March 15 / Psalm 23

Psalm 23

Back to the Psalms! After a month and a half of Job – all of February and half of March – we now move back to the Psalms through March and all of April. Thank you, John, for your wonderful, enlightening leadership of Job. I can’t even begin to lead our group through Psalms the way you took us through Job. Well done, good and faithful servant!!

Today, Psalm 23. What an intro for us to get back to the Psalms  – probably the most well-known of all the Psalms! Certainly (my guess) the most memorized of all the Psalms and the one most often taught in Sunday School classes! The one so often pictured in art and possibly the one most often referenced or alluded to in the New Testament. See especially John 10.

Although the Psalm is about a shepherd guiding and tending his flock, Christians typically see Jesus, the Good Shepherd in these verses. A couple of specific translations lead to this outcome. In verse 3 “paths of righteousness” could also be translated “right paths”. And in verse 4 “the valley of the shadow of death” could also be translated “the valley of deep darkness”. These alternate translations speak more clearly of a shepherd tending his flock. However, our most well-known translation of this Psalm, the King James Version used the translations first quoted above and we quickly see the Good Shepherd in this Psalm.

Finally, verse 3b struck me: “…for His name’s sake.” It’s easy for us to glide over these four words, just as we can miss their meaning in our confessional rite, For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. And at other places in our Sunday worship… This brings me to one question – suppose we translate those four words above as “for His reputation”? Is Jesus’ reputation riding on all that we think and do? Might make us to act differently…!!