Jesus and his Father (Psalm 23)

The famous Scottish preacher and author, Andrew Bonar, said this about Psalm 23: ‘The Church has so exclusively (we might say) applied this Psalm to herself, as almost to forget that her shepherd, that Great Shepherd, once needed it and was glad to use it. The Lamb, now in the midst of the throne ready to lead us to its living fountains of water, was once led along by his Father.’

Maybe we find his assertion unusual. Yet we know that some psalms describe Jesus because the New Testament tells us that they do. Psalm 22 was on his lips when he was on the cross and Peter tells us in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost that Psalm 16 was a prophecy of the resurrection of Jesus. There is also Psalm 110 which is mentioned several times in the New Testament.

Other psalms picture Jesus because they depict a very devoted person. Such a psalm is Psalm 1, with its focus on the righteous man who meditates on and lives according to the word of God. Another psalm in this category would be Psalm 15, with its description of the righteous man who can enter God’s presence, and a very similar description is given in Psalm 24 about the man before whom the gates of glory will open. When we read and sing Psalm 24 we know that it is referring to Jesus as the perfect man who ascended to heaven.

Psalm 23 comes between two psalms about Jesus. There is Psalm 22 with its focus first on Jesus on the cross, and then a changed focus of Jesus risen from the dead and experiencing universal authority. And Psalm 24 describes the ascension of Jesus to heaven where he was exalted to the right hand of God amid great acclaim from the heavenly host. While there may not be any significance in having Psalm 23 between two psalms about Jesus, it is the case that Christians have sensed that there is. Often, the three psalms have been described as Jesus and the Cross (Psalm 22), Jesus and the Crook (Psalm 23), and Jesus and the Crown (Psalm 24), or Jesus the Sufferer (Psalm 22), Jesus the Shepherd (Psalm 23) and Jesus the Sovereign (Psalm 24). Those descriptions, of course, reveal how we see the benefits he has provided for us. As the sufferer on the cross, he dealt with our sins; as the shepherd, he leads us through life; and as the sovereign, he rules over all things on behalf of his church.

One striking feature about the psalm is that there is no reference to personal sin in it. This does not mean that David the author was not thinking about his sins when he composed it. Yet it is possible that he was guided by the Holy Spirit in such a way that the words can describe someone who is sinless, similar to how Psalms 1 and 15 do, although they are also describing a devout believer. So we can look at those psalms and say that in an ideal way they describe Jesus and then in a lesser way they describe his people. And can we not do the same with Psalm 23? Some of us may want to say that the word ‘mercy’ in the last verse points to sin that needs to be forgiven. Yet mercy is more than a response to personal sin, and it may be possible to find ways in which Jesus enjoyed mercy although he was not a sinner.

Moreover, while it is appropriate to think that the psalm describes the way a shepherd treats his flock, as far as the psalm is concerned the shepherd is only looking after one individual. And he looks after one individual who could be described as exercising complete faith or perfect faith in every situation. Is this also a pointer that the psalm is about someone special?

Covenant relationship

So if it is the case that Jesus would have used this psalm of himself, in what ways can we see this? The first point I would make is that the psalm fits with Jesus being aware of a covenant relationship. We can see a reference to a covenant relationship in the name that is used of God in verse 1. Yahweh was the name that described the special relationship that Israel as a people had with God. In a far higher sense, there was an eternal covenant between the Father and the Son, which we can read about in Isaiah 42, which is one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, and in this one the Father is referring to his Son having come as the Saviour.

There we read this in verses 6-7: ‘I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.’ Those verses clearly describe the activities of the Messiah. Yet we see in verse 6 that the Lord promises to guide and protect the Messiah, which is very shepherd-like language. So when Jesus read about himself in Isaiah 42, he would have seen that the Father had promised to take care of him, which means the Father would function as a shepherd.

Sustenance

The next claim made by the speaker is that he is provided regularly with divine sustenance that leads to refreshing restoration. We usually think of restoration as a recovery from sin. Yet it can be used in the sense of providing strength for the weary. Of course, the sustenance described here is not physical food and drink, but food and drink for the soul. Where did Jesus get such sustenance from on a regular basis?

We find one answer in Isaiah 50:4, another Messianic reference: ‘the Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.’ This prophecy is saying that Jesus received refreshment from God on a daily basis, and we know from the Gospels that he then passed on spiritual refreshment to his followers.

Connected to this daily activity, we are also told several times in the Gospels that Jesus went to the countryside, away from the crowds, in order to pray, and that would have been another way that spiritual food and drink was given to him from his Father with whom he had fellowship.

