Psalms 23 Commentary - The Biblical Illusrator

Verses 1-6

Psalms 23:1-6

The Lord is my Shepherd.

Exegesis of the Psalm

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. Verse 1. The Lord Jehovah; from derivation, the “Everlasting One”--the “One that is.” Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 6. Follow--Its original is often used of the eager pursuit of enemies and persecutors. (T. H. Rich, D. D.)

The Psalm of faith

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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

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

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

I. Faith’s recognition (Psalms 23:1). “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 (Psalms 23:2-3; Psalms 23:5). Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 5 suggests plenty and protection. God gives banquets in unlikely places and at unexpected times.

III. Faith’s prospect (Psalms 23:4; Psalms 23:6).

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

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

“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

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.

The Lord a Shepherd

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--

2. The Great Shepherd is engaged to protect them.

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

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; John 10:15; John 10:28). 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 (Psalms 23:1-3; John 10:3-4; John 10:9). 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 (Psalms 23:1-2). (E. H. Hopkins.)

The song of the flock,

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

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 foreboding. Some evils may come; some will probably come; one at least is sure to come. So there is never pure hope in any heart that wisely considers the future. But to the Christian heart there may be this, the conviction that sorrow, when it comes, will not be evil, because God will be with us. Strange as it may sound, the presence of Him who sends the sorrow is the best help to bear it.

II. God as the Host, and us as the guests at His table and the dwellers in His house. All is here intensified.

1. God supplies our wants in the very midst of strife. The mercy is more strikingly portrayed as being granted not only before toil, but in warfare. Life is a sore fight; but to the Christian man, in spite of all the tumult, life is a festal banquet. Always the foe; always the table. This is the form under which experience of the past is presented in the second portion--joy in conflict, rest and food even in the strife. Upon that there is built a hope which transcends that in the previous portion of the Psalm. As to this life, “goodness and mercy shall follow us.” Higher than all rises the confidence of the closing words,--“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This should be at once the crown of all our hopes for the future, and the one great lesson taught us by all the vicissitudes of life. Yonder we sit down with the Shepherd, the Master of the house, at His table in His kingdom. Far off, and lost to sight, are all the enemies. We fear no change; we go no more out. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Shepherd King of men

I. Knowledge of God. David believed that all the attributes of the shepherd relation and service belonged to God.

1. God’s intimate acquaintance with us.

2. Intense practical sympathy. Once a clergyman told the wife of a besotted drunkard that the Lord had abandoned her husband to his evil habits. Said she, “Do you say that God has abandoned my husband to his sin? Then it is high time I should stand up for him, and see him through. I will be God for him if God is of your mind.” It was a noble speech from a noble-hearted woman.

3. Disinterestedness. He “giveth His life for the sheep.” What will not a mother do for her child? At its service she puts the whole store of her being. Carry this thought up, as Christ taught us, into the sphere of the infinite, and you will have gained some conception of the disinterested tenderness and unselfish love of God.

II. Relationship to God. “My Shepherd.” He appropriates God. Learn to use this syllable of endearment, and the blessedness and power of David’s Psalm are at once felt.

III. Confidence in God. “I shall not want.” If we believe that God is the Shepherd of His people, we must conclude that He will supply all their wants. If we have learnt to call Him “My Shepherd,” then we shall confidently add, “I shall not want.” (George Bainton.)

The Divine Shepherd

What with post and rail fences, and our pride in Southdown, Astrakhan, and Flemish varieties of sheep, there is no use now of the old-time shepherd. Such an one had abundance of opportunity of becoming a poet, being out of doors twelve hours the day, and ofttimes waking up in the night on the hills. If the stars, or the torrents, or the sun, or the flowers, had anything to say, he was very apt to hear it. The Ettrick Shepherd of Scotland, who afterwards took his seat in the brilliant circle of Wilson and Lockhart, got his wonderful poetic inspiration in the ten years in which he was watching the flocks of Mr. Laidlaw. There is often a sweet poetry in the rugged prose of the Scotch shepherd. One of these Scotch shepherds lost his only son, and he knelt down in prayer, and was overheard to say, “O Lord, it has seemed good in Thy providence to take from me the staff of my right hand at the time when to us sand-blind mortals I seemed to be most in need of it; and how I shall climb up the hill of sorrow and auld age without it Thou mayst ken, but I dinna.”

