I. (23:1–4) The Lord as Shepherd. Just as a shepherd cares for his sheep, so the Lord cares for each of his people, providing for their needs, guiding them, and protecting them.

The deity-as-shepherd motif is common in the rest of the Psalms (28:9; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3, cf. 49:14) and in the Bible as a whole (Gen. 48:15; 49:24; Rev. 7:17). The Lord is the shepherd of the people as a whole, and thus they are his flock (Ps. 100:3). At the same time, each person singing says, “The Lord is my shepherd”; each member of the flock testifies to God’s personal care. As a result, “I shall not want,” that is, I shall not lack what I need.201

The rest of this section offers details regarding the kind of care the Great Shepherd gives. The “green pastures” (v. 2) are “pastures of grass,” a cool resting place for a sheep. The “still waters,” or “waters of rest” (ESV mg.), are a soothing pool, a respite from the parched conditions of the “wilderness of Judah”202 As Daniel Hillel puts it, “‘Still waters’ are the dream of every dweller in an arid land, where water is either sparse or comes in the form of sudden, violent flash floods of short duration.”203 The knowledgeable and responsible shepherd knows just where to find such resources.

Verse 3 reads, “He restores my soul.” When the soul (or life) is said to be restored, refreshed, or revived, this indicates the returning of life or vitality (19:7; cf. Prov. 25:13; Ruth 4:15; Lam. 1:19). The “paths” in which God leads his faithful are their lives’ basic moral direction, toward righteousness (seen here as a blessing, not a burden).204 God does this “for his name’s sake,” that is, in order to preserve his reputation for being true to his revealed character (cf. Pss. 25:11; 31:3; 1 Kings 8:41).

Psalm 23:4 mentions the “valley of the shadow of death.” The “shadow of death” could be the shadow that death casts, but it seems more true to the imagery of the passage to take it as “deep darkness” (ESV mg.).205 Thus the idea is that, in a valley in the desert of Judah (called a wadi, a gully or arroyo), one can encounter deep shadows and cannot know for sure who (bandits) or what (animals, flash floods) lurks in them; even in such periods of suspense and danger the faithful find assurance that God is with them, and thus they need not fear evil or harm because of God’s leadership.206

II. (23:5–6) The Lord as Host. As discussed above, the image shifts here from a shepherd and his sheep to portraying the faithful person as God’s guest at a meal.

To “prepare [or spread] a table” refers simply to preparing a meal (cf. 78:19), which means that the words themselves have no explicitly sacrificial associations here. On the other hand, the mention of the Lord’s house in 23:6 might indicate that the psalmist envisions himself as a guest at a meal with God (which is what a peace offering is).207

Verse 5 paints a picture of an abundantly hospitable host. In “you anoint my head with oil,” the term “anoint” (Hb. dishshen) is not the usual one for ceremonial anointing (mashakh). Rather the word, related to a word for “fat,” conveys a sense of plenty; perhaps the idea is “slather.” And “my cup overflows”: the host has filled the cup to the brim and more. No skimping in this house! The “enemies” are powerless to prevent the enjoyment of God’s generous hospitality (perhaps we are to imagine them present as captives at a victory celebration).

Then in verse 6 “goodness and mercy” are personified as guardian angels who will “follow me all the days of my life.”208 This is the assurance for the faithful that God has showered his grace upon them.

Several matters in the second part of verse 6 require comment. First, “and I shall dwell” is a good resolution of a textual difficulty. The Hebrew form is shabti, which many take as a form of the verb shub: “I shall return.” This could imply that the pursuing angels of the first line have brought one back or could be an ellipsis for “I shall return to dwell,” that is, “I shall dwell again.”209 Others have wondered, especially since the text reads “in the house” (it would be unusual for shub to connect with this preposition), whether this is a shortened form of weyashabti (with the syllable yā- having dropped out; “and I shall dwell”).210 The reading of the LXX points the way to another approach; it uses an infinitive of katoikeō (“I dwell”), which implies that the translator read weshabti as an infinitive of yashab (“and my act of dwelling [shall be] in the house, etc.”).211 This would be the same expression as in 27:4 (“that I may dwell in the house”). I think this last is most likely, though the ellipsis gives us roughly the same thing.

The second challenge is the sense of the Hebrew expression rendered “forever” (lit., “for length of days”; cf. ESV mg.): Is it absolute or simply “for a very long time”? This expression in itself does not decide, since it can be used for both, but it seems more likely to mean “for days without end” (as in 21:4; 93:5; “forevermore”). For a non-Levite to dwell in the house of the Lord is for him to have ready access to the sanctuary for worship—and this extends beyond the grave for the faithful.

Third, some have inferred from the reference to the Lord’s house that a building is in view (i.e., the temple), which would place the psalm’s composition later than David.212 This does not follow, however. The Hebrew word is not limited in the same way the English term is; the tabernacle is called the Lord’s “house” elsewhere (Judg. 18:31; 19:18; 1 Sam. 1:7, 24; 3:15; 2 Sam. 12:20; cf. Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 23:18; Josh. 6:24; 9:23). This is probably because the term can hold the nuance of “place of residence” and can be applied more widely than to shelters (Gen. 28:17, 22).

To sing about God’s generous hospitality is to assure the faithful that they are always welcome in God’s presence, both now and forever.