are emblems of contemplation and action, and as they dwell in one house, so
must these in one heart.
Nathanael Hardy.
Verse 2. This short but touching epitaph is frequently seen in the
catacombs at Rome, "In Christo, in pace" —(In Christ, in peace).
Realise the constant presence of the Shepherd of peace. "HE maketh me to
lie down!" "HE leadeth me."
J. R. Macduff, D.D.
Verse 2 ( last clause ). "Easily leadeth," or "comfortably guideth
me:" it noteth a soft and gentle leading, with sustaining of infirmity.
H. Ainsworth.
Verse 2. "Green pastures." Here are many pastures, and every pasture
rich so that it can never be eaten bare; here are many streams, and every
stream so deep and wide that it can never be drawn dry. The sheep have been
eating in these pastures ever since Christ had a church on earth, and yet
they are as full of grass as ever. The sheep have been drinking at these
streams ever since Adam, and yet they are brim full to this very day, and
they will so continue till the sheep are above the use of them in heaven!
Ralph Robinson, 1656.
Verse 2. "Green pastures . . . beside the still waters." From the
top of the mound (of Arban on the Khabour) the eye ranged over a level
country bright with flowers, and spotted with black tents, and innumerable
flocks of sheep and camels. During our stay at Arban, the color of these
great plains was undergoing a continual change. After being for some days
of a golden yellow, a new family of flowers would spring up, and it would
turn almost in a night to a bright scarlet, which would again as suddenly
give way to the deepest blue. Then the meadows would be mottled with
various hues, or would put on the emerald green of the most luxuriant of
pastures. The glowing descriptions I had so frequently received from the
Bedouins of the beauty and fertility of the banks of the Khabour were more
than realised. The Arabs boast that its meadows bear three distinct crops
of grass during the year, and the wandering tribes look upon its wooded
banks and constant greensward as a paradise during the summer months, where
man can enjoy a cool shade, and beast can find fresh and tender herbs,
whilst all around is yellow, parched, and sapless.
Austin H. Layard, 1853.
Verse 2. With guidance to "green pastures," the psalmist has, with good
reason, associated guardianship beside "still waters:" for as we can only
appropriate the word through the Spirit, so we shall ordinarily receive the
Spirit through the Word; not indeed only by hearing it, not only by reading
it, not only by reflecting upon it. The Spirit of God, who is a most free
agent, and who is himself the source of liberty, will come into the heart of
the believer when he will, and how he will, and as he will. But the effect
of his coming will ever be the realisation of some promise, the recognition
of some principle, the attainment of some grace, the understanding of some
mystery, which is already in the word, and which we shall thus find, with a
deeper impression, and with a fuller development, brought home with power to
the heart.
Thomas Dale, M.A., in "The Good Shepherd," 1847.
Verse 2. "Still waters;" which are opposed to great rivers, which both
affright the sheep with their noise, and expose them to the danger of being
carried away by their swift and violent streams, whilst they are drinking at
them.
Matthew Poole.
Verse 2. "Still waters;" Hebrew, "Waters of rests," ex quibus diligunt
oves bibere, saith Kimchi, such as sheep love to drink of, because void of
danger, and yielding a refreshing air. Popish clergymen are called the
"inhabitants of the sea," Revelation 12:12, because they set abroach gross,
troubled, brackish, and sourish doctrine, which rather bringeth barrenness
to their hearers, and gnaweth the entrails than quencheth their thirst, or
cooleth their heat. The doctrine of the gospel, like the waters of Siloe
(Isaiah 8:8), run gently, but taste pleasantly.
John Trapp.
Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul," etc. The subjects experimentally
treated in this verse are, first, the believer's liability to fall, or
deviate even within the fold of the church, else wherefore should he need to
be "restored?" Next, the promptitude of the Good Shepherd to interpose
for his rescue. "He restoreth my soul." Then Christ's subsequent care to
"lead him in the paths of righteousness;" and lastly, the reason assigned
wherefore he will do this—resolving all into the spontaneousness, the
supremacy, the omnipotence of grace. He will do all "for his own name's
sake."
Thomas Dale.
Verse 3. " He restoreth my soul." The same hand which first rescued us
from ruin, reclaims us from all our subsequent aberrations. Chastisement
itself is blended with tenderness; and the voice which speaks reproof,
saying, "They have perverted their way, and they have forsaken the Lord
their God," utters the kindest invitation, "Return, ye backsliding children,
and I will heal your backslidings." Nor is the voice unheard, and the call
unanswered or unfelt. "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our
God." Jeremiah 3:22. "When thou saidst, Seek my face; my heart said unto
thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
J. Thornton's "Shepherd of Israel," 1826.
Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul." He restores it to its original
purity, that was now grown foul and black with sin; for also, what good were
it to have "green" pastures and a black soul! He "restores" it to its
natural temper in affections, that was grown distempered with violence of
passions; for alas! what good were it to have "still" waters and
turbulent spirits! He "restores" it indeed to life, that was grown
before in a manner quite dead; and who could "restore my soul" to life,
but he only that is the Good Shepherd and gave his life for his sheep?
Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 3. "He shall convert my soul;" turn me not only from sin and
ignorance, but from every false confidence, and every deceitful refuge.
"He shall bring me forth in paths of righteousness;" in those paths of
imputed righteousness which are always adorned with the trees of holiness,
are always watered with the fountains of consolation, and always terminate
in everlasting rest. Some, perhaps, may ask, why I give this sense to the
passage? Why may it not signify the paths of duty, and the way of our own
obedience? Because such effects are here mentioned as never have resulted,
and never can result, from any duties of our own. These are not "green
pastures," but a parched and blasted heath. These are not "still
waters," but a troubled and disorderly stream. Neither can these speak
peace or administer comfort when we pass through the valley and shadow of
death. To yield these blessings, is the exalted office of Christ, and the
sole prerogative of his obedience.
James Hervey.
Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul:" Hebrew. "He bringeth it back;"
either, 1. From its errors or wandering; or, 2. Into the body, out of
which it was even departing and fainting away. He reviveth or comforteth
me.
Matthew Poole.
Verse 3. "Paths of righteousness." Alas! O Lord, these "paths of
righteousness," have a long time so little been frequented, that the prints
of a path are almost clean worn out; that it is a hard matter now, but to
find where the paths lie, and if we can find them, yet they are so narrow
and so full of ruts, that without special assistance it is an impossible
thing not to fall or go astray. Even so angels, and those no mean ones,
were not able to go right in these "paths of righteousness," but for want
of leading, went away and perished. O, therefore, thou the Great Shepherd
of my soul, as thou art pleased of thy grace to lead me into them, so
vouchsafe with thy grace to lead me in them; for though in themselves they
be "paths of righteousness ," yet to me they will be but paths of error
if thou vouchsafe not, as well to lead me in them, as into them.
Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 3. "Paths." In the wilderness and in the desert there are no
raised paths, the paths being merely tracks; and sometimes there are six or
eight paths running unevenly along side each other. No doubt this is what
is figuratively referred to in Psalm 23:3, "He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness," all leading to one point.
John Gadsby.
Verse 3. "For his name's sake." Seeing he hath taken upon him the
name of a "Good Shepherd," he will discharge his part, whatever his
sheep be. It is not their being bad sheep that can make him leave being a
"Good Shepherd," but he will be "good," and maintain the credit of "his
name" in spite of all their badness; and though no benefit come to them of
it, yet there shall glory accrue to him by it, and "his name" shall
nevertheless be magnified and extolled.
Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. " To "fear no evil," then, "in the valley of the
shadow of death," is a blessed privilege open to every true believer! For
death shall be to him no death at all, but a very deliverance from death,
from all pains, cares, and sorrows, miseries and wretchedness of this world,
and the very entry into rest, and a beginning of everlasting joy: a tasting
of heavenly pleasures, so great, that neither tongue is able to express,
neither eyes to see, nor ear to hear them, no, nor any earthly man's heart
to conceive them. . . . And to comfort all Christian persons herein,
holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep, wherein man's senses be,
as it were, taken from him for a season, and yet, when he waketh, he is more
fresh than when he went to bed! . . . Thus is this bodily death a door or
entering into life, and therefore not so much dreadful, if it be rightly
considered, as it is comfortable; not a mischief, but a remedy for all
mischief; no enemy, but a friend; not a cruel tyrant, but a gentle guide;
leading us not to mortality, but to immortality! not to sorrow and pain, but
to joy and pleasure, and that to endure for ever!
Homily against the Fear of Death, 1547.
Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil." Though I were called to such a sight as Ezekiel's
vision, a valley full of dead men's bones; though the king of terrors should
ride in awful pomp through the streets, slaying heaps upon heaps, and
thousands should fall at my side, and ten thousands at my right hand, I will
fear no evil. Though he should level his fatal arrows at the little circle
of my associates, and put lover and friend far from me, and mine
acquaintance into darkness, I will fear no evil. Yea, though I myself
should feel his arrow sticking fast in me, the poison drinking up my
spirits; though I should in consequence of that fatal seizure, sicken and
languish, and have all the symptoms of approaching dissolution, still I will
fear no evil. Nature, indeed, may start back and tremble, but I trust that
he who knows the flesh to be weak, will pity and pardon these struggles.
However I may be afraid of the agonies of dying, I will fear no evil in
death. The venom of his sting is taken away. The point of his arrow is
blunted, so that it can pierce no deeper than the body. My soul in
invulnerable. I can smile at the shaking of his spear; look unmoved on the
ravages which the unrelenting destroyer is making on my tabernacle; and long
for the happy period when he shall have made a breach wide enough for my
heaven-aspiring spirit to fly away and be at rest.
Samuel Lavington.
Verse 4. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." "I want to talk to you about heaven," said a dying parent [The late Rev. Hugh Stowell, Rector of Ballaugh, Isle of Man.] to a member of his family. "We may not be spared to each other
long. May we meet around the throne of glory, one family in heaven!"