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“As this is a lowly and homely manner of speaking, He who does not disdain to stoop so low for our sake, must bear a singularly strong affection towards us.”—John Calvin

History

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most beloved, well-known psalm. It is the classic description of God’s protection and provision. Psalm 23 reminds the believer of God’s daily care in personal, covenantal terms. The caring nature of God is an ever-present reality, especially in times of travail. I will begin by making some general observations about the psalm, and then proceed to work though the thesis that exodus imagery saturates the psalm, taking it well beyond simple metaphorical relationships between shepherd and sheep (vv. 1–4) and host and traveler (vv. 5–6), to a declaration of God’s covenant loyalty to Israel.

It is ironic that the shepherd metaphor is timeless, resonating with folks throughout the world, transcending cultures, eras (from the agricultural ANE to the technological twenty-first-century West), and providing comfort to myriad of worshipers. On one hand, the metaphor is powerful because it stirs our emotions in a way that literal words cannot.102 It is one thing to talk about God’s protection and provision; it is another to attach imagery to it so we can more easily visualize it. According to Tremper Longman: “We know how a shepherd lives with his sheep, tends to their every need, keeps them from getting lost and protects them from wild beasts. All of these characteristics and more come to mind when God is called a shepherd. It would take a page of prose to communicate what the psalmist has stated in a clause, and it would do so with less impact.”103 On the other hand, much of the ancient imagery throughout Psalms is quite foreign to most modern Westerners’ experiences. Using myself as an example, I am severely limited in my experience with sheep, which consists almost entirely of minimal interaction at the local petting zoo. I have observed them in pasture with a shepherd only once in my life. I was riding on a tour bus in Israel on what seemed to be the most treacherous road imaginable, winding its way alongside a mountain with only a few inches separating the road from the cliff. Out the left side of the bus I saw far down into the ravine where a shepherd walked ahead of his sheep as they followed his every step. The sight, while etched in my memory, lasted only seconds until we rounded another curve, making our way through the mountains on our way to the next holy site on the tour.

To be sure, I have read many pages in books that describe the relationship between shepherd and sheep—many of them commentaries on Ps 23—but had never experienced it myself until this moment. Descriptive words on a page do not suffice for a tangible, hands-on experience. The intimate relationship between shepherd and sheep is the dominant imagery of Ps 23 (vv. 1–4), and yet most of us (esp. those of us who live in urban settings) have never actually seen the interaction, much less experienced it firsthand. Even so, the imagery sticks in our minds because it is just that—imagery, not explanatory phrases. Imagery is easier to grasp because it elicits emotion more so than cognition. In other words, we do not have to have firsthand knowledge of shepherds and sheep in order to visualize God providing necessities like food, water, rest, and safety. These are the main themes of the psalm, but putting them to paper in the form of metaphor enables them to speak louder than mere words on a page.

Psalm 23 is often characterized as a psalm of trust.104 While the shepherding metaphor is predominant in the psalm, it is not the only one used to convey God’s care and comfort of the poet. In reality, it is a dual metaphor of shepherd and king, which also adds it to the category of a royal psalm, especially as it relates to David the psalmist.105 The portrayal of kings as shepherds was not unique to ancient Israel. The ANE frequently used this combined metaphor to express various forms of leadership, creating a sense of ambiguity where the leader ruled as sovereign over a people, but also implied pastoring them in terms of their protection and provision.106 For example, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi states, “I have sought for them peaceful places . . . I made the people of all the settlements lie in safe pastures.”107 Similarly, the Babylonian god Marduk is described as one “who provides grazing and drinking places.”108

This ambiguity of the dual metaphor extends even to the tools of the trades: a “rod” and a “staff” call to mind the tools of a shepherd,109 while at the same time are the symbolic equipment of a king, especially since the word for “rod” (shevet) is most often translated “scepter” (cf. Gen 49:10; Judg 5:14; Ps 45:7; Isa 14:5).110 Commentators have not always appreciated this ambiguity opting for one over the other; but the two are not mutually exclusive. As James Mays notes, “To the author of Ps 23, ‘shepherd’ was royal as well as pastoral. The author was writing of the providing and guiding and protecting by a ruler as well as by a shepherd.”111 As previously noted, this combined image of shepherd-king occurs in ANE literature, but is also by no means limited to Ps 23 in Hebrew Scripture. In Ezek 34, the shepherds of Israel are the kings who are to pastor the people, providing care, comfort, and protection.112 Yet in Ps 23, God assumes the role of Israel’s sovereign pastor for the psalmist expresses his trust in Yahweh (v. 1): the Shepherd-King of Israel protects and provides for Israel’s earthly king (i.e., David), as a shepherd for his sheep, sheltering David in God’s “house,” the Jerusalem temple—the earthly palace of Yahweh.113 Thus, the psalmist eats at the table not in the house of a common host, but of the LORD, the Shepherd-King.

