Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 23:3
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
3. He restoreth my soul ] Renews and sustains my life. Cp. Psa 19:7, note. Not as P.B.V. (after the LXX and Vulg.) he shall convert my soul.
he leadeth me ] R.V., he guideth me: a word often used of God’s guidance of His people collectively (Exo 15:13; Deu 32:12), and individually (Psa 5:8; Psa 27:11, &c.).
in the paths of righteousness ] Usage is decisive in favour of rendering thus, and not, in straight paths. The word for righteousness nowhere retains its primary physical meaning of straightness. For paths cp. Psa 17:5; and for the whole phrase, Pro 4:11; Pro 8:20; Pro 12:28.
for his name’s sake ] In order to prove Himself such as He has declared Himself to be (Exo 34:5 ff.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3, 4. The shepherd’s care as guide and guardian.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He leadeth me beside the still waters – Margin, waters of quietness. Not stagnant waters, but waters not tempestuous and stormy; waters so calm, gentle, and still, as to suggest the idea of repose, and such as prompt to repose. As applied to the people of God, this denotes the calmness – the peace – the repose of the soul, when salvation flows as in a gently running stream; when there is no apprehension of want; when the heart is at; peace with God.
He restoreth my soul – literally, He causes my life to return. DeWette, He quickens me, or causes me to live. The word soul here means life, or spirit, and not the soul in the strict sense in which the term is now used. It refers to the spirit when exhausted, weary, or sad; and the meaning is, that God quickens or vivifies the spirit when thus exhausted. The reference is not to the soul as wandering or backsliding from God, but to the life or spirit as exhausted, wearied, troubled, anxious, worn down with care and toil. the heart, thus exhausted, He re-animates. He brings back its vigor. He encourages it; excites it to new effort; fills it with new joy.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness – In right paths, or right ways. He conducts me in the straight path that leads to Himself; He does not permit me to wander in ways that would lead to ruin. In reference to His people it is true:
(a) that He leads them in the path by which they become righteous, or by which they are justified before him; and
(b) that He leads them in the way of uprightness and truth. He guides them in the way to heaven; His constant care is evinced that they may walk in that path.
For his names sake – For His own sake; or, that His name may be honored. It is not primarily on their account; it is not solely that they may be saved. It is that He may be honored:
(a) in their being saved at all;
(b) in the manner in which it is done;
(c) in the influence of their whole life, under His guidance, as making known His own character and perfections.
Compare Isa 43:25; Isa 48:9; Isa 66:5; Jer 14:7. The feeling expressed in this verse is that of confidence in God; an assurance that he would always lead his people in the path in which they should go. Compare Psa 25:9. This he will always do if people will follow the directions of His word, the teachings of His Spirit, and the guidance of His providence. No one who submits to Him in this way will ever go astray!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 23:3
He restoreth my soul.
The restoration of the soul
1. It implies the quickening and invigoration of the soul in seasons of depression and exhaustion. A sheep may languish from internal weakness and disorder, and may need the application of medicinal restorations. So the soul may suffer from its inherent liabilities to weakness and weariness, and mistrust of God, and from its inability to rest calmly and in good faith upon the precious promises of His Word. At such times, He who has hitherto sustained us will act as a wise and good physician, and restore us to health and vigour.
2. The distemper of which we complain is in truth a form of sin, and has its source in a declining faith, and in a relaxed hold on God. The main feature of the restoration implies the wandering of the sheep from the pasture and the fold. Thank God there has been revealed to us a love which is not measured by our merits, and which our needs cannot exhaust; a love which bears with us tenderly and patiently in the midst of all unfaithfulness; a love stronger than death–many waters cannot quench it. In our wildest and most distant wanderings the eye of God wistfully follows our course, nor will He suffer our disloyalty and ingratitude to baffle His purpose of mercy, or sunder the ties that bind us to Him. (James Stuart.)
Happy restoration
Restoration, like conversion, is the work of God. Who can convert a sinner? God only. Who can restore a backslider? The Almighty alone.
I. The means God employs to bring the backslider to repentance. Anyone who has tried to deal with a backslider knows how difficult it is.
1. He uses memory (Mat 26:75); of warnings; of promises.
2. He reveals Himself as unchangeable.
3. Makes known His faithfulness.
4. His tenderness (Joh 6:37).
II. Thy way of return.
1. It is a way of humility.
2. Of prayer.
3. Of distinct renunciation of evil.
4. The return must be whole-hearted and unreserved.
I would say, however, do not try to work yourself into a certain state of feeling, or, as an old writer has said, Do not go on spinning repentance, as it were, out of your own bowels, bringing it with you to Christ, instead of coming to Him by faith to receive it from Him. Of the exact nature of your feelings you never can be a proper judge. But this I would urge, look your sin steadily in the face; judge it as in the presence of God; consider it in the light of His warnings and promises, His exhibition of Himself, and His former dealings with you. Ask that you may see it as He sees it, and in all self-loathing and self-renunciation cast yourself afresh at the feet of Jesus.
III. The joyous experience of the restored. Pardon is enjoyed, Life realised. Peace. Zeal and rest in work. And all heightened by contrast. (W. P. Lockhart.)
Restoring the soul
The soul is the chief part of man; it is the offspring of God. All that relates to it must therefore be full of interest.
I. A painful fact implied. The soul may wander. All have done so, but even the converted may wander, foolishly, perilously, without power to return,–and all this through sin.
II. A pleasing truth expressed. He restoreth, etc. We cannot do this of ourselves. The Lord restoreth–to real safety, to prosperity and enjoyment. He does this by various means–by affliction, by mercies heaped upon us; by His Word; through the ministry of the Gospel, and chiefly by the power of the Holy Spirit. In all this He displays wisdom, power, compassion.
III. The obligations which result. Penitence, gratitude, watchfulness, dependence. You who are strangers to this restoring grace, take heed, think, pray, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (T. Kidd.)
The soul restorer
I. What are the several methods or ways wherein the soul of a converted Christian may be oppressed and made to droop on languish?
1. Conscientious apprehensions of sinful guilt.
2. Insolent operation of sinful principles.
3. Incessant assaults of temptation.
4. Ample and more permanent desertions.
5. Near and strong afflictions.
II. How doth God refresh and bear up comfortably the soul that languisheth under any of those kinds of oppressures?
1. By His Word. This was that which quickened David in his afflictions, and kept him from fainting (Psa 19:7).
2. By His Spirit. Who is therefore styled the Comforter, because He doth restore joy and cheerfulness.
3. By faith. This is the great restorer of life to any oppressed Christian.
III. Why doth the Lord restore life, as it were, and comfort unto the souls of His people?
1. Necessity on their part. Sense of sin is a heavy thing.
2. Goodness of compassion on Gods part.
3. Fidelity and truth in God.
4. His affections are much towards oppressed, and distressed, and languishing souls.
Consider a few particulars,
1. Soul oppressions are very painful. The soul is the seat of sweetest comfort or deepest sadness. A little thing in the eye will trouble, and a small thing on the brain is weighty, and any burden on the soul is very heavy.
2. Soul sinkings are very prejudicial.
3. The Lord only hath power over the soul, and the burdens of it. We can mar, and we can trouble our own souls and cast them down, but it is no power and art but that of a God which can raise up, revive, and settle the soul again. The air may be good to refresh some bodies, and merry company to hearten a melancholic body; for sinking bodies, physic, diet, recreation, etc., may be good restoratives; but for souls that are sinking, or sunk, no helps can restore them but such as are like themselves. Spiritual souls, spiritual maladies, are to be raised up with spiritual restoratives only. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)
Soul restoration
He restoreth my soul. That is just what the sinner needs. It is idle to talk about Christian culture, or Christian growth in any way, until the soul is restored again from sin. Before you can expect your plant to grow you must plant it out; before you can expect the sheep to be led in green pastures, and by still waters, and protected from enemies, it must be brought back from its wandering. He wants to bring you back to your lost goodness; your lost innocence; your lost relation to God, when you could pray to Him as naturally as you could talk to your mother; your lost peace of heart; your lost tenderness of conscience; your lost love for good things; your lost sense of safety; your lost hope of heaven and eternal life. (A. L. Banks, D. D.)
