Psalm 23
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
Other Works
There is no inspired title to this psalm, and none is needed, for it
records no special event, and needs no other key than that which every
Christian may find in his own bosom. It is David's Heavenly Pastoral; a
surpassing ode, which none of the daughters of music can excel. The clarion
of war here gives place to the pipe of peace, and he who so lately bewailed
the woes of the Shepherd tunefully rehearses the joys of the flock. Sitting
under a spreading tree, with his flock around him, like Bunyan's
shepherd-boy in the Valley of Humiliation, we picture David singing this
unrivalled pastoral with a heart as full of gladness as it could hold; or,
if the psalm be the product of his after-years, we are sure that his soul
returned in contemplation to the lonely water-brooks which rippled among the
pastures of the wilderness, where in early days she had been wont to dwell.
This is the pearl of psalms whose soft and pure radiance delights every eye;
a pearl of which Helicon need not be ashamed, though Jordan claims it. Of
this delightful song it may be affirmed that its piety and its poetry are
equal, its sweetness and its spirituality are unsurpassed.
The position of this psalm is worthy of notice. It follows the
twenty-second, which is peculiarly the Psalm of the Cross. There are no
green pastures, no still waters on the other side of the twenty-second
psalm. It is only after we have read, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" that we come to "The Lord is my Shepherd." We must by
experience know the value of blood-shedding, and see the sword awakened
against the Shepherd, before we shall be able truly to know the Sweetness of
the good Shepherd's care.
It has been said that what the nightingale is among birds, that is this
divine ode among the psalms, for it has sung sweetly in the ear of many a
mourner in his night of weeping, and has bidden him hope for a morning of
joy. I will venture to compare it also to the lark, which sings as it
mounts, and mounts as it sings, until it is out of sight, and even then is
not out of hearing. Note the last words of the psalm —"I will dwell in
the house of the Lord for ever;" these are celestial notes, more fitted for
the eternal mansions than for these dwelling places below the clouds. Oh
that we may enter into the spirit of the psalm as we read it, and then we
shall experience the days of heaven upon the earth!
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd." What condescension is this, that
the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a
Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great
God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great
love and care for his own people. David had himself been a keeper of sheep,
and understood both the needs of the sheep and the many cares of a shepherd.
He compares himself to a creature weak, defenceless, and foolish, and he
takes God to be his Provider, Preserver, Director, and, indeed, his
everything. No man has a right to consider himself the Lord's sheep unless
his nature has been renewed for the scriptural description of unconverted
men does not picture them as sheep, but as wolves or goats. A sheep is an
object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and
frequently it is bought with a great price. It is well to know, as
certainly David did, that we belong to the Lord. There is a noble tone of
confidence about this sentence. There is no "if" nor "but," nor even "I
hope so;" but he says, "The Lord is my shepherd." We must cultivate the
spirit of assured dependence upon our heavenly Father. The sweetest word of
the whole is that monosyllable, "My." He does not say, "The Lord is the
shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth forth the multitude as his
flock," but "The Lord is my shepherd;" if he be a Shepherd to no one else,
he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and
preserves me. The words are in the present tense. Whatever be the
believer's position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah.
The next words are a sort of inference from the first statement—they
are sententious and positive— "I shall not want." I might want
otherwise, but when the Lord is my Shepherd he is able to supply my needs,
and he is certainly willing to do so, for his heart is full of love, and
therefore "I shall not want." I shall not lack for temporal things.
Does he not feed the ravens, and cause the lilies to grow? How, then, can
he leave his children to starve? I shall not want for spirituals, I know
that his grace will be sufficient for me. Resting in him he will say to me,
"As thy day so shall thy strength be." I may not possess all that I wish
for, but "I shall not want." Others, far wealthier and wiser than I, may
want, but "I shall not." "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." It is not only
"I do not want," but "I shall not want." Come what may, if famine should
devastate the land, or calamity destroy the city, "I shall not want." Old
age with its feebleness shall not bring me any lack, and even death with its
gloom shall not find me destitute. I have all things and abound; not
because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill
and wit with which to win my bread, but because "The Lord is my shepherd."
The wicked always want, but the righteous never; a sinner's heart is far
from satisfaction, but a gracious spirit dwells in the palace of content.
Verse 2. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside
the still waters." The Christian life has two elements in it, the
contemplative and the active, and both of these are richly provided for.
First, the contemplative. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."
What are these "green pastures" but the Scriptures of truth—always
fresh, always rich, and never exhausted? There is no fear of biting the
bare ground where the grass is long enough for the flock to lie down in it.
