The Lord Is My Shepherd
2 He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth
my soul: he leadeth me in
the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me. 5 Thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Psalms 23:1-6) The 23’rd Psalm appears easy enough to understand at a
first glance. But it contains many of the mysteries of God, and I will reveal
some of them to you on this page; "He Restoreth My Soul" Only that which is broken or lost
can be restored! We
sometimes fail to keep our souls clean and prepared to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And since no un-clean thing can dwell
with God, we oft-times mess up our position to return to our Heavenly Father.
This fact brings sorrow to our soul. Therefore, as lost lambs we turn to the
true and good Shepherd with a broken heart and contrite spirit; then the
miracle; he restores my soul! And not only that; from that moment He leads me
in the paths of righteousness as if my soul never did transgress in the first
place; my soul is truly restored in the sight of the Shepherd. 4 Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" The “Valley of the Shadow of
Death” is this entire Earth-life! This is why David doesn’t say; at times, when I walk
through the valley…etc., or something of that nature. “Though I walk
through the valley…” means nothing other than; since I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… We
are all constantly in the presence of death in this valley of our earthly
existence, and at the end we will all be taken by death. But we will need to
fear no evil: for Jesus art with us; his rod and his staff they comfort us. "Thy Rod and Thy Staff" ‘The Rod of his Mouth’ is a scriptural metaphor, meaning;
the tongue of the Lord, or in other words; every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. ‘The Staff
of God’ stands as a symbol for every means of power that the
Lord might use to lead and/or protect his fold. It can be revelations,
chastisements, any means through which he might mightily shake the earth, such
as plagues, famines, draughts, etc. It can also be the men of God who have made
the power of God manifest in the eyes of the people. Examples of a ‘staff of
God’ are, for example, John the Baptist and Moses. These men were both living
among us, clearly visible, tangible, and no doubt they were the ‘elongated arm
of God’, just as staffs are extensions of the arms of men. Every man
who has been ordained to the priesthood of God (by one holding the proper
authority), who execute their calling in the priesthood with a pure heart and
clean hands before the Lord, and by the power of God in the eyes of the people,
is, by definition, a ‘staff of God’. The fruits
of such men could be considered Holy Scripture. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are ‘staff of God’, too, since they
contain the fruits of the good tree. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in
the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest
my head with oil; my cup runneth
over. "Thou Anointest my Head with Oil" ‘To have ones head anointed with
oil’ has a deeply symbolic meaning. The oil mentioned is olive-oil,
pressed from an olive-press, in Hebrew called 'Gethsemanem’. Just as Jesus bled from every pore in
the garden of Gethsemane because of the weight that was laid upon him, so the
oil was squashed out of every pore of the olives in the oil-press.
The use of olive-oil to anoint kings and priests, and to anoint the heads of
people to restore their health, was a very clear prophecy that Jesus one day
would take the burdens and sufferings in the The people so anointed would place
their faith in the blood of the coming sacrifice of the Christ. Not many of the Jews understood
this, but then again, there were not many Jews who were anointed with
olive-oil. Those who were prophets and knew just as much as
the Christians were to do in years to come. Among the early Saints there
were many who were anointed with olive oil, and they were taught by the
Apostles to understand the meaning. Among true Saints today the anointing with
olive-oil is common-place. "My Cup Runneth Over" A cup is something used to contain
liquid in. Bread,
grapes, money, knives or other solid objects are seldom kept in a cup. But
wine, milk, honey, sand, and other substances that have running properties can
favorably be kept in cups. I deliberately left out one liquid, and it is the
one intended by David, namely Olive-oil! We already mentioned the symbolic
meaning of olive-oil, but we did not look at the main use of the blood that was
spilt by the Messiah;
The blood spilt by him was so that my blood, and yours, must not be spilt; for
when our blood is spilt it is irreversible, due to our sinful nature and past,
but when it was spilt by the Messiah it was only for a short while, since
nothing can bind an innocent man! “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over (with said oil). It is easy to see that a full cup of olive-oil is
symbolic for receiving a full pardon from the Lord for all the sins we have
committed. My cup runneth over means that the atoning blood of Jesus Christ shall flow from my cup -
because of my faith and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel – to
also include those of my family who are born within the covenant of the Lord. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Psalms 23:1-6)
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