Followed by Goodness All Your Life-Psalm 23:6

Theme: “Who’s following you?” With a good shepherd, there’s nothing I lack (Ps 23:1). He brings me back to himself (Ps 23:3) when I’m lost and when I’m in the valley of deepest darkness (Ps 23:4). He even blesses me in the presence of my enemies (Ps 23:5). Finally, he follows me daily with goodness and mercy all the days of my life (Ps 23:6).”What else does a sheep need besides a good shepherd?”

Protect the rear. On the way home at the end of each day, the shepherd knows that there’s the danger of a wolf or some other predator following the returning herd hoping that a young or injured sheep lags behind and become easy prey. If the shepherd has an assistant, they will follow closely behind the herd to prevent this. If the shepherd has one, a dog can take the “rear guard” position. Sheep, when they aren’t lost, know their way home. If there’s no assistant shepherd or dog, the shepherd himself can be the “rear guard.”

Followed by the “goodness” (tov) and mercy (khesed) of God is what the psalmist senses all the days of his life, rather than  by a wolf or a lion on their way home. Being followed is not a pleasant thought, but a fearful thought for any traveling band, large or small, and is terrifying if one is alone. Long-distance runners who are followed by an emergency van are naturally encouraged and reassured by the van’s presence. If anyone falls ill or there’s an accident, help is near. Goodness and mercy is personified in Ps 23 and become people who follow the psalmist. God “walks on stage” and becomes an actor in the drama.

Tov (goodness) is a general Hebrew word for “good.” Also, “pleasant, useful, efficient, beautiful, kind, right, (and) morally good.” David says that he is not surrounded by or followed by evil but by good. This cries out for much reflection.

As a survivor of seven Middle Eastern wars, Bailey remembers days when an atmosphere of evil was palpable. David also passed through many troubles, many of which he brought on himself. There was his sordid affair with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11), incest and murder among his children (2 Sam 13), and the civil that climaxed with the killing of his son Absalom by David’s commanding general, Joab (2 Sam 18). Was he “followed by good” during those days? It seems he was. Perhaps some of the time the good was behind him, protecting him, but he chose to turn aside from it. Yet as he looked back he could vividly remember the good that followed him.

Next, khesed (mercy/grace/lovingkindness). This important theological word is like a coin with two sides. On one side it denotes faithfulness within a covenant. On the other side khesed is grace that is freely offered to the undeserving. Bultmann writes, “In the OT khesed denotes an attitude of man or God which arises out of a mutual relationship. It is the attitude which the one expects of the other in this relationship, and to which he is pledged in relation to him. . . . On the other side khesed denotes help or kindness as the grace of a superior.”

Bultmann concludes, “the meaning of khesed fluctuates between (covenant) faithfulness, obligation and love or grace.” David affirms that he lives his life, with all of its fears and dangers (Ps 23:4), with the awareness that following behind him is a God who both supports him out of covenant faithfulness and at the same time extends grace (loving kindness) to him that he does not deserve.

David began with the 1st person (unit 1, “the LORD is my shepherd”). The 1st person reappears in the center with his reflections on sin and death (unit 4, “I will fear no evil”) and David concludes with the assurance that he personally is followed by the covenant faithfulness/grace of God (unit 7, “I will dwell in the house of the LORD”). This imagery is in Heb 12:2, where the reader is urged to look to Jesus who is not only the “pioneer” who goes before but also the “perfecter of our faith” who follows after and encourages our faith in the direction of its goals.

Both “my days” and “God’s days.” The 7th unit concludes the psalm (Ps 23:6). The centuries-old Syriac and Arabic versions translate the Hebrew text literally. Does “the length of the days” mean “forever” (KJV, ESV)? Or to “my whole life long” (NRSV)? Is David discussing the days of his life or God’s days? Both translations are possible. The original Hebrew allows the text to stimulate the imagination of the reader. Why should it not mean both “my days” and “God’s days”?

