“1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 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. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Psalm 23, KJV
Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved, memorized, quoted, and recited Psalms in the church. Sometimes, however, when a passage is used often it loses it’s depth and meaning to us. It is in danger of becoming a platitude. I know I found great comfort and appreciation of taking another, in-depth look at Psalm 23. I hope it will be a blessing to you as well.
Verse 1
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” King David makes two primary points in this verse. First, God is His Shepherd. Second, because of his relationship with the Lord and following humbly after Him, David professes he shall never ‘want’ for anything. This word translated as ‘want’ in the Hebrew means to be “devoid or anything.” 1 Now we can explore these two point in more detail.
God is My Shepherd
Most of us today cannot relate to what it means to either be a shepherd or to be shepherded. David however, intimately knew both. From a child, he was a a shepherd to his family’s sheep. Note David’s own testimony from 1 Samuel 17. He gives this account to King Saul to demonstrate his faith in God to give him victory over Goliath. David professed:
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” 2
In the New Testament, Jesus Himself testifies that He is our “Good Shepherd.” He proclaims, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” 3
David understood the commitment required of a shepherd. He understood the 24/7 nature of the role of a shepherd. Likewise, David understood the love, mercy, and devotion necessary of being a shepherd. Additionally, after the Lord called David to serve Him, David would gradually learn the role that sheep play in following their Shepherd. In regards to this difficulty, Matthew Henry wrote, “If God be as a shepherd to us, we must be as sheep, inoffensive, meek, and quiet, silent before the shearers, nay, and before the butcher too, useful and sociable; we must know the shepherd’s voice, and follow him.” 4 David will allude to these in the following verses of this Psalm.
Those Who Follow the Lord Shall Never Want
With this statement, King David is not saying that those who follow Jesus will never have a need, neither is he preaching a “Prosperity Gospel.” This is referring to any ‘good thing.’ Note David’s expansion on this idea in Psalm 34. He wrote, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.” 5
If we take this a step farther, a look at the context of Ps 34:10, we find the following:
“Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing. Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” 6
Psalm 37:4 adds the following to this discussion, ” Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Everything that you and I desire should be in the Lord, and not separate or outside of Him. All that a sheep need to live can be obtained by simply following their faithful and dutiful shepherd. Sheep get into trouble when they wander off from the shepherd seeking things that he has not provided.
Verses 2-3
I believe these 2 verses are best seen together. In verse two I see a metaphor to which verse 3 details. Notice the following table comparing the two verses:
| Verse 2 | Verse 3 |
| “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” | “He restoreth my soul” |
| “he leadeth me beside the still waters” | “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” |
Above we can see the relationship between verse 2 and 3. In the beginning of verse 2, David recounts that God, His Good Shepherd, makes him to lie down in green pastures. The primary imagery here is rest, peace, and being at home. The Hebrew word translated as ‘lie down’ is used of a 4-legged animal lying down with all 4 legs folded beneath them. They are at rest without worry. The parallel in verse 3 identifies this as restoration of the soul, or the ‘inner being of man.’ No matter what is going on in the life of a true believer, a true Christ-follower, it is the Lord that will restore our soul and cause us to lie down in green pastures.
Next, David proclaims that the Good Shepherd leads him beside ‘still waters.’ The word translated as ‘leads’ in the Hebrew means “to lead, give rest, lead with care, guide to a watering place or station, cause to rest, bring to a station or place of rest, guide, refresh.” 7 These ‘silent waters’ and green pastures paint a picture of serenity, rest, safety, care, and abundant provision. These still waters are represented by the ‘paths of righteousness’ in which the Lord leads us. For a believer, the only way to be at peace, is to follow hard after the Lord on the paths of righteousness…not religion, not self-righteousness, not piety, and not fleshly pursuits.
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.”
In commenting on this verse, Matthew Henry wrote, “though I am in peril of death, though in the midst of dangers, deep as a valley, dark as a shadow, and dreadful as death itself,” or rather, “though I am under the arrests of death, have received the sentence of death within myself, and have all the reason in the world to look upon myself as a dying man, yet I am easy.” Those that are sick, those that are old, have reason to look upon themselves as in the valley of the shadow of death. Here is one word indeed which sounds terrible; it is death, which we must all count upon; there is no discharge in that war…Death is a king of terrors, but not to the sheep of Christ” 4
Even the aging King David, when writing this Psalm, understood his mortality. Many of the Psalms we read are of him crying out to God for the peril he was oft in. He knew that none of us would escape death. And yet, a true believer has nothing to fear. Why? Because God is always with us. If God be for us, who can be against us?
Verses 5 – 6
Note here the confidence of David in His Shepherd. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Notice that David is not ignorant of problems that face believers. He was well acquainted with the truth that the righteous followers of God will be hated, persecuted, and hunted like animals. He recognized he was in the presence of his enemies…yet his focus was not on the enemies, but rather on God’s abundant provisions. even in the darkest seasons of our lives, and the deepest and scariest valleys, God has already prepared us a table…and He is with us. Not only did David focus on God’s provisions, but on the Lord anointing him as well. David was anointed King by the Lord. He never forgot that no matter what storm of life he was in. Our focus should be on the Lord’s adoption of us as sons and daughters and His anointing us with His Holy Spirt. No matter what the enemy sends our way, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Finally, David’s ultimate proclamation was not one of doom and gloom…it was one of hope. He knew and rehearsed that ‘goodness and mercy’ would always follow him. His gaze was fully set on the eternal prize …;that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’ David was living for eternity, not the temporary.
What can you take away from Psalm 23?
Article Footnotes