I. Of the shepherd’s plaid. No splendid apparel, but rough strong apparel fit for his hard work. The Lord our Shepherd coming out to hunt the lost sheep, puts on no regal robe, but the plain garment of humanity. No; in the wardrobe of heaven He left the sandals of light, the girdles of beauty, the robes of power, and put on our besoiled and tattered raiment. The work of saving this world was rough work, rugged work, hard work; and Jesus put on the raiment, the plain raiment, of our flesh. The storms were to beat Him, the crowds were to jostle Him, the dust was to sprinkle Him, the mobs were to pursue Him. O, Shepherd of Israel! leave at home Thy bright array. For Thee, what streams to ford, what nights all unsheltered!

II. The shepherd’s crook. This was a rod with a curve at the end which, when a sheep was going astray, was thrown over its neck; and in that way it was pulled back. There is no animal that struggles more violently than a sheep when you corner it and catch hold of it. Down the glen I see a group of men around a lost sheep. A ploughman comes along and seizes the sheep, and tries to pacify it; but it is more frightened than ever. A miller comes along, puts down his grist, and caresses the sheep, and it seems as if it would die of fright. After a while someone breaks through the thicket. He says, “Let me have the poor thing.” He comes up and lays his arms around the sheep, and it is immediately quiet. Who is the last man that comes? It is the shepherd. Ah, be not afraid of the Shepherd’s crook. It is never used on you, save in mercy, to pull you back. The hard cold iceberg of trouble will melt in the warm Gulf Stream of Divine sympathy.

III. The shepherd’s dogs. They watch the straying sheep, and drive them back again. Every shepherd has his dog--from the nomads of the Bible times, down to the Scotch herdsman watching his flocks on the Grampian Hills. Our Shepherd employs the criticisms and persecutions of the world as His dogs. There are those, you know, whose whole work it is to watch the inconsistences of Christians, and bark at them. If one of God’s sheep gets astray, the world howls. It ought to do us good to know that we are thus watched. It ought to put us on our guard. They cannot bite us if we stay near the Shepherd. The more dogs take after you, the quicker you will get to the gate. The bloody muzzle of the papacy hounded fifty million Protestants into glory.

IV. The shepherd pasture grounds. The old shepherds used to take the sheep upon the mountains in the summer, and dwell in the valleys in the winter. It was well for the sheep to be out of doors. Wells were dug for them, and the shepherd led his flock wherever he would: nobody disputed his right. So the Lord our Shepherd has a large pasture ground. He takes us in the summer to the mountains, and in the winter to the valleys. Warm days of prosperity come, and we stand on sun-gilt Sabbaths, and on hills of transfiguration; and we are so high up we can catch a glimpse of the pinnacles of the heavenly city. Then cold wintry days of trouble come, and we go down into the valley of sickness, want, and bereavement, and we say, “Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow?” But, blessed be God, the Lord’s sheep can find pasture anywhere.

V. The shepherd’s fold. At shearing time--a very joyful time to all the country round--the sheep were put in a walled enclosure, where they could easily be counted, and any wanting would at once be missed. This was the sheep fold. (T. De Wilt Talmage.)

