Notes
from Douglas J. Green, “‘The Lord is Christ’s
Shepherd’: Psalm 23 as Messianic Prophecy,” in Eyes to See, Ears to Hear: Essays in Honor of J. Alan Groves (eds.
P. Enns, D. J. Green and M. B. Kelly; 2010), 33-46.
"From a grammatical-historical perspective,
the psalm describes Yahweh's relationship with Israel (or Israel's king,
David). The Christological interpretation develops in various ways out of this
original meaning."
The traditional reading has the opening words to
mean "my shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ" (cf.
Augustine). "My sense is that the undergirding rationale for this
classic Christological interpretation of Psalm 23 is not so much that Jesus
fulfills a direct prophecy concerning the identity of Yahweh in his
eschatological role as Israel's shepherd, but rather that there is an analogy
between Yahweh's relationship with an individual Israelite, David, and Christ's
relationship with individual Christians."
"Even if there is uncertainty concerning the
intentions of the Psalter's redactors, it is clear that in the Second-Temple
period many Jews did read the psalms in a prophetic and eschatological
direction."
"I propose...a Christotelic interpretation
in which Jesus fulfills the role played by the psalmist David, the sheep."
"Beginning at the grammatical-historical, or
compositional, level, the psalm testifies to the Lord's faithfulness to
David...[and] can be identified as a pilgrimage psalm. It tells a story about a
journey -- not just any journey, but one that reaches its goals as the
psalmist enters 'the house of Yahweh,' the temple in Jerusalem."
"More specifically, the psalmist's
metaphorical journey passes through three spatio-temporal points: (1) it passes
from a time and place of sufficiency and safety, depicted in the imagery of
pasturage in springtime (v. 2), (2) it moves into the quasi-exilic condition of
life under the threat of death, portrayed as a descent into a deep ravine in
the Judean wilderness during summer (v. 4), and (3) finally, after safely
passing through the 'valley of the shadow of death,' the pilgrimage -- or is it
a return from exile? -- ends in the temple in Jerusalem in early autumn at the
Feats of Tabernacles (v 5)."
"Read as a movement from pasturage to
wilderness to temple, Psalm 23 gives specific expression to the most basic
outline of the story of redemption. In its simplest form, this recurring
'redemptive pattern' can be described in terms of the development 'Good à Bad à
Better' This can be restated in a variation such as 'Life à Death à
Abundant Life,' 'Promised Land à Exile à Restoration,' or even more broadly, 'Eden à Exile from the Garden à New Jerusalem' and 'Life à Death à
Resurrection and Exaltation.' This pattern will provide the framework for the
different ways of reading the psalm."
"Messiah's story will conform to the pattern
'Life à Death à Life
Plus.'"
The first episode offers a window into "the
ordinariness of life" of Messiah Jesus who knows that the heavenly Father
supplies his needs (cf. Luke 4:3; 11:3).
"He restores my life" (v. 3a) offers
"a short summary of what will transpire in the following narrative of
verses 4 and 5: Yahweh will 'restore' the psalmist's life by bringing him
safely through the threat of death (v. 4) into the blessed life described in
verse 5."
"Yahweh leads me in path of his righteousness, paths where he
fulfills his obligations to the psalmist-sheep
and does so in order to maintain his reputation as a covenant-keeping
God."
"If Jesus Christ is indeed the telos, or goal, of Israel's
story...then Christian interpretation of the OT must be an exercise in reading
backwards, of reading earlier texts so that their meanings cohere with what God
has actually done in history in Jesus Christ."
The Messiah walks "into the valley where
death metaphorically casts a shadow" but "we discover that
eschatological David actually keeps walking...into the next valley, into Death's own
valley." Nor does he merely enter the temple in Jerusalem at the end of
his journey but moves to "the reality of God's heavenly dwelling and
ultimately to the eschatological reality of heaven on earth."
The traditional translation "I will
dwell" towards the end of the psalm reflects the old Greek rather
than the Hebrew text. The Hebrew text would be better rendered "I will
keep coming back into the house of Yahweh" but "I will dwell" is
"an excellent translation of the gospel...the eschatological David has
been brought from the valley of death into the heavenly house of the Lord, to reside there."
And while the psalm only leads us to expect long
life for the psalmist, "God has in fact granted Messiah Jesus a lengthening
of days that stretches out
into eternity. So in the end, while the KJV tradition ("I will dwell
in the house of the LORD for
ever") may not be quite true to Hebrew grammar, it is true to the
grammar of the gospel!"
"Psalm 23, read as fulfilled messianic
prophecy, tells the story of Jesus Christ from the perspective of God's
shepherd-like care for him: in life, through death, and on to glorious entry
into the heavenly temple. Moreover it tells the story of those who have been
united to Christ by faith. Jesus' story has become our story; his pilgrimage
has become our pilgrimage."
"In fact, we face the valley of (the shadow
of) death without fear because God has already brought the lead Sheep from his
great flock safely through that dark valley. Because the Great Shepherd has led
Jesus from the valley of death to the Temple Mount, he will provide the same
death-defeating, life-restoring protection to all who follow in Jesus'
tracks."