Commentators offer many different theories regarding the structure of this psalm. One would expect no shortage of ink when it comes to analyzing arguably the most famous chapter in the Bible. Nevertheless, most of the proposals derive from a very basic structure where verses 1–4 describe the shepherd metaphor and verses 5–6 the host of a banquet:

Stanza 1 The Lord as Shepherd (vv. 1–4)

Stanza 2 The Lord as Host (vv. 5–6)114

The shift from shepherd to host need not be seen as radically different, but a shift nonetheless. The host is not a shepherd inviting sheep into his home to sit around his table. The host metaphor (I take it as a kingly-host, given the shepherd-king metaphor) in verses 5–6 accomplishes the same purposes as the shepherd in verses 1–4: the gracious host does for the guest exactly what the shepherd does for the sheep—provides food, drink, and shelter/protection.115 The psalmist introduces the primary themes of provision and protection in the first two verses, and these provide the lens for reading the remainder of the psalm. The first verse equates God with a shepherd, only taking two words in Hebrew (YHWH roi, “Yahweh my-shepherd”) to express what English does in five (“The LORD is my shepherd”).116 This is equivalent to stating in mathematical terms, “YHWH = my shepherd.” Not only is the equation stark, it says something about the whole psalm, where the rest of it unpacks the initial metaphor in terms of shepherding (vv. 1–4), finally changing to the royal metaphor in verses 5–6, which continues to expound on the provision and protection themes initially associated with the shepherd metaphor.

Verse 2 begins the unpacking of the metaphor in terms of not lacking anything. Because the Lord is my shepherd, he is all I need. The verb “lack” is supposed to take a direct object, yielding the sense of “I shall not lack _____,” be it food, water, shelter, etc. However, the poet does not give the object of the verb; the rest of the psalm fills in the missing object of verse 2.117 Mays summarizes the main thought of the psalm: “When the Lord is your shepherd, you do not lack the nurturing and guiding and protecting of your soul. ‘The Lord is with you; he restores your soul.’ The psalm is about the soul-restoring presence of the Lord.”118 What we have in Ps 23 is a poetic description of the Creator who provides all the necessities of life for his creation. Far from a “health and wealth” gospel that teaches that God provides for our greeds rather than our needs, this psalm critiques our modern materialistic notions of abundant living and declares that God provides our daily bread. From day to day, he meets our needs—the most important being himself! J. Clinton McCann notes, “For the psalmist, God is the only necessity of life, because God provides the other necessities—food, drink, shelter/protection.”119 And while the psalm’s imagery, at times, conveys tranquil scenes of shepherding and table fellowship, tranquility gives way to sheer survival as the psalm unfolds, revealing a shepherd who protects his flock in the midst of the darkest valley, and a host who hosts the traveler before the face of his enemies. Again, the imagery is usually understood in terms of tranquility, but it is intended rather to say that God keeps the psalmist alive. In fact, “restores my soul” (v. 3a) likely conveys the rescue of the sheep120 and can be paraphrased “keeps me alive.”121

It is at the point where the reader might expect me to give insights on the shepherding profession in antiquity, waxing eloquently on the pastoral background of the first four verses of the psalm. But given my lack of personal experience with sheep, observations along those lines would be woefully inadequate. I will spare the reader from the agony of reading an unenlightened description of shepherding from an urbanized Westerner. I will leave it to the reader to consult the commentaries for the pastoral background. I feel no burden to add to what others have already shared on the ins and outs of shepherding sheep from Ps 23. Instead, I want to discuss the underlying exodus motif that serves as the primary redemptive-historical reference for Ps 23. A closer look at the psalm reveals a strategic emphasis on God’s redemptive acts on behalf of Israel throughout her history. The shepherd-sheep metaphor is just that: a metaphor for a larger, more complex Israelite tradition dealing with God as the redeemer of his people. Psalm 23 praises God for delivering the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage as a shepherd delivers his sheep from danger. I am proposing here that the writer composed the psalm out of this tradition and has woven into the psalm allusions to the memories of the exodus recorded in other places in the OT.122