Jesus as “my” Shepherd

Some time ago a gentleman taking holiday in a rural district came across a little boy minding sheep. The stranger entered into conversation with the lad, and asked him if he knew the 23rd Psalm. The little fellow answered “No.” “Then let me teach you the first sentence,” said, the gentleman. “Say these words after me, ‘The--Lord--is--my--Shepherd!’” The boy repeated the words; “Now repeat each word again, and count a finger as you do so; in this way. And he told off a finger at each of the words. “And when you come to that word my, grip your fourth finger tightly with your other hand, and never forget, my lad, that the Lord is not only a Shepherd but your Shepherd.” The stranger went his way, and the boy told his parents at night of the strange gentleman and his lesson. During the following winter the snow fell heavily in that district. One day the boy and his sheep were missed. They were discovered in a deep drift. After the sheep had been dug out, the search party came upon the dead body of the boy--his left fourth finger tightly grasped in his right hand. Now the sequel. A distinguished Baptist minister was quite recently preaching Sunday school anniversary sermons in a northern town. Not far from the chapel lived the M.P. for the district. He was rich toward man, but not rich toward God. He had a great fondness for hearing children’s voices; and when he heard of the anniversary services he decided to attend the afternoon meeting for the children. The preacher told the simple story given above and presently the service ended. During the following days the rich man was taken ill, and died somewhat suddenly. When the doctors came to examine him, they found him already dead, and clasping his left fourth finger with his right hand. Not in vain did the stranger teach the shepherd lad; not in vain did the preacher tell the simple child’s, story; not in vain is the sequel, now printed. Let every, one who reads this remember as he goes through life that “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Jehovah

This name Jehovah is, as I may so speak, the most eminent of all the names of God; it carries that in it which is all in all, and, as it were, above all; namely, the verity or fidelity of God, making good all His goodness to us. The Hebrews make it to be an invariable and ineffable name, and it hath no pronouns affixed unto it, nor doth it admit any demonstrating article before it, and it wants the number of multitude; it is a name singular and proper to God. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)

The properties of a good shepherd

1. One is science: I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, saith Christ (John 10:14). A skilful knowledge, by which he must understand how to handle them or deal with them.

2. A second is providence. The good shepherd provideth pasture and water for the sheep, and always that which is wholesome, lest the sheep rot and die; as he is not negligent that the sheep want feeding, so he is diligent that they have wholesome feeding (Ezekiel 34:13). The Lord will provide sufficient pasture, and the best too.

3. A third is guidance, He doth not leave them to the misguidance of sin or Satan, or the world, or their own hearts.

4. A fourth is vigilance. The sheep are weaponless, weak, unarmed creatures, and they have many and strong enemies, as the lion and the wolf and the dog. Jacob watched night and day (Genesis 31:40). Such a Shepherd is God over His people; His eye is ever over them (1 Peter 3:12).

5. To which, as a part, may be added defence. He is my defence, saith David (Psalms 59:9). The Prophet Zachary calls Him a wall of fire round about His people (Zechariah 2:5).

6. The good shepherd does not only provide pasture but coverture also for the sheep: he hath his shady places from the sun, and retiring places from the storms, to refresh, as well as to flesh the sheep (Psalms 121:5).

7. A seventh property of a good shepherd is tender prudence, for in a flock of sheep there is great diversity: one part may be strong sheep, and they are driven; another part may be weak lambs, and they are sometimes carried by the shepherd. Some of the sheep may be sound and well, others may be diseased; some keep in better, others are more apt to stray (Isaiah 40:11).

8. Lastly, diligence and care, lest any one sheep be lost and perish. The good shepherd would not lose any of the least of all the flock. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)

Choice properties of sheep

1. One property in them (which the Scripture doth express) is obedience (John 10:4).

2. Another property of sheep is meekness and patience.

3. A third property of sheep is usefulness.

4. A fourth property of sheep is unity and peaceableness. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)

The chiefest Shepherd to be yours

But more particularly thus, you have--

1. Be contented with His pasture. God is pleased to feed us sometimes in the valleys with much plenty, variety, ease, delight; and sometimes, again, He is pleased to drive us to the mountains, to a shorter, sharper condition of life; if we be His sheep, we must be still contented with His pasture.

2. Carefully regard His voice.

3. Thrive under His feedings.

4. Cleave together as the flock of one shepherd. The wolf, it is his property to scatter the flock, and then to make a prey of one after another.

