can sound in a life, is heard through the whole. psalm of quiet trust, undisturbed even by its Joy, which is quiet too. The fire glows, not flame or crackle. The one thought is expanded in two kindred images: that of the shepherd and that of the host. The same ideas are substantially repeated under both forms. The lovely series of vivid pictures, each but a clause long, but clear cut in that small compass, like the fine work incised on a gem, combines with the depth and simplicity of the religious emotion expressed, to lay this sweet psalm on all hearts. Psalm 23:1-4 present the realities of the devout life under the image of the Divine Shepherd and His lamb. The comparison of rulers to shepherds is familiar to many tongues, and could scarcely fail to occur to a pastoral people hike the Jews, nor is the application to Jehovah’s relation to the people so recondite that we need to relegate the psalms in which it occurs to a late era in the national history. The psalmist lovingly, lingers on the image, and draws out the various aspects of the shepherd’s care and of the flock’s travels, with a ripeness and calmness which suggests that we listen to a much-experienced man. The sequence in which the successive pictures occur is noteworthy. Guidance to refreshment comes first, and is described in Psalm 23:2 , in words which fall as softly as the gentle streams of which they speak. The noontide is fierce, and the land lies baking in the sun blaze; but deep down in some wady runs a brook, and along its course the herbage is bright with perpetual moisture, and among the lush grass are cool lairs where the footsore, panting flock may couch. The shepherd’s tenderness is beautifully hinted at in the two verbs: he "leads," not drives, but in Eastern wise precedes and so draws the trustful sheep; he "makes me to lie down," taking care that the sheep shall stretch weary limbs in full enjoyment of repose. God thus guides to rest and lays to rest the soul that follows Him. Why does the psalmist begin with this aspect of life? Because it is fittest to express the shepherd’s care, and because it is, after all, the predominant aspect to the devout heart. Life is full of trial and effort, but it is an unusually rainy region where rain falls on more than half the days of the year. We live so much more vividly and fully in the moments of agony or crisis that they seem to fill more space than they really do. But they are only moments, and the periods of continued peaceful possession of blessings are measured by years. But the sweet words of the psalm are not to be confined to material good. The psalmist does not tell us whether he is thinking more of the outer or of the inner life, but both are in his mind, and while his confidence is only partially warranted by the facts of the former, it is unlimitedly true in regard to the latter. In that application of the words the significance of the priority given to the pastures of fresh springing grass and the waters of repose is plain, for there the rest of trust and the drinking of living water must precede all walking in paths of righteousness. Food and drink and rest refresh fainting powers, and this reinvigoration is meant by "restoring my soul" or life. But the midday or nightly rest is intended to fit for effort, and so a second little picture follows in Psalm 23:3 , presenting another aspect of the shepherd’s care and of the sheep’s course. Out again on to the road, in spite of heat and dust, the flock goes. "Paths of righteousness," is perhaps best taken as "straight paths," as that rendering keeps within the bounds of the metaphor; but since the sheep are men, straight paths for them must needs be paths of righteousness. That guidance is "for His name’s sake." God has regard to His revealed character in shepherding His lamb, and will give direction because He is what He is, and in order that He may be known to be what He has declared himself. The psalmist had learned the purpose of repose and refreshment which, in all regions of life, are intended to prepare for tasks and marches. We are to "drink for strength, and not for drunkenness." A man may lie in a bath till strength is diminished, or may take his plunge and come from it braced for work. In the religious life it is possible to commit an analogous error, and to prize so unwisely peaceful hours of communion, as. to waive imperative duty for the sake of them; like Peter with his "Let us make here three tabernacles," while there were devil-ridden sufferers waiting to be healed down on the plain. Moments of devotion, which do not prepare for hours of practical righteousness, are very untrustworthy. But, on the other hand, the paths of righteousness will not be trodden by those who have known nothing of the green pastures and waters where the wearied can rest. But life has another aspect than these two-rest and toil; and the guidance into danger and sorrow is as tender as its other forms are. The singular word rendered "shadow of death" should probably simply be "gloomy darkness," such, for instance, as in the shaft of a mine. { Job 28:3 } But even if the former rendering is retained, it is not to be interpreted as meaning