The Lord is the shepherd of his people is a common OT metaphor (e.g., Gen 49:24; Pss 77:20; 78:52; 79:13; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3; Isa 40:11; Ezek 34), but this image does not arise in a vacuum; it has its roots in the exodus event. For example, Pss 77 and 78 are retellings of the exodus story where psalmists reflect on the redemptive history of Israel at a later time. They are recollections of history in that they retell—and in so doing, reinterpret—this pinnacle redemptive event of the OT. As both psalms recall the exodus event, they echo the shepherd metaphor of 23:1–4. After a poetically stylized recollection of the mighty act of God at the crossing of the Red Sea, Ps 77:20 concludes, “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Similarly, Ps 78 recalls the exodus-wilderness event as the grand testimony to God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel—despite its repeated rebellion—and uses the shepherd metaphor to describe God’s power and persistence to deliver his people from Egyptian bondage: “Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock” (v. 52). These two passages are important not simply because they affirm the shepherd metaphor, but because they do so in the context of the exodus.

Psalm 23 affirms the daily provisions of the Shepherd-God so that the sheep has no want of anything in addition to God himself (“I shall not want,” v. 1). Here is also an echo of the exodus as Moses reminds the people of God’s faithfulness to them, recalling his provisions in the midst of the treacherous wilderness journey. Moses calls to their remembrance that God knows the plight of his people and provides for the necessities of life: “He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing” (Deut 2:7). Again, this passage is in the context of reflecting on the exodus-wilderness event; it is not a proverbial statement about God’s provisions, but is contextualized in this pinnacle redemptive event in the OT. As the psalmist has no wants beyond the day-to-day sustenance of God, so also Israel “lacked nothing” in the wilderness.

As the shepherd “leads” (nakhal) the sheep (Ps 23:2), so also God “led” (nakhah) the Israelites out of Egypt and “guided” (nakhal) them into the Promised Land (Exod 15:13). While the Hebrew verb for “to lead” occurs three times in these two verses, the exodus context of the latter passage is even more important as the Song of Moses, which he sang immediately after crossing the Red Sea. Again, the exodus event serves as the backdrop for both passages, placing them in identical redemptive-historical contexts.

The traditional translation, “He leads me beside still waters,” evokes images of a peaceful water source from which sheep, weighed down with thick wool, can drink without fear of being swept into the currents and drowned. An alternate, and equally accurate, translation is, “He leads me to water in places of repose” (JPS). It is grammatically unclear if menukhot (“resting places,” “rest”) modifies mayim (“waters”), thus yielding something like “still waters,” or refers to places of rest, which are conveniently near a water source, be it a stream, pond, well, river, etc. Thus, the emphasis is not so much on the stillness of the water source as the rest that comes with being led to water. The idea of being guided to a water source where God provides for the thirst of his people evokes the water from the rock narratives of the wilderness journey (Exod 17 and Num 20). Granted, the point is not the water itself (i.e., the kind of water whether flowing or not), but that God quenches the thirst of his people by providing water in abundance. As Num 20:11 states, “And water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.” Again, Ps 78 recalls this miraculous provision of water in the wilderness with its retelling of the exodus story: “He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers” (vv. 15–16). Not that every mention of “water” in the OT evokes images of the exodus-wilderness, but when one reads 23:2 in light of the redemptive-historical backdrop proposed here, it is not difficult to hear echoes of this wilderness tradition.123

Psalm 23:4 affirms a lack of fear in the midst of trials. As the psalmist walks through the “valley of the shadow of death,” or better, the “darkest valley,”124 the Shepherd guards and guides him. In fact, in the midst of this crisis—the low point of the psalm—the psalmist refrains from speaking of God in the third person, opting instead for a more direct and personal second person (“you”) address: “You are with me.”125 As Rolf Jacobson describes, “It is in moments of crisis that the Lord moves from an abstract concept (a he about whom one has memorized doctrinal statements) to a living God with whom one has a relationship (a you in whom one trusts, to whom one speaks, on whom one can rely).”126 Therefore, absence of fear in this context is not based in the power or prowess of the psalmist—whether David the warrior-king or someone else—but in the protective presence of God (“For you are with me”). Similarly, Moses, upon entering the Promised Land, repeatedly exhorts the Israelites against fearing the occupants of the land. Their lack of fear comes not from their own might, but from the protective presence of God: “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Deut 20:1). Echoing the same sentiment at the commissioning of Joshua, Moses exhorts his young servant: “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (31:8). Once again, as Ps 78 recalls the exodus narrative, the psalmist connects God’s presence with a lack of fear: “He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid” (v. 53). While the Bible is full of general admonitions against fear in varying contexts, 23:4 echoes the exodus tradition by grounding the psalmist’s confidence in the relational presence of God.

