🎙 Psalm 23:1 Understanding the Shepherd

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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 share with you a new story. Today we will begin a new series as we dive into the most recited chapter of Scripture, psalms 23. Over the next few weeks we will be going verse by verse of this famous passage. So today we will start with verse 1. A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. First, it is important for us to know that Psalms 23 is a Psalm written by David during his kingship, likely around the year 1000 BC. Some scholars have suggested that David was reminiscing on his time in the shepherd's fields. While that does seem likely. It is also possible that David is trying to express his relationship with God by comparing a sheep's relationship to its shepherd, an analogy that David knew intimately. After all, he was a shepherd until he killed Goliath. So this Psalm is a way of expressing his relationship to Yahweh. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or something to drink and get ready to dive into Psalms 23. If you grew up in church, you probably have heard this song many, many times. You probably memorized it. Or even if you didn't grow up in church, you probably have heard this a few times. But there are a few things I think are interesting and will help shape the context of this story for us. First location Our story takes place in the shepherds fields. Keep in mind, shepherds fields in Israel are not lush or green. They are in the middle of the desert, with so many rocks. In fact, there was not much green for sheep to eat, so it was the shepherd's job to guide them to places where green could be found. But we will talk more about that in a few weeks, but for now, when you picture a shepherd's field, think desert on the side of a mountain with a ton of rocks. That is where David lived. So let's break down this verse. The first two words are the Lord. In our English translations of the Bible we see the word Lord in many places. Depending on whether or not the word is fully capitalized or not, we'll determine the definition of the word. Lord in its general meaning means master. So to call someone Lord means to put them in a position of authority over you. But Lord, spelled in all caps, is the word Yahweh, and when Jewish people read it, they say Adonai, which means master in Hebrew. They do this because God's name Yahweh is so holy that to write it or speak it, they have to go through this very rigorous process to be cleansed every single time. Every time they go to write it or speak it, they must be cleansed. That means that if the name Yahweh needed to be written a few times in a paragraph, a scribe would have to stop, go cleanse themselves and then come back and write the name over and over again. So, as a way to avoid this constant need to be cleansed, while reading, they say Adonai instead. So the verse would read Adonai is my shepherd. I shall not want. But who is the Lord they are referring to? As I said, lord in all caps is the name Yahweh, the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. The same God who spoke to Abraham is the same as the one David knew intimately. David is putting Yahweh in the shepherd position, of authority over his life, making himself the sheep in this metaphor. So Yahweh is my shepherd. Now, the next part of this verse is my shepherd. So it is important for us to take a few minutes to find out what it was like to be a shepherd. First, it is important for us to know that there are two types of shepherds Bedouin shepherds and Levitical shepherds. Bedouin means move. These shepherds were more likely nomadic. They would travel long distances to find sufficient food for their herd, whereas the Levitical shepherds were the shepherds from the tribe of Levi. These shepherds were tasked to raise the lambs for sacrifice. They are stationed in Bethlehem. Shepherding was a skill that was learned as a child, so boys and girls would start young and take the flock of sheep out to the field to find food and water. It would be up to the child, or sometimes preteens, to protect their flock from wild animals. These young shepherds were called undershepherds and they worked for the master shepherd, likely their father, who owned the entire flock. So a young undershepherd would set out with the flock in search of food and water for the sheep, often traveling a day or two away from home. These undershepherds would wear a tunic made out of camel hair to act as a coat during the day and a blanket on cold nights, along with a headcloth to protect their head and neck from the desert sun. A shepherd would be out in the field in all weather conditions, but if the weather got too bad while in the fields they would find natural caves and put their sheep inside to protect them. On these long journeys, shepherds would take food like dates, figs, bread, cheese and olive in their script. Script is sometimes translated as satchel. This was a bag made out of dried animal skin that would hold necessities like food for their long journeys. A shepherd would also bring along some weapons in case they came across some wild animals who wanted to attack the flock. These weapons included a slingshot and a shepherd's staff, both used quite frequently while out in the fields, and those some shepherds were known to bring along