Burying the 23rd Pslam
A Tractate from SSC Hot Springs
Uncopyright 2006
Psalm 23 is the most often quoted funeral text. Folks who conduct funerals apparently think that this text has something to do with death. It must be because it mentions the valley of the shadow of death. Yet the psalm has as much to do with death as a razorback has to do with picking pineapples.
Suppose you found out that most of the Bible isn’t what you thought it was. Would you care? Suppose you learned that most of the Bible describes detailed future events so that some folks living then might be able to survive. Would this attract you to the book, or cause you to care even less since it doesn’t refer to your plans for tonight? Suppose you learned that these future events had everything to do with Israel. Would you be attracted to the contents, or would you wish that the Jews would permanently go away?
Have you ever wondered about the 23rd Psalm? Suppose it were translated literally; what would it declare? Is this Psalm about King David?
It starts out, “Yehovah is my shepherd.” Who is this God? Would you care if you learned that this name means “He will be, He is, He was” in Hebrew?
Could a God also be a herder of sheep? Who is this sheep? Do you think that this text is speaking about you?
The psalm continues, “I shall not lack.” What did this sheep lack in the first place? (Sheep and goats are normally shepherded animals.) The speaker did not say, “I am not lacking,” but “I shall not lack,” indicating ‘from now on.’
“He will couch me in pastures of green.” While many folks today are ‘couch potatoes’, this couch has nothing to do with a sofa. It describes the ‘sitting’ position of four-hoofed or four-pawed animals when their bellies are on the ground and their hooves or paws are in a forward position.
Why would a shepherd need to ‘couch’ a sheep in the first place? Could it be that the sheep is in very weak condition, and the shepherd must place it in pastures of green so it can feed with little effort?
“He will lead me beside waters of rests.” The animal is now being led. Has it gained strength? Why is it being led by waters of rests? It needs to drink water, but it also needs frequent rests. Could the animal still be recovering?
“He will restore my being.” The being of a living thing includes the body, the soul and the spirit. Biblically, the spirit is necessary for the physical body to have life. The soul is the actual person that expresses the personality. If the being is restored, all three, the body, soul and spirit of the creature are brought back to health and vigour. The Shepherd in this psalm will bring this herd creature back to full health.
“He will conduct me in the cartpaths of righteousness for the sake of His Name.” A cartpath is a path cut by ox carts. If a trail has already been blazed, others have been down the same trail. ‘Cartpaths of righteousness’ indicate that anyone going down these trails is proceeding in a manner that is right with this God.
Why are there more than one cartpath? The speaker is being taken to a physical destination that requires going from one cartpath to another, but each cartpath is right according to the Shepherd. No cartpath of righteousness conflicts with another cartpath of righteousness, but all other cartpaths are wrong. As long as the sheep walks with the Shepherd, righteousness will be maintained.
Where are they going?
How can a sheep be righteous? This text must be referring to a person or a group. The Bible compares persons to sheep. Who is this person or group?
If this Shepherd is conducting someone in cartpaths of righteousness, will being righteous be difficult?
For whose sake is this Shepherd conducting the speaker in the cartpaths of righteousness? It is for the sake of the Shepherd’s Name! Isn’t it also for the sake of this sheep? The text does not say so, but the sheep will benefit.
“Indeed when I will walk in Death-Shadow Valley, I will not fear bad.” What is ‘Death-Shadow Valley’? It is a valley between rock cliffs from which attackers can easily kill and rob travelers. The sheep knows it will be walking in this deadly valley. Why does it fear no bad? Where is the sheep going, that this valley must be traversed?
“For Thou art with me.” The speaker is without fear because the Shepherd’s protection is absolute. No physical harm can come to this sheep. A strong and evil enemy will be present, but will be unable to do harm. Why? When will this occur? Where is this?
“Thy rod and Thy staff—they will console me.” Why will this speaker need to be consoled? What great loss has occurred?
How can a shepherd’s rod and staff provide consolation? While the staff is a stick upon which one can lean and be upheld, the rod will be used for feeding and offensive warfare purposes:
Micah 7:14 Feed Thy people with Thy rod—the flock of thine inheritance that dwells solitarily in the woods in the midst of Carmel [a location in Israel].
Consolation will occur once vengeance is taken on the enemies of this sheep and when everything needed is provided.
“Thou shalt order a table to my faces in front of mine afflicters.” Tables are not used for feeding sheep. The speaker is not an animal, but is pictured as one to show the relationship between the Shepherd and the speaker.
Why is this table ordered in front of the speaker’s afflicters? The afflicters are following the speaker, and not as fans!
What does “order a table to my faces” mean? The Shepherd will set this table in order directly in front of the speaker. No reason to hide exists at this time. The sheep is perfectly safe, though the afflicters who brutalized it are very close and have weapons. It is as if a ‘force field’ surrounds the sheep.
“Thou hast greased my head with oil.” Is this for the sake of a hairdo? Sheep are susceptible to insects and their irritations. The oil will keep insect pests away. Who are these pests, if the sheep is a person or a group?
“My cup is abundance.” A cup Biblically represents the good or bad the Biblical God causes or offers a person or group to drink, as if it is wine:
Isaiah 51:17 Awake! Awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Yehovah the cup of his fury!
Psalms 116:13 I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name Yehovah.
The Shepherd has supplied this cup of abundance to the sheep. The sheep has all it needs, and more!
“Only good and grace will chase me all the days of my lives.” What is chasing the sheep now? What was chasing the sheep before? If good chases the sheep, what will happen? If grace chases the sheep, what will happen?
What is grace? Many erroneously define grace as unmerited favour when it is instead a strong, burning zeal that motivates anyone to action. The action can be favorable, or it can be unfavorable! If a mother is defending her child against a bear, the mother can show the favorable part of grace to the child while she shows the unfavorable part of grace to the bear!
The good part of grace only will chase the sheep all the days of its lives.
Why is lives plural? Everyone has more than one life! The life in the womb differs from the life as a newborn, and this differs from the life as a toddler, the life as a young child, the life as a teenager and the life as an adult. Some experience another life as a father or a mother, and a life as a grandparent. Fearers of God who practice righteousness, who are born from above, experience everlasting life.
“And I will dwell in the House of Yehovah to the length of days.” How can anyone dwell in the House of Yehovah, when this House is the Temple in Israel, and it has no sleeping quarters or even places to sit? The only ones allowed to enter this place are the Levitical priests assigned to it! The High Priest can only enter one part of it once a year! The Temple is presently not even built. When will this occur?
How long is “the length of days”?
Answering these questions solves the other mysteries of this psalm. Yehovah holds all Israel responsible for whatever one Israeli (Jewish person) does! This is similar to what can happen in school. One person in the room does something wrong, and the whole class is held responsible. The opposite is true: one person does something well, and the whole class is credited! If any Levite priest is in the House of Yehovah, all Israel is therefore in this House. This will continue “to the length of days”, as long as Israel’s Good Shepherd reigns over Israel. He will rule for 1,000 years, once He starts to rule:
Revelation 20:4 They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
The sheep (and thus the speaker) in this psalm is Israel, not King David. King David was the prophet who prophesied this Psalm.
The Shepherd is returning the sheep to the House of Yehovah, which will be located in Jerusalem on the huge Mount Zion.
This psalm has about as much to do with a funeral as a skunk has to do with cherry pie. |
