Yahweh's Promise to His People (Psalm 23:6)

[This is the final entry in this series on the 23rd Psalm]

¹Yhwh is my shepherd…⁶Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Shepherd song now reaches the end.  David has praised Yahweh for the provision, protection and ‘promotion’ He has given to His people.  David concludes by singing of Yahweh’s promises.

⁶Surely goodness and love will follow me…

There is a certainty to all God’s promises.  David knows that surely Yahweh will keep His promises; what He says he does.  And what is it that is promised?  First, David recognizes Yahweh’s promise of His goodness and love towards David.

The word ‘goodness’ refers to something ‘beautiful’ or ‘pleasant’; it is that which is good from God’s perspective, primarily that that which is becoming to, or ‘adorns’ the life of faith (see 2 Peter 1:5-8 and Titus 2:9-10).  The term ‘loving-kindness’ is used to attempt to capture the meaning of the Hebrew word hesed, which is the unique, covenantally based love and favor of Yahweh for his faithful people (it is, as near as I can tell, the OT equivalent of the Greek agape used in the NT).  This ‘goodness and love’ of God will follow me.  Here is the sense of a pursuit or a chase, which what the Hebrew term for ‘follow’ conveys.  Yahweh longs for and desires to win over His people and He follows hard after them with the purpose of overtaking them and making them His special possession.  David rejoices in this pursuing passion of Yahweh.

…all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The second part of the promise is found in these words about the duration of Yahweh’s pursuit of David: all the days of my life.  The Lord never tires in His chase to make His people whole and blessed; each and every moment of each and every day God’s presence is near and real for His people.  But—O the wonderful truth!—the ‘goodness and loving-kindness’ of the Lord does not cease when a person dies, but carries them on through death in the promise of new and eternal life: I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  The Hebrew literally reads, I will dwell unto perpetuity of days meaning ‘all the days of this life and all the days of the age to come’.

What promises!  What blessings for God’s people to look forward to; to hold onto with hope and joy!  These promises are certain.  Sometimes we fail to see the ‘good’ in things, but God always knows what is good and I am confident that God is bringing good out of all situations.  God’s unique ‘hesed’ is mine because I am one of His ‘sheep’.  The goodness and love of the Lord will chase me down every day because He loves to lavish them on me. (see Matthew 7:9-11; Romans 5:5, 9-17, 8:28-29; 1 Timothy 1:14; Titus 3:4-6).  I live in confidence knowing that because I am God’s child, He will always have a place for me in His ‘house’, both the body of believers here on earth or in His forever Kingdom.  

All this is possible only because Yahweh is my Shepherd.  I own no other; I desire no other.  Yahweh alone—His provision, His protection, His ‘promotion’, His promise.  I have the goodness and hesed of the Lord hot on my trail.  It overcomes me and I gladly surrender.  In this life and all the ages to come, I will sing of my shepherd.

Amen!

Yahweh's 'Promotion' of His People (Psalm 23:5)

¹Yhwh is my shepherd…⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

The song to the Great Shepherd continues.  Yahweh provides (23:1-3); Yahweh protects (23:4) and here, Yahweh ‘promotes’.  David sees a relationship between himself and the Great Shepherd which moves from simple dependency towards sublime intimacy.  The image of the table, the oil and the cup all point towards relationship, friendship and favor.  Yahweh has looked upon David and ‘promoted’ him into this special place of relationship.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 

David is invited to eat at Yahweh’s table as a confirmation of the friendship he shares with Yahweh, and he sits, no less, in the presence of all those who have stood against him.  God invites each believer into this relationship of intimate friendship.  As the believers sit to enjoy the banquet of God, enemies are forced to stand mute and humiliated as they watch the faithful enter into the joy of fellowship with God which the wicked have rejected for themselves.

 

The present reality is that each of us may enjoy a communion with God that cannot be taken away even if surrounded by foes.  There is also a hint of a future feast (see Revelation 19) at which those who once mocked and ridiculed hope and faith in God will be judged by their exclusion from this table (see Luke 14:1-24).

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Yahweh anoints David with oil, symbolic of a special choosing of David to rule with Yahweh’s authority.  This anointing also represents a great display of hospitality, affection and love.  The ‘cup’ overflows with blessing and favor reminding us that in the presence of God there is abundance with no end (refer also to Luke 6:38; 7:46; Ephesians 3:20; 1 John 2:20, 27; Hebrews 1:9).

How beautiful for God’s people in Christ!  Though we are His sheep (Luke 12:32) we are privileged to be called His friends (John 15:15).  We are invited to eat with Him (Revelation 3:20).  He has anointed us in the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:21-22) and has overflowed our ‘cup’ with blessing (Ephesians 1:3).  We are not simply dependent sheep, but intimate friends with our Shepherd.  We are ‘promoted’ to this place through the love and mercy of God through faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. 

To Him be the glory!