[Magdalen] Here 'tis: The Psalm passage.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I don't speak Hebrew, but I can sort some of the stuff out, using some
study aids, and this Psalm is a great illustration of the relationship
between Hebrew and English.

The first line is:

YHWH roi -- lo ekhsar.
YHWH - Name of God
roi - shepherd-of-me (my shepherd)
lo - No, not
ekhsar - I-shall-lack

or

The Lord = shepherd-of-me -- not I-shall-lack.

or

God is my shepherd; I shall not lack [for anything].

It's even more pronounced when you look at the actual Hebrew.  A few lines
and strokes call for a lot of stuff in English to get to the same place.
My Hebrew prof, Minka Sprague, used to say that Hebrew is a "saddlebag
language," and this is a good illustration.  It's very sparse.  It has very
few cognates, from which, with prefixes and suffixes, they build all kinds
of elegant meanings.

The Interpreter's Concise Commentary (old, but still good) suggests that
two options present themselves for interpretation:

a. The entire psalm is a metaphor of God as shepherd.

b. Verses 1 - 4 concern the shepherd metaphor, while verses 5 & 6 concern
God as host.

The second interpretation, it seems to me, dovetails very nicely with the
comment about anointing the traveler with oil. I had thought the oil
imagery concerns the King, who supposedly wrote the psalm, but on
reflection, I rather prefer your interpretation. Either view will bring
forth good images and ideas.

God as shepherd suggests a theme we find throughout the Psalms -- God
guides and God corrects. One can say that the benefits come about even if
we have no clue which direction is preferable.

God as host suggests wonderful images, for if this person is pursued by
enemies, God is his host; God will provide certain protection from all
enemies. In those days, to come into the dwelling of a host was to place
yourself under his protection.

I love that God feeds the writer "in the presence of my enemies." I have
always had this silly image of God spreading a feast for the writer while
the enemies can only watch. There is a certain amount of "nyah nyah nyah"
in the psalms, such as the wonderful line where God says, "Have a seat at
my right hand (privileged place) while I make your enemies into your
footstool."

There's some thought that the reference to dwelling in the Temple may be a
reference to a Levite priest's right to live his life in the Temple. I
guess it can as easily mean that the writer longs for the kind of assurance
and safety he enjoys in the Temple, or, as my commentary suggests, this is
symbolic for the protection God always affords, no matter one is on Mount
Zion or not.

The psalm ends with the comment:

surely good (tov) and lovingkindness (khesed) shall follow me all my life
and I shall dwell in the house of Yhwh for length-of-days.

The RCC translation is correct. We may wish it said "forever," but that is
not what it says. Translators obviously felt the meaning "forever" was
obvious, and while I agree, that isn't what the text says. This is one of
those places where people are tempted to just ignore what the text says and
substitute whatever they feel is best.  This is not new; we have hundreds
of textual changes scribes made because they "knew" the text ought to read
differently.
And I don't change the wording when I read the Psalm either. But there is a
tension there between what seems right, what is written, and what "ought to
be" written.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 11:48 PM, M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> I just wrote this to a friend who came across Psalm 23:4-6 in a grief
> devotional, and (being un-bibled from birth) wanted an explanation.  I
> submit the following basic explanation to everyone here for correction as
> need be.
>
> *****
>
> The Psalms are basically the ancient Hebrew hymn-book, expressing (like
> most hymns that have ever been popular) emotion about happy times, hopeful
> times, horrible times, and even downright bad attitudes (wishing they could
> bash the Babylonian babies' heads against rocks, bested only by the times
> they wished STDs on them).  The 23rd Psalm (22nd in Catholic bibles) is of
> the hopeful variety.  It's often subtitled "Confidence in God's grace."
> Since it's only six verses, it's important to look at the whole thing.  It
> starts "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want [anything I need]."  It's
> nickname is "The Shepherd's Psalm".  Combining normal human fears with what
> a shepherd does, he (King David, by tradition) says he will fear no evil
> because he (God) is with him, "comforting" him with his rod and staff.  The
> shepherd's staff needs little explanation, but the rod is essentially the
> shepherd's walking stick, with which he'd beat off the bastard wolves or
> sheep thieves.  Preparing a table before him in the presense of his
> enemies, reminds one that the Hebrews were then in exile in Babylon, where
> they were treated very badly to say the least.  Anointing his head with oil
> is about a practice then widespread when a traveler would have that done,
> as the oil was fragrant and the traveler was anything but sweet-smelling
> upon arrival.  Cup runneth over -- no explanation necessary (hic!).
>
> Surely goodness and mercy shall follow him all the days of his life, and
> he shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (a pathetic Catholic
> translation from the 1940s says "for a long time") rounds out the shepherd
> theme via the image of human habitation:  my shepherd will comfort,
> protect, and keep me safe till we arrive at home where all manner of thing
> shall be well, and since we're talking God by the way, it'll last forever,
> so there.
>
> Hope this helps.
>