The great Restorer
I. God will preserve the grace that is in His people. The new nature in the believer is the workmanship of God; he hath a new nature. There is in that new nature that which is like Gods nature, that which is some reflection of God. There is not a single grace of the believer but what shows forth some of the attributes there are in God. In order to keep His people God puts them into the hands of His Son. Jesus said, Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. What an infinite suitableness and propriety there is in Jesus to restore. Look at His name–Jesus. It supposes a restorer. As God He is omnipotent; as man He has infinite sympathy.
II. The sort of restoration. Many a man has shed tears for sin who has never come to a knowledge of its true evil. There is a sorrow which does not work death, a godly sorrow. It is oftentimes difficult to tread the maze in the labyrinth of our hearts about repentance. I think of those who have no one with them when they fall; they are alone. It is an ,awful thing to be alone with God. The subject, however, has a sweet aspect to Gods tried and tempted children. If through depravity and strong inward corruptions we are led into sin, let our motto be, Quick restorings: no delay; no spirit of self-dependence; seek restoration in true repentance. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Revival
The Psalmist describes the revival which in the periods of spiritual languor and decline he derived from the care of the Lord his Shepherd.
I. The care which the great shepherd takes to reclaim His people. From the erroneous and sinful courses into which they do but too often allow themselves to be betrayed. Even the renewed man is not in this world so thoroughly established in holiness as to be beyond the possibility of sinning, beyond the reach of temptation, beyond the assaults of spiritual danger. But even when astray, He will in His wisdom and love seek them out and bring them back to Himself.
II. The RECOVERY of the soul from languor and despair. Often David had felt his soul when it was, as it were, overwhelmed with anguish and despondency, refreshed and revived by the assurances of the Good Shepherds love, by the experience of the Good Shepherds soothing care. Davids experience is that, mere or less, of every Christian soul.
III. The design of this comfort. It is that the Shepherd may lead the soul in the paths of righteousness. in the word of God the Psalmist recognises the only absolute and infallible rule, whether of belief or duty. And it is as copious and complete as it is accurate and sure. (T. B. Patterson, M. A.)
My Restorer
This sweetest of the Psalms sings of many mercies which the believer receives, and traces them all to one source–the Good Shepherd Himself. Text reminds us–
I. Of our true position. It is that of a sheep abiding close to its shepherd. Now this should be ours because of–
1. Our obligations to Christ.
2. Our relationships to Him.
3. If we would have happiness.
4. Our daily necessities.
5. Our infinite perils.
6. The benefits of fellowship.
II. Of our frequent sin. He restoreth my soul–He often does it; He is doing it now. With many suspended communion is chronic. This most wrong. And where it is not so bad as this, there are sad seasons of declension. They are brought about by worldly, conformity, forgetfulness of duty. Jesus is a jealous lover.
III. Of our Lords faithful love. He will never give up His sheep. For His names sake. He will use all manner of means.
IV. Of his supreme power. It is He who does this. It was He who begun the work of grace in you, and therefore He will restore. No outward temptation has force when Christ is present. His presence is the death of every sin, the life of every grace. I see the green leaves of a plant most dear to all who love the woods in spring. It is seen nestling under a hedge under a shelving bank, just above a trickling stream. I ask it why it does not bloom, and it whispers to me that it will bloom by and by. But, sweet primrose, why not put forth thy lovely flower at once, and gladden us with thy beauty? She answers, I am waiting for him–for my lord, the sun; when he cometh and putteth forth his strength I shall put on my beauty. But wilt thou not need soft pearly drops of dew to glisten on thy leaves, and the violet and the harebell to keep thee company, and the birds to sing to thee? To which she replies, He will bring them, he will bring them all. But art thou not afraid of the frost and the dreary snowstorms? He will chase them all away; I shall be safe enough when he comes. Now, we are the plant and Jesus is our sun. And He restores us entirely, and now. Come to Christ direct, not round by Sinai. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Shepherd of the lost sheep
If He has appealed to my love as the Good Shepherd of the green pastures, even more does He claim my adoration, my reverence, my heart, as the Shepherd of the lost and straying sheep.
I. There is no disguising the fact, hide it as we will, of our frequent falling away. Be it the weakness of our human nature, ever prone to evil; be it the corrupted atmosphere in which we live, the swampy marsh of the world, from which rises up, in stealthy, deadly fumes, the vapour of bad public opinion, which we call the world, where the mosses are brightest, and the flowers the fairest, and the sunbeams dance the merriest; be it Satan, above all, with his terrible power of trickery and deceit;–whatever it may be, try as hard as we may, we have to reckon with a constant deflection from a high ideal. And all along the course of our life, His efforts to restore us, to help us to persevere, are spread out. Think only of the many new beginnings which He offers to us. The oft-recurring strength of our Communion, the storehouse of Sundays, the manifold means of grace which surround oar path, are well known to us. But think, also, of such things as the disposition of day and night, the necessity of sleep, and the like: these are all merciful new beginnings which offer us occasions for fresh efforts after amendment. It is so with the Churchs seasons, with the great round of fast and festival, each with a fresh aspect of Divine grace, each with a fresh hope of a better life.
II. And being restored, once more the paths of righteousness lay open before us–the paths which come from righteousness, which end in righteousness, and are righteousness. Certainly we ought to strive for a more harmonious life of goodness. Our lives are too often sharply divided up, as you might divide a concert, into sacred and secular. Most certainly we should all strive to live by rule. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of rule. Rule makes us like Jesus Christ, to whom every action apparently had its hour, and whose whole life was a fulfilment of minute prophecy. Rule, once more, helps us to utilise life. It is the scaffolding from which all the materials which daily life brings us can be placed upon the wall. The paths of righteousness, the very highest paths, are open to us; our very sins may be stepping stones to higher things, and produce, if not humility, at least watchfulness. Christ will bring out character, if only we do not hinder Him, until it becomes established in righteousness.
III. And this will He do for His names sake. The revealed name, which gathers up and expresses for man just so much as he can apprehend of the Divine nature. His name is Jesus. As great conquerors are named after their victories, so He is named from His. He shall save; able to save; mighty to save. Through Jesus is the way to escape. This, perhaps, is Satans chief terror which he holds over us–the impossibility of escape. His name is Emmanuel, God with us: with us, in every stage of our life; with us, when we broke away; with us, when we came back; with us, as we are gaining strength. His name is the Christ, the Prophet who warns me, the Priest who atones for me, the King who rules me. So He restoreth my soul; so He leads me in the paths of righteousness; so He pledges to me the assurance of His holy name. (W. C. E. Newbolt, M. A.)
