Bible Trilogy II – Part 2
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want [Psalm 23:1].
What transpired during the three days Jesus’ body was in the tomb is not revealed to us in the Bible. Ergo, we are unable to know! Assertions about Jesus descending into hell and suchlike guess work should be kept at arm’s length by the dutiful saint. We choose to stick with “Thus saith the Lord” for our information.
As to whether or not Jesus descended into hell, we’ll leave it to the systematic theology buffs to waste away their time on this earth debating such mysteries. For our part we will stick with Isaiah in saying, “To the Law and the prophets. If they speak not according to them, their words are worthless.” (Pardon my paraphrase.)
But let’s return to Psalm 23, where a green pasture and still waters await us. Oh, and the Lord has prepared a table for us there too. The meal He provides is even better than we can imagine. The servings He gives us are reminiscent of Joseph’s serving to Benjamin in Egypt. Each of us will discover readily enough that our cup runneth over. We will enjoy ourselves much better than we would hanging out in the valley of the shadow of death, don’t you think?
Psalm 23 has been taught from many and various different aspects. I want to draw our attention to an aspect not often given the focus by preachers and teachers. I hope you are ready to traverse the psalm with me. A salubrious trek we shall find it to be.
Two main characters form the cast of Psalm 23. There is the Lord and then there is David. David is the author of the psalm, but all of God’s people can and should make it their own.
In Psalm 23 the Lord is the star. The two words “the Lord” are the actual name of God. The word “God” depicts the Creator, He who is high above man in heaven, distant and removed from the earth, impersonal and intimidating. When His name “the Lord” is used, however, it depicts Him on a personal level with man, friendly and affording us a personal relationship.
David/man is the costar of Psalm 23. In fact the costar is just along for the ride. That is the extent of his role in the psalm. He serves the same function a dumb sheep serves in the pasture with the shepherd. He follows and behaves himself, while the shepherd provides for him and protects him so he doesn’t do himself wrong or starve to death.
We can gather this much directly from the psalm by means of a simple observation. Look over the six short verses and determine:
• how many times the Lord is mentioned
• how many times David/man is mentioned
The Lord is mentioned 12 times. There’s only 6 verses! Think He’s the star? The pertinent twelve words are “the Lord”, “He”, “His”, “You”, and “Your” (NASB).
David/man is mentioned 16 times, but at every mention the Lord is either providing for him or protecting him. This makes the Lord the star and David/man the costar. The pertinent sixteen words are “my”, “I”, and “me”.
I have to say, Psalm 23 is hard to set aside! It is chock-full of delectable morsels, each of which fits the old commercial, “Bet you can’t eat just one!” But the hour is late, so we will have to pause now. Not to worry. We will finish the meal tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
What transpired during the three days Jesus’ body was in the tomb is not revealed to us in the Bible. Ergo, we are unable to know! Assertions about Jesus descending into hell and suchlike guess work should be kept at arm’s length by the dutiful saint. We choose to stick with “Thus saith the Lord” for our information.
As to whether or not Jesus descended into hell, we’ll leave it to the systematic theology buffs to waste away their time on this earth debating such mysteries. For our part we will stick with Isaiah in saying, “To the Law and the prophets. If they speak not according to them, their words are worthless.” (Pardon my paraphrase.)
But let’s return to Psalm 23, where a green pasture and still waters await us. Oh, and the Lord has prepared a table for us there too. The meal He provides is even better than we can imagine. The servings He gives us are reminiscent of Joseph’s serving to Benjamin in Egypt. Each of us will discover readily enough that our cup runneth over. We will enjoy ourselves much better than we would hanging out in the valley of the shadow of death, don’t you think?
Psalm 23 has been taught from many and various different aspects. I want to draw our attention to an aspect not often given the focus by preachers and teachers. I hope you are ready to traverse the psalm with me. A salubrious trek we shall find it to be.
Two main characters form the cast of Psalm 23. There is the Lord and then there is David. David is the author of the psalm, but all of God’s people can and should make it their own.
In Psalm 23 the Lord is the star. The two words “the Lord” are the actual name of God. The word “God” depicts the Creator, He who is high above man in heaven, distant and removed from the earth, impersonal and intimidating. When His name “the Lord” is used, however, it depicts Him on a personal level with man, friendly and affording us a personal relationship.
David/man is the costar of Psalm 23. In fact the costar is just along for the ride. That is the extent of his role in the psalm. He serves the same function a dumb sheep serves in the pasture with the shepherd. He follows and behaves himself, while the shepherd provides for him and protects him so he doesn’t do himself wrong or starve to death.
We can gather this much directly from the psalm by means of a simple observation. Look over the six short verses and determine:
• how many times the Lord is mentioned
• how many times David/man is mentioned
The Lord is mentioned 12 times. There’s only 6 verses! Think He’s the star? The pertinent twelve words are “the Lord”, “He”, “His”, “You”, and “Your” (NASB).
David/man is mentioned 16 times, but at every mention the Lord is either providing for him or protecting him. This makes the Lord the star and David/man the costar. The pertinent sixteen words are “my”, “I”, and “me”.
I have to say, Psalm 23 is hard to set aside! It is chock-full of delectable morsels, each of which fits the old commercial, “Bet you can’t eat just one!” But the hour is late, so we will have to pause now. Not to worry. We will finish the meal tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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