John Calvin Commentary Psalms 23:4

"Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." — Psalms 23:4 (ASV)

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.