actual death. No wise forward look can ignore the possibility of many sorrows and the certainty of some. Hope has ever something of dread in her eyes. The road will not be always bright and smooth, but will sometimes plunge down into grim cations, where no sunbeams reach. But even that anticipation may be calm. "Thou art with me" is enough. He who guides into the gorge will guide through it. It is not a cul de sac, shut in with precipices, at the far end; but it opens out on shining tablelands, where there is greener pasture. The rod and staff seem to be two names for one instrument, which was used both to beat off predatory animals and to direct the sheep. The two synonyms and the appended pronoun express by their redundancy the full confidence of the psalmist. He will not fear, though there are grounds enough for terror, in the dark valley; and though sense prompts him to dread, he conquers fear because he trusts. "Comfort" suggests a struggle, or, as Calvin says, " Quorsum enim consolatio ipsa, nisi quia metus eum solicitat? " The second image of the Divine Host and His guest is expanded in Psalm 23:5-6 . The ideas are substantially the same as in the first part. Repose and provision, danger and change, again fill the foreground; and again there is forecast of a more remote future. But all is intensified, the need and the supply being painted in stronger colours and the hope being brighter. The devout man is God’s guest while he marches through foes, and travels towards perpetual repose in the house of Jehovah. Jehovah supplies his servants’ wants in the midst of conflict. The table spread in the sight of the enemy is a more signal token of care and power than the green pastures are. Life is not only journey and effort, but conflict; and it is possible not only to have seasons of refreshment interspersed in the weary march, but to find a sudden table spread by the same unseen hand which holds back the foes, who look on with grim eyes, powerless to intercept the sustenance or disturb the guests. This is the condition of God’s servant-always conflict, but always a spread table. Joy snatched in the face of danger is specially poignant. The flowers that bloom on the brink of a cataract are bright, and their tremulous motion adds a charm. Special experiences of God’s sufficiency are wont to come in seasons of special difficulty, as many a true heart knows. It is no scanty meal that waits God’s soldier under such circumstances, but a banquet accompanied with signs of festivity, viz. , the head anointed with oil and the cup which is "fulness." God’s supplies are wont to surpass the narrow limits of need and even to transcend capacity, having a something over which as set we are unable to take in, but which is not disproportioned or wasted, since it widens desire and thereby increases receptivity. In the last verse we seem to pass to pure anticipation. Memory melts into hope, and that brighter than the forecast which closed the first part. There the psalmist’s trust simply refused to yield to fear, while keenly conscious of evil which might warrant it; but here be has risen higher. and the alchemy of his happy faith and experience has converted evil into something fairer. "Only good and mercy shall follow me." There is no evil for the heart wedded to Jehovah; there are no foes to pursue, but two bright-faced angels walk behind him as his rear guard. It is much when the retrospect of life can, like Jacob on his death bed, see "the Angel which redeemed me from all evil"; but it is perhaps more when the else fearful heart can look forward and say that not only will it fear no evil, but that nothing but blessings, the outcome of God’s mercy, will ever reach it. The closing hope of dwelling in the house of Jehovah to length of days rises above even the former verse. The singer knew himself a guest of God’s at the table spread before the foe, but that was, as it were, refreshment on the march, while this is continual abiding in the home. Such an unbroken continuity of abode in the house of Jehovah is a familiar aspiration in other psalms, and is always regarded as possible even while hands are engaged in ordinary duties and cares. The psalms which conceive of the religious life under this image are marked by a peculiar depth and inwardness. They are wholesomely mystical. The hope of this guest of God’s is that, by the might of fixed faith and continual communion, he may have his life so hid in God that wherever he goes he may still be in His house, and whatever he does he may still be "inquiring in His temple." The hope is here confined to the earthly present, but the Christian reading of the psalm can scarcely fail to transfer the words to a future. God will bring those whom He has fed and guided in journeying and conflict to an unchanging mansion in a home beyond the stars. Here we eat at a table spread with pilgrim’s food, manna from heaven and water from the rock. We eat in haste and with an eye on the foe, but we may hope to sit down at another table in the perfected kingdom. The end of the fray is the beginning of the feast. "We shall go no more out." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.