Photo by Karren McPherson
Most of us, who have attended churches over the years, know Psalm 23 very well. It is the shepherd Psalm - the Lord is my shepherd. But we might not be quite so familiar with the end of this short Psalm where David speaks about fellowship - koinonia although, of course, he does not use this Greek word as he did not know Greek!
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” [Psalms 23:5-6 NIV]
This has all the ingredients of true fellowship with the Lord. David speaks from a heart filled with gratitude towards the Lord for all His goodness to him. He is so grateful to God for providing food and shelter for him in the most desperate of circumstances. David had many enemies and he knew what it was like to be hated and persecuted. The last Day Share looked at his treatment at the hands of King Saul and Saul's jealousy and resentment of him. Later on, David's own son, Absalom became his enemy and led and army against him. But during difficult days, David never went hungry - God prepared a table for him even in the cave at Adullam.
He knew the blessing of God's presence with him in these difficult days which he described as being anointed with oil. There is maybe a deeper significance in this phrase as David was anointed three times as king. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit.
I love the metaphor which David uses - 'my cup overflows.' It reminds me of a chorus we sang in Sunday School.
Running over, running over;
My cup's full and running over.
Since the Lord saved me
I'm as happy as can be:
My cup's full and running over.
David is not mixing his metaphors in this psalm. He is continuing on the theme of God's provision which is like a banquet in the most unlikely of places - a table suddenly appears. And at this banquet there is ample provision. His cup is overflowing with wine which speaks of joy. This is saying much more than there is a plentiful supply of wine for his table. He has this feeling that he is overwhelmed with the goodness of God in his life. I have been there many times.
David looks forward to the future in the last verse of the Psalm. Firstly, he anticipates the rest of his life, however long or short it may be - all the days of my life. He knows one constant in an uncertain future - goodness and love. Notice that they follow him - he does not have to search for them.
The Hebrew word translated as 'goodness' is a very popular word in the Old Testament. I know that many readers will not want me to spend too long on this word so we will look at the first time the word appears in the Bible - Genesis 1:4
“God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” [Genesis 1:4 NIV]
This phrase is repeated many times in the description of the creation. God saw that it was good - it bore His stamp of goodness. Here is another use of this same word
“You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” [Psalms 65:11 NIV]
The New International Version have used the word 'bounty' to translate the word 'goodness' which comes from God. God is generous and has unlimited resources.
The other word David uses to describe God's character is love. "Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life" This is the Hebrew word hesed. I could speak about the use of this word for a long time and I know that you don't want to spend too long reading this blog. If you want to dig deeper, I have another Day Share on this very word God's Loving Kindness (Psalms) 20/04/2020. This was before the website was created but I have made a link to it here:
The Psalm ends with a look into the afterlife and here again David is looking forward to enjoying God's presence and the great blessing of fellowship with him. "and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." The Old Testament is vague about what we refer to as heaven. David had always a desire to build a temple for the Lord but it was his son, Solomon who was able to do this. David associated the tabernacle or tent of meeting as the house of the Lord. He longed to spend eternity in God's presence, the house of the Lord.
David loved attending the house of the Lord in Jerusalem:
I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD," [Psalm 122:1]
He looked forward to an eternity where he would spend for ever in the house of the Lord.
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