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From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com Sent: Friday, July 04, 1997 2:38 AM To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup Subject: Re: Help: 23rd Psalm To: "Hebraic Roots (E-mail)" <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com> From: "Kenneth Williams" Subject: Re: Help: 23rd Psalm > > From: Eva J Reeves > Subject: 23rd Psalm > To: hebrew roots <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com> > > Does anyone have any Hebraic reference on the 23rd Psalm? I need Hebrew info on this for a class on the 23rd Psalm. > > Thanks, Havah > Hi Eva: I hope this will help. I ran this piece a few months ago in my magazine called "The Old Christian-Press." It was originally written in 1903 by William Allen Knight. I ran it under the title "The Shepherd's Song." Hebrews 13:20&21, Ken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Faduel Moghabghad," said our Syrian guest as he coached two little maids in the pronunciation of his name. " Accent the U and drop those Gs . He was a man of winsome mind, and the spirituality of his culture was as marked as the refinement of his manners. We shall long remember him for the tales told that evening of his home in Ainzehalta on the slope of the Syrian mountains, but longest of all for what he said out of the memories of his youth about a shepherd song. "It was out of the shepherd life of my country," he remarked, "that there came long ago that sweetest song ever written--the Twenty-third Psalm." "Ah, so many things familiar to us are strange to you of America," he said. Then he smiled and said, "So many things in the life of my people were woven into the words of the Bible and into the conceptions of religious ideas as expressed there; you of the Western world, not knowing these things as they are, often misunderstand what is written, or at least fail to get a correct impression from it." After mentioning several instances, he went on: "And there is the shepherd psalm: I find that it is taken among you as having two parts, the first under the figure of a shepherd life, the second turning to the figure of a banquet with the host and the guest. It actually runs through from first word to last around the shepherd life." He quoted: "'The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.' There is the opening strain of its music; in that chord is sounded the keynote which is never lost till the plaintive melody dies away at the song's end. All that follows is that thought put in varying light." He talked of how the varied needs of the sheep and the many-sided care of the shepherd are pictured with masterly touch in the short sentences of the psalm. "Each is distinct and adds something too precious to be merged and lost." He went on to say. "`He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,'--nourishment, rest. `He leadeth me beside the still waters,'--- the scene changes and so does the meaning. You think here of quietly flowing streams; so you get one more picture of rest; but you miss one of the finest scenes in shepherd life and one of the rarest blessings of the soul that is led of God. All through the day's roaming the shepherd keeps one thing in mind. He must lead his flock to a drinking-place. The refreshment of good water makes the coveted hour of all the day; the spot where it is found amid the rough, waterless hills and plains is the crowning token of the shepherd's unfailing thoughtfulness. When at last the sheep are led `beside the still waters,' how good it is, after the dust and heat of the sheep-walks! "Would you get the shepherd meaning here? Then remember that streams are few in the shepherd country of Bible lands. The shepherds do not rely on them. Even where streams are found, their beds and banks are usually broken and their flow rough. Sheep are timid and fear a current of water, as they well may, for they are easily carried down stream because of their wool. If the shepherd did not see to it that they be watered, the sheep would have a hard time finding water to drink. How would we get the refreshment we need in the rough world, if the Shepherd did not see to that? But He does, He does! "There are wells and fountains all through the vast regions where the flocks roam, and in some parts there are cisterns, though the sheep like the living water best. The shepherds know where these drinking-places are all through the treeless country where streams are few. It is a fine sight to see the shepherds bring their flocks `beside the still waters' at some well or fountain, while the wide, silent country over which they and many other sheep have wandered, spread all around them, and the full expanse of the sky arches over them. "The shepherd makes a certain sound: all his sheep lie down and are quiet. Then he fills the drinking-troughs. The bubbling of the fountain, or the current, if it be by a stream, is no longer there to trouble the sheep. They can drink now undisturbed. This is the delicate meaning of that word `still.' as the Hebrew words put it, `He leadeth beside the waters of