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake.—
Guidance in the right path
There is a well-known similitude which represents human nature as a chariot driven by two horses, one of them high-spirited and aspiring, the other, heavy, tame, and grovelling; and the charioteer unable to exercise over either of them absolute control, yields first to the one and then to the other, so that the chariot is not carried along a straight, continuous path, with uniform progress towards its goal, but frequently, turns aside and stands still. The image is in itself so striking, and so true to experience, that it needs no explanation. There is in all men a higher and lower nature, which are utterly at variance, one drawing us toward good, the other drawing us toward evil; one having its source in the spirit, the other in the flesh. And hence there is within us a more or less perpetual conflict; and even when we have been awakened to the realities of the spiritual world, and have felt the attractions of the Divine life, our difficulties have not ceased. In addition to accurate knowledge of the right, we need a motive power which will ensure obedience to its claims, transform our intellectual perception into spiritual deeds, and harmonise all the powers of the soul in the presence of the highest light. And such an efficient of morality is suggested to us by the words of the text, He leadeth me. Referring to the custom of the Eastern shepherds–going before their sheep. So God guides us. We enter the paths of righteousness, not because we are driven into them, not because we are subjected to some irresistible force, but by the attraction of our Lords loving presence, and the persuasive power of His holy will. The Bible, valuable as it is, is not the only means of Gods guidance. In some conditions of mind the wisest words of themselves cannot suffice us. Apart from the living will of which they are an expression, they are poor and inefficient, and our hearts can be reached only as we see the Father. But the great principles of religion are presented to us not as dry and formal statements, as mere axioms and rules, but are clothed with flesh and blood, and embodied in a perfect life, He leadeth in the paths of righteousness, and thus gives us the encouragement of His own perfect example. Christ trod before us every step of the way which He wishes us to tread. It is wonderful to see how there is in Christ a manifestation of every virtue we have to acquire. He leadeth, and therefore He draws us after Him by gentle and gradual guidance, in which He graciously accommodates Himself to the measure of our strength. Then the motive power of our life must be found in our love to the Great Shepherd of our souls. He goes before us that He may win our affections and draw us after Him. The value of the Divine guidance is enhanced by the ground on which it is seen to rest, the reason for which it is given–For His names sake. The name of God is symbolic of His nature. Probably the Psalmists main idea is that God will lead us in the paths of righteousness, not because He is urged by considerations external to Himself, but as prompted by, and in order to honour the wisdom, the love, and the power which constitute His nature. If the name which David has especially in view be that of the Good Shepherd, God will do for, men all that that term implies–He will not deny Himself. (James Stuart.)
Gods guidance
How much would be gained, and how much would be lost, if we came to the conclusion that this Psalm was not written by David? A great deal would certainly be lost. For David is a man whose character and experience have an enduring moral and religious interest; everything that throws light on his sorrows and joys, his faith, his fears, his sins, and his repentance, is of great value; and his Psalm contains a very striking illustration of the depth and strength of his personal trust in God. It helps to make one part of Davids life real and vivid to us. Something perhaps would be gained. If it was written by some obscure saint this might seem to draw the Psalm nearer to some of us, and to give us a stronger claim to all its disclosures concerning the blessedness of a life in Gods keeping. David was an exceptional man; what applies to him may not apply to us. Whoever was the author, the Psalm was written more than two thousand years ago, and but for our familiarity with it, its very antiquity would interest and move us, as we are interested and moved by an ornament that belonged to a Greek who lived under the Ptolemies, or to an Egyptian who worshipped in the temple of Carnac, in the time of its glory. But the Psalm has another and pathetic interest. This Psalm has been in daily use for more than two thousand years. It has become the expression of the experience, not of a solitary saint, but of a countless multitude of saints. The Psalmist says that he belongs to a flock of which the Living and Eternal God is the Shepherd. All that a good Eastern shepherd is to his flock when he is guiding them from pasture to pasture and stream to stream, God will be to us. It is very easy to lose our way in life, and very hard to find it again. Without any evil intention, we form habits of living which are sometimes injurious to a noble morality, and are still more often fatal to an earnest loyalty to God. When a man learns that he has gone wrong, he should appeal at once to the pity of the Good Shepherd, who goes after the lost sheep till He finds it. It is easy to lose our way when we are not looking to Him to guide us; it is impossible without His guidance to find it again. The better thing is not to lose it. The really devout man has submitted himself to the authority of God, has committed himself to the love of God, and may rely confidently on the guidance of God. It was not the truth alone that the Psalmist relied upon to guide him, but God Himself, the loving God. Religion is a right relation, not between man and truth, not between man and law, but between living person and living person–between man and God. The Psalmist had consented to follow Gods guidance, and he was relying on God to guide him in the paths of righteousness. Those words, however, do not precisely convey the Psalmists meaning. He says that God will guide His flocks in the right paths, the direct paths, to their water and their pasture. And only righteous paths can bring us to where God desires us to come. The Psalmist means that if a man is under Gods guidance he will be protected from making a wrong decision in critical moments; he will not take the wrong path. Gods guidance keeps a man from sin; but it also keeps him from wasting his strength and failing to make the most of all his powers and opportunities. In all projects for doing service to mankind, a devout man may trust God to guide him in right paths. We may miss our way in the service we endeavour to render to others, as well as in the ordering of our personal life, because we lean too much on our own understanding, instead of trusting in the Lord with all our heart, acknowledging Him in all our ways, and looking to Him to guide us in right paths. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The Divine leadings
I. Some of the means by which God leads us. That is, by which He prompts us to, guides and encourages us in, a good and righteous conduct.
1. God hath implanted many principles in our nature which prompt and incline us to a righteous conduct. These may be more powerful and more obvious in some than in others; but in some degree they exist in all: nor can they be referred but to an intelligent cause. All that is good in us comes from God. If there are found in the soul of man certain feelings and propensities, certain desires and affections, which incline him to a good and righteous conduct, let us give glory to God, and in all these acknowledge His hand leading us in His righteous paths. Feelings of sympathy and commiseration are general and powerful principles in the heart of man. There are not many who can witness severe distress unmoved. The principle of conscience is a powerful principle operating to the same end. It will rarely fail to point to the righteous path; it will plead with us to adopt it; it will remonstrate against deserting it; it will applaud us when forming the resolution to persevere in it. The desire of honest fame which men so generally feel; the dread of the disgrace which they know follows the discovery of an unworthy deed; the pleasure felt upon hearing of a generous act; the indignation, the honest indignation, which arises when we are told of flagrant injustice or merciless oppression,–are further instances of strong internal feelings all favourable to a righteous life. But God can work by any means and suit His dealings to any character.
2. By events which take place in the course of His providence, God urges us to a good and righteous conduct. To a person of a serious and well-constituted mind, the most familiar objects, and the most common events will convey instruction. If there are those who are insensible to the ordinary benignity of the ordinary operations of Providence, there are few who will not be impressed by more affecting events which at times occur.
3. From the Divine communications which God hath been pleased to make to us, we learn yet other means which He employs to guide, to animate, to support us in the paths of righteousness.
II. Acknowledge our obligations to God, for employing so powerful means for so gracious an end. The paths of righteousness are the only paths of peace. In the paths of righteousness one may find difficulties, and may be called to some painful efforts, but they lead to certain and everlasting bliss. Can we be blind to the great criminality of our conduct if we resist these means which God employs to urge us to a good and righteous life? Let us wisely improve what God hath done for us. When He is employing these varied means to lead us in the paths of righteousness, it is that He may conduct you to the mansions of bliss, and that you may dwell in His house for evermore. (Robert Bogg, D. D.)
God leading His people
I. That even converted persons need a God to lead them. O Lord, saith the Prophet (Jer 10:23), I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. And therefore David prays, (Psa 143:10) Teach me to do Thy will. What the leading of God is which is here meant.
1. There is a double leading. One is general in a way of common providence. Another is special and proper to the state and acts, and ways of grace and salvation, whereto a more singular aid and influence is necessary.
2. This efficacious guidance or leading consists of these particulars.
(1) Of a clearer illumination. They have eyes given them to see their Leader, and ears given them to know their Leader and His voice: This is the way, walk in it (Isa 30:21). Show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths (Psa 25:4).
(2) Of a peculiar inclination of the will or heart to obey and follow the direction of God, which some do call exciting grace.
(3) Of a special cooperation, wherein Divine assistance concurs with the will renewed and excited, enabling it both to will and to do those things which are pleasing unto God, for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do.
(4) Lastly, of a singular confirmation, which some call sustaining grace.
