The LORD is my shepherd” is probably the best-known statement in the Book of Psalms. Often mistakenly attributed to the New Testament, it is actually one of the “Psalms of David,” as indicated “in its superscription (v. 1). Since the psalm is usually quoted in its King James translation or in one of the revised modern versions following the King James Version (KJV), we will initially refer to its verses in that style, but introduce in parentheses a few modern translations taken from the 1985 NJPS (New Jewish Publication Society) translation. The central shepherd metaphor of the first four verses—the L ORD as the shepherd of the Psalmist or the worshiper—expresses quintessential confidence in a providential God: caring, guiding, protecting, comforting. The full confidence of the opening declaration is evident in the first four Hebrew words, ’Adonai ro‘i lo ’ehsar (The LORD [is] my shepherd, I shall not want [I shall lack nothing]). The phrase draws added force from the total absence of a causal conjunction; the text does not say, The L ORD is my shepherd and therefore I shall not want. No sequence of cause or time is mentioned; the two key introductory phrases stand together. This is a declaration of faith, but it also serves as a supplication: May the L ORD act as my shepherd throughout life. The shepherd metaphor is further strengthened by specific examples: He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me to still (restful) waters; The peaceful places, the pastures and the calm waters, are even more striking in the Hebrew where they appear first in two balanced metrical units followed by verbs conveying God’s actions: Bin’ot deshe yarbitseini, ‘al mei menuhot yenahaleini. . In the third verse, the pastoral imagery is endowed with a moral tone: He restores my soul (life); He leads me in the paths of righteousness (right paths) for His name’s sake. The pastoral image is conclusively reaffirmed in the fourth verse, where the Psalmist asserts: Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death (of deepest darkness), I fear no evil (harm) for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me. The Psalmist’s comforting sense of security derives from the shepherd’s staff, which has evolved throughout history into the symbol of the pastor in religious and regal settings. Precisely at this point in the psalm, when danger and God’s protection are invoked, the pronominal relationship changes from I-He to I-You. The presence of danger seems to generate a closer personal relationship between the Psalmist and God. In the second part of the psalm, verses 5–6, we move from the shepherd metaphor to the banquet metaphor, from the pastoral to the urban. While preserving the second-person address to God and the reference to enemies found in verse 4, the Psalmist imagines God endowing him with material abundance: a set table, luxurious oil on the head, abundant drink. In a coda of hope, he asserts: Surely goodness and mercy (lovingkindness) shall follow (pursue) me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the L ORD forever (for many long years). “The house of the LORD” (beit ’Adonai) in the Book of Psalms is always a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem and not merely to God’s universe. The verse cannot be read literally, that the worshiper hopes to dwell in the House of the LORD forever (only priests and Levites lived in the Temple precinct). The Temple of the LORD with its sanctity and security is often seen by the Psalmist as the consummate emblem of God’s majestic governance of the world. Its symbolism as the goal of pilgrimages and, by extension, of pilgrimage psalms, is widely attested in Psalms. This psalm thus progresses from the simple pastoral metaphor to the more complex Temple metaphor to convey the Psalmist’s full trust in ’Adonai ro‘i, LORD, my shepherd. Some commentators, relying on references to God leading God’s people like sheep on the right path and to the Temple pilgrimages, read this psalm as an exilic yearning for a return to Jerusalem. And since the reference to the return from exile—a second Exodus in biblical literature—also implies future returns and redemptions in Jewish tradition, this psalm is recited at funerals and other occasions commemorating the departed. The phrase ’orekh yamim (length of days) ordinarily means a long natural life, but can be interpreted to refer to existence after death. By adding to the four pastoral verses the last two banquet or Temple verses, the Psalmist has expanded significantly the range of possible readings of the psalm. The 23rd Psalm thus stands as a model of the complex composition we encounter in all the psalms.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:01:45 +0000