As noted earlier, in addition to the shepherd metaphor, the twenty-third psalm also uses that of a gracious host (23:5–6), which continues the themes of protection and provision. God provides hospitality by preparing a table before the psalmist (v. 5). This also has exodus connotations. Once again, 78:19 recalls the miraculous provisions of God in the wilderness and asks a rhetorical question: “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” The obvious answer is “yes” when one considers the manna and quail (and water) with which God fed the Israelites during their desert travels.

In the face of an onslaught from his enemies, the psalmist affirms that the Lord’s “goodness” and “mercy” pursue him (23:6). To be sure, it is not his enemies that pursue him—as is often the case in Psalms (e.g., 7:5; 69:26; 71:11; 109:16)—but these attributes of God.127 The Hebrew verb radaf has a more active sense as “to pursue” than the traditional English translation “to follow.”128 The traditional translation may give the misleading impression that as the psalmist journeys through life, he charts his own path and is the master of his own destiny, and God’s attributes simply follow as convenient helps on the way. However, the original language is much stronger so that the divine attributes of goodness and mercy are pictured as incarnate forces, which will not rest until they have tracked down and provided a safe harbor for the endangered psalmist.129 Indeed, goodness and mercy pursue the psalmist throughout his life. What is more, the personified attributes of goodness (tov) and mercy (khesed) are covenant attributes that speak of God’s faithfulness to his people, and notably these are often mentioned in exodus contexts.130 For example, in response to Moses’s request to see God, he tells Moses that he would allow his “goodness” to pass before him (Exod 33:19). Additionally, khesed lies at the heart of God’s character as the word appears twice in his self-revelation to Moses (34:6–7). Similarly, Deut 7:9 praises God as one who “keeps covenant and steadfast love (khesed).” Thus, the main theme in Ps 23:5–6 is khesed, which is the very character of God as declared to Moses at the exodus.

The final exodus reference that I will mention occurs in the final colon of the psalm: “I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v. 6).131 This reference to the house of God may not appear at first to refer to the formative period of Israel’s history at the exodus, but rather to the monarchy period over 400 years later when the temple was constructed by Solomon (2 Sam 7:13; 1 Kgs 6—8). Yet Moses predicts this future dwelling of God among his people: “You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established” (Exod 15:17). The specific language of “house of the LORD” is an obvious reference to the Jerusalem temple, and adds to the psalm’s emphasis on God as the King.132 Therefore, the references to hospitality in verses 5–6 are not simply referring to hospitality in general; they signify a royal banquet in the house of the divine King of Israel. The temple is where God makes his presence known to the people; thus, the psalmist proclaims that he will live in the light of God’s presence for the duration of his life.133 Once again the psalm uses a metaphor; the temple represents God’s presence. In other words, no one actually lives in the temple, but its very presence indicates God’s dwelling among his people. McCann notes that “the final line of the psalm is another way of affirming that ‘you are with me’ (v. 4), as the immediately preceding line has also proclaimed (v. 6a).”134 Jacobson summarizes the psalm’s ultimate destination as the presence of God:

The point of the metaphor is that the destination that one reaches after being led along the paths of righteousness, the destination one reaches at the end of the days of my life, the destination toward which one is shepherded and indeed toward which one is harried by God’s pursuing goodness and hesed is none other than God’s very self. God is the psalmist’s destination.135

In light of this discussion, which is by no means exhaustive, we can summarize the psalm’s allusions to the exodus event in the following table:

Psalm 23	Exodus Traditions
“The LORD is my shepherd”	“You led your people like a flock” (Ps 77:20)“Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock” (Ps 78:52)
“I shall not want”	“You have lacked nothing” (Deut 2:7)
“He leads me beside still waters”	“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode” (Exod 15:13)“And water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock” (Num 20:11)“He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers” (Ps 78:15–16).
“I will fear no evil, for you are with me”	“You shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you” (Deut 20:1; 31:8)“He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid” (Ps 78:53)
“You prepare a table before me”	“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?” (Ps 78:19)
“Goodness and mercy shall pursue me”	“I will make all my goodness pass before you” (Exod 33:19)“Abounding in steadfast love” (twice in Exod 34:6–7)“Who keeps covenant and steadfast love” (Deut 7:9)
“I shall dwell in the house of the LORD”	“You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established” (Exod 15:17)

Table 1 Psalm 23 and the Exodus

Space does not allow for a more thorough interaction with each of the exodus traditions above, but hopefully enough has been said to illustrate the most salient points of contact between them and Ps 23, and to offer another lens through which to read this beloved psalm in addition to the traditional shepherding background.