II. This for the nature of this guidance, now for the manner of it. It is delightful as well as gentle. It is a safe leading. It is a faithful leading. Such a leading as will not mislead us. Such a leading as will not fail us.
III. But why should converted persons need the leading of God?
1. In respect of the imbecility that is in their graces. Grace (considered in this life) though it be a sweet plant, yet it is but a plant very tender; and though it be a pleasing child, yet but a child very weak.
2. In respect of the difficulties which are in the way. Though righteous paths be heavenly and holy, yet many times are they made stormy and uneasy.
3. In respect of that erroneous aptness in us, even the best of us; error is manifold, and truth simple; many ways to miss the mark, one only to hit it.
4. Christians must make progress in grace, as well as find an entrance of grace.
5. Lastly, in respect of that backwardness that is in our spirits: The flesh is weak, saith Christ. The journey to heaven is up the hill, we fail against wind and tide. The first use shall be to inform us of the great love of God towards His people, whom He is pleased not to leave, but to guide and lead, to make and keep, to raise up and lead. It may likewise inform us, that we have no cause to glory in our own strength.
IV. It will prove our best comfort, having such a leader to follow him. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)
In the paths of righteousness.—
Right paths
I. The paths. The Lord can lead us in no other paths than such as He walks in Himself. The paths of creation are all right paths. There is nothing crooked, perverse, or capricious in the laws of nature. The paths of Providence in which God walks before us are paths of righteousness. People never question it when He goes before them in the glow of sunshine, dropping rich bounties every step He takes. But when the Lord walks before us covered with clouds, and a rod in His hand, how common then to talk of mystery. In whatever way the Lord is going before you now, the way is not only a right one because it is expedient for your good, and will yield you benefit at last; but it is absolutely, constantly, and without exception, a righteous one. The paths of duty, too, in which God would have us walk before Him are paths of righteousness. They are perfectly straight. The paths of Christian faith, and obedience, and self-denial, and purity, and truth, and honesty, and love, are all straight. They run parallel with the laws of the whole outer universe. They run parallel with the laws of our own being. They run parallel with the interests of the eternal future. Sin runs across those interests.
II. The guidance. It is Divine. He, the covenant-keeping God, leadeth me. His character is a pledge that He will lead me right. It is individual. He leadeth me. He leadeth and we are led. How many thoughts this suggests.
1. How manifold are the methods of His leading!
2. How mysterious is the innermost secret of His leading! (John Stoughton, D. D.)
The paths of righteousness
There is a world of comfort contained in the simple words, He leadeth me. There is a Divine hand and purpose in all that befalls us. He leads in righteousness. He has an infinite reason for all He does. It is not for us to attempt to unravel the tangled thread of Providence. What a grandeur and dignity, what a safety and security it would give to life, if we sought ever to regard it as a leading of the Shepherd,–God shaping our purposes and destinies, that wherever we go, or wherever our friends go, He is with us. Let us learn the lesson of our entire dependence on our Shepherd Leader, and our need of His grace in prosecuting the path of our spiritual life. Be it ours to follow after that holiness, that righteousness, without which no man can see the Lord. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Right paths
It is noted as a further mark of our Shepherds care that He leads us in the paths of a good and right way. What these paths are, a study of the context will enable us with little difficulty to decide. They are spoken of in conjunction with the restoration of the soul, and refer to the guidance which completes and crowns it. Our revived life is directed in a worthy course, and we are prevented from further wanderings and transgressions. God directs us into right paths, as opposed to such as are crooked, uneven, and deceptive–paths which lead directly to the goal which, as reasonable, responsible men, we ought to reach, and which, indeed, we must reach for the completion of our lifes work and the satisfaction of our nature. The standard to which we are bound to conform is righteousness. We must live in rectitude and integrity of character. There is one course open to us. We must act up to the light that is in us, be conscientiously faithful to our conceptions of right, and submit with all loyalty of heart to the decisions of our judgment and conscience. (James Stuart.)
Paths of righteousness
I. What the paths of righteousness are. A path is nothing else but an open and beaten way or tract to walk in. There are two sorts of paths wherein men may be said to walk. Some are called erroneous and false ways; the Scriptures sometimes call these crooked paths, because they do not lead us directly to heaven, but wind off. Sometimes our own paths, because they are not ways of Gods institution, but of our own invention. Sometimes paths not cast up (Jer 18:15), in opposition to ancient and established and perused ways prescribed by God, and insisted in by the old faithful servants of God. These paths are those of infidelity and impenitency and impiety. In this place they are called paths of righteousness, which again are two-fold, either–
1. Doctrinal, in which respect the precepts of God are called the paths of righteousness, a rule to a man in his journey, and that, if which he will still follow, will assuredly bring him to his journeys end; so the precepts of God are the rules of our lives, according to which, if we do square them, everlasting life would be the end of that journey.
2. Or practical, and this path of the righteous is that which the Scripture calls the path of the just, or the way of good men (Isa 26:7), and the paths of uprightness (Pro 2:13). And they are called paths in the plural number, not for diversity, but for number, and some of them respect–
(1) God;
(2) Man. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)
Righteous ways
The ordering of our hearts and lives according to the right line or rule which is Gods Word; a course, not an act.
II. What is it to be led in the paths of righteousness? And they are called righteous paths–
1. Because the righteous God prescribes them.
2. Because the righteous person only walks in them.
3. Because they are the ways which are the right and only ways to lead us to our journeys end.
III. But why doth the Lord propound righteous paths to His servants, and cause them to walk in them?
1. Because they are paths and ways suitable to His own nature. Every leader hath ways suitable to his own nature: the devil leads in ways like himself, sinful, unclean, etc. And God leads in ways suitable to Him; He is an holy God, and therefore leads in holy ways; a righteous God, and therefore leads His people in righteous paths.
2. Righteous paths are the best paths. God is the best God, His people are the best people, and righteous paths are the best paths. Best in many respects–
(1) No paths so holy and clean.
(2) Nor so safe. The way of the wielded seduceth them (Pro 12:26). Nothing exposeth us to more hazard than a sinful way; false ways are always unsure, many snares and dangers.
(3) Nor so pleasant. On a good way, a man hath the company of a good God, and the peace of good conscience.
(4) Nor so honourable. Wicked ways are ever most shameful.
IV. Righteous ways are the right way to heaven. God will lead His people in such ways wherein–
1. He may receive glory from them.
2. They may receive glory from Him. Their graces would never be exercised, nor sins subdued, were not the paths righteous, etc. For what is the exercise of grace, but a motion in a righteous path, graces breaking out, working, walking, if grace were only bestowed for our conversion, and not for our conversation?
Consider–
1. There are divers paths and ways that men may walk in besides the paths of righteousness.
2. Though every man hath a path to walk in, yet naturally the way of righteousness we do not know.
3. Of all paths to walk in, our hearts are most averse to these.
4. What avails it though paths of righteousness be propounded unto you, and that you do know them, if all this while you are not led in those paths of righteousness? The properties of righteous paths are these–
(1) They are supernatural.
(2) They are difficult. It is more difficult to creep in a righteous path than to run in a wicked way.
(3) They are holy.
(4) They are straight, and not winding and crooked. One is a rectitude of conformity. Another is a rectitude of tendency.
(5) They are solitary.
The qualifications of those persons who do or can walk in paths of righteousness. As affection is a property of these righteous walkers, so likewise is subjection. Circumspection is another property. Perfection. What a man must do, so that he may come to walk in paths of righteousness? He must get such a light of understanding which must clear his mind of
(1) extreme vanity, and
(2) of unjust prejudices.
There must be resolution and courage.
1. Walk in these paths diligently.
2. Uniformly. Haltings and excursions, tripping in the way, or starting out of the way, are both opposite to a righteous walking.
