Meditations on the Psalms #47

Day 47

Psalm 23 part 3 part 4 to follow.

V4 This is the first dark note in this beautiful Psalm. Previously David wrote of green pastures and still waters and paths of righteousness. Yet when following the LORD as a shepherd, one may still ‘walk through the valley of the shadows.’ (the word ‘death is not in the Hebrew but can be implied.) David used this powerful phrase to speak of some kind of dark, fearful experience casting its fearful outline on the path.

It is a valley, not a mountaintop or broad meadow suggesting being hedged in and surrounded. When we are guided through these shadowy places by the shepherd we need to remember it is not the destination, but part of the journey. It is the conscious presence of the LORD as the shepherd that makes it bearable. Understand that a shadow is not tangible but is cast by something that is. One can rightly say that we face only the shadows because Jesus took the full reality of death in our place.

When there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there is. Bad things stand by the side of the highway in which we have to travel, and the light of heaven shining upon it throws a shadow across our path; rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a person’s pathway even for a moment.

In v5 the second allegory begins. A magnificent banquet is provided by a most liberal and benevolent host; who has not only the bounty to feed me but the power to protect me; though surrounded by enemies, I sit down to this table with confidence, knowing that I shall feast in perfect security. This is the condition of God’s servant – always conflict, but always a spread table. Despite the dangers about and the ‘presence of enemies,’ David enjoyed the richness of his host’s goodness. He was refreshed by a ‘head anointed with oil’; his cup was over-filled.

The Psalm ends with the calmest assurance that he would enjoy the presence of the LORD ‘forever’ – both in his days on this earth and beyond. 

No Comments

Post A Comment