Sweet and full are the doctrines of the gospel; fit food for souls, as
tender grass is natural nutriment for sheep. When by faith we are enabled
to find rest in the promises, we are like the sheep that lie down in the
midst of the pasture; we find at the same moment both provender and peace,
rest and refreshment, serenity and satisfaction. But observe: " He maketh
me to lie down." It is the Lord who graciously enables us to perceive the
preciousness of his truth, and to feed upon it. How grateful ought we to be
for the power to appropriate the promises! There are some distracted souls
who would give worlds if they could but do this. They know the blessedness
of it, but they cannot say that this blessedness is theirs. They know the
"green pastures," but they are not made to "lie down" in them. Those
believers who have for years enjoyed a "full assurance of faith" should
greatly bless their gracious God.
The second part of a vigorous Christian's life consists in gracious
activity. We not only think, but we act. We are not always lying down to
feed, but are journeying onward toward perfection; hence we read, "he
leadeth me beside the still waters." What are these "still waters" but
the influences and graces of his blessed Spirit? His Spirit attends us in
various operations, like waters—in the plural—to cleanse, to
refresh, to fertilise, to cherish. They are " still waters," for the Holy
Ghost loves peace, and sounds no trumpet of ostentation in his operations.
He may flow into our soul, but not into our neighbour's, and therefore our
neighbour may not perceive the divine presence; and though the blessed
Spirit may be pouring his floods into one heart, yet he that sitteth next to
the favoured one may know nothing of it.
"In sacred silence of the mind
My heaven, and there my God I find."
Still waters run deep. Nothing more noisy than an empty drum. That silence
is golden indeed in which the Holy Spirit meets with the souls of his
saints. Not to raging waves of strife, but to peaceful streams of holy love
does the Spirit of God conduct the chosen sheep. He is a dove, not an
eagle; the dew, not the hurricane. Our Lord leads us beside these "still
waters;" we could not go there of ourselves, we need his guidance,
therefore it is said, "he leadeth me." He does not drive us. Moses
drives us by the law, but Jesus leads us by his example, and the gentle
drawing of his love.
Verse 3. "He restoreth my soul." When the soul grows sorrowful he
revives it; when it is sinful he sanctifies it; when it is weak he
strengthens it. "He" does it. His ministers could not do it if he did
not. His Word would not avail by itself. "He restoreth my soul." Are
any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest
ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray
to him, then, for the blessing—"Restore thou me, thou Shepherd of my
soul!"
"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."
The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to
which he is constrained by the example of his Master. "He leadeth me."
The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others;
he does not pick and choose, but yields to all. Observe, that the plural is
used—"the paths of righteousness." Whatever God may give us to do we
would do it, led by his love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of
sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the
sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet
remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we
desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the
way of holiness. All this is done out of pure free grace; "for his name's
sake." It is to the honour of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy
people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and
guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd's care.
Verse 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." This unspeakably delightful verse has been sung on many a dying bed,
and has helped to make the dark valley bright times out of mind. Every word
in it has a wealth of meaning. "Yea, though I walk," as if the believer
did not quicken his pace when he came to die, but still calmly walked with
God. To walk indicates the steady advance of a soul which knows its road,
knows its end, resolves to follow the path, feels quite safe, and is
therefore perfectly calm and composed. The dying saint is not in a flurry,
he does not run as though he were alarmed, nor stand still as though he
would go no further, he is not confounded nor ashamed, and therefore keeps
to his old pace. Observe that it is not walking in the valley, but
through the valley. We go through the dark tunnel of death and emerge
into the light of immortality. We do not die, we do but sleep to wake in
glory. Death is not the house but the porch, not the goal but the passage
to it. The dying article is called a valley. The storm breaks on the
mountain, but the valley is the place of quietude, and thus full often the
last days of the Christian are the most peaceful of his whole career; the
mountain is bleak and bare, but the valley is rich with golden sheaves, and
many a saint has reaped more joy and knowledge when he came to die than he
ever knew while he lived. And, then, it is not "the valley of death," but
"the valley of the shadow of death," for death in its substance has been
removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Some one has said that when
there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there is. Death
stands by the side of the highway in which we have to travel, and the light
of heaven shining upon him throws a shadow across our path; let us then
rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a
shadow cannot stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog
cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot
destroy us. Let us not, therefore, be afraid. "I will fear no evil." He
does not say there shall not be any evil; he had got beyond even that high