3. Answerably. Not only to his profession, that his conversation be copied out of it, but also to his means and long standing.
4. Progressively.
5. Undauntedly. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)
For His names sake.—
The Divine name a plea
But why is it that this great Shepherd will do those great things for me? Is it because He finds me to be a sounder sheep and to have fewer blemishes upon me than some other? Alas, no; for I am nothing but blemishes and unsoundness all over; but He will do it for His names sake; for seeing He hath taken upon Him the name of a Good Shepherd, He will discharge His part, whatever His sheep be. (Sir R. Baker.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul] Brings back my life from destruction; and converts my soul from sin, that it may not eternally perish. Or, after it has backslidden from him, heals its backslidings, and restores it to his favour. See the old paraphrase on this clause in the preceding note.
In the paths of righteousness] bemageley tsedek, “in the circuits” or “orbits of righteousness.” In many places of Scripture man appears to be represented under the notion of a secondary planet moving round its primary; or as a planet revolving round the sun, from whom it receives its power of revolving, with all its light and heat. Thus man stands in reference to the Sun of righteousness; by his power alone is he enabled to walk uprightly; by his light he is enlightened; and by his heat he is vivified, and enabled to bring forth good fruit. When he keeps in his proper orbit, having the light of the glory of God reflected from the face of Jesus Christ, he is enabled to enlighten and strengthen others. He that is enlightened may enlighten; he that is fed may feed.
For his name’s sake.] To display the glory of his grace, and not on account of any merit in me. God’s motives of conduct towards the children of men are derived from the perfections and goodness of his own nature.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He restoreth, Heb. he bringeth it back; either,
1. From its errors or wandering; or,
2. Into the body, out of which it was even departing and fainting away. He reviveth or comforteth me. Compare Rth 4:15; 1Sa 30:12; Lam 1:11.
In the paths of righteousness; in straight, and plain, and safe paths, where the sheep is neither hurt, nor wearied, nor in danger of wandering. By his word he directs me to the right ways of truth, and holiness, and righteousness, and by his Spirit he inclines and enables me to choose them, and to continue to walk in them.
For his names sake; not for any worth in me, but merely for the demonstration and glory of his justice, and faithfulness, and goodness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. To restore the soul is torevive or quicken it (Ps 19:7),or relieve it (Lam 1:11; Lam 1:19).
paths of righteousnessthoseof safety, as directed by God, and pleasing to Him.
for his name’s sakeor,regard for His perfections, pledged for His people’s welfare.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He restoreth my soul,…. Either when backslidden, and brings it back again when led or driven away, and heals its backslidings; or rather, when fainting, swooning, and ready to die away, he fetches it back again, relieves, refreshes, and comforts with the discoveries of his love, with the promises of his word, and with the consolations of his Spirit, and such like reviving cordials, [See comments on Ps 19:7];
he leadeth, he in the paths of righteousness; in the plain paths of truth and holiness, in which men, though fools, shall not err; in right ones, though they sometimes seem rough and rugged to Christ’s sheep, yet are not crooked; there is no turning to the right hand or the left; they lead straight on to the city of habitation; and they are righteous ones, as paths of duty are, and all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord be; moreover, Christ leads his by faith, to walk on in him and in his righteousness, looking through it, and on account of it, for eternal life; see Pr 8:20; and all this he does
for his name’s sake; for his own glory and the praise of his grace, and not for any merits or deserts in men.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. 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 the manner in which 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, is of the same import as to make anew, or to recover, as has been already stated in the 19 psalm, at the seventh verse. By the paths of righteousness, he means easy and plain paths. (534) 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 amount of what is said is, that God is in no respect wanting to his people, seeing he sustains them by his power, invigorates and quickens them, and averts from them whatever is hurtful, that they may walk at ease in plain and straight paths. That, however, he may not ascribe any thing to his own worth or merit, David represents the goodness of God as the cause of so 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 offices of a shepherd, is a blessing which proceeds entirely from his free and sovereign goodness, as we shall see in the sixty-fifth psalm.
(534) Walford adopts and defends this view. His reading is, “He leadeth me in straight paths.” “This version,” says he, “may perhaps prove not altogether agreeable to the feelings of the reader in consequence of his being accustomed to a different expression in the English Bible. But the consistency of the imagery requires the alteration; as otherwise, we have an incongruous mixture of physical and moral figures. A careful shepherd leads his sheep to verdant pastures, conducts them near peaceful waters, affords them the means of refreshment when wearied, and guides them away from r ugged and tortuous paths to such as are direct and easy.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Restoreth my souli.e., refresheth, recreateth, quickeneth.
For his names sake.Gods providential dealings are recognised as in accordance with His character for great graciousness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. He restoreth my soul He bringeth back my soul, as a sheep that had strayed. Mat 18:12-13 ; 1Pe 2:25. The word for “restoreth” means, to return, bring back, or, figuratively, convert. At this time of David’s life he could praise the restoring care and grace of God. Of all animals the sheep is least able to defend itself, either by resistance or flight, is most given to wander away; and has the least sagacity in finding its way back to the fold.
Paths of righteousness Right paths are opposed to intricate and unsafe ways, (Lam 3:9-11,) and to ways of disobedience and perversity. Psa 125:5; Pro 2:15.
For his name’s sake For his own sake, the glory of his attributes, and the moral effect of his dispensations to man not for the merit or rectitude of the creature.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘He restores my soul (inner life). He guides me in the right paths (the paths of righteousness) for his name’s sake.’
Having been led to the pastures of luscious grass, and the rest-giving waters, the sheep are fully restored. In the same way can we be sure that He will continually ‘restore our inner lives’. Whatever the trials that beset us He will bring us through to perfect peace with our strength restored. We will be restored to full equilibrium. And this restoration will then be maintained because He will guide us in the paths of righteousness (compare Pro 8:20). He will not only lead us in the right way so that we do not get lost, but He will lead us in the way of rightness. There can be no peace without this. These are the paths where our feet do not slip (Psa 17:5). They are the way of wisdom, the paths of uprightness, where our ways will not be hindered, and where we can run without stumbling (Pro 4:11). It is important to recognise this requirement for His sheep, if they would be at rest. They cannot just go their own way, they must follow the Shepherd in His ways. For in the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death (Pro 12:28).
And He guides us in these ways, ‘for His Name’s sake’. Note the idea of sovereignty. He guides them inexorably in these ways because He is concerned for His reputation and His purposes and wants them to be maintained by His people in order that He might be glorified. (Compare Isa 63:14). And He does it because of the kind of Being that He is. He does it in order to reveal that He is such that He can do no other. By it He is revealing precisely Who and What He is, the Righteous One Who upholds righteousness in all who seek righteousness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 23:3. He restoreth my soul, &c. He refresheth, &c. Mudge. “When I am ready to faint, he refreshes me, and brings me to life again.” See Psa 19:8. In the paths of righteousness, Green renders very properly, after Schultens, in right paths: “in such paths as are right and safe for me.” See Pro 8:20. And he justly observes, that it is right to keep up the metaphorical sense, and to carry on the image of a shepherd, under which God is represented, and not break in upon it, as in the case in our version of the 3rd verse, and then return to it again in the 4th.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Ver. 3. He restoreth my soul ] He reduceth me, when like a lost sheep I have gone astray, Psa 119:176 . A sheep, saith Aristotle, is a foolish and sluggish creature, Et omnium quadrupedum stupidissimum, most apt of anything to wander, though it feel no want, and unablest to return. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib. Swine in a storm run home, and at night will make for the trough; but a sheep can make no shift to save itself from tempests or inundation; there it stands and will perish, if not driven away by the shepherd. Lo, such a silly shiftless thing is man left to himself. But blessed be God for Christ, that best of shepherds, who restoreth the lost soul, and maketh it to return into the right way, giving it rest, and causing it to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness, Luk 1:74 .