Christology

It may come as a surprise to many readers to learn that Ps 23 has not traditionally been considered a “messianic” psalm, nor does the NT quote from it. Even so, it probably alludes to it, and the psalm evokes some of the most basic recollections of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The quote by John Calvin at the beginning of this chapter identifies the principle objective of shepherd metaphor: the humble descent of God into the affairs of humanity. Put differently, the metaphor illustrates the self-humiliation of God as he enters into the world on behalf of humanity to identify with and care for it on the most personal level. Given that God evidences his affection for humanity by “stooping low” (à la Calvin) to care for its basic needs, the shepherd metaphor in Ps 23 anticipates the incarnation of Christ in the NT. It is difficult to do better than C. Hassell Bullock:

The theology of this psalm arises out of the practice of life, the practice of the lowliest of occupations, shepherding sheep. In the broad outline of biblical theology, it is not an exaggeration to say that this imagery is a hint of the incarnation of God in human flesh, in Jesus of Nazareth. That God would condescend to the level of a shepherd is remarkably assuring, affirming his love for humanity.136

Granted, there are other images of God in the OT that convey various aspects of his relationship to his people (e.g., king, creator, father, fortress, rock, etc.), but none captures the meekness of God like the shepherd image. The incarnational theme of God as shepherd comes into even sharper focus in Jesus Christ as the good shepherd (John 10:1–30). Shepherding is such a prominent motif in Scripture that it is difficult to be precise as to which OT passage John has in mind. The two most likely candidates are Ezek 34 and Ps 23, and these are not mutually exclusive because they both speak of God as the shepherd-king of his people. In the former passage, God condemns Israel’s kings for failing to pastor the nation (Ezek 34:1–10). They have fleeced the flock, and have failed to protect it from being scattered and devoured. In short, they have not reflected the shepherd heart of God. As a result, Ezekiel prophecies a time when God himself will tend his flock, bind its wounds, and care for it in a way reminiscent of the divine shepherd of Ps 23 (Ezek 34:11–31). In John, Jesus, like Ezekiel, pronounces judgment on the Jewish leaders for duplicating the failed shepherding of Ezek 34.

While Ezek 34 is likely the most immediate scriptural background to Jesus’s discourse, there are also obvious echoes of Ps 23, the paradigmatic passage describing God as the shepherd of his people. John echoes the relationship between the divine shepherd and his sheep in Ps 23 when Jesus declares that his sheep know his voice and follow him rather than a stranger (John 10:3–5). In short, they “know” him. He, too, knows them and calls them by name (10:3). He is also the entry point through which they must pass to find pasture (10:9). John summarizes this closeness of relationship between the shepherd and his sheep when Jesus affirms: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (10:15). Finally, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (10:11, 15, 17), undoubtedly a reference to his vicarious sacrifice in John’s Gospel.137 The life of the psalmist that is nourished by green pastures, refreshed by waters, and protected from life-threatening dangers reaches its full end-times invigoration when the good shepherd provides “eternal life” to his sheep (10:28).138 He renders powerless the ever-present dangers of the darkest valley in Ps 23 so that his sheep “will never perish” (John 10:28).

It is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss all the comparisons of the “Good Shepherd discourse” in John 10:1–30 with the divine shepherd of Ps 23. The associations are so numerous that it is not a stretch to refer to the twenty-third psalm as the “Good Shepherd Psalm.”139 In fact, Beauford Bryant and Mark Krause note, “The early church remembered Jesus as its shepherd (Matt 9:36; 26:31; 1 Pet 2:25) and applied OT passages to him that pictured God as shepherd (particularly Psalm 23).”140 Similarly, given that the Good Shepherd discourse culminates by proclaiming the unity between the Father and Son (“I am the Father are one,” John 10:30), Christians should be quite comfortable paraphrasing Ps 23:1 like Augustine of Hippo: “Since my shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall not lack anything.”141 Jacobson, too, aptly summarizes the incarnate shepherd: “When the New Testament names the one who lays down his life for the sheep as the Good Shepherd, the New Testament is faithfully confessing the incarnation in Jesus of the same divine shepherd whom the ancient psalmist trusted.”142

