Invited guests: Psalm 23:5 Through the Lens of Hospitality

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 to dive with you into the most recited chapter of Scripture, psalms 23. But before we get into that today, I want to take a minute and thank our new Patreon subscribers. Deanne Harmon, thank you so much for supporting the show. Your support helps me keep the show going. If you like what you are hearing and learning and you would like to get additional content and resources, please visit our Patreon. You can follow the show on our socials or check out our website at ourancientfuturestorycom. Thank you so much for your support. Alright, let's get into the show. Just like last time, we are going to dive into verse 5, breaking it down and seeing the amazing history and culture behind this famous Psalm, psalms 23.5,. You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows, so sit back, grab a cup of coffee or something to drink and you're ready to dive into Psalms 23.5. 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 it a few times. But there are a few things that I think are interesting and will help shape the context of the story for us. First, as always, location. We are still in the Wadi Kilt, the valley of the shadow of death, but we are seeing another side to our good shepherd. I never noticed before, but verses 5 and 6 are their own stanza and this is the shift in the Psalms. The first three verses are mostly leaning into the sheep and the shepherd relationship. Then, in verse 4, the tone shifts and it leans into the sheep metaphor and David's current situation. And these last two stanzas really lean into three things the sheep and shepherd relationship, david's current situation and hospitality. And through our time together. We are going to see how all of these things come into play. Let's start by looking at this verse through the sheep and shepherd relationship. We kick off verse 5 with you prepare a table before me. A sheep's table is the green pastures, so a shepherd leading a sheep to green pastures is setting the table for them. The sheep did nothing to create the meal. The shepherd did all the work getting them to safety, to the green pastures. All the sheep have to do is have enough confidence in the shepherd to eat what he has put in front of them. The next part of the verse says In the presence of my enemies. While sheep were eating the green pastures on the mountainside there are wild animals like wolves peaking over the hills waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting sheep. But the sheep still eat from the green pastures in the presence of the wild animals because they trust the shepherd. The last part of the verse is you anoint my head with oil. Pouring oil over the head of a sheep was common practice for shepherds. Because the sheep live out in the open, they are often tormented with flies and other insects that buzz around their eyes and ears and noses. They can get so tormented by them that they can bang their head against a rock to try to get some relief but just end up hurting themselves or, worse, killing themselves. Trying to get relief, however, sheep can get themselves caught in barbed wire or other things that can cause harm to them and they will struggle with the wire trying to get themselves free but ultimately will just injure themselves. So a good shepherd would pour oil over their heads of the sheep to create a protective layer for them. The oil would repel the flies and insects and make the sheep slippery enough to not get caught in the wires. This verse ends with my cup overflows. This is a hospitality term that means to keep refilling the cup, but we will talk about that more in just a minute. But here I think it applies to the shepherd guiding sheep to a well and drawing water. The cup to feed the flock is overflowing. All of this to say that the shepherd looks after the flock, provides food and endless water to protect them from both the big and small things that can hurt them the wolves and the insects. Protect them from both external torments of the enemies and the wild animals and the internal torments of the flies. Next let's look at this verse through the lens of hospitality. But in order to do that, we first must understand. The world of David was a very hospitality centered culture. There were specific actions that any honorable host would do to ensure the hospitable atmosphere for their guests. There are two important things for us to understand about the setting of a table in Jewish culture. First, to invite someone to a table was the highest form of respect you could bestow on a person, because sitting around a table created space for true fellowship. You would never invite somebody who was against you or wanted to harm you to the table. If you wanted to be friends with people that were outside of your class or outside of your social standing, you could, but you would never invite them to a table. The table was sacred space. The second thing to remember about setting a table for ancient Jewish culture in an honor shame culture, the honorable would sit at the table, whereas those who were shameful, ie the poor outcast centers they would sit along the wall of the house. These people stuck in shame were invited to the house but did not eat with the guests. They stood along the wall and watched the host and the honored guests eat first, then, after the meal, those along the wall would be given the leftover or the scraps from the meal so that they could eat as well. So let's look at this psalm through this lens of hospitality. It starts with to prepare a table before me. As we just said, to invite someone to a table was the highest form of respect. Honored guests would not have to do anything to cook dinner, to prepare the table. They would just show up for the meal and the host would do all the work. The next part of this verse says in the presence of my enemies. Now, this could be referring to the people along the wall, but it was more likely talking about the responsibility of the host to ensure the safety of the guests during the meal. So when an honored guest accepted a dinner invitation, the host is agreeing to protect the guests from any enemies or dangers that may be lurking in the shadows. Next the verse says you anoint my head with oil. It was common practice in ancient Jewish culture to give a guest olive oil for their hands. Olive oil worked much like ancient soap. So every guest received some, but honored guests, the special guests, would also get their head anointed with special oils. The verse ends with my cup overflows. As I said earlier, this is a hospitality term In Jewish culture. When you are given a drink at someone's home or at a meal, they will not let your cup go down. They will continue to refill it after almost every sip. This act is called cup overflows or my cup runs over. It is only at the end of the meal or at the end of your time together that they will finally let your cup go down. Otherwise, they will make sure that your cup runs over because that is the honorable, hospitable thing to do. Historical fun fact some Jewish families will sing this Psalm, psalm 23, during Passover, as they pour each of the four cups to remind themselves of the cup runs over. So if we are looking through this verse, through the lens of hospitality, we see that Yahweh is the host and we are his guest. He invites us to dinner, bestowing on us the highest level of respect. He wants to fellowship with you and with me. Yahweh prepares the table and we just show up. When we arrive, he anoints our head with special oils, showing everyone that we are honored guests at his table. Throughout the meal, he never lets our cup run dry. He continues to refill it until the meal comes to a close. So, lastly, let's look at this verse through the lens of David's current situation. We learned last week that David found himself in the Wadi Kelt, the valley of the shadow of death, fleeing for his life from his son Absalom. He is literally surrounded by enemies. Not only is his son chasing him, but the Wadi Kelt has dangers and thieves all its own. But Yahweh still provides for David. He is still protecting him. When David was anointed as king, samuel used oil. In 1 Samuel 1613 says Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. From that day forward, david's cup on Yahweh's blessing never ran out. No matter if he was in the palace or running for his life, yahweh always refilled his cup. So how does this Psalm, how does this verse, point us to Jesus? Jesus is our shepherd, as we have said every week, and he prepares a table for us as his children. Our food is not green pastures like sheep, but a feast on his word. Jesus said man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. We are not orphans scrounging around for food. We are beloved sons and daughters of the king. And he has set the table for us in his word. Every time we open the word, it's like we are pulling up a chair to an already fixed, already prepared and presentable meal, ready to be eaten and feasted upon. We just have to sit down and eat it. But we don't just eat for one time and we are good for the rest of our life. No, our cup runs over. He keeps filling us each and every time we open the pages of scripture to connect with him. So here we go. I want to close our time together by reading the scripture in Psalms 23. I hope that as you listen to it, be read, that you will embrace all that we have learned and 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. You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Thank you for listening to today's episode of our HM 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 you.