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
For his name’s sake] i.e. Of his free grace, and for his mere mercy’s sake. Otherwise he would never do us any of these good offices, but let us alone to perish in our own corruptions.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
restoreth = bringeth back, as in Psa 19:8, JEHOVAH-ROPKEKA. App-4.
soul. Hebrew. nephesh.
leadeth. Hebrew. nahal, to guide, conduct.
paths of righteousness = righteous paths. JEHOVAH-ZIDKENU. App-4.
name’s = own. See note on Psa 20:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Good Guidance
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake.Psa 23:3.
1. He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake. There is an insinuating and pervasive calmness in the very words, and the leisureliness of the long vowels induces something of the serenity which breathes through the entire Psalm. We cannot read them at a gallop. The words are gracious sedatives, and minister to the fretful and irritable spirit. And therefore it is well to have such restful passages ready at hand. Some people have little medicine chests which they carry about on their journeys, and to which they can turn in moments of sudden ailment or accident. And would it not be possible for us to have an analogous ministry for the spirit?words for times of panic, moral sedatives when we are inclined to become feverish; spiritual refreshers and restoratives? Just to repeat them to ourselves very quietly is a helpful means of grace.
And yet, although the words are very restful, this particular passage is descriptive of life which is on the move. We are on the open road. We are in the midst of the ministry of change. We are leaving one thing for another. The tents have been struck, and we are on the march. We must not forget what immediately precedes the words of our meditation. That is ever the difficulty of any expositor who seeks to sever a portion of this Psalm from the whole. Every part belongs to every other part. It is dependent upon every other part for its true interpretation. If we cut out a bit it will bleed. So we must take it in its vital relationships. Look back to what precedes it. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. How rich is the significance! It speaks of treasure, and leisure, and pleasure; it is a combination of sustenance and rest. It is a stretch for the weary limbs amid fat and juicy nutriment. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Again, how rich is the significance! We are led by the waters of stillness where there are no dangerous floods, where the cattle can stand knee-deep on the feverish day, and slake their thirst. And so this is the environment of our text, a steeping, nutritive rest. And what is the purpose of the rest? It is just that we might be prepared for a more valiant walk in the paths of righteousness. We have been taken to the field of rest in order that we may be equipped for the roads of activity.
Oh, splendour in the east!
Oh, glory in the west!
Who is it knows the least
Of all your joy and rest?
Oh, yellow spring-time leaves,
Oh, golden autumn corn,
Sweet glow of summer eves,
Red light of wintry morn!
Mute snow upon the lands,
Glad sunshine of the Springs
Who is it understands
As ye do, silent things
How good it is to do,
How sweet it is to rest?
God gave us both, who knew,
Not we, which gift was best.1 [Note: Mrs. Stanford Harris.]
2. This is, according to the Authorized Version, the second time the word lead occurs in this Psalm; but it is with a totally different signification. The Authorized Version gives no hint of any change of meaning, but the Revisers have substituted the word guide for lead as an indication that the distinction should be noted. The fact is that the word translated leadeth in the first case implies something done for the Psalmist. He is catered for, provisioned. The Septuagint says fostered or nurtured, so that the reference is primarily to the meeting of physical needs; whereas the Hebrew word which lies behind the second word leadeth implies something done in the Psalmist.
Wherever St. Francis and his six friends went, their sermons excited the greatest attention in peasant circles. Some would speak to them, asking what order they belonged to and whence they came. They answered that they were of no order, but were only men from Assisi, who lived a life of penance. But if they were penitents, they were not for that reason shamefacedwith Francis at their head, who sang in French, praised and glorified God for His untiring goodness to them. They were able to rejoice so much, says one of the biographers, because they had abandoned so much. When they wandered in the spring sunshine, free as the birds in the sky, through the green vineyards of Mark Ancona, they could only thank the Almighty who had freed them from all the snares and deceits which those who love the world are subject to and suffer from so sadly.1 [Note: J. Jrgensen, St. Francis of Assisi, 68.]
On meeting with so many obstructing influences, I again laid the whole matter (of becoming a missionary) before my dear parents, and their reply was to this effect:Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your fathers heart was set upon being a minister, but other claims forced him to give it up. When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a missionary of the Cross; and it has been their constant prayer that you might be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision; and we pray with all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare you, and give you many souls from the heathen world for your hire. From that moment, every doubt as to my path of duty for ever vanished. I saw the hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading me to, the foreign mission field.2 [Note: John G. Paton, i. 92.]
I.
That We are Guided
He guideth me.
1. There are few things more largely written in Scripture, or more evidently and certainly experienced in good mens lives, than the leading of Godleading which is partly outward and providential, partly inward and spiritual. To the man of the world, for whom nature is a veil that hides the face of God, and who walks by the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears, or at the best by natural reason, it is wholly unreal, visionary, impossible, Utopiana beautiful fancy, and nothing more. To the man of faith, on the other hand, who is as seeing him who is invisible, there is nothing more absolutely certain and worthy of confidence. To him, life is a course in which he may enjoy the guidance of the Infinite Wisdom and the Infinite Love: to him, Jehovah is the Shepherd of Israel, who leadeth Joseph like a flock; who bringeth the blind by a way that they know not; in whose paths the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err. And so it is written, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths: Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: I am the Lord thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
The fulness of meaning contained in the words, He leadeth me, could not be known by Old Testament saints; could not be known till the Good Shepherd came and dwelt among us. Unlike what we are accustomed to, the Eastern shepherd literally leads his flock; he goes before them, and calls them by name, and they follow him: and this is what the Divine Shepherd has done. He has not merely marked out the way for us in His Word; He does not merely lead us by His providence and by the inward impulse of His Spirit; but He has also gone before us,has given us an example that we should walk in His steps: and now our part is to follow Him; to reproduce His life among men; to be in the world even as He was in the world; so that we may be able to say, by no mere figure of speech, I live; yet not I; but Christ liveth in me.
Is God your leader?or does He only rein you in? Are you personally conscious of the vast difference between these two experiences? It is well to be held back from sin, no doubt, but the joy of the God-directed, sanctified man, is certainly beyond that of the horse and mule which have no understanding, and whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.
There is no holiness of a radical sort without Divine, positive, everyday guidance. This differs not only in degree but in kind from negative restraint. The latter may be no more than the rebuke or cry of our own alarmed conscience. Laws written involuntarily upon our heart operate upon our fears. Guidance appeals to our faith.
I will guide thee with mine eye is a promise to Gods people which goes far ahead of conscience, and so universally is it intended to be enjoyed that it was given even long before the coming of our Lord.
But there is no guidance of this highest kind without the eager and abiding desire for ita desire strong enough in its faith and intensity to survive during the severest trial and suffering.
Direct, Divine, personal guidance is the privilege of the sanctified. There is a poise of the spirit which God, when truly sought, produces. It is without bias from self or other influence, and may be as sensitive to Divine impressions as the photographers film is sensitive to the light. Its possession is rare, yet how to possess it is an open secret. The conditions are of the simplest ordera real preference for the will of God, and an approach to Him by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inbred or inherited sin is no other than a born preference for our own way. Actual sin is the carrying out of this preference into practice. Holiness, on the other hand, is a born-from-above preference for the will of God, resulting in love and everyday good works. When the will of God is thus preferred and practised, sin has no longer a place within us!
Gods perfect guidance is perfect holiness. He cannot guide us in, or into, sin. No wonder that Paul prayed, That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will; or, that, living in the centre of it, John could exclaim, Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ; and again, Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not.1 [Note: F. W. Crossley, in Life by Rendel Harris, 165.]
2. The means and methods of Divine leadership are many. The Great Leader is like a wise human leader, and He adapts His ministries to the nature of the child and the character of the immediate need. Let us mention two or three of these varied methods of leadership as we find them in the Word of God.