a flute to play. We know David brought an approximate period of time unless or would have had to do with looking the sheep and bringing around a fireplace harp. So now that we know a little bit more about the life of a Bedouin shepherd, let's talk about the role of a shepherd. What is their purpose? The quick answer is to take care of and protect the sheep. But Holly Culhane of Present Point Workshop has done much research and narrowed down the role of a shepherd to three main things presence, provision and protection. First, let's talk about the presence. What does the presence of the shepherd bring to the flock? Culhane defines presence as at hand, physically and emotionally available and engaged. That means that every day the shepherd gets up and engages with the flock. This is important. An immediate contact each day reminds the sheep that their shepherd is still here and has not left them. Dr Tim Lanick of shepherdleadercom says sheep scatter without a shepherd. They run when they sense danger. In fact, their only hope for protection comes from the shepherd's presence. The bonding that occurs as a result of around the clock care is remarkable. Sheep are not known for their intelligence, but they find peace and comfort in knowing that their shepherd is present and will take care of all of their needs. The second role of a shepherd, according to Holly and Culhane, is provision, and she defines provision as to take care of, or to furnish or supply a need of another. She goes on to say that a shepherd is always attuned to the needs of their sheep. In fact, a good shepherd knows their flock so well that in an instant they know if their sheep is hurt, ill or in need of special attention. A provisional shepherd is deeply connected to what their sheep need. Lastly, the third role of a shepherd is protection. Again, holly and Culhane defines protection as the act of safeguarding, shielding another from harm or guarding against danger. But this does not just apply to wild animals. In fact, it spans to even the little things like making sure ahead of time the area they will lead the flock to graze in is not poisoned, as well as ensuring the water is safe to drink and that the path they will take the flock to is not too dangerous that the sheep could get hurt. All of these things fall into this category of protection. The shepherd is always ensuring the safety of their sheep. So, as David is writing Psalms 23-1, he says Yahweh is my shepherd, meaning the God of Abraham, isaac, and Jacob is taking on the role of a shepherd. Yahweh is present with provisional over and protecting David. This is how David sees his relationship with Yahweh. He has peace because Yahweh is with him. He doesn't worry because Yahweh is providing what he needs. He is not scared because he knows that Yahweh is protecting him from any and all dangers. What an amazing relationship David has with Yahweh. And this leads us into the last part of this verse. I shall not want, or some translations say I lack nothing. We've already talked about the provisional role of a shepherd, ensuring that every need of the sheep is taken care of. But what does that really look like in actuality? What does a shepherd do if a sheep needs more attention than just clean water and fresh grass? Sometimes in a flock, the mother E will reject one of the lambs. If this happens, she will never take it back. Sometimes this is because the lamb is injured or sick and the mother doesn't want anything to do with it. These sheep are called bummer lambs and unless the shepherd intervenes, the lamb will die. But the shepherd will pick up the lamb, bring it into their home and raise it. They will hand, feed it, wrap it in blankets, cuddle it until the lamb is strong enough to rejoin the herd. But the bummer lamb never forgets the kindness of the shepherd. In fact, the bummer lamb follows the shepherd the closest because they know the shepherd's voice better than any of the other sheep. Because when they were broken, rejected and alone, the shepherd provided for them everything that they need. So when David writes this I shall not want, he means he had all of his needs met. David was a bummer lamb. He was rejected by his family, outcasted to the shepherd fields. But Yahweh met him there, took him in, protected him, and David never forgot the kindness of his shepherd. He knew the voice and followed so closely that he is named a man after God's own heart. So how does this story point to Jesus? Jesus is our shepherd. He treats us the same as a loving shepherd would treat their sheep. We live and operate under his presence, provision and protection. And, just like the bummer lambs, when we were rejected, outcasted and left without hope, jesus came to our rescue. He took us in, raised us up. We know his voice and we follow him closely because we have an intimate relationship with him. He is our shepherd and we are his sheep. Now, before we go, I want us to close our time together by reading the Scripture in Psalms 23. And I hope, as we listen to it, that we will be able to embrace all that we have learned and that this passage will be illuminated for us. Let's read the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. 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 MacDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook at our HM Future Story. See you next time, bye.