THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters;
He restores my soul;
He leads me in paths of righteousness, for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death,
I will fear no evil; for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me;
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

David wrote this poem about 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. He was Israel's second king, and he led Israel during its greatest time in history. It is David's kingdom that the Jews dream of and want Israel to be again. Much of the Bible concerns the history and future of the Jewish people. The future is primarily spiritual, which for the Jews themselves is still an enigma because of the curse announced by Isaiah. God dulled their spiritual insight so that He could cause them to reject Jesus as Messiah and offer salvation to the entire world rather than to Jews alone. They brought the curse upon themselves by gross obstinacy toward obedience to Him. God had meant salvation for this whole world from the beginning, but they didn't see it that way. They deemed they were better than every other race.

Many of the psalms were written by David. The Jews used them in worship, singing them to their Creator as praise hymns. They are regarded as excellent and elegant poetry. C. S. Lewis praised Psalm 19 as "the greatest lyrics ever composed by man." This 23rd Psalm is the favorite of more people than any other. I have quoted it aloud during surgeries I'm sure to the astonishment (and chagrin) of the medical personnel.

Each of Israel's kings was required by God to copy the Pentateuch (the first five Books of the Bible written by Moses---Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) by hand and spend time reading it every day. The many kings of Israel were vastly different---some God-fearing and faithful, most evil and disreputable.

Israel is now a free nation in a sliver of the land which God promised them. According to the Bible, they will always be free and their spiritual insight will be restored.