5. Lastly, if God be your Shepherd, then be not disquieted at His dealings with you. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)

I shall not want.--

A trustful confidence

The confidence was well grounded.

1. You shall not want a guardian; I will protect you.

2. You shall not want a justifying righteousness, by which you may have a good right and title to a place in My kingdom.

3. You shall not want a meetness for the kingdom of glory. I will make you free from the accursed bonds of sin.

4. You shall not want persevering grace. I, who have “begun a good work in you, will perform it.”

5. You shall not want spiritual refreshment.

6. You shall not want needful support. The world shall not overcome you. You shall gain the victory over its smiles and frowns. The Great Shepherd will crown you with His loving kindness forever. (J. Jennings.)

The Divine supply of human want

Then the useful application of all this unto ourselves.

I. In what sense the assertion is to be understood.

1. There are two sorts of things: some which do conduce to make the condition good and happy; others which do serve to make the condition smooth and delightful. As about an house there are pillars and rafters, etc., which are the bones, as it were, and absolute ingredients; and there are the varnishings and paintings which do set forth the house. Or, as in a garden, there are profitable fruits, and there are pleasant flowers only to look on and smell. So it is with us: there are some things which make our hearts truly good, and tend to our everlasting salvation; there are other things which do only serve to cheer and refresh us in our passage. Now, when David saith, I shall not want, they conjecture this to be the sense: Nothing shall be wanting to me which concerns the making of my estate truly happy; though delightfuls may be wanting, yet principals shall not.

2. Some things are

Those things are redundant without which a man may well pass over his condition of life. As a man may well serve God, though he have not an estate of riches or honour comparable to another, or always equal to itself. Those things are necessary without which a person cannot well serve God, as our daily bread, for which Christ would have us to pray: our bodies cannot be fitted to duty without these external necessary supplies of food and raiment. Even a good man, a David, may want superfluities; his table may not he variously furnished, nor his garments gaudily embroidered, nor his coffers excessively stuffed and piled. But yet he shall not want necessaries, though he be not sure of plenty, yet of enough (Isaiah 33:16). He doth not say his wines are sure, but his waters; and he doth not say his feast, but his bread shall not fail. Though he hath not always what he needs not, yet he shall have always what is needful. Though he hath not the lace, yet he hath the garment; though he hath not the sauce, yet he hath the meat; though he hath not the palace, yet he hath the chamber; though he hath not the softness, yet he hath the bed; though he hath not what he may spare, yet he hath what he may use,

3. Of necessary things, some are desirable, and some seasonable. Those things are desirable which have any kind of good in them; those things are seasonable which have a kind of conveniency or fitness in them. It is granted that there are many desirable goods which a good man hath not many times. Yet no seasonable good shall he want: When health is good for him, Hezekiah shall recover; when liberty is good for him, Joseph shall be loosed; when favour and dignity are good for him, then David shall return and be settled. It is good for me, saith David, that I was afflicted. A good man may want this thing and that thing, but he shall not want anything that is good, nor when it may be good for him.

4. Again, divines say that good things may be had two ways, either explicitly: when a person enjoyeth the individual or particular things (suppose health, strength, liberty, friends, and other comforts); interpretatively, when a person enjoyeth that which is equivalent to those things (a citizen may not have a garden, a farm, sheep or oxen, yet he hath thousands in his purse which are equivalent to all these). Thus do they say of a good man, that either he enjoyeth the very particular good things which he needs, or else those things which are equivalent to them, nay, far exceeding of them. Though he cannot have much lands, yet he hath many graces; though he cannot have the countenance of men, yet he hath the favour of God; though he cannot enjoy quiet abroad, yet he settleth peace within his conscience. He that hath but one diamond may have far more than he who hath a thousand stones digged out of the quarry.

