John Calvin Commentary Psalms 23

Jehovah is my shepherd. Although God, by His benefits, gently allures us to Himself, as it were by a taste of His fatherly sweetness, yet there is nothing we fall into more easily than forgetting Him when we are enjoying peace and comfort.

Indeed, prosperity not only intoxicates many to such an extent that it carries them beyond all bounds in their mirth, but it also engenders insolence, which makes them proudly rise up and rebel against God. Accordingly, there is hardly one in a hundred of those who enjoy God’s good things in abundance who keep themselves in His fear and practice the humility and temperance that would be so fitting.

For this reason, we should more carefully note the example David sets before us here. Elevated to the dignity of sovereign power, surrounded with the splendor of riches and honors, possessing the greatest abundance of temporal good things, and in the midst of princely pleasures, he not only testifies that he is mindful of God, but by recalling the benefits God had conferred upon him, he makes them ladders by which he may draw nearer to Him.

In this way, he not only restrains the waywardness of his flesh but also stirs himself with greater earnestness to gratitude and other practices of godliness, as appears from the concluding sentence of the psalm, where he says, I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for a length of days. Similarly, in Psalm 18, which was composed at a period of his life when he was widely acclaimed, by calling himself the servant of God, he showed the humility and simplicity of heart he had attained. At the same time, he openly testified to his gratitude by dedicating himself to celebrating God’s praises.

Using the image of a shepherd, he praises the care that God, in His providence, had shown toward him. His language implies that God cared for him no less than a shepherd cares for the sheep entrusted to him. In Scripture, God frequently takes upon Himself the name and character of a shepherd, and this is a significant sign of His tender love toward us.

Since this is a humble and simple way of speaking, He who does not disdain to stoop so low for our sake must bear an exceptionally strong affection toward us. It is therefore surprising that when He invites us to Himself with such gentleness and familiarity, we are not drawn or allured to Him, so that we may rest in safety and peace under His guardianship.

However, it should be noted that God is a shepherd only to those who, deeply aware of their own weakness and poverty, feel their need of His protection, and who willingly remain in His sheepfold and surrender themselves to be governed by Him. David, who excelled in both power and riches, nevertheless frankly confessed himself to be a poor sheep, so that he might have God as his shepherd.

Who is there, then, among us who would exempt himself from this necessity, since our own weakness clearly shows that we are utterly miserable if we do not live under the protection of this Shepherd? We should remember that our happiness consists in this: His hand is stretched out to govern us, we live under His shadow, and His providence watches over our welfare.

Therefore, even if we have an abundance of all temporal good things, let us be assured that we cannot be truly happy unless God condescends to count us among His flock. Besides, we only attribute to God the office of a Shepherd with due and rightful honor when we are convinced that His providence alone is sufficient to supply all our needs.

Just as those who enjoy the greatest abundance of outward good things are empty and famished if God is not their Shepherd, so it is beyond all doubt that those whom He has taken under His care will not lack a full abundance of all good things. David, therefore, declares that he is not afraid of lacking anything, because God is his Shepherd.

He makes me to lie down in pastures of grass. Regarding the words, in Hebrew it is pastures, or fields of grass, signifying grassy and rich grounds. Some, instead of translating the word נאות, neoth, which we have translated as pastures, translate it as shepherds’ cots or lodges. If this translation is considered preferable, the Psalmist’s meaning will be that sheep-cots were prepared in rich pasture grounds, under which he could be protected from the heat of the sun.

If even in cold countries the immoderate heat that sometimes occurs is troublesome to a flock of sheep, how could they bear the heat of the summer in Judea, a warm region, without sheepfolds? The verb רבף, rabats, to lie down, or repose, seems to refer to the same thing.

David has used the phrase, the quiet waters, to express gently flowing waters, because rapid streams are inconvenient for sheep to drink from and are also usually harmful. In this verse, and in the verses following, he explains the last clause of the first verse, I shall not want. He relates how abundantly God had provided for all his necessities, and he does this without departing from the comparison he used at the beginning.

