5 You make ready a table for me in front of my haters: you put oil on my head; my cup is overflowing.
O how great is your grace, which you have put in store for your worshippers, and which you have made clear to those who had faith in you, before the sons of men! You will keep them safe in your house from the designs of man; in the secret of your tent will you keep them from angry tongues.
Then Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, If you do not take the flesh of the Son of man for food, and if you do not take his blood for drink, you have no life in you. He who takes my flesh for food and my blood for drink has eternal life: and I will take him up from the dead at the last day. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who takes my flesh for food and my blood for drink is in me and I in him.
I am the door: if any man goes in through me he will have salvation, and will go in and go out, and will get food. The thief comes only to take the sheep and to put them to death: he comes for their destruction: I have come so that they may have life and have it in greater measure.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 23
Commentary on Psalms 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 23
Ps 23:1-6. Under a metaphor borrowed from scenes of pastoral life, with which David was familiar, he describes God's providential care in providing refreshment, guidance, protection, and abundance, and so affording grounds of confidence in His perpetual favor.
1. Christ's relation to His people is often represented by the figure of a shepherd (Joh 10:14; Heb 13:20; 1Pe 2:25; 5:4), and therefore the opinion that He is the Lord here so described, and in Ge 48:15; Ps 80:1; Isa 40:11, is not without some good reason.
2. green pastures—or, "pastures of tender grass," are mentioned, not in respect to food, but as places of cool and refreshing rest.
the still waters—are, literally, "waters of "stillness," whose quiet flow invites to repose. They are contrasted with boisterous streams on the one hand, and stagnant, offensive pools on the other.
3. To restore the soul is to revive or quicken it (Ps 19:7), or relieve it (La 1:11, 19).
paths of righteousness—those of safety, as directed by God, and pleasing to Him.
for his name's sake—or, regard for His perfections, pledged for His people's welfare.
4. In the darkest and most trying hour God is near.
the valley of the shadow of death—is a ravine overhung by high precipitous cliffs, filled with dense forests, and well calculated to inspire dread to the timid, and afford a covert to beasts of prey. While expressive of any great danger or cause of terror, it does not exclude the greatest of all, to which it is most popularly applied, and which its terms suggest.
thy rod and thy staff—are symbols of a shepherd's office. By them he guides his sheep.
5, 6. Another figure expresses God's provided care.
a table—or, "food," anointing
oil—the symbol of gladness, and the overflowing
cup—which represents abundance—are prepared for the child of God, who may feast in spite of his enemies, confident that this favor will ever attend him. This beautiful Psalm most admirably sets before us, in its chief figure, that of a shepherd, the gentle, kind, and sure care extended to God's people, who, as a shepherd, both rules and feeds them. The closing verse shows that the blessings mentioned are spiritual.