quietness.' "Then the waiting sheep hear a whistle or a call. They never misunderstand; they know their shepherd's voice and never respond to the wrong shepherd if several flocks have come up together. And strangest of all, the sheep come up by groups; the shepherd makes them understand. So in groups he leads them until they stand `besides the still waters.' And, oh, how they drink, with the shepherd standing near! After a pause, with a far-off look in his eyes, he said, "It is a beautiful scene, so beautiful that St. John has used it in picturing heaven. `The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life.'" "But I must tell you one more scene that comes to my memory whenever I read the words, `He leadeth me beside the still waters.' It would make a beautiful picture if some one would paint it. "Up in the mountainsides of Lebanon, where my kinsmen have long been shepherds, often there are no regular drinking-places, such as the wells and fountains on the plains. But as the shepherd leads his sheep over the rough slopes he finds many a spring and sees it rivulet noisily running down a crevice. His sheep need water. They cannot drink from the leaping little stream. What does he do? He finds a suitable turn or nook in its course; he walls it up with a little dam and so holds the water till it forms a quiet pool. Then, right there on the open hills, he leads his sheep `beside the still waters.' I know of nothing more fit to picture the Shepherd's care of souls that trust Him than that scene up there on the mountainside. "`He restoreth my soul.' You know," he said, "that soul means the life or one's self in the Hebrew writings. There are perilous places for the sheep on all sides, and they seem never to learn to avoid them. The shepherd must ever be on the watch. And there are private fields and sometimes gardens and vineyards here and there in the shepherd country; if the sheep stray into them and be caught there it is forfeited to the owner of the land. So `He restoreth my soul' means, `The shepherd brings me back and rescues me from fatal and forbidden places.'" "`Restores me when wandering,' is the way it is put in one of our hymns," I interposed. "Ah, sir, that is it exactly," he answered, "`Restores me when wandering!'" "`He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.' Often have I roamed through the shepherd country in my youth and seen how hard it is to choose the right path for the sheep; one leads to a precipice, another to a place where the sheep cannot find the way back; and the shepherd was always going ahead, `leading' them in the right paths, proud of his good name as a shepherd. "Some paths that are right paths still lead through places that have deadly perils. `Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,' is the way the psalm touches this fact in shepherd life. This way of naming the valley is very true to our country. I remember one near my home called `the valley of robbers,' and another, `the ravine of the raven.' You see `the valley of the shadow of death' is a name drawn from my country's old custom. "`For thou art with me.' Ah, how could more be put into few words! With the sheep, it matters not what the surroundings are, nor how great the perils and hardships; if only the shepherd is with them, they are content. There is no finer picture of the way of peace for the troubled in the world. "To show how much the presence of the shepherd counts for the welfare of the sheep I can think of nothing better than the strange thing I now tell you. It is quite beyond the usual, daily care on which the flock depends so fondly. But I have seen it more than once. "Sometimes, in spite of all the care of the shepherd and his dogs, a wolf will get into the very midst of the flock, the sheep are wild with fright. They run and leap and make it impossible to get at the foe in their midst, who at that very moment may be fastening his teeth in the throat of a helpless member of the flock. But the shepherd is with them, he knows what to do even at such a time. He leaps to a rock or hillock that he may be seen and heard. Then he lifts his voice in a long call, something like a wolf's cry: `Ooh! ooh!'" "On hearing this, the sheep remember the shepherd; they heed his voice; and, strange to tell, the poor, timid creatures, which were helpless with terror before, instantly rush with all their strength into a solid mass. The pressure is irresistible; the wolf is overcome; frequently he is crushed to death, while the shepherd stands there on a rock crying, `Ooh! ooh!' `I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.'" "Yes," I said at last, "`in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.'" He bowed his satisfaction in silence. "`Thy rod and thy staff'-- this also is true to life; the double expression covers the whole round of protecting and care. For the shepherds carry a crook for guiding the sheep and a weapon suitable for defending them, the rod and the staff; one for aiding them in places of need along peaceful ways, the other for defense in perils of robbers and wild beast. this saying describes with the