Bible Commentary - Psalms 23

Psalm 23 is so popular and so widely quoted it’s almost difficult to look at it objectively.  Phrases like “the LORD is my shepherd” are so commonly repeated it’s hard to even think about separately from how it’s used by popular culture.  Nevertheless, I will do my best.

Psalm 23 is quite distinct from the psalms we have read so far.  It is a gentle, pastoral psalm with a lot of soothing imagery.  David, who historically was a shepherd in his youth, envisages God as a shepherd and himself as the sheep.  Verses 2, 3 and 4 all contain various allusions to David as a sheep.  In verse 2, David is lying down in green pastures and led besides water.  In verse 3 David is guided by God, and in verse 4 David is comforted by the rod and staff, which are common shepherd tools.

First of all, David’s role as a sheep emphasizes his own passivity and God’s activity.  In verses 2-3 David is the recipient of God’s leadership, which is highlighted by the repetition of the word “he”.  “He makes me,” “he leads me”, “he restores me”, “he guides me”.

Verses 4-5 continue this in a more direct way, using the second person pronoun “you”.  “You are with me”, “your rod and staff comfort me”, “you prepare”, “you anointed”.  It changes to second person which makes the activity much more personal and less abstract: David is speaking directly to God now, and not talking about God to someone else.  Nevertheless, the overall tone is similar because it continues to emphasize God’s protective influence surrounding David.

There are four uses of the word “I” in this psalm; first in verse 1, then twice in verse 4, and then once in verse 6.  He says, “I shall not want”, “I walk through the valley,” “I shall not fear”, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD”.  The only one of these that really constitutes an action is the second one, when David “walks through the valley of the shadow of death”.

The only thing that David needs to do is walk; he walks through the valley of the shadow, and God is the one who guides him, leads him, comforts him, restores him, and anoints him.  Most of the activity is God’s, and as long as David continues to walk, God will lead him and bring him through the darkness.

Psalm 23 draws a stark contrast with Psalm 22, which immediately precedes it.  In Psalm 22, we see evidence of David’s anxiety and doubts of God’s saving power.  Psalm 22 also expresses David’s hope and confidence in God, giving it an emotionally mixed character that is typical of “the waiting”, the moments between when a prayer is offered and when it is answered, when his faith is tried and tested.

In Psalm 23, there are no hints of this anxiety.  Instead, the psalm is characterized by confident declarations of God’s faithfulness and his protective nature.  Once again the first verse of the psalm typifies its whole message: God is my shepherd.  David can trust that God, his shepherd, will guide him, lead him, protect him and feed him.  The shepherd protects and cares for the sheep, almost like a parent would protect and care for a young child.  Even though verse 4 has David walking through the “valley of the shadow of death”, rather than being a source of anxiety this is yet another opportunity for David to announce his trust in God: “I fear no evil, for you are with me”.  Notice once again the simple, declarative sentences that leave no room for doubts or questions.

I’m not sure why these two psalms are put next to each other, but after the fears and doubts of the previous chapter, this psalm clearly has a calming influence, reminding us of God’s faithfulness and protection in all circumstances.  David’s final thought is that he will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  In David’s own life, he started out in the Judean wilderness as a shepherd himself, and ended his life as the king in Jerusalem.  In some ways the Psalm itself mimicks this progression, as David describes himself as a sheep wandering through green pastures and lakes, and ends by placing himself in the temple, which was located in Jerusalem.  In spite of the pastoral origin, David chooses his forever home, the place he would spend the rest of his life, to be the house of the LORD where he could dwell in the presence of God always.