(1) Here is the first: And the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand. It is the speech of a young prophet, and it describes a leading of God. Let us apprehend the figure. The counsel of the Lord has come to Isaiah like a strong hand, as something he could not escape. The intuition was laid upon him like an arrest. What was the nature of the counsel? He was called upon by the Lord to separate himself from his nation by a solemn act of detachment. He was commanded to confront his people, to oppose them, to leave the majority and stand alone. He was bidden to prophesy the unpleasant and even to predict defeat. We know how such men are regardedthey are denounced as unpatriotic, as devoid of national feeling and fraternal ambition. The young prophet shrinks from the task; he is tempted to silence and retirement; he meditates retreat; but the Word of the Lord came to him with a strong hand. The imperative gave him no freedom; heaven laid hold on him with holy violence; the invisible gripped his conscience as a mans arm might be gripped, until it ached in the grasp. This was the kind of leading that came to Saul as he journeyed to Damascus. It was the kind of violent arrest that laid hold of John Bunyan as he played on Elstow green.
Of dogma Cromwell rarely speaks. Religion to him is not dogma, but communion with a Being apart from dogma. Seek the Lord and His face continually, he writes to Richard, his son: let this be the business of your life and strength, and let all things be subservient and in order to this. To Richard Mayor, the father of his sons wife, he says: Truly our work is neither from our own brains nor from our courage and strength; but we follow the Lord who goeth before, and gather what He scattereth, that so all may appear to be from Him. Such is ever the refrain, incessantly repeated, to his family, to the Parliament, on the homely occasions of domestic life, in the time of public peril, in the day of battle, in the day of crowning victory; this is the spirit by which his soul is possessed. All work is done by a Divine leading. He expresses lively indignation with the Scottish ministers, because they dared to speak of the battle of Dunbar, that marvellous dispensation, that mighty and strange appearance of Gods, as a mere event.1 [Note: John Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 55.]
(2) Here is a second method of leading: I will guide thee with mine eye. How startling the change: We pass from the grip of the hand to the glance of an eye, from a grip as severe as a vice to a touch as gentle as light. We pass from a nipping frost to a soft and cheering sunbeam. We find the word in the Thirty-second Psalm, and the Psalm itself provides us with the figure of violent contrast. Be ye not as the horse or the mule. The mule is headlong and headstrong, and he is to be guided by the strong hand. But the Lord would guide us by His eye. How exceedingly delicate is the guidance of a look! What tender intercourse can pass through the eyes! There is a whole language in their silent communion. But let it be marked that this eye-guidance implies very intimate fellowship. Eye-speech is the speech of lovers. We may be guided by a strong hand even when we are heedless of God; we can be guided by His eye only when we are gazing on God.
They looked unto him and were lightened. That is guidance by a look. Whilst they worshipped they received the light. Their minds were illuminated while they gazed. They caught the ways of God, and they had a certain radiance of spirit which assured them that they had found the Kings will. We cannot say much about the delicate experience through the clumsy medium of words. There are some communions for which ordinary language is altogether insufficient. Who can explain the message that passes between souls in love with one another; and who can describe the gentle communion of souls in love with God? But there is another instance of this delicate guidance of the eye: Jesus turned and looked upon Peter. That, too, was a look from Lover to lover. I know that one of the lovers had failed, but his love was not quenched. He had failed at the test, but the love was still burning. And Jesus turned, and with a look of poignant anguish He led His disloyal disciple into tears, and penitence, and reconciliation, and humble communion, and liberty. Peter was guided by the eye of his Lord.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
What meaning, what warning, what rebuke, what counsel, what love, the eye can flash forthso subtly, so fully, so quickly, so certainly, so powerfully! At the fireside, for example, a mother can speak to her children by glances which the stranger cannot understand, and compared with which speech is slow and uncertain. The Lord looked on Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly.2 [Note: J. Culross, Gods Shepherd Care, 77.]
The clergy of London were at first inclined to regard their new bishop (Dr. Temple) as cold and unsympathetic, not to say brusque and overbearing; but, with personal knowledge of him, the feeling quite wore away and was exchanged, all over the diocese, for a universal conviction that under the masculine exterior there beat a heart of almost womanly tenderness. The clergy of Hackney will not forget how, on one occasion, when speaking of the supreme value of home influence as a preparation for Confirmation, he completely broke down in relating an early experience of his own about a fault, then corrected by his mother, which had never been repeated. She said nothing: she only looked at me with a look of pained surprise; and I have never forgotten that look.1 [Note: Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 16.]
O Jesu, gone so far apart
Only my heart can follow Thee,
That look which pierced St. Peters heart
Turn now on me.
Thou who dost search me thro and thro
And mark the crooked ways I went,
Look on me, Lord, and make me too
Thy penitent.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]
(3) There is leading by hindering. After they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia; but the spirit suffered them not. And what kind of leading was this? It was leading by impediment. It was guidance by prohibition. It was the ministry of the closed door. There came to the Apostle what the Friends would describe as a stop in the mind. His thought was resisted and had no liberty. He felt that his purpose was secretly opposed by an invincible barrier. In certain directions he had no sense of spiritual freedom, and therefore he regarded that way as blocked. The angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary.3 [Note: J. H. Jowett, in The Presbyterian, Sept. 1, 1910.]
A streamlet started, singing seaward-ho!
But found across the path its fancy planned
A stone which stopped it with the stern command,
Thus far and never farther shalt thou go.
Then, where the tiny stream was wont to flow,
A shining lake appeared with silver strand,
Refreshing flower-strewn fields on either hand
Reflecting starry skies and sunset glow.
So oftentimes we find our progress stayed
By stones that bar the steps we fain had trod,
Whereat we murmur with a sense of wrong;
Unmindful that by means like this is made
That sea of glass where stand the saints of God
To sing the new and never-ending Song of Solomon 1 [Note: Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, Verses Wise and Otherwise, 192.]
3. He guideth me. Mark that word me. There is not only general guidance for the whole flock, but leading for each individual member of it. Will God really concern Himself about me, so insignificant, so poor and needy? The experience uttered in this verse answers, Yes. There is nothing that comes out more clearly in Scripture than the individual care granted to all who trust in God, exactly adapted to the various conditions and circumstances of each. The very hairs of the head are numbered.
That is the supreme wonderthe infinitely gracious God takes charge of thee and me! We are neither of us overlooked in the vast crowd. I know my sheep. He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. So let me step out without fear, Whither he doth leadto the thirsty desert or the dewy mead.
II.
That We Are Guided Aright
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness.
1. Here and there in the grazing country of Juda the traveller will come upon narrow, well-worn paths. Generations of shepherds and myriads of flocks have trodden these old ways. They are the recognized highways, traversing the land from well to well and from fold to fold. To come upon one of these paths is to pick up a clue that leads out from the mazes of the wilderness to some familiar rendezvous. A competent shepherd has expert knowledge of all these paths. Only with this knowledge can he plan the days pilgrimage with accuracy and preclude the danger of being overtaken with his flock by night in wild and undefended places.
The picture which we have before us now is that of the shepherd guiding his rested and freshened flock along one of these old paths. It was a fortunate thing for the sheep that they had experienced the rest and refreshment of the well before they attempted the long strip of road that stretched before them now. Restoration there has conditioned them for sturdy climbing here. For these paths are often steep and stony, severely testing the flocks strength. Before the day is done and the night fold reached, they must make heavy draught upon their stored-up energy.
