Morality and Steadfast Love: Psalm 23:6

Prepare to embark on a spiritual journey as we unpack the profound meaning of Psalm 23’s final verse. Discover the fascinating way 'goodness' was understood in Hebrew morality, shaped by God's law rather than personal satisfaction, and how "follow me" signifies God's unwavering pursuit of us in all life's circumstances. This exploration is sure to offer you a comforting and enlightening perspective on one of the most recited chapters in scripture.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

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 the conclusion of our series of the most recited chapter of Scripture, psalms 23. And before we get into that, I want to take a minute and invite you to join my Patreon. If you are liking what you are learning and would like to get additional content like discussion, questions and guides, check out our Patreon at patreoncom. This supports the show and helps me keep it going. Also, you can follow the show on all our socials or check our website at our ancient future story dot com. Thank you for all of your support. Alright, so let's get into the show, just like last time, today we will dive into verse 6, breaking it down and seeing the amazing history and culture behind this famous psalm, psalms 23.6,. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So sit back, grab your cup of coffee or something to drink and get ready to dive into Psalms 23.6.

Speaker 1: 2:07

If you grew up in church, you have probably heard this psalm many, many times. You probably memorized it. But even if you didn't grow up in church, you have probably heard this psalm a few times. But there are a few things I think are interesting as we dive into the context that shaped this story. So first, as always, we talk about location. Where was David when he was writing this? Well, as we know from previous weeks, David was in the Wadi Kelt, running from his son Absalom. So we kind of get this idea behind this psalm as well.

Speaker 1: 2:37

So let's start with the beginning of the verse. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me. Quite a confident statement for David to conclude the psalm on. So far in this passage we have seen his dependency on the Good Shepherd, his struggle in the Wadi Kelt, yet still invited to the table to now end with the confidence that goodness and mercy will follow him. David is confident that goodness, or ta'v in Hebrew, will follow him. Ta'v means good things, pleasant things, useful things or morally good things. I think for the most part we all understand the goodness part of this verse. We all have a decent idea of what good things are.

Speaker 1: 3:18

But morally good is the part of this definition that struck me, because what we think of as moral goodness or ethical goodness as we would see it today, is a very Greek understanding, which made me ask the question what was considered morally good in David's day? As I said, moral goodness as we understand it today is very Greek-centric. The Greeks understood that morality came from the individual. What feels good to you is right for you. Whatever brings you happiness is morally good for you. In other words, if it's good for you and doesn't hurt anyone else, then it is morally good. Money, fame, sex, honor, followers, whatever it is, as long as you're not actively or intentionally hurting someone else, it is good. But that is not the Hebrewic understanding of morality. Jewish understanding of morality is more social than individual. What you do affects the community, either positively or negatively.

Speaker 1: 4:15

In ancient Israel there was no separation between church and state. Therefore rabbis had the legal authority to punish moral actions. So what are these moral actions? Morality in Hebrew context was determined by the law of God, not by the Greek context of the individual happiness. So we must ask what is the standard for moral living according to the law of God? Well, according to Leviticus it is this Be holy because I, the Lord, your God, am holy. This is the standard of God. So with this lens we see that David is saying holiness will follow him. So now I want to take a minute and talk about the mercy part of this verse. Some translations use mercy, like mine does. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, while others use kindness.

Speaker 1: 5:05

I noticed at the end of my study that Psalms 23 has a footnote that says steadfast love here. So surely goodness and kindness, surely goodness and steadfast love will follow me. But in Hebrew the word here is hesed, and hesed, as I have mentioned before on this podcast, is the unwavering devotion from a superior to an inferior, especially when undeserved. It's stubborn love, it's unconditional love. It's that steadfast love that the footnote talked about. It chases you down, loves you no matter what, even when love is undeserved, and I would say, especially when love is undeserved, and David is using it here as a reminder that the hesed of Yahweh will follow him. The word follow here is radaf, and this word gives the sense of pursuit, to chase, to actively run after. So who put all of this together? David is saying I am confident that holiness and hesed will pursue me.

Speaker 1: 6:08

The next sentence says all the days of my life. David is not saying holiness and hesed will pursue him only when he is good or only while he is behaving. No, he is saying all the days of my life. He's confident that holiness and hesed of Yahweh will actively pursue him all day, every day, for as long as he lives. What good news is this? God actively pursues us all the days of our lives. On our good days, holiness and hesed pursues us. On our bad days, holiness and hesed pursues us All day, every day, in good things and bad things. Yahweh offers us holiness and hesed.

Speaker 1: 6:50

The last part of this verse and of this Psalm is and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To dwell, or yasab in Hebrew, means to sit down and stay. So it's this idea of making yourself at home. David says he will dwell in the house of the Lord. So the temple is not built yet, because it was his son, solomon, who built the temple, aka the house of the Lord that we know of today. So what is David talking about here? I think he is talking about the presence of the Lord. The house of the Lord for David would be his intimate relationship with Yahweh. I will make myself at home in the presence of the Lord. We saw this imagery with Moses in the tent of meeting. He dwelt in the presence of Yahweh.

Speaker 1: 7:34

David here, after five verses about the intimate relationship between the sheep and his shepherd, he is concluding his psalm with the confidence that he will dwell in the presence of God. He will make himself at home in this intimate relationship with his shepherd. But I want us to see something really cool here. God is doing all of the work, his holiness is pursuing me, his hesed is pursuing me, but me I just get to dwell in the relationship with my shepherd. So if we put this all together, david is saying I am confident that holiness and hesed will pursue me all day, every day of my entire life, and I will dwell in his presence forever. So how does this psalm and this verse point to Jesus, just like the last six episodes. Jesus is our shepherd. It's his holiness and his unwavering hesed that pursues us all the days of our lives, and if we allow ourselves to be found, we get to make ourselves at home in his presence. We get to dwell in the sweetness of our relationship with him forever.

Speaker 1: 8:41

So before we go, I want to close our time together by reading 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 still waters. He restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil For your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You repair a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Thank you for listening to today's episode of our HM Future Story. I hope that you really enjoyed it. This episode was written and produced by me. Vic Harmon Music is embarking on an adventure by Evan McDonald. 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.