5. You must distinguish ‘twixt absence and ‘twixt indigence. Absence is when something is not present; indigence or want is when a needful good is not present. If a man were to walk, and had not a staff, here were something absent; if a man were to walk, and had but one leg, here were something whereof he were indigent. It is confessed that there are many good things which are absent from a good person, but no good thing which he wants or is indigent of. If the good be absent, and I need it not, this is not want; he that walks without his cloak walks well enough, for he needs it not.

6. There are two sorts of wants: in some part of the condition, in the heart and affection; as a man may abound in his condition, and yet want in that of his affection. He may have abundance in honour, in estate, in wealth, and yet through an endless covetousness and vain discontent he may be in want, still complaining, murmuring, craving. So a man may want something in his external condition, and yet abound and not want in that of his inward affection. Though he hath not the outward thing, yet he wants it not, for he is contented with the absence of it.

7. Lastly, you must distinguish ‘twixt real wants and imaginary wants,--a want to the person and a want to the corruption: a child is sometimes clamorous for a knife, and sometimes he cries for bread; when he cries for bread his father ariseth and fetcheth the loaf, the child shall not want bread; but when he cries for the knife this he shall not have, the father will not satisfy his wantonness, though he will supply his wants. Our corruptions are still craving, and they are always inordinate; they can fled more wants than God needs to supply. God will see that His people shall not want, but withal He will never engage Himself to the satisfying of their corruptions, though He doth to the supply of their conditions. It is one thing what the sick man wants, another what his disease wants. Your ignorance, your discontents, your pride, your unthankful hearts may make you to believe that you dwell in a barren land, far from mercies (as melancholy makes a person to imagine that he is drowning, or killing, etc.), whereas if God did open your eyes as He did Hagar’s, you might see fountains and streams, mercies and blessings sufficient; though not many, yet enough; though not so rich, yet proper and every way convenient for your good and comfort.

How far the verity of this assertion extends, whether to soul and body, to spirituals and temporals. I answer briefly, it holds firm of both; both soul and body are the object of Divine providence and of Divine love, and both of them are serviceable to Divine glory.

1. That the soul shall not want, the Scriptures are abundant. It shall have grace and glory: there is redemption for it, righteousness for it, sanctification for it, and salvation; there is the Word to help it, the Sacraments to help it, afflictions to help it, and the Spirit of God still to help it--

2. That the body shall not want in respect of temporals; take them in any kind, and as suitable, and necessary, and seasonable. How it may appear that the people of God shall not want, and why.

But now it is objected against all this, that there are no people in the world that are in such want as the people of God for outward things. You know that all these outward things are promised not peremptorily, but

Now I come to the application of this point to ourselves. Shall not the flock or people of God want? Then you who take yourselves to be the people of His pasture, give ear and hearken this day unto two things.

1. Your sins: That you suffer your hearts so to be cracked with fears, and your minds to be filled with cares. Thou hast no reason at all to conclude that thou shalt want. Consider, what hath God been unto thee already? What is the nature of God for the present: Is He like man, that He should change? Was He God all-sufficient? is He not so still? thy loving and compassionate God? is He not so still? thy almighty God? is He not so still? Is He deceitful? or is His band shortened? Doth He cease to be God, or to be thy God? If the fountain still lives and runs, why shouldest thou imagine to die by thirst? If the sun still shines, why shouldest thou fancy nothing but darkness? What is the promise of God for the future? Thou hast all the reason in the world to conclude that thou shalt not want, when thou considerest that fulness, infinite fulness which is in God. But Divine goodness is such a common as cannot be overlaid: though there be not water enough for a few ships in the river, yet there is water and room enough for all the ships in the world on the sea. That great God who feeds a whole world every day, He is able enough to sustain thee all thy days. That willingness that is in God to do thee good.

2. Your duty: To be humbled for vexatious cares and fears, and then to cast your care on God. The motives, which shall be drawn--From the evil inconveniences of not trusting on the Lord your Shepherd to supply your wants. They are very many. It is a dishonourable thing not to cast your care on the Lord.

