Depending on people’s interest, passion and value, different people express their feelings, thoughts and beliefs in different ways. While some people like poems, some people like a true story; while some people like listening to a song or watching a movie, other people like reading. Whatever the case, the most important thing in this world is to communicate with one another and explore the world. However, the way people communicate with each other is different. While some people choose random routine language, other people choose an artistic way to communicate. One of the most interesting, mysterious and metaphoric ways of communication or expression is poetry. According to Wikipedia, “Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning.” Since poetry is a formal literary art, there are different types of poetry. Out of those types of poetry, one type of poetry is called metaphoric or symbolic poetry. In a poem called The Twenty-third Psalm, the author, King David in the Bible, expresses the idea of God as a shepherd in everyday life.
When we come to the first stanza, the writer says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” In the first place, the word ‘shepherd’ means a person (usually a man) who tends or guards many sheep. Either a shepherd owns the sheep or not; he is a good person who looks for them if they disappear or are in trouble. In the middle of nowhere, the shepherd’s best friend is the sheep and the sheep’s best friend is the shepherd. They each have their own common language and use it so that they don’t disappear from each other’s sight and wander in the enemy’s territory. The shepherd is the one who is responsible for his sheep in the case of enemy attack. Usually, when we study the character of the sheep, he/she eats grass continuously without looking up and doesn’t recognize whether he/she is in the enemy’s territory or not. In that case, the sheepherder is the one who calls the sheep by their name and leads them in back to the group. The relationship between God and human beings is just like the shepherd and his sheep. Humans communicate with their creator in one way called the language of prayer. Prayer is the language that people use to communicate with God. God calls human being by their name just like the sheepherder does and gives advice in His house (church) or in the group so that they don’t get attacked and chased by Satan. So, the shepherd is the one who chases the enemy (wolf) away from his sheep. Similarly, humans have the same behavior as sheep. So, God is the one who is the true shepherd of humans, no matter what. God is the one who looks for humans so that enemies don’t attack them and take them away. David sees that connection between himself and God and concludes that there is no fear, no matter, what as long as he is with His shepherd; (GOD).
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” The author expresses his life as the grass that is planted beside the still waters that never dry out in the entire season. Grass that grows beside water grows every day. As long as the water exists, the grass grows well, full of color and beauty. It does not dry or die away, no matter what. So, as David expresses his life with God, no matter what, as long as he is with God, his life is full of hope and happiness that will never get dry (starved) either physically or spiritually. And the water is a metaphor of God’s word in the Bible. Spiritually, David’s spiritual life will never get dry or fade away, because his life is always full of words of wisdom that never stop. David says, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures...” When a person does have stress or some kind of pressure that is associated with his or her life, then there is no way that he/she gets rest from his/her stress unless that specific pressure or stress is resolved. So, David expresses his existence with God as a peaceful and restful life. He will never be in stress as long as he stays with or communicates with God. God gives him rest so that he doesn’t get stressed or think about anything in his life.
As David states his relationship with God, the path of His righteousness is the proper, well disciplined, very professional and unmistakable way of living a life. David says “… he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.” All creatures are created by God. David assures us in the capability of God to keep all humans safe. David gets assurance from God as he stated that, no matter how bad his troubles he will be recovered and learn from it and will come back to his original life. As long as he is with God, he will succeed and be in a place that he dreamed about. “Yea, though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.” David knows that human peace was taken from his first ancestor, Adam. As soon as Adam ate from the tree of life, he lost his identity and his relationship with God. Since David knew what God promised and did to save humans from death, he was so sure of God’s shelter and guard God as his savior. Even if he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, there is nothing to be scared of and nothing will affect him, even if he walked through the strangest and hardest obstacles of his life.
David says “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Obviously, the shepherd’s two most important tools are the “rod” and the “staff”. On the Bible, the “rod” is a stick which is about a yard or a meter long with a knob on one side or one end. On the other hand, the “staff” or “shepherd’s crook” is somewhat like a modern cane and is longer in size. The shepherd always walks with the rod in his hand, so that when a sheep shows signs of straying or getting lost, he uses it by stretching it out and pulling it back so that the sheep doesn’t go farther in the wrong direction. Also, the shepherd carries the staff at his belt and with that he fights the battles of the flock and chases the robbers who are trying to steal the sheep. In the case of walking or running away from God’s sight, David is protected by God’s rod and chases away the enemy by His words of wisdom. God taught David his way and his word so that David can follow it and be in his the house (Heaven). The rod and the staff comfort him as he lives his life with God.
David also explained how God is a perfect trainer. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:” Normally, in our day to day life, people get trained to get familiar with their job so that they don’t get confused or lost. Likely, God explained and taught David how he should lead his life as he lives in a world full of struggle and hard times. Training helps one not to make any mistakes or faults. So, the author wrote about what his life should be with God and, as he lives his life in this world and faces different strange and hard times, he uses God’s word as his success and guide so that he doesn’t make any mistakes and loosen the bond between him and God. On the other hand, if there is no enemy, there is no way that we determine that our relationship with God is a strong or perfect condition. So, the enemy is working continuously to break the bond between David and God so he can claim David as his slave. However, David stated his relationship with God is ultimately strong by saying that “…thou preparest a table,” to indicate he is well trained his Lord’s word and was sure that nothing will break his bond or relationship with God.
Farther, David explains the connection between olive oil and His grace. “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In the past or Old Testament, in the Hebrew and also, now in Ethiopian and other Orthodox churches, olive-oil is used to anoint kings, priests and deacons. Sometimes olive-oil and a prayer are used to anoint the heads of the people to restore their health by eliminating their sins. So, David made it clear in his prophecy that Jesus, one day, would take away the burdens and sufferings of human beings in the garden of heaven. However, not everyone will be in heaven, only those who choose Him to be their savior. David assures that, as long as he is with God, he is full of grace and will get everlasting life in heaven. Also, his life on this earth will be full of grace. On the other hand, David said “my cup runneth over” which implies that a cup can hold all kind of things. However, the most important purpose of a cup is to hold or carry liquids. As David said, “my cup runneth…” it means that, his cup is full of olive-oil, which indicates his life of grace.
Finally, the writer concludes by saying how precious it is to live with God. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Even though David made mistakes and disappoints, he states that The Lord’s mercy and goodness will follow him all the days of his life. Because of the mercy of his Lord, David will dwell or stay in God’s house. He is sure his life is everlasting with his Lord.
Finally, the author’s metaphor pictured the connection between Shepherd as God and David’s life with different materials present on the earth. Also, the poem teaches how humans while they live on the earth should be and suggests that they should make a connection with God so that nothing else will influence them. No matter what, the Bible teaches each and every one of us to be in His shelter (church) so that nothing scares us as we live our everyday lives. Since Adam, human beings have a choice to be in a good place or a bad place. So, people have the choice to live their lives as they choose to. If a person chooses his life as David did, then his/ her life will be full of hope, happiness, and wisdom and be like the grass that grew beside the still water that will never dry and as the olive-oil that will be in the cup. If we want God as a part of our life, nothing will scare us. Rather, our life will shine as great as snow.
