Time for a Deep Breath: Psalm 23

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paradox3

paradox3

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Psalm 23

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Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 23 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Psalm 23 The Divine Shepherd - A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil...
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This familiar and much loved psalm is one of my favorites. What about you?

I practically have it committed to memory (the KJV) from my Sunday School days. It shows up a few times in the common lectionary and we hear it at funerals. Our hymn book offers three different sung versions. VU 747, 748 and 749

In six verses of simple prose, the psalmist assures us of God's peace, God's guidance and God's presence. God will stay with us when we face death and when we are surrounded by enemies.

How do you react to this reading? It almost seems more suited to meditation than analysis but there is lots to think about here.
 
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One thought that occurred to me once I knew this was coming, was that we often see this accompanied by rather gentle images of Jesus (or a generic shepherd) holding a sheep. But shepherds can be pretty badass, too. Look at David's skill with the sling, learned as a shepherd. A modern shepherd might well have a rifle instead of a sling if you want to see what that means.

And that kind of shows up in this part of the psalm.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
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I mean, part of the reason a shepherd's rod and staff are comforting to the sheep is the use they'll be put to when a predator or rustler shows up.
 
Metaphorically speaking, the rod and the staff might be God's law. What we need to be guided in those paths of righteousness, perhaps?

You have me wondering if we romanticize shepherds too much now @Mendalla. When they show up in Luke's gospel they are pretty rough characters. Low class too.
 
I think it's lovely, suitable for a funeral, BUT is it suitable to remember when surrounded by enemies or death? Maybe..... It possibly gives words of comfort, removes some fear or boosts your strength with more endorphins.
Basically though, you really can't do nothing and then expect God to take over fully....except maybe death, but even then, you don't always get to skip the suffering part.
It sort of reminds me of a friend listening to another friends woes empathetically, and then with good intentions bading farewell by saying, "okay, now you take care of yourself"
 
Mendalla said:
That's kind of the point of those middle verses, isn't it? That the shepherd protects their sheep?
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The psalm doesn't actually say God will do anything to protect the sheep although it might be implied in the reference to the rod.

"I fear no evil, for thou art with me."

What does this mean?

God will deal with the evil somehow or God will simply be with us?
 
I have always been a "look afterer" more than a "look aftered". I am entering a relationship with a person who often says "hey babe, let me look after that", and I honestly don't know how to react.
 
There is an awful lot that is not promised in this psalm.

There is no annihilation of enemies. No eradication of evil. No eventual triumph of goodness. Not even eternal life to compensate for death on this earth.

So is God's presence and God's moral guidance enough? Along with a reminder to live with gratitude?
 
BetteTheRed said:
I have always been a "look afterer" more than a "look aftered". I am entering a relationship with a person who often says "hey babe, let me look after that", and I honestly don't know how to react.
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That's a problem with the shepherd's psalm I have been meditating on. Humans are not sheep. We don't want or need someone watching over us constantly and would chafe at being "herded" the way sheep are herded, Note how "sheeple" is used by the loony conspiracy crowd to denote people who follow government advice and guidance. Loony or not, there's a point there about the difference between humans and sheep (even if they are more "sheeple" themselves than they realize but we can discuss that in Politics). We want someone who will support us when we need it, but not necessarily a constant, guiding shepherd. Look at how children start chafing at parental oversight once they hit their teens.

paradox3 said:
There is an awful lot that is not promised in this psalm.
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Is the psalm about promises, though? It reads to me like someone expressing their feelings about how God influences and affects their life. Perhaps that sets a model for a relationship with God, but I don't think it is meant to be a complete, be-all and end-all promise from God, more of an expression of how the psalmist experiences God and maybe wishes others could, too.
 
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An interesting note on sheep and shepherds from my travels. As we toured around Iceland, we often spotted sheep, usually in small groups but occasionally individually, grazing just randomly here and there. Apparently on Iceland, where there are no natural predators (their only native predator is the Arctic fox, which is only a threat to small mammals like rodents and rabbits), they just let their sheep loose in the summer. No shepherds, no sheepdogs, just sheep wandering and grazing. When the weather starts to turn cold and the bitter Icelandic winter looms, the farmers head out to gather in their sheep to the barns for protection from winter, and then lambing and sheering happen in the Spring. So perhaps we are more like Icelandic sheep and God is an Icelandic shepherd/farmer, letting us roam but ready to bring us to safety when the cold hard days loom.
 
How much discomfort and stress must be impressed on an animal to make it mindless? Corner a badger in a shed and test the question ...

In a stress based atmosphere are there spines? Thus the bust ... upon us as the flakey days of Isis? Chilling ... and it is said we are all individual and flakey ... until the melt ... then human drips sucked up by the vegetation ... explains the spirit under the tree ... Dan did you see it?

Not for those missing abstract ...
 
About anointing the sheep's head with oil.

I heard in a sermon once that this was an act of loving kindness to the sheep because their faces are so dry. The oil was likely in short supply and the shepherds were generous with it.

However, I have also read that the purpose of the oil was to repel parasites and flies.
 
Beyond mortal comprehension ... and cause of fallacy ... sometimes related to misplaced logos ... there are no words for it! In blarney ... Och 'min ... declared non-interpretable!

Thus dancing all about the subject as narse ... nar 'đ of avoiding appreciative response? Thus subtle matters ... nice scene code stripped ...

Virtually invisible ... like midnight that mule ... Cervantes?
 
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paradox3 said:
About anointing the sheep's head with oil.

I heard in a sermon once that this was an act of loving kindness to the sheep because their faces are so dry. The oil was likely in short supply and the shepherds were generous with it.

However, I have also read that the purpose of the oil was to repel parasites and flies.
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Seems to me, though, there could be a double meaning here, since a special anointing oil was also a part of rituals for priests and (later in history) kings per Exodus 30:22-33 (quoted below from NRSVUE). In fact, this anointing oil is forbidden for uses other than religious purposes. It signifies holiness and sets the anointed apart. Of course, Messiah is the anointed one (since they are a king) so is there a messianic hint here? Or is the psalmist just suggesting the Lord has sanctified them in some way? Since Psalm 23 is one of the ones specifically attributed to David, is this a sign it is a Psalm of David since he would have been anointed as King?

22 The Lord spoke to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred fifty, and two hundred fifty of aromatic cane, 24 and five hundred of cassia—measured by the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil, 25 and you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the covenant 27 and the table and all its utensils and the lampstand and its utensils and the altar of incense 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin with its stand; 29 you shall consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them will become holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve me as priests. 31 You shall say to the Israelites: This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, and you shall make no other like it in composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever blends any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people.”
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@Mendalla
So was it a holy anointing or an anointing for practical purposes?

Could it be both? Judaism, after all, is pretty big on finding the holy in the ordinary.
 
paradox3 said:
So was it a holy anointing
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For this particular oil, holy at least based on that passage from Exodus. Though keep in mind that the idea behind holy anointing (and even baptism, really) is a cleansing and refreshing. Oil was used, for instance, in the Roman baths as part of the cleansing process. So maybe holy, but drawing on the practical for its symbolism?
 
I was interested to learn that King Charles was anointed with holy oil at his coronation. Olive oil from Jerusalem, I believe. Or maybe a blend.
 
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