The next thing that Psalm 23:5 says of (and to) the shepherd is “You anoint my head with oil”, likely drawing from the practice of putting oil on the sheep to protect them from flies and other insects that could get into their eyes, ears, and nose. Aside from the sheep it was a custom […]
Continuing in verse 4 of Psalm 23 we come to the third of four powerful statements in this verse, “For you are with me”. I see this as another key to the entire Psalm, (similar to “The Lord is my shepherd”) the assurance of His presence! God knew His redeemed people would go through dark, […]
Picking up from last week’s meditation Psalm 23:4 continues “…I will fear no evil…” The Hebrew word here translated evil means bad or evil, and can associate with adversity, affliction, and calamity. It seems that as David makes this declaration he is refusing to focus on the shadow of this valley. It is a battle […]
Verse 4 of Psalm 23 opens up saying, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” The picture here is of a dangerous path through a deep ravine with high steep mountains on either side, and no seeming way of escape, so you must move forward in spite of the […]
The role of the shepherd is to tend and care for the flock, therefore being one of His sheep David could say, “I shall not want”, or perhaps a better translation would be, “I shall not lack”, for so is the meaning of the Hebrew word. And justifiably we should add “any beneficial thing”, for […]
Sheep and shepherds were a big part of ancient Israel, the nation of whom God had said was “the flock of My pasture” Ezekiel 34:31, and His commitment to them through the prophet Isaiah was that He would “feed His flock like a shepherd” 40:11. Then in Psalm 100:3 they acknowledge that “we are His […]
As we continue looking at Psalm 46, in verses 8-11 we see God as our victorious warrior. The desolations He makes in the earth are explained by Jamieson-Fausset-Brown as literally, ‘who hath put desolations’, destroying our enemies.” Making wars to cease might refer to the time the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers […]
In Exodus 17:8-15 Israel wins a great battle over their enemy, Amalek; their victory was not because they had superior military might, but it was by the hand of the Lord under whose banner they fought. We see this as we watch Moses hands, while raised to God (which could be seen as a posture […]
As we look at 2 Samuel 22:33 we find David praising God for deliverance and victory over enemies, and in his praise we are introduced to God as Elohei Mauzzi, our “strength and power”. Literally this means a fortified place, and figuratively a defense. In Psalm 18:2 he declared “The Lord is my rock and […]
As we continue our journey of getting acquainted with God through some of His names and titles that are given to us in Scripture we must visit Psalm 23:1 where we meet Him as Jehovah Raah, which is my shepherd. To a people whose life and economy was deeply involved with sheep this would be […]