As Ps 23 evokes the NT image of Jesus as the good shepherd, it also evokes the image of Christ as the host of a banquet, the so-called “messianic banquet.”143 Given the emphasis on table fellowship in the early church, especially the Lord’s Supper, it is not difficult to hear echoes of this sacrament in the words of the psalm when interpreted christologically: “You prepare a table before me” (Ps 23:5). As in Ps 23, where the images of shepherd and host relate to each other as metaphors of God, they come together again in Mark 14. The context is Jesus’s last Passover meal, which prefigures the Lord’s Supper. It is at this meal where he is the host who prepares a table for the twelve apostles (14:22–25). We can fairly speak of Jesus as the “host” of this meal because he is the one who blesses the bread, breaks it, and distributes it to his guests, along with the cup (vv. 22–23). He also offers the words of institution about the new covenant and the role that this reconstituted meal would have in the kingdom of God (v. 24). Further, the pericope that immediately follows this host scene speaks of a shepherd: “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” (14:27; cf. Zech 13:7).144 What is more, an earlier pericope shows Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’s head with oil (Mark 14:3–9), which was a common sign of hospitality in the ancient world, calling to mind Ps 23:5b, “You anoint my head with oil.” To be sure, Mary does more than she realizes: what for her was a sign of hospitality was for Jesus a prophetic action, preparing him, as the God’s Messiah, for his burial (Mark 14:8). The psalm, then, is the testimony of the Lord’s Anointed One when read in a Christian context.

Mark 6 also brings the two images of shepherd and host together in the person and ministry of Christ. All four Gospels recount the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 (Matt 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–15). McCann notes that the story has “obvious eucharistic overtones,” evidenced in Mark’s use of eucharistic verbs to describe how Jesus “took” the bread, “blessed,” “broke,” and “gave” it to the disciples (Mark 6:41; cf. 14:22).145 Here is another meal that prefigures the Lord’s Supper, yet also looks back to the shepherd’s provisions in Ps 23. While each of the four Gospels records the same story, only Mark notes that Jesus had the crowd sit on the “green grass” (Mark 6:39), a detail that recalls the twenty-third psalm’s “green pastures” (Ps 23:2).146 Similarly, only Mark gives Jesus’s motivation as pastoral compassion and care: “He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34; cf. Ezek 34:4–5).147 Both Mark 6 and 14 share the images of shepherd and host with Ps 23, and early Christians perceived these images as integrally linked in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 23:4 affirms the presence of God in the life of the believer (“You are with me”). Further, God’s presence may lie behind the reference to the temple in verse 6—that is, the temple is the symbol of God’s presence. McCann observes that the final line in the psalm is another way of affirming that “you are with me” (v. 4).148 The metaphors of shepherd and host serve this larger affirmation that God’s protective and sustaining presence is a constant companion to the psalmist, whether in the calm countryside, the darkest valley, or at table. The NT reaffirms God’s presence among his people not in terms of mere metaphors, but in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew 1:23 calls Jesus “Immanuel” (“God with us”) at the beginning of his Gospel and affirms the same at the end (“I am with you always, to the end of the age,” 28:20).149 This emphasis on Jesus Christ as the divine presence in the world serves as the bookends for Matthew’s Gospel. Given the connection between God as shepherd and host in Ps 23 and Jesus as the good shepherd and host in the NT, it seems obvious to add to these the divine presence. As McCann concludes, “In New Testament terms, Jesus is shepherd, host, and Emmanuel.”150 When thinking of Jesus as shepherd, host, and “God with us,” Christians read Ps 23 as pointing to God’s end-times Messiah who ultimately fulfills the manifold imagery of the psalm.

We can add yet another angle to the traditional identification of Jesus as the shepherd of Ps 23. In light of the NT conviction mentioned previously that the Scriptures are ultimately about the Messiah’s suffering and resurrection (Luke 24:46), Jesus fulfills the role of the psalmist, the sheep under God’s guidance and care. Additionally, I noted earlier that the Psalter was shaped during the postexilic period so that the “David” of the Psalter became the highly anticipated king, the Messiah, the end-times expectation of the Psalter. With this in mind, Doug Green proposes a fresh reading of Ps 23 in an article whose title captures the essence of this alternative christological interpretation: “The LORD is Christ’s Shepherd.”151 Given the end-times shaping of the Psalter, “David” (see superscript for Ps 23) is no longer the historical King David, but rather “eschatological David”—the Messiah.152