What does it mean that I am to “dwell in the house of the LORD” for the length of the day (be they my days, God’s days or both)? This could mean that David is talking about his daily presence in the temple worship. But it could also mean that wherever he goes he senses that he is in the house of God. All things were made by him and all nature is his. Is God not present in all of it? If this is David’s intent, would this not profoundly influence the way I look at, treat and preserve the natural world? Someone says that the natural world is not an inheritance that I receive from my parents. Rather it is a trust that I am responsible to pass on to my children. That’s a good start. But perhaps the psalm is affirming that the entire created universe is the house of God. Do I dump my garbage in the middle of the sanctuary of my church? Perhaps this psalm tells us that all of nature is sacred space and that we are to act accordingly.

In order to set a benchmark against which to measure the relationships between the various good shepherd accounts, observe the ten themes to trace through the Bible (as they appear or fail to appear) in Psalm 23 are as follows:

• The good shepherd is God. (The psalm opens with this declaration.)
• A lost sheep. (There is no “lost flock.”)
• Opponents. (Death and “enemies.”)
• The good shepherd and the good host(ess)? (Male and female images are boldly presented.)
• The incarnation of the shepherd. (Incarnation is declared with “You are with me.”)
• The shepherd restores the lost. (He “brings me back.”)
• Repentance/return. (The verb shuv appears.)
• ———. (There are no bad, unredeemed sheep.)
• A celebratory meal. (This meal is offered at great cost.)
• The story concludes in the house. (My days and God’s days are involved.)

Reference:

1. Bailey, Kenneth E. The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament. IVP. Downers Grove, IL 60515. 2014. [Bailey’s greatest strength is the investigation of the original Middle Eastern context of each passage. Besides his own experience and knowledge, he employs commentaries on Psalm 23 written by Middle Eastern authors (M. P. Krikorian, Faddoul Moghabghab, George M. Lamsa, Stephen A. Haboush, Abrahim Mitri Rahbany, Nerses the Graceful of Lambron) as well as Western missionaries to the Middle East (William Thompson and Eric F. F. Bishop), 4 Arabic NT commentaries (Ibn al-Tayyib [d. 1043], D. Ibn al-Salibi [d. 1164], Ibrahim Sa‘id [1970], Matta al-Miskin [1999]), and 20 Arabic translations of the Bible (translated into English by the author).] {Trouble and rebellion arise not only from the lost sheep, as in the original metaphor, but also from the hired human shepherds (Jer 23) and the sheep who never strayed from the flock (Ezek 34). Zechariah 10:2–12 also elaborates the political interpretation of Psalm 23 by depicting sheep as soldiers.} [Turning to the NT, the parable of the lost sheep (Lk 15:4–7) recasts the sinner–represented as a sheep-in an active position, being able to turn back from wandering by one’s own choice. By contrast, Mk 6:7–52 weaves the literary motifs of Psalm 23 through the context surrounding Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000, John the Baptist’s death and the political disorientation that ensues. In this context, Jesus plays a multifaceted shepherd’s role for Israel. Mt 18 adds to the Markan account a focus on the “little ones” as the object of the shepherd’s particular interest. From a different perspective, Jh 10 makes the most of the close relationship between sheep and shepherd and envisages the shepherd as sacrificially protecting his sheep. The book’s last chapter tackles 1 Peter 5:1–4, where the apostle applies the great qualities of Jesus the Great Shepherd to the elders, the shepherds entrusted with the church of Christ.] {Several improvements could have sharpened the book. 1st, Bailey’s preference for new terms which replace some classical terminology may confuse the reader, such as “ring composition” for chiasmus and “cameos” for chiasmus components. 2nd and following Bailey’s own criteria for selecting the texts, he left aside important texts such as 2 Samuel 7:8–16, Psalm 80, Zechariah 11:4–17, and Acts 20:18–35.} [Bailey shares his experiences of watching and asking questions to shepherds with their sheep for 50 years in Egypt, Lebanon, and near Bethlehem in the west bank, Israel/Palestine; preaching 10 years with rural churches of the Egyptian Evangelical Church in the Minya province; teaching 20 years at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon, and 10 years at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Bethlehem. He is fluent in Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, Hebrew and cites obscure sources from the 11th to 13th centuries C.E. and 19th and 20th centuries containing compelling concepts. His sensitive, penetrating, profound, perceptive, unexpected, unique insights and comprehension of the functions and roles of shepherds and sheep motivate thinkers to gain fresh understandings of the good shepherd and his flock.]