The substance of what is stated is that the heavenly Shepherd had omitted nothing that could contribute to David living happily under His care. Therefore, he compares the great abundance of all things necessary for this present life that he enjoyed to meadows richly covered with grass and to gently flowing streams of water; or he compares the benefit or advantage of such things to sheep-cots. For it would not have been enough to be fed and satisfied in rich pasture if water to drink and the shade of the sheep-cot to cool and refresh him had not also been provided.

He restoreth my soul. As it is the duty of a good shepherd to cherish his sheep, and when they are diseased or weak, to nurse and support them, David declares that this was how he was treated by God. The restoring of the soul, as we have translated it, or the conversion of the soul, as it is literally rendered, has the same meaning as to make anew, or to recover, as has already been stated in Psalm 19:7.

By the paths of righteousness, he means easy and plain paths. As he still continues his metaphor, it would be out of place to understand this as referring to the direction of the Holy Spirit. He has stated a little before that God liberally supplies him with all that is requisite for the maintenance of the present life, and now he adds, that he is defended by him from all trouble.

The sum of what is said is that God is in no way lacking to his people, since he sustains them by his power, invigorates and gives them life, and averts from them whatever is hurtful, so that they may walk at ease in plain and straight paths. However, so that he may not ascribe anything to his own worth or merit, David represents the goodness of God as the cause of such great liberality, declaring that God bestows all these things upon him for his own name’s sake. And certainly, his choosing us to be his sheep, and his performing towards us all the duties of a shepherd, is a blessing which proceeds entirely from his free and sovereign goodness, as we shall see in Psalm 65.

Though I should walk. True believers, although they dwell safely under the protection of God, are nevertheless exposed to many dangers, or rather they are liable to all the afflictions common to humankind, so that they may better feel how much they need the protection of God.

David, therefore, here expressly declares that if any adversity should befall him, he would lean upon the providence of God. Thus he does not promise himself continual pleasures; instead, he fortifies himself by the help of God to courageously endure the various calamities with which he might be afflicted. Pursuing his metaphor, he compares the care God takes in governing true believers to a shepherd’s staff and crook. He declares that he is satisfied with this, as it is all-sufficient for the protection of his life.

Just as a sheep, when it wanders through a dark valley, is kept safe from the attacks of wild beasts and from other harm solely by the shepherd's presence, so David now declares that whenever he is exposed to any danger, he will find sufficient defense and protection in being under God's pastoral care.

Thus, we see how, in his prosperity, he never forgot that he was human, but even then prudently meditated on the adversities that might later come upon him. And certainly, the reason we are so terrified when it pleases God to exercise us with the cross is that everyone, so that they may sleep soundly and undisturbed, wraps themselves in carnal security.

But there is a great difference between this sleep of stupidity and the repose that faith produces. Since God tests faith by adversity, it follows that no one truly confides in God unless they are armed with invincible constancy to resist all the fears with which they may be assailed.

Yet David did not mean to say that he was devoid of all fear, but only that he would surmount it so that he could go without fear wherever his shepherd led him. This appears more clearly from the context. He says, in the first place, I will fear no evil; but immediately adding the reason for this, he openly acknowledges that he seeks a remedy against his fear by contemplating and fixing his eyes on the staff of his shepherd: For thy staff and thy crook comfort me. What need would he have had of that consolation if he had not been disquieted and agitated by fear?

Therefore, it should be kept in mind that when David reflected on the adversities that might befall him, he became victorious over fear and temptations in no other way than by casting himself on God's protection. This he had also stated before, although a little more obscurely, in these words, For thou art with me. This implies that he had been afflicted with fear.

If this had not been the case, why would he desire God's presence? Besides, it is not only against the common and ordinary calamities of life that he sets God's protection, but also against those that distract and confound human minds with the darkness of death.

