Psalm 23: The Good Shepherd’s Care of His Flock A Psalm of David. The valley of the shadow of death (v 4) is Gentile country, where Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Isa9:1; Matt 4:13-17) Yet He was forsaken by his God, and his people, and the world-at-large to bring healing to world. By [knowledge of] His stripes, we are healed. (Isa 53:5) This ministry is headed by the Crucified and Risen, Shepherd of Israel. “You have had to do with painful changes. Faces have altered; many are gone. There have been strange removals. There have been reversals of fortune. Everything has been shaken. You can scarcely be sure of anything. Let Jesus take you up and make you to converse a little while with the grandnesses of the unchangeable and the undying; with the eternities of truth...” (J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 7th) The spiritual leaders of Israel were many times called to be shepherds, but they failed in varying degrees. But Yahweh “had promised in the Old Testament Scripture, to raise up a faithful Shepherd, meaning, Christ. And it is well worth our inquiry, under how many descriptions the several writers of the Word of God had it in commission to point Him out. He is called God's Shepherd, Zechariah 13:7. And that no possible mistake concerning Him might arise, he is called One Shepherd, Ezekiel 34:23. He is called also the Chief Shepherd, 1 Peter 5:4. And the Great Shepherd, Hebrews 13:20. And Christ himself takes the appellation of the Good Shepherd, John 10:11.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) "No one is good- except God alone." (Mark 10:18) Mediate on that! 1 "'The Lord is my Shepherd.' But is He YOUR Shepherd, as He was David's— “Distinguish between the knowledge and the appro priation of a fact. In religion the difference between mere power to use the language of theory and the power to use language of immediate proprietary application is an infinite difference; it makes all the difference between the saved and the lost.” (C. Stanford, Symbols of Christ) “For what would it benefit me to say, ‘The Lord is a Shepherd’? It would mock me. Should not I rather feel my own destitution and desolation the more if I felt that He was a Shepherd to others, and not to me, and that I could not put the seal of property on it and say, ‘MY Shepherd’?” (J. Vaughan) Jesus looks for lost sheep. There will be more rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine self righteous persons who think that they have no need. (Luke 15:7) Come! For with our One Shepherd leading— we “shall not want.”— “This does not mean that He will provide for the fulfilment of all our desires. It means that He will ‘withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly’ (Ps 84:11). We can compare how He was able to say to Israel when they had wandered in the wilderness, ‘you have lacked nothing’ (Deut 2:7). It is a reminder that He will make full provision for whatever He sees that we need. If therefore we find ourselves ‘wanting’ we should recognise that it is not because He has failed, but because our Shepherd knows what is good for us, and we should therefore be content (cp. Psalms 34:10; 84:11).” (Peter Pett) 2 “‘He makes me to lie down;’ to rest and repose myself at noon, as the manner was in those hot countries. Song of Solomon 1:7 Isaiah 13:20 Ezekiel 34:15.— ‘In green pastures;’ where there is both delight and plenty of provisions.” (Matthew Poole)— yea, as people restored to lost Paradise.— “‘He leads me beside [or to] the still waters,’ Hebrew,.. mee menuchoth, waters of rests, or refreshments: quiet and gentle waters, running in small and shallow channels, which are opposed to great rivers, which both affright the sheep with their great noise, and expose them to be carried away by their swift and violent streams, while they are drinking at them. Such is the difference between the gentle waters of the sanctuary, ‘the waters of Shiloah that go softly,’ and the rapid, muddy, and noisy torrents and overflowing floods of worldly and carnal enjoyments. God provides for His people, not only food and rest, but refreshment also, and pleasure. The waters by and to which he leads them afford them both a pleasant prospect and many a cooling and refreshing draught, when they are thirsty and weary. The consolations of God, the joys of the Holy Ghost, are those ‘still waters’ by which the saints are led, streams which flow from the fountain of living waters, and ‘make glad the city of our God.’” (Joseph Benson) 3 “’He restores my soul,’ that is me, by His Word and His Spirit, often speaking in a still small voice as Elijah heard on the mountain. (1 Kings 19:11-13) That blessed voice always brings me back to the waters of Shiloah where my countenance changes from hopelessness and despair to faith and service. For I am most encouraged by the fact that One Day, He will revive me and my loved ones from the grave.— Now: “‘He leads me in the paths of righteousness’ In the plain, straight, and safe paths, in which the sheep of the Lord’s pasture are neither hurt, nor wearied, nor in danger of wandering.— by His Word... He directs me to the right ways of truth and holiness, and by His Spirit He inclines and enables me to choose those ways, and to continue to walk therein; — ‘for His name’s sake’ Not for any merit in me, but merely for the demonstration and glory of His mercy, faithfulness, and goodness.” (Joseph Benson) 4 "'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;' We are emboldened for: "If I, as one of the flock, should walk through [this world, even] the most dismal valley, in the dead of the night, exposed to pitfalls, precipices, devouring beasts, etc., I should fear no evil under the guidance and protection of such a Shepherd. He knows all the passes, dangerous defiles, hidden pits, and abrupt precipices in the way; and He will guide me around, about, and through them.” (Adam Clarke) Whatever may come, the latter end will be better than the former. “And when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace the victory's won, e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.” (Songwriters: William B. Bradbury / Cynthia Dobrinski) “Your rod and Your staff,’— “Shepherds, in driving their flocks, have a rod or wand in their hands, wherewith they now and then strike them; and a staff or sheep hook on their necks, wherewith they catch and rule them. Of Christ’s rods and staves, see Zechariah 11:7, etc.; ‘And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock.’.. — ‘they comfort me’— God’s rods, like Aaron’s, blossometh; and, like Jonathan’s, it hath honey at the end of it.” (Trapp) 5-6 “‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,’— the idea of full security in spite of all adversaries, of refreshing and satisfying joys after all afflictions. ‘You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over,’ with more than a full measure of spiritual blessings and joys.— ‘Surely goodness and mercy’ the greatest good fortune in the possession of the grace of Jehovah,— ’shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord,’ in the midst of the church of Jehovah, as a member of the congregation of saints,— ‘forever,’ here in time, in the Kingdom of Grace, and hereafter in eternity, in the Kingdom of Glory; for the home of everlasting glory awaits all true believers above, Joh_14:2; Rev_21:1-5. It is theirs even now, by faith.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)