🎙 In the Footsteps of David: Exploring the Wadi Qelt and Psalms 23:4

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Welcome to our ancient future story, navigating Scripture through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around a dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God's family and His family story has a lot of history. Each week, we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts. We will be looking at these stories through the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens of ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is our ancient future story. Welcome back to our ancient future story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to continue our series on the most recited verses in Scripture Psalms 23. Just like the last few times, we dive into verse number 4 and breaking it down and finding this amazing history behind this famous Psalm, psalm 23.4,. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. So sit back, grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's get ready to dive into Psalms 23.4. If you grew up in church, you probably have heard this Psalm many, many times. You probably memorized it, or even if you didn't grow up in church, you have probably heard this a few times. But there are a few things that I think are interesting and will help shape the context of this story. First location Our story takes place in and around the valley of the shadow of death. Some translations will say darkest valley or death valley, but the Hebrew really translates closest to darkest valley or dark shadows. Most scholars agree that the valley David is referring to here is the Wadi Quilt. This is a real place, a canyon that connects Jerusalem to Jericho. It gets its name because the canyon is so deep that sunlight cannot be seen inside, except for when the sun is directly overhead, which fits the name of the valley of dark shadows. There's more on that in a moment. Last episode we talked about the stanza shift between him to your. The first stanza is solely talking about Yahweh, whereas here in this stanza, david is talking to Yahweh, and this is an important shift, because his psalm turns into his prayer. Now you may be asking why would David do that? Why shift the focus of the psalm? It was a perfectly good psalm about a sheep and a shepherd. Well, many scholars suggest that when David was writing the psalm, he was literally traveling through the Wadi Qwalt, or the valley of the shadow of death. Okay, let me explain. We talked about how David wrote this psalm sometime during his kingship. So by this point David has killed Goliath, became king of Israel, taken advantage of Bathsheba, killed her husband, uriah the Hittite, and God tells David, through the prophet Nathan, that I will rise up evil against you from your own house. And this is where we picked up our story in 2 Samuel 15. David's son, absalom, attempts to take over the crown. Absalom is so aggressive that David has to flee Jerusalem to save his own life. And when he flees, he comes to the Wadi Qwalt. It is a very interesting story and I highly recommend you go read it. But the reason so many scholars believe this was the place that David was talking about is because of the verb walk. Okay, go with me on this grammar lesson really quick. The word walk, or halech in Hebrew, in this passage is in the imperfect first person singular, which is to tell us that it is continuous or incomplete. So we get this idea that David is saying that he is in the middle of actively walking through the valley of death. He is literally talking about walking through this valley, the Wadi Qwalt, because he is standing in it. So back to the reason as to why there is a shift in tone from the first stanza and the second stanza, as we talked about in the last episode. The first stanza is about a good shepherd and his sheep, and David intimately knows that relationship between his shepherd and his sheep. But in the second stanza we get this shift and for the rest of this Psalm we're going to see David reminding himself of the character of Yahweh, who has seen him through every step of the way, even though he finds himself in this predicament running for his life through the valley of shadow of death. Yahweh is still with him and he does not need to fear. Now it is important for us to note a couple things in addition to how David is now viewing Yahweh in this Psalm, specifically with the valley of the shadow of death. So this valley was very dangerous in and of itself. Travelers would have to tread very carefully for fear of falling, as the path was very steep. Even to this day, the path gets very narrow and steep at parts. Travelers must also look out for wild animals and, of course, thieves. Because of the dark shadows, thieves would hide in many caves and attack travelers as they made their way through the 15 mile canyon. This is the location Jesus used when he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan talking about a man walking down the Jericho road. That is this place, the Wadi Kelt. The other thing to note is, if you remember a few episodes ago we said a shepherd would never, ever, typically bring their sheep to a wadi, preferred the flash floods that would wipe out the sheep and the whole flock. So why would David mention taking sheep through the valley of the shadow of death? Well, possibly for a couple reasons. One could be the coolness that the valley provides the Wadi Kailat is actually so deep that it would offer shepherds and their flock were preved from the daunting summer desert sun. And the other reason shepherds would lead their flock through this valley because at the bottom of the canyon was a desert oasis that had water and green pastures that the sheep could eat and drink from and rest in the cool temperatures. The most part of the verse is I will fear no evil, for you are with me. The other thing we must note about sheep going through the valley of the shadow of death is that sheep aren't aware of the concept of death, but they are aware of the concept of darkness and danger. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, sheep are incredibly skittish. If a little babbling brook can send them running, what do you think deep darkness of the Wadi Kailat would do to them? But they trust their shepherd. In the Wadi Kailat, the shepherd takes on even more responsibility for the sheep, not just keeping the flock on the path so that no one falls down, but also warding off wild animals that could harm the sheep, protecting them from thieves that could want to hurt them as well. The sheep do not fear while walking through this deep darkness because their shepherd is guiding them. But, unlike on the mountainside, a shepherd doesn't lead by just his voice. Instead, he uses his tools, his rod and his staff, which leads us to the last part of the verse your rod and your staff. They comfort me. A shepherd will carry both a rod and a staff as they walk through the Wadi Kailat. We sometimes think of these things as the same thing, but they actually have different uses. A shepherd's rod is their weapon against wild beasts. It's how they protect their flock. It shows their power and authority, but it can also be used to discipline. However, the shepherd's staff is used to guide. The staff is used exclusively on the sheep. It is intended to be used to bring back a sheep that has stepped off course and needs to be brought back into the fold. The curve on the staff is used to loop around the sheep's neck and gently guide them back on course. This is an example of grace. The shepherd could use the rod and discipline the sheep for stepping out of line, but instead the shepherd will most often use the staff displaying grace to the sheep by not giving the sheep what they deserve, but rather what they don't deserve, and letting them back in. In this verse, david says that both the rod and the staff comforts me, meaning both the discipline of God and the grace of God comforts him. Let me say that again Both the discipline of God and the grace of God comforts him. David is literally on the run from his son Absalom because of his actions with Bathsheba. God is disciplining him, but God is also showing him grace by guiding him back to where he is supposed to be. David knew that God was disciplining him for his actions, but he did not fear the valley nor the man chasing him, because he knew that Yahweh was with him and while on the run, he also was comforted by the actions that Yahweh did not take. God could have stripped David of his kingship, just as he had with Saul, but instead Yahweh acted out of grace and gently guided David back into the fold. So how does all of this point to Jesus as our shepherd? Even in this moment that feels like the darkest valley, he is with us and we don't have to be afraid. He is leading us and comforting us. But what I love most about the Wadi Kelt is that Jesus took this road. He often made this trip between Jericho and Jerusalem. The Jericho road that Jesus talks about is this canyon, the Wadi Kelt. And, just as we have said every episode, jesus is our shepherd and we can trust him to lead us through even the darkest valley. His discipline and his grace both comfort us in these dark moments, and we trust the shepherd because we know that he is good. So, before we go, I want to close our time together by reading the scripture in Psalms 23. And I hope that, as we listen to all that we have talked about, that this passage will be illuminated for you. Let's read the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. Thank you for listening to today's episode of our H&Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me, vic Hartman. Music is embarking on an adventure by Evan McDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and if you want more info or want to dive deeper, check out our website at our ancientfuturestorycom. See you next time. Bye, music tief paining you, you, you.