For the Jewish grammarians think that צלמות, tsalmaveth, which we have translated the shadow of death, is a compound word, as if one were to say deadly shade. David here alludes to the dark recesses or dens of wild beasts; when an individual approaches these, they are suddenly seized upon first entering with an apprehension and fear of death.

Now, since God, in the person of his only begotten Son, has revealed himself to us as our shepherd much more clearly than he did formerly to the fathers who lived under the Law, we do not give sufficient honor to his protecting care if we do not lift our eyes to behold it and, keeping them fixed upon it, tread all fears and terrors under our feet.

You will prepare. These words, which are in the future tense, here denote a continued act. David, therefore, now repeats, without a figure, what he has until now declared concerning the beneficence of God, under the likeness of a shepherd. He explains that, through God's liberality, he is supplied with everything necessary to sustain his life.

When he says, You prepare a table before me, he means that God provided him with sustenance without trouble or difficulty on his part, just as a father might reach out his hand to give food to his child. He highlights this benefit by adding that even though many malicious people envy his happiness, desire his ruin, and indeed try to rob him of God's blessing, God nevertheless continues to show His liberality towards him and to do him good.

What he adds concerning oil refers to a custom that prevailed then. We know that in ancient times, ointments were used at grander feasts, and no one considered their guests honorably received if they had not perfumed them with it. Now, this abundant supply of oil and this overflowing cup should be understood as signifying an abundance that goes beyond the mere supply of life's common necessities. For this is said in praise of the royal wealth with which, as the sacred historian records, David had been generously supplied.

Admittedly, not all people are treated with the same liberality with which David was treated.

However, no one is free from obligation to God for the benefits He has bestowed, which compels us to acknowledge that He is a kind and liberal Father to all His people.

Meanwhile, let each of us stir himself to gratitude to God for His benefits; and the more abundantly these have been bestowed upon us, the greater our gratitude should be. If a person is ungrateful who, having only a coarse loaf, does not acknowledge God's fatherly providence in it, how much less tolerable is the stupidity of those who gorge themselves on the great abundance of God's good things they possess, without any sense or appreciation of His goodness toward them?

David, therefore, by his own example, admonishes the rich regarding their duty, so that they may be more fervent in expressing their gratitude to God, the more delicately He feeds them. Furthermore, let us remember that those who have greater abundance than others are just as bound to observe moderation as if they had only enough of this life's good things for their limited and temperate enjoyment.

By nature, we are too inclined to excess. Therefore, when God is bountiful to His people regarding worldly things, His purpose is not to stir up and nourish this disease in them. Everyone ought to pay attention to the rule of Paul, stated in Philippians 4:12, that they may know both how to be abased, and how to abound. So that lack may not sink us into despondency, we need to be sustained by patient endurance. On the other hand, so that too great abundance may not unduly elate us, we need to be restrained by the bridle of temperance.

Accordingly, when the Lord enriches His own people, He simultaneously restrains the licentious desires of the flesh by the spirit of confidence, so that, of their own accord, they set rules of temperance for themselves. This is not to say it is unlawful for rich people to enjoy more freely the abundance they possess than if God had given them a smaller portion. However, all people (and especially kings) ought to beware lest they become immersed in voluptuous pleasures.

David, no doubt, as was perfectly lawful, allowed himself more latitude than if he had been merely one of the common people, or if he had still lived in his father’s cottage. But he so regulated himself amidst his delicacies as to take no pleasure at all in merely stuffing and fattening his body. He knew well how to distinguish between the table which God had prepared for him and a trough for swine. It is also especially noteworthy that although David lived on his own lands, the tribute money, and other revenues of the kingdom, he gave thanks to God just as if God had daily given him his food with His own hand. From this we conclude that he was not blinded by his riches, but always looked upon God as the head of his household, who brought out food and drink from His own store and distributed it to him at the proper season.