The movement within the psalm parallels the life of Christ at nearly every turn. In other words, when one follows the journey of the psalm in light of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, it “now predicts that Yahweh will be faithful to his promise to protect and preserve his Messiah at every point in his life’s journey.”153 The journey of the psalmist travels from rest (vv. 1–3), to the threat of death (v. 4), and finally to restoration and abundance (vv. 5–6). This journey is multifaceted, for it describes not only that of the psalmist, David, and his Shepherd in its original context, but also that of Israel who went from rest in the Promised Land to the darkest valley of the exile, and eagerly anticipates the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Psalter’s final shape (i.e., postexilic period).154 However, it ultimately refers to God’s Messiah, whose life tracks with the journey (or pilgrimage) of the psalm. Green’s christological reading mirrors the gospel narrative in six short verses: “Psalm 23 establishes the outline of Messiah’s story. His final destiny will be glorious: a return to the abundance of Eden in the Lord’s temple, with (defeated) enemies arrayed before him (v. 5). Before this climax, however, Messiah must pass through the valley of the shadow of death—perhaps a brush with death, or some deathlike condition.”155 The astute reader knows that the psalmist does not actually die in the psalm, so how can it prophetically speak of Christ who dies on the cross? A Christian reading of 23:4 transposes the psalmist’s near death experience into the actual death of Christ by reading the psalm in light of the gospel story.156 In other words, a grammatical-historical interpretation does not permit an actual experience of death by the psalmist, but a christological interpretation that reads the psalm in light of Jesus’s story does in fact result in the death of the Messiah. Additionally, because Ps 23 follows Ps 22, which the NT ties inextricably to the cross of Jesus Christ, the canonical placement of the two psalms recalls Jesus’s journey from suffering to salvation. In order for Christ to fully rest in the peace of Ps 23, he must first pass through the daunting road of Ps 22.157

It is beyond my purpose here to engage all the exegetical observations of each verse of Ps 23 to Christ, the sheep.158 But when read in light of the gospel, the twenty-third psalm speaks of Christ’s journey—his life, death, and resurrection—where the LORD is his shepherd who provides for his daily needs and restores his life by delivering him from death, and exalts him into the presence of the LORD in the heavenly temple (Heb 8—9).159 Psalm 23 is a summary of the gospel in the OT. A Christian reading of the psalm proclaims that its fullest meaning rests in the relationship between Christ and his Father, evoking the passion and new life of Jesus, as well as the gifts of the Lord’s Table.160 Suffice it to say here that both views—Jesus is my Shepherd and The LORD is Christ’s Shepherd—coalesce as christological interpretations of Ps 23, a psalm about God’s Anointed One.

102. Longman, How to Read Psalms, 116.

103. Ibid., 117.

104. Longman, Psalms, 133.

105. Ibid., 134–35.

106. Mays, Preaching, 119.

107. De-Claissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 241.

108. Ibid.

109. Longman notes the rod and the staff are implements that the shepherd uses to fend off predators and to goad the sheep in the right direction and toward provision (Psalms, 136).

110. Mays, Preaching, 119; McCann, Theological, 130; McCann, Psalms, 768.

111. Mays, Preaching, 119.

112. McCann, Theological, 129.

113. Longman, Psalms, 137. I have written elsewhere on microstructuring within the Psalter where smaller groups of psalms with common themes are placed consecutively for various purposes. Psalms 26—30 are commonly referred to as the “sanctuary psalms” because each psalm mentions the sanctuary or temple. Some have expanded the group to include Pss 23—30 for the same reasons, Ps 25 being the exception. Thus, Ps 23 fits the larger group as a “sanctuary psalm,” but to a lesser degree than Pss 26—30 (Fletcher, “Sanctuary,” 97–119).

114. DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 239.

115. McCann, Theological, 131.

116. Mays, Preaching, 118.

117. Ibid., 119.

118. Ibid.

119. McCann, Theological, 128.

120. Brueggemann and Bellinger, Psalms, 123. Brueggemann and Bellinger observe, “We may picture a sheep living without water or grass, exposed to wild animals, and therefore at risk. This protective, attentive shepherd changes all of that and the sheep is given a life of well-being” (ibid.). Some commentators see the term for “restore” (shuv) as the language of repentance. Thus, the verse conveys returning to God in repentance for the purpose of being restored (DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 241–42). While the term at times conveys repentance (Hos 14:1; Joel 2:12), Ps 23 is not a “penitential psalm,” and to spiritualize the text in such a way goes beyond its original shepherding imagery. Nevertheless, the two views need not contradict each other, and, as Derek Kidner notes, may even converge, so that the rescue of a sheep pictures the deeper renewal of the person of God in his or her spiritual helplessness (Psalms 1–72, 110).

