Who would've thought that the well-known verse, Psalms 23-2: "He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters," could awaken such a riveting adventure into the past? Settle into your seat as we unearth the depths of this biblical verse, revealing a saga of survival, trust, and divine protection. We'll show you the 'green pastures' as they were in ancient Israel, not the verdant meadows we often envision, but a wilderness scattered with patches of green. We'll take you to the 'quiet waters', challenging your perceptions about the shepherd's role in strategizing and improvising for the survival of his flock.
We'll discover the rhythms of life of the sheep and the immense care and strategy of the shepherd amidst potential dangers. We'll explore the experiences of David in the wilderness, drawing parallels to the Psalms he wrote, and decipher the significance of his choice of words. As we journey together through this beloved scripture, we'll transform its simple pastoral scene into a profound lesson on trust, provision, and divine protection. So, are you ready to traverse the Israeli wilderness and experience the ancient essence of Psalms 23-2 like never before?
Who would've thought that the well-known verse, Psalms 23-2: "He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters," could awaken such a riveting adventure into the past? Settle into your seat as we unearth the depths of this biblical verse, revealing a saga of survival, trust, and divine protection. We'll show you the 'green pastures' as they were in ancient Israel, not the verdant meadows we often envision, but a wilderness scattered with patches of green. We'll take you to the 'quiet waters', challenging your perceptions about the shepherd's role in strategizing and improvising for the survival of his flock.
We'll discover the rhythms of life of the sheep and the immense care and strategy of the shepherd amidst potential dangers. We'll explore the experiences of David in the wilderness, drawing parallels to the Psalms he wrote, and decipher the significance of his choice of words. As we journey together through this beloved scripture, we'll transform its simple pastoral scene into a profound lesson on trust, provision, and divine protection. So, are you ready to traverse the Israeli wilderness and experience the ancient essence of Psalms 23-2 like never before?
Welcome to our ancient future story, navigating Scripture through the Eyes of Family, where I share with you biblical stories like a family member would share a story around a dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God's family and His family story has a lot of history. Each week we will take one story and talk about it the cultural, historical, geographical and sociological impacts. We will be looking at these stories through the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens of ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is our ancient future story. Welcome back to our ancient future story. I'm Vic and I am so excited to share with you a new story. Today we continue our series as we dive into the most recited chapter of Scripture, psalms 23. Just like last time, today we dive into the verse 2, breaking it down, and see the amazing history behind this famous Psalm, psalm 23-2,. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. If you grew up in church, you probably have heard this Psalm many, many times. You probably have memorized it. Or even if you didn't grow up in church, you have probably heard it a few times. But there are a few things that I want us to talk about today. That, I think, will shape the context of this story for us. But before we dive into it, grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and let's dive into Psalms 23-2.
Vic:
The first thing I want to talk about is location. Our story takes place in the Shepherds fields, so this time in green pastures and beside quiet waters. In Israel. The green pastures are not what we think of here in America, with huge grassy fields where sheep can eat and be happy for the rest of their lives. But that is not what David meant when he wrote he makes me lie down by green pastures. In Israel, the green pastures look more like wilderness. In Hebrew the word used is midbar, which means wilderness, or sometimes translated as grassy pastures. There is some green, but comes in little patches of grass spread out across the fields. So let's break down this verse. The first part says he makes me lie down. Now, when it's isolated like that, this may give an aggressive tone to the shepherd. He makes me lie down, but this is actually a loving action.
Vic:
In the pastures of Israel, the sheep are exposed. They are always vulnerable to wild animals. At any point something could come and kill the sheep, especially if the sheep are lying down. Keep in mind, sheep don't normally lie down unless they are completely content, meaning they have full bellies, they have had enough to drink and they feel completely safe. So we see this protective nature of the shepherd who makes their sheep lie down in the midst of a vulnerable situation, because the shepherd wants the sheep to know I've got you, you can rest because I am watching out for the dangers. In other words, if you trust me, I will protect you. Then the verse says In green pastures.
Vic:
Now, as I said earlier, green pastures in Israel is not what we think of as green pastures here in the US. They are not luscious green farmland. In Hebrew the word is midbar, which typically means wilderness, but can also be translated as grassy pastures. David uses midbar so that we understand the land of the shepherds. It was not farmland because farmers did not want their sheep or other people's sheep to eat the crops, unless, of course, it was after the harvest season and the sheep did help reset the ground for the next season. But typically shepherds were found in the midbar, in the wilderness, walking with their sheep across the mountainside. I am maybe asking how does the wilderness become green pasture? And it's a good question.
Vic:
Israel doesn't get much rain. Much like the south of the US, it has a lot of humidity. Thanks to the winds that come off the Mediterranean, the air is always wet. This humidity in the air can get caught underneath the rocks of the mountainside and some green grass will begin to grow. Not much grass, maybe a bite or two, and that's it.
Vic:
The sheep have to trust the shepherd. As the sheep graze across the mountain, they may take a bite and then walk a step or two and take another bite, and so on. It's not enough to eat and be full for the full day. It's enough for the moment. The sheep never know when they will come upon another bite, but they trust the shepherd. Green pastures are not about having enough food for the rest of your life, but about having enough for this moment. What is going to happen 10 minutes from now? Trust the shepherd. A year from now? Trust the shepherd. The sheep know that the shepherd will get them what they need right now and the rest is up to the shepherd. So let's look at this verse again. He makes me lie down and graze pastures. The sheep, completely satisfied and fully dependent on the shepherd, lie down because they have nothing to fear and they have everything they need.