Paths of righteousness

The third detail that the speaker mentions is that he was led in the paths of righteousness by Yahweh for Yahweh’s sake. Why would Jesus have been led in such a way by the Father, if this psalm is about him? We get an answer to that question again in Isaiah 42 where we are told in verse 21: ‘The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.’ There we are told that the Lord’s Servant will magnify the law and make it honourable, and there was no one who ever obeyed the law as did Jesus when he walked in the paths of righteousness. Indeed, at his baptism, the heavenly Father announced from heaven that he was delighted with the way that his beloved Son had lived for him during the thirty or so years that he was in Nazareth. And we can also know that he obeyed the law on our behalf, so we can watch him in the Gospels walking along the paths of righteousness, working out for us a way for us to justified.

Shadow

In verses 4 and 5, the psalm changes from description of the shepherd to conversation with the shepherd. And in verse 4, the speaker mentions that he is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. I wonder why the Holy Spirit wanted David to describe the time in the valley of the shadow of death as a conversation, even if it is only a one-sided conversation. Is it too much to suggest that the speaker’s time in that valley was the most significant period in his life? If it was, then we can see why Jesus can be described as speaking to his Father here because the time of his death was the most important time in his life.

Obviously, when we see a shadow we know that the object that is causing it is close by. As far as Jesus was concerned, he was walking towards the cross and as he did so he was conscious of his Father’s presence. Even when near the very end of the journey, he said, as recorded in John 16:32: ‘Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.’ He said that as he was about to go to Gethsemane where he would undergo a severe testing of his commitment, where the shadow of death became very real. He even said there, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ His disciples did not watch with him, however. Still the Father was with him. And even on the cross, at the start and at the end of his crucifixion, he was conscious of his Father’s presence, first when he prayed for the soldiers who were crucifying him and second when he dismissed his spirit into his Father’s hands and died.

The speaker then mentions the fact that the shepherd’s tools – the rod and the staff – gave him comfort. It is not entirely clear what those were used for by a shepherd – some suggest they were used for protecting the sheep from wild animals. Yet we are told what the effect of them was – comfort. There is not a literal connection here, but we need to ask which of the Father’s instruments would have brought comfort to the Saviour, and I would suggest that there are two – the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

We know that Jesus found strength from the Word of God – Psalm 40 tells us that the law of God was in his heart and the many occasions on which he referred to the Old Testament we can see how much it contributed to his life. And we know that the Holy Spirit was with Jesus in a special way even from his childhood, and that it is interesting that when he described the work of the Holy Spirit he referred to him as another Comforter, perhaps pointing to the ways that he himself enjoyed the ministry of the Spirit.

Many scholars regard verses 5 and 6 as indicating a change of imagery from that of a shepherd to that of a host. The obvious reason for that suggestion is the presence of a table and a cup and a house. To begin with we should observe that verse 5 is part of the conversation that the speaker is having with the Shepherd and belongs to the speaker’s time in the valley of the shadow.

Apparently, it was the custom of Palestinian shepherds to walk the path that the sheep would later take and choose suitable places to store food for the sheep when they would reach that location. We might assume that the one place they would not do so would be somewhere in the dangerous valley where the enemies of the speaker were located. Yet in the psalm that is the exact place where the shepherd provided food and refreshment for the one travelling through the real valley of the shadow.

What was the experience of Jesus as approached and reached Calvary, the place that the shadow pointed towards? What would he have received that would have given him sustenance and that would have refreshed him in the way that oil did, causing him to say that he was full of joy (his cup was overflowing). No doubt his Father was with him in special ways.

Yet would he not have received great joy when Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry the cross, Simon who was the father of well-known believers called Alexander and Rufus, and whose wife was a mother to Paul, and mentioned by him in Romans 16? Would it not have been a table of sustenance for the soul of Jesus and a source of refreshment in the valley of the shadow when the penitent criminal confessed his faith? Who put those tables there and who refreshed Jesus with the equivalent of oil but the Shepherd in whom he trusted?

Sureness

The speaker affirms here two things about his life as he speaks in the valley of the shadow. In the first line, he says that wherever he goes he will be followed by goodness and love and in the second line he says that he will dwell for ever in the house of the Lord. The word that is translated as mercy in our version is translated as lovingkindness, faithful love and love. I suppose we have to ask whether in this life we can say that only goodness and love follow us because many, if not most, experience other things as well. Could Job say that only goodness and love followed him? Could it not be that, in the valley of the shadow, the speaker is looking forward to a better country where only goodness and love will be found? Indeed, he says that the goodness and love will rush after him.

Quite often in Hebrew poetry the second line enhances the meaning of the first. Sometimes you may read someone who suggests that ‘forever’ should be translated as ‘as long as I live’ as it is here. The problem with that suggestion is that it would require us to see that David became a priest in the temple, and we know that he did not. So whatever David meant, he did not mean that he would serve God in his earthly house.

As with the previous line, the speaker is focussing on another world as he spoke from the valley of the shadow. The speaker is telling us to think of a beautiful place that will be home to God’s children, where nothing but divine goodness and love will be known. Is that not what Jesus spoke about when he mentioned Paradise to the penitent thief that he would be with him? And is he not inviting us to go there?