There are three things in God, whereof if a man be ignorant he will be much in cares and fears of want.

1. One is God’s fulness. If he apprehends not a fulness in all and every of God’s attributes, his soul will fear and care. If I conceive that God is fully able to supply one want, and not many, or many of my wants, but not all, or all my personal wants, but not my domestical wants; all my wants heretofore when I was a single person, but not all now, when my charge increaseth and multiplies by children and servants. He who thus conceives of God, no more than of a half God, of a God of the valleys and not of the mountains, one who can supply low and mean, but not high and great wants; few and not many wants, former wants, but not present, present but not future wants, extremely mistakes the fountain of supplies, and must necessarily be tossed and crucified with perpetual waves and darts of rolling fears and cutting cares.

2. God’s affectionateness.

3. God’s immutability or unchangeableness. David reasoneth so in this place. Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my God, He hath undertaken for me all my life, therefore I am not solicitous. Christians are exceeding faulty in this, to make sure of God, and yet it is the way to make sure all His mercies. The mathematicians must have some principles granted unto them, and if once you assent unto those truths they will thence infer many infallible and undeniable conclusions. Among Christians this should be a principle made firm that God is their God, and then they may quietly sit down, and confidently conclude all comforts for soul and body. Be diligent in your callings. He who eats the bread of idleness, may well resolve to drink the waters of carefulness. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)

The Lord our Shepherd

The relations subsisting between man and the lower animals play no insignificant part in the formation of human character and the discipline of human life. No relations appeal to heart and imagination more than those of shepherd and sheep. The emblem is dear to us yet, even to the dwellers in town and city. The emblem is dearer still, because it has been confirmed and hallowed by the lips of One greater than David.

I. We want nourishment. Body, mind, spirit, each need this.

II. We want refreshment. The shepherd brings his flock to the “waters.” As pasturage is an emblem of that which nourishes, so water is an emblem of all that refreshes. The difference between the pleasures which the devil gives and those which the Lord gives, is just this--the former intoxicate, but these exhilarate. Think of all the pleasure of simple, innocent recreation--of nature, music, poetry, and art; of friendship and the pure affections of the home. Let us never forget that the rapids and the cataract are sometimes only farther down in the very same stream, beside the still waters of which the Lord is leading His people. There is a boundary beyond which lawful pleasure passes into lawless.

III. We want rest. The shepherd makes the flock lie down in some cool, shady place. So every night the Lord maketh us to lie down. And He provides rest for the soul also. There is too little repose in the life of most of us. Too much bustle, too much impatience.

IV. We want guidance. Often we are perplexed as to what is our right path; and when we have found it we are liable to go astray.

V. We want restoration. From sickness and from wilfulness. He restores when we are weak and weary.

VI. We want the comfort of protection. Through the hilly gorge--even through death. (T. Campbell Finlayson.)

David’s confidence in the prospect of the future

The grounds of David’s freedom from anxiety are--

I. The relation in which the Lord stands to him. It is not the mere utterance of a promise, but his recollection of the fact that the Lord is his Shepherd. Now, in order to see God sustaining such gracious character towards us, we need--

1. A view of God as a gracious God; One who is gracious to sinners. This we can only know as we see Him in Christ.

2. And we must know this gracious God to be err God.

II. God’s presence with him. “Thou art with me.” We ]nay think little of this presence, but the godly man thinks much, and has habitually this recollection in his mind.

III. God’s present mercies. Probably David was thinking more of spiritual mercies than of temporal. He notices--

1. Their abundance.

2. The safety with which he enjoys them.

3. The strange circumstances under which these mercies were enjoyed, “in the presence of mine enemies.”

4. The honour which the Lord puts on him while blessing him, “Thou anointest my head with oil.” After having reviewed these mercies which he enjoys, he ends by making the inference that all his (lays goodness and mercy shall follow him. My Shepherd will be with me on earth, and take me at last to heaven. (C. Bradley, M. A.)