Psalm 23-B The Lord is My Host

Psalm 23:5-6

    You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
     you anoint            my head with oil;
                                  my cup overflows.
   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
          all the days of my life,
                 and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Comments:

Psalm 23 is usually referred to as “The Shepherd Psalm” for good reason (v.1-4), but it also contains the imagery of the host and honored guest (v. 5-6). This second aspect of Psalm 23 gets very little attention compared to the first. However, there are a number of similarities between the two.

The shepherd shows the sheep hospitality by providing good food, drink, and a comfortable place to rest (v.1-3). The shepherd also offers his sheep protection as they journey on good paths that reflect well on the character of the shepherd (v.3-4).

The host similarly provides a meal (table and cup, v.5-6) and appropriate refreshment and honor to the guest (v.6) as seen in not just the table preparations but the anointing with oil. However, the Lord as our Host does more than that. In the ancient Middle Eastern culture “the law of hospitality” was supreme and made the host responsible to offer protection to those who shelter in his home. The Lord as host in this psalm not only protects the guest from enemies but vindicates the guest in their presence (v. 5). This is no hurried meal snatched in the anxiety of imminent attack, but a humanized form of the rest experienced by sheep whose shepherd has led them to green pastures. Spurgeon, the great 19^th Century preacher, when commenting on this psalm, wrote,

“When a soldier is in the presence of his enemies, if he eats at all he snatches a hasty meal, and away he hastens to the fight. But observe: ‘Thou preparest a table,’ just as a servant does when she unfolds the damask cloth and displays the ornaments of the feast on an ordinary peaceful occasion. Nothing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace.”[1]

He leads us to his house and there, where everyone can see, he makes it clear that we not only are under his protection but are honored by his relational hospitality. Yet some might think that this is only our 15 minutes of fame and that soon we will be out on our own again. This is not what the psalm teaches. Nor is it like western hospitality that is done from a carefully orchestrated distance of individualism. Derek Kidner comments,

In the Old Testament world, to eat and drink at someone’s table created a bond of mutual loyalty, and could be the culminated token of a covenant…So to be God’s guest is to be more than an acquaintance, invited for a day. It is to live with Him.” [2]

The Lord is our host, both now and in the future. The psalmist makes it clear that he was currently participating in the banquet and would continue to enjoy “dwelling” with the Lord in the future, even forever.

This Lord who is our Host, is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, who has been revealed in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18) and he is the one who has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us and will come back for us one day and take us to the table he has prepared (John 14:1-3).

In being the Lord our Host, God in Christ by the Spirit invites us into the Trinitarian community where we find protection, honor, refreshing, and justice that remains. But what does this mean for those of us who follow such a Shepherd and worship such a Host? When followers of the Way were first called Christians it was intended in a derogatory sense (Acts 11:26) but accurately described their commitment to live as “little Christs” determined to do what Jesus had done. Early Christian hospitality and care for the poor are renowned as they provided food, shelter, and medical care while working for justice for all whom they met even when there was no Motel 6 leaving the light on for them. They were givers more than takers, despite living under the often brutal persecution of the Roman Empire. Could John 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father” have applied to hospitality? I think so.

So how do we become better hosts in today’s world? What will we risk? Whom will we protect and provision and send on their way and who will we allow to heal and help in our midst? Do we only open our homes and our lives to those who agree with us, look like us, and provide us some benefit? Or do we take Jesus’ words to heart, loving even our enemy for the sake of Christ?

How can those who don’t know the love of the Good Shepherd and Host learn about it and respond if not to that love as seen in us and extended to them? How will they know the welcome of the Divine community if not embraced by the outposts of such community here on earth? In what ways should we welcome the beggar at our gate? I think we have a lot of reflection, thinking, and work to do.

Is not the best diplomacy that of shared life and the honest and unguarded table? Will those who are open get burned in the process? Probably, but a better question to ask is, will those whose minds and gates are closed to the alien miss out on what God is doing? Absolutely.

This week we set aside a day to give thanks for what we have received from the Lord our Host. I have to confess that while I am often timid I am learning to open my eyes to the wonder of relational hospitality. In fact, I wonder what the Lord will do in our midst in the year to come. But first, I have to come into his midst by grace through the Word and the Spirit. Let’s encourage each other in this adventure!

^“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

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[1] Charles Spurgeon’s Treasury of David Vol. 1, page 400.

[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, Tyndale OT Commentary series

Psalm 23-A "The Lord is My Shepherd"

Psalm for Today = 23:1-4

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
      He leads me beside still waters.
³     He restores my soul.
      He leads me in paths of righteousness
                                 for his name's sake.

⁴ Even 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.

Comments:

Hook's "Jesus the Good Shepherd"

We should all know this psalm by heart not merely from memory. In his presence, we "want" for nothing (in the old-fashioned sense of not “lacking” anything), and we fear nothing. This psalm uses the shepherd metaphor to great effect in the worship life of a people steeped in a herding culture. From the time that Jacob’s family first moved down to Egypt that was how they were known. In Genesis 46:34 we read that the Egyptians despised all herdsmen/shepherds and we see this prejudice play out through the pages of the Bible as the Shepherd God’s shepherd people are repeatedly persecuted by those who glory in the ways of the world. 

In this psalm we see God relating not just to the collective “nation” or “people” but to individuals. As westerners, we tend to over-emphasize the individual to the detriment of the group, but to the Hebrew, this was a remarkable passage where the psalmist says, “The Lord is my shepherd,” heavy on the “my”. As Americans, we are almost insulted to be referred to as “sheep” aren’t we? It’s not a stretch to think of someone getting an attitude about it, “If you call me a sheep again I’m going to give you a piece of this!” We like to think of ourselves as competent, capable, and in control of our lives. So, I think that this psalm must—for us—must be a personal confession of need before it can bring comfort. It must be our statement of trust before it becomes our testimony…and God wants it to be our testimony.

The subject in this passage is the Lord, the Shepherd, the God who consistently acts for the good of his people. Re-read v. 2-3. He provides just what I need at just the right time and in a gentle way that I can receive it without anxiety... if I am one of his sheep.

The key to this psalm, as in life, is not found in the peace of perfect circumstances, but in the relationship with, and presence of the Shepherd. It is all based on the foundation that he is my Shepherd, which implies that I am one of his sheep. There is a wealth of biblical imagery to develop to show just how relational—and dependent—this image of sheep and shepherd is. Here are just a few...

• He will carry his lambs in his arms (Isaiah 40:11)
• He will punish abusive and selfish shepherds and feed his flock himself (Ezekiel 34)
• He will rescue his sheep (Ezekiel 34:22)
• Jesus told the parable about leaving the 99 sheep safe to go out seeking the one sheep that was lost and the joy in the shepherd’s heart when it is found. (Luke 15:3-7)
• Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd, or literally, “the Shepherd, the good” (John 10:7-20)

I am glad that I can know that the Lord is my shepherd and that the Lord knows me personally as his sheep, not merely an anonymous part of the large flock.

 

Do you know this by heart, or just from memory?

 

My next post will look at the rest of Psalm 23.