Vic:
Let's pause and think about the author for a minute. How does this part of the verse apply to David? Why would he write specifically about green pastures in the midbar? Well, david grew up in the midbar. He was a boy in the shepherd's fields. Then, after defeating Goliath, he ran for his life to the Judean hills from Saul and then hid behind enemy lines among the Philistines, all before he became king at age 30. David knew what it was like to live in the midbar.
Vic:
Now, as biblical culturalist Christy McCullen puts it, we Westerners, when we find ourselves in wilderness moments, are prone to ask God how do we get out of the wilderness? Preferably as quickly as possible. But the ancient Jew would have asked a different question. They would have asked what is God telling me in the wilderness? There is a Hebrew phrase called Dvar by Midbar, which means the word in the wilderness. What is God trying to say in the wilderness? What is the word he is giving to David? I believe David's Dvar in the midbar are the Psalms.
Vic:
Over and over again, david wrote song after song after song about how awesome God is. And, much like Green Pasture, these songs weren't written all at once in a giant farmer's field of lush green grass, but rather written some here and some there. I like to think in this moment David is saying he makes me lie down in Green Pasture means that he has everything he needs. He is full of spiritual nourishment because Yahweh is with him. He is completely safe from all of his enemies because Yahweh is on watch and he can lay down in the mid-bar fully trusting his shepherd. Now for the next part of the verse. He leads me beside still waters, or he leads me beside quiet waters.
Vic:
Water is a necessity to life, even more important than finding food. A good shepherd must be able to lead their sheep to water. As you may have guessed, there isn't much water in the wilderness and it can be difficult to find. So a shepherd would base their travel around where the water sources were. Typically, a shepherd would aim to make it to a water source by midday, so that the sheep can eat in the morning, then take a drink and then rest. This is an important rhythm because remember, bedouin shepherds move around. They could walk about 5 square miles in a single day, which shows us how important this rhythm of food, water and rest really were. However, the shepherd has to be strategic about what water sources he leads the flock to, because the sheep are extremely skittish. So if a shepherd leads a flock to a river that has rapids, the sheep will be frightened and take off. If they lead them to a stream that is moving at all, the sheep will refuse to drink from it.
Vic:
In the valleys of Israel there are small streams called wadis that fill with water after rain or flash floods. They are typically still, but flash floods are the number one killer in the desert. Getting a flock caught drinking from a wadi when an unexpected flash flood hits would be devastating, because the shepherd would lose the entire flock, maybe even their own life. So instead of leading the flock to wadis and certain death, shepherds will improvise. Sometimes shepherds will dig out a path off a stream to create a channel where water can gather but not move, so that the sheep will drink from it. Or other times the shepherd will come upon a well as the only water source and they will have to draw water and either make a trough for the sheep to drink out of or again dig a ditch deep enough for the water to hold so that the sheep will drink.
Vic:
Okay, pause, can you imagine this? How tedious this is. How many times would a shepherd have to draw water, put it in a handmade trough and go draw more water again and again, and again for the entire flock to be satisfied? This was not an easy or a quick task. It took some time, depending on how big the flock was. It reminds me of Rebecca, when Abraham's servant met her by the well and she drew all that water for the camels.
Vic:
The shepherd has to jump through so many hoops to convince the sheep that the water is safe to drink. The sheep are that skittish, but on a human level this makes sense, right? We do this all the time with God. We go about our day dying of thirst, quoting Psalms 42-1, as a dear pants for streams of water. So my soul pants for you, my God. But God leads us to the water, the very water we just begged for. And when we get there we suddenly change our tune. We lean more into the Tantors quote from Disney's Tarzan. Are you sure this water's sanitary?
Vic:
It looks questionable to me, but it's in these moments that God reminds us how good water is for us and that he is a good shepherd who leads us to drink quiet waters. The shepherd goes through all this trouble to get the sheep to eat and drink because they know that if they can get the sheep to eat and drink, the sheep will lay down and rest. So David is thinking about Yahweh as he's writing this, how Yahweh makes him lie down in green pastures and lead him beside quiet waters. The literal translation of quiet waters is water of rest. David is able to rest knowing that he is fully content and completely safe because his shepherd, yahweh, is watching out for him. So how do these verses point to Jesus? Well, as we said last time, jesus is our shepherd and we have the same confidence that David had. We can follow our shepherd Jesus, knowing that he will lead us to nourishment, water and rest, even in our own mid-bar seasons. We can shift our focus from how do we get out to what does God want to say to us. We can lay down knowing that our shepherd is on watch and that he will protect us Before we go.
Vic:
I want to close our time together by reading this scripture in Psalms 23. I hope that as you listen to it being read, that you embrace all that we have learned and that this passage will be illuminated for you. Let's read the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Thank you for listening to today's episode of our H&M Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me. Vic Hartman Music is embarking on an adventure by Evan MacDonald. Please support the show by subscribing and rating us, and if you want more info or want to dive deeper, check out our website at our ancientfuturestorycom. See you next time. Bye.