How to access God’s resources (Psalm 23)
Ps 23:1-6
Spending a week near a sheep farm a few summers ago, I noticed one evening a sheep that scrambled up the hillside and refused to budge from there when the rest of the flock was brought into the fold. No amount of pushing or cajoling worked and as the farmer made the umpteenth attempt to direct the silly creature towards the pen, he remarked wryly that this was certainly a new angle on the one sheep that was lost (Luke 15:3-7). As we picture Jesus’ story, we imagine the sheep desperately bleating to be rescued, but so many of us do not know what is good for us and all we do is evade the Shepherd’s best efforts to bring us into safety and rest. While not everyone cares to make resolutions at the beginning of a New Year, it is worth stopping long enough to re-centre our life around God using this much-loved psalm.
The shepherd who provides
The shepherd imagery was a royal metaphor used both of gods and kings in the ancient Near East.[1] Here, it is particularly poignant if we imagine David the king saying it in recognition that he himself is subject to the ultimate Shepherd King, God. Elsewhere the image indicates a collective relationship with the flock, God’s people (Ps 80:2; 77:21; 95:7), but here it is deeply personal: the Lord is my shepherd (Ps 23:1).[2] Israel is an arid land and, apart from the few weeks of spring rains when everything turns lush, green pastures and water sources are hard to find. That is why sheep must rely on the shepherd to guide them to provision and rest (Ps 23:2-3). Beyond material-physical needs the psalm resonates with our spiritual ones, too. The key is in following the Shepherd ‘in paths of righteousness’ (v.3). It is only as we live by His guidelines and will that we know His restoring power and the refreshing ‘waters of rest’ (as the Hebrew puts it; v.2).
The shepherd who protects
Sheep are vulnerable to attack, and the shepherd has a club (or rod), a straight stick with a knob at the top (sometimes with nails driven into it) to beat off predators or thieves. His staff, often with a bent semicircular end, keeps the sheep in order, restraining or moving them as necessary (Ps 23:4).[3] Even in the deep gullies where the sun does not penetrate and where darkness reigns and attack is more likely, the shepherd’s protection is enough. Although the image shifts dramatically to a banqueting hall, the enemies are present still (Ps 23:5) yet cannot harm those in fellowship around the table with the Lord. In a dry climate, oil acted as a moisturiser, and along with the overflowing cup, they reflect God’s rich provision (v.5). Finally, the psalmist affirms that God actively seeks out and ‘pursues’ (the meaning of the Hebrew) him with His goodness and loving commitment, true of all who live in His presence (Ps 23:6).
How to access God’s resources
The picture painted to us through these verses is idyllic, yet how many of us know this kind of tranquillity and fulfilment in trouble and need? The psalm reminds us that we have deep resources to sustain us, but how do we access these? The key is in that relationship with the Lord. It starts with that recognition that I am subject to God and His will, that He is ‘my’ shepherd. This is wonderful news but also a nuisance because it means letting go of what we think would satisfy us and lead to our sense of fulfilment and following the Lord instead. It means accepting that the path to rest and restoration may lead us through deep valleys of dark shadow that threaten to destroy us. The deadly darkness with enemies might be circumstances we struggle with like illness, relational strife or financial strain. They may be internal weaknesses such as anxiety, despair, anger, jealousy, the desire to prove ourselves, or simply to have peace at any cost. These impulses are pulling us one way, while God gently nudges us another way. As we face the New Year, may we remind ourselves daily that God is with us (Ps 23:4), seek to see His hand in our circumstances and live in His presence (Ps 23:6).
[1] Below are some examples of the shepherd imagery in the ancient Near East (emphasis in the quotes are mine). The first one is from the late second millennium BC (roughly Abraham’s time in the biblical story) and describes the sun god Shamash. “Hymn to Shamash” (Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, eds., Readings form the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002], 198-99).
You protect all the people of the lands, and all that Ea, king of the princes, has created is entrusted to you. You shepherd all that is endowed with the breath of life, you are its shepherd above and below.
The second quote describes Hammurabi, the Old Babylonian King (in the 1800s BC) famous for his law code, the Code of Hammurabi. “The Prologue,” trans. Theophile J. Meek (James B. Pritchard, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating the Old Testament, 3rd ed. with suppl. [Princeton: Princeton UP, 1969], 164-65).
Hammurabi, the shepherd, called by Enlil [a Babylonian god], am I; the one who makes affluence and plenty abound; who provides in abundance all sorts of things […] the savior of his people from distress, who establishes in security their portion in the midst of Babylon; the shepherd of the people, whose deeds are pleasing to Ishtar [a Babylonian god]… who makes law prevail; who guides the people aright…
[2] Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50, WBC 19 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 206.
[3] The description of the rod and staff comes from E. Power, who argues that the two words denote two pieces of equipment with distinct functions, which he bases on the practice of modern Palestinian shepherds from the early twentieth century. He demonstrates the use of these from other Old Testament passages as well. “The Shepherd’s Two Rods in Modern Palestine and Some Passages of the Old Testament,” Biblica 9 (1928): 434-42 (see esp. pp.435-39).
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