ease of mastery how much those words mean, `Thou art with me.'" "And what shall I say of the next words, `Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me'? Ah, you should see the sheep cuddle near the shepherd to understand that word, `they comfort me.' The shepherd's call `Ta-a-a-a, ho-o-o,' and the answering patter of feet as the sheep hurry to him, are fit sounds to be chosen out of the noisy world to show what comfort God gives souls that heed His voice; and those sounds have been heard in my country this day as they were the day this shepherd psalm was written!" He sat in silence a moment musing as if the sound were in his ear. With quiet animation he lifted his thin hand and continued: "Now here is where you drop the shepherd figure and put in a banquet and lose the fine climax of completeness in the shepherd's care." "`Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.'" In the same hushed voice in which he quoted these words he added: "Ah, to think that the shepherd's highest skill and heroism should be lost from view as the psalm begins to sing of it, and only an indoor banquet thought of!" Again he sat a little time in quiet. Then he said: "The word for table here means simply `something spread out' and so a prepared meal, however it is set forth. There is no higher task of the shepherd in my country than to go from time to time to study places and examine the grass and find a good and safe feeding-place for his sheep. All his skill and often great heroism are called for. There are many poisonous plants in the grass and the shepherd must find and avoid them. The sheep will not eat certain poisonous things, but there are some which they will eat, one kind of poisonous grass in particular. A cousin of mine once lost three hundred sheep by a mistake in this hard task. "Then there are snake holes in some kinds of ground, and if they be not driven away, the snakes bite the noses of the sheep. The shepherd sometimes burns the fat of hogs along the ground to do this. Sometimes the shepherd finds ground where moles have worked their holes just under the surface. Snakes lie in these holes with their heads sticking up ready to bite the grazing sheep. The shepherds know how to drive them away as they go ahead of the sheep. "And around the feeding-ground which the shepherd thus prepares, in holes and caves in the hillsides there are jackals, wolves, hyenas, and panthers, too, and the bravery and skill of the shepherd are at the highest point in closing up these dens with stones or slaying the wild beast with his sharp long-bladed knife. Of nothing do you hear shepherds boasting more proudly than that of their achievement in this part of their care of flocks. "And now," he exclaimed with beaming countenance and suppressed feeling, as if pleading for recognition of the lone shepherd's bravest act of devotion to his sheep, "and now do you not see the shepherds figure in that line, `Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies'?" "Yes," I answered; "and I see that God's care of man out in the world is a grander thought than that of seating him at an indoor banquet-table." "But what about the head with oil and the cup running over? Go on, my friend." "Oh, there begins the beautiful picture at the end of the day. The psalm has sung of the whole round of the day's wandering, all the needs of the sheep, all the care of the shepherd. Now the psalm closes with the last scene of the day. At the door of the sheepfold the shepherd stands and `the rodding of the sheep' takes place. The shepherd stands turning his body to let the sheep pass; he is the door, as Christ said of Himself. With his rod he holds back the sheep while he inspects them one by one as they pass into the fold. He has the horn filled with olive-oil and he has cedar-tar, and he anoints a knee bruised on the rocks or a side scratched by thorns. And here comes one that is not bruised but simply worn and exhausted; he bathes its face and head with the refreshing olive-oil and he takes the large two-handled cup and dips it brimming full from the vessel of water provided for that purpose, and he lets the weary sheep drink. "There is nothing finer in the psalm than this. God's care is not for the wounded only, but for the worn and weary also. `Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.'" "And then, when the day is done and the sheep are snug within the fold, what contentment, what rest under the starry sky! Then comes the thought of deep repose and comfort; "`Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," as they have through all wanderings of the day now ended. "The song fades away as the heart that God has watched and tended breathes this grateful vow before the roaming of the day is forgotten in sleep: `I will'--not shall, but will; for it is a decision, a settled purpose, a holy vow-- `I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' And the song ends, and the sheep are at rest, safe in the good shepherd's fold." ***************************************************************************
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