121. McCann, Theological, 128.

122. Mays, Preaching, 120. I use “traditions” and “memories” to refer loosely to both oral and written materials, but am conscious of not arguing for a genetic connection between specific biblical texts per se. We simply cannot be precise about the dating of Ps 23, or the other passages in their final form that I reference in this context. I think it best to assume an interpretive milieu from which the psalmist and other OT authors drew when reflecting on Israel’s redemption at the exodus, and these have been woven throughout the biblical witness. I have adapted my list of passages from Mays, Psalms, 118.

123. Menukhot is a feminine pl. noun and mayim (“waters”) is a masculine pl. noun. This may point away from the traditional translation “still waters” (where “still” functions as an adjective modifying “waters”) to “resting places,” which happen to be near a water source. Not to put too fine a point on the grammar, but I am conscious of a possible objection to seeing a connection between still waters and the flowing water from the rock.

124. “Valley of the shadow of death” is the traditional translation, and is often preached in funerals as a note of confidence as the deceased passes from life in this world to eternal life in God’s presence. Of course, this idea is profoundly true, but the main idea of the psalm is that God protects the psalmist from all kinds of dangers associated with “darkest valley”; death, per se is not mentioned, but is implicit as but one of the dangers of the valley (Longman, Psalms, 135–36).

125. DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 243.

126. Ibid.

127. McCann, Theological, 131.

128. Ibid. Hence, the NET translation, “Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days.”

129. DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 244.

130. The Heb. word khesed is exceedingly difficult to translate into Eng. with only one word. Translators often translate it “steadfast love,” “covenant loyalty,” “covenant faithfulness,” “covenant mercy,” “lovingkindness,” “covenant of love,” “faithful love,” etc. Therefore, many reference works simply transliterate it as khesed and do not translate it. The pairing of “goodness and mercy” is by no means limited to exodus contexts (Pss 100:5; 106:1; 107:1; 118:1; 136:1).

131. A literal translation for “forever” is “length of days,” which signifies the duration of the psalmist’s life. The OT lacks a developed doctrine of the afterlife, which gains momentum in the intertestamental period, and becomes even more fully developed in the NT (Longman, Psalms, 137).

132. Brueggemann and Bellinger, Psalms, 124.

133. Longman, Psalms, 137.

134. McCann, Theological, 132.

135. DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 245.

136. Bullock, Encountering, 171–72.

137. O’Day and Hylen, John, 106.

138. “Eternal life” in John does not wait until the last days; it is available now through Jesus (ibid.).

139. Reardon, Christ, 43.

140. Bryant and Krause, John, 233. Reardon also notes that Jesus as the good shepherd appears in the catacombs of Rome, a second-century work called The Shepherd of Hermas, and in Polycarp’s The Martyrdom of Polycarp 19:2 (Christ, 43).

141. Augustine, Expositions 23, in Blaising and Hardin, eds., Psalms, 178.

142. DeClaissé-Walford, et al., Psalms, 245–46.

143. Reardon, Christ, 44. Reardon refers to the messianic banquet as an “altar,” symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice on the cross where the bread is his body and the cup is his blood; but I see this as the pinnacle moment of fellowship among Christians, and think of it more in terms of a table. See Hicks, Table.

144. McCann, Theological, 135.

145. Reardon, Christ, 44.

146. McCann, Theological, 135; Reardon, Christ, 43. Matthew 14:19 mentions only “grass,” Luke does not mention grass at all but that the place was “desolate” (Luke 9:12), recalling God’s provisions in the wilderness; John 6:10 mentions that there was “much grass” in the place.

147. McCann, Theological, 135.

148. Ibid., 132.

149. Ibid., 135–36.

150. Ibid., 136.

151. Green, “Christ’s Shepherd,” 33–46.

152. Ibid., 40.

153. Ibid., 41.

154. This is essentially the view of McCann (Theological, 130). It represents an allegorical interpretation of Ps 23 in the exilic and postexilic periods. Green also notes the movement of Israel from pasture to wilderness to temple (“Christ’s Shepherd,” 40).

155. Green, “Christ’s Shepherd,” 41.

156. Ibid., 43–44. Green (44n27) uses Ps 16 as a similar example where the original context speaks of the psalmist’s protection from death, while Peter interprets it as a prophecy of the Messiah’s rescue from death via the resurrection (Acts 2:25–31).

157. Eaton, Psalms, 124.

158. See Green, “Christ’s Shepherd,” 38–46.

159. Ibid., 41.

160. Eaton, Psalms, 124.