Verse study
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
The verb is normally used for a hunting party. In a life spent being chased, David says the pursuers have changed.
Loading Psalm 23:6…
טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי
tov vachesed yirdefuni
Radaf means to pursue or chase, the word used of armies and avengers. Chesed is loyal covenant love, sworn commitment rather than warm feeling.
A reversal hiding in plain sight
English 'follow' sounds gentle, like something trailing behind. The Hebrew is aggressive. It is the verb for Saul hunting David through the wilderness and for Pharaoh's chariots after Israel.
Everywhere else in David's story, something was chasing him. Here he names the pursuers: God's goodness and God's covenant love. It is one of the boldest turns in the whole psalter, and it is easy to read straight past.
Chesed is a sworn word
Chesed is not sentiment. It is the loyalty of someone who has bound himself by promise, the word behind Israel's confidence that God keeps commitments He was never obliged to make. That is why it can be spoken of as relentless. A mood cools. A covenant does not.
All the days
'All the days of my life' includes the valley days. David does not carve the dark stretch out of the pursuit. He leaves it inside. Whatever else was true of his worst weeks, goodness and chesed were behind him in them.
Where this runs in Scripture
- Exodus 34:6
God's self-description: abundant in chesed and truth.
- Lamentations 3:22
Mercies that do not come to an end, written from ruins.
- Romans 8:39
Nothing able to separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Carry this today
Write down what has felt like it was chasing you this year. Then set this line beside it and decide which pursuit you actually believe in.
Continue through Psalms 23
The LORD is my shepherd
Two claims are packed into four words: God has a name, and that named God has taken responsibility for one particular life.
I shall not want
This is not a promise of abundance. It is the much steadier claim that there will be enough, decided by someone who knows what enough is.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
The verb is causative for a reason. Sheep do not lie down when they are anxious, and neither do we.
He restores my soul
The verb is the same one Scripture uses for repentance. The soul is not merely refreshed here. It is brought back.
The valley of the shadow of death
The psalm's hinge. The landscape darkens, and the grammar stops describing God and starts speaking to Him.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
The image changes from field to banquet hall, and God does not clear the room before He serves the meal.
I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever
A shepherd's psalm ends indoors. A sheep belongs in a field, but a son belongs in a home.