A man in Glasgow translated the Psalms into broad Scotch, because he thought that broad Scotch had wonderful affinities in its idiom to simple, old-world Hebrew; and I think he was right. He said here, He leadeth me in richt roddins. There are little bits of country-road that seem to lead nowhere, but the farmer needs them all and uses them all. Tourists, if they struck them, would find that they led nowhere; but the farmer uses them, and the shepherd uses them, and the dairymaid knows all about them for her charge. So with the Lord Jesus Christ. He leads us by little bits. He does not lay out a whole champaign of country, and cast us on the great highway. No; but He leads us along this sheep-track to-day, and another sheep-track to-morrow. And these tracks never lose themselves in the moor, for He will always be with us, and it will always be found that there was a track and a path, and that it was the right path. Literally translated, it is, He leadeth me in the straight paths. They have an expected end and termination because He is Leader and He is Guide.1 [Note: John McNeill.]
2. The paths of righteousnessthat is an admirable phrase, and yet it blurs the edge of the Psalmists meaning. It is an interpretation of his wordsan excellent interpretation, as far as it goesrather than a translation. The Psalmist was writing as a poet, and he expressed his thought in a metaphor; the phrase strips off the imaginative clothing of the thought; explains the metaphor instead of reproducing it; and the explanation is incomplete. What the Psalmist says is that God will guide His flocks in the right paths, the direct paths, to their water and their pasture; so that the sheep will not follow tracks which will bring them no nearer to what they want to reach; they will not lose themselves and waste their strength. Or, dismissing the metaphor, he means that God will lead us by the surest and safest ways to the blessedness and honour to which He has destined us. Of course, these paths are righteous paths, or the righteous God would not lead us in them; and only righteous paths can bring us to where God desires us to come.
Righteousness has here no theological meaning. The Psalmist, as the above exposition has stated, is thinking of such desert paths as have an end and goal, to which they faultlessly lead the traveller: and in Gods care of man their analogy is not the experience of justification and forgiveness, but the wider assurance that he who follows the will of God walks not in vain, that in the end he arrives, for all Gods paths lead onward and lead home.1 [Note: G. A. Smith, Four Psalms , 19.]
A mother, when teaching her little daughter the 23rd Psalm, was asked, What are the paths of righteousness? Well, dear, you know the little tracks up and down the hills where the sheep tread?those are called paths. One day, when out walking with her nurse, Muriel wandered away by herself up a hill. On being asked where she was going, she replied, Im walking in the paths of righteousness.2 [Note: W. Canton, Childrens Sayings, 114.]
So many, many roads lie traced
Where wanderers may stray
Roads twining, weaving, interlaced,
Roads sorrowful and gay.
Running through countryside and town
They climb the mountain steep,
Through storied realms of far renown
Unceasingly they creep.
When silver moonlight floods the nights
O hark! across the sea
These roads, the wanderers delights,
Are calling you and me.
Singing their challenge sweet and clear
For wanderers to roam;
But, all at once, I only hear
The road that leads me home.3 [Note: Alice Cary.]
3. While they are paths of righteousness they are something more. For a man may say, I acknowledge that the great thing is to keep a good conscience, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God. But I may do that, and yet miss my way. My life may be a succession, not of sins, but of blunders. I may be misled through my own fault or the fault of other people, or through accident and misadventure. I may make nothing of my life; or, at any rate, I may make much less of it than I might have made. The great thing is to be righteous; but, without any moral blame, through defective information or defective judgment, I may make a wrong decision in one or two critical moments, and my whole life comes to be a miserable failure. But the Psalmist means that if a man is under Gods guidance he will be protected from making a wrong decision in critical moments; he will not take the wrong track; he will be kept in the right paththe righteous path, no doubt; but also the path which will lead him to the successful achievement of the great ends of life. Gods guidance keeps a man from sin; but it also keeps him from wasting his strength and failing to make the most of all his powers and opportunities.
St. Paul in his Epistles and spirit is more than ever clear and dear to me. As soldiers cried once, Oh, for one day of Dundee! so do I feel disposed to cry, Oh, for one day of Paul! How he would puzzle and astonish and possibly pain our Churches, ay, us all, for he is far in advance of us all yet! But as Max Piceolomini, when wishing for an angel to show him the true and good, said, why should he wish this when he had his noble Thekla with him to speak what he felt; so much more surely you and I and all who seek the truth may have peace, with the loving, patient, and wise Spirit and Guide, who will search us and lead us into all truth!1 [Note: Memoir of Norman MacLeod, ii. 193.]
I suppose that in all projects for doing service to mankind, a devout man may trust God to guide him in right paths. How much time and strength and thought and money and earnestness have been spent on schemes which were well meant, and which seemed full of promise, but which have come to nothing; schemes of religious and philanthropic work; schemes of moral, social, and economical reform; schemes which had very modest though very excellent aims; schemes which it was hoped might confer enduring good on great communities! With some men nothing seems to succeed. They have a genuine desire to serve God and man; and they work hard at the methods of service which they have chosen; but somehow they always miss their way; they achieve nothing; or, if now and then they have a success, their successes are only an occasional break in a monotonous procession of failures. Other men hit on the right path and have the joy of seeing all they hoped for. The end is not yet; and it may be that the apparent failures of some men were necessary to the success of others; in any case, self-sacrificing to do good will not be forgotten in heaven. But for myself, I am less and less inclined to soothe my own disappointments by taking optimistic views of human life. I cannot resist the conviction that in the plain sense of the words a great deal of good work is wasted. It was well intended; God accepts it and thinks kindly of the man who did it; what was meant to be a cup of cold water given to a brother of Christ will not lose its reward, even though, through the clumsiness of the hand that offered it, the water was spilt before it reached the parched lips; but it would have been better if it had not been spilt; in the plain sense of the words, the water was wasted.1 [Note: R. W. Dale, in The Sunday Magazine, 1892, p. 38.]
4. These paths of righteousness to the righteous, led of God in them, are also in the highest sense paths of pleasantness. In the highest sensefor to the selfish heart they are irksome, and oftentimes intensely disagreeable. But to one who has tasted the joy of walking with God and doing His will, the paths of righteousness have a delight which cannot be expressed. It is, indeed, a common thought, and has done much mischief, that the ways of the Lord are ways of gloom. In part it is the whisper of the devil in the heart; in part it is a deduction from the lives of some good men who, instead of rejoicing in the Lord alway, have thought it their duty to hang down the head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under them; and in part we have mistakenly embodied it in our religious teaching.
Mr. Edmund Gosses poem, To Tusitala, addressed to Robert Louis Stevenson, reached him at Vailima three days before his death. It was the last piece of verse read by Stevenson, and it is the subject of the last letter he wrote on the last day of his life. The poem was read by Mr. Lloyd Osborne at the funeral. It is now printed in Mr. Gosses In Russet and Silver. It concludes as follows:
By strange pathways God has brought you,
Tusitala,
In strange webs of fortune sought you,
Led you by strange moods and measures
To this paradise of pleasures!
And the body-guard that sought you
To conduct you home to glory,
Dark the oriflammes they carried,
In the mist their cohort tarried,
They were Languor, Pain, and Sorrow,
Tusitala!
Scarcely we endured their story
Trailing on from morn to morrow,
Such the devious roads they led you,
Such the error, such the vastness,
Such the cloud that overspread you,
Under exile bowd and banishd,
Lost, like Moses in the fastness,
Till we almost deemd you vanished.
Vanishd? Ay, thats still the trouble,
Tusitala.
Though your tropic isle rejoices,
Tis to us an Isle of Voices
Hollow like the elfin double
Cry of disembodied echoes,
Or an owlets wicked laughter,
Or the cold and horned geckos
Croaking from a ruined rafter,
Voices these of things existing,
Yet incessantly resisting
Eyes and hands that follow after;
You are circled, as by magic,
In a surf-built palmy bubble,
Tusitala;
Fate hath chosen, but the choice is
Half delectable, half tragic.
For we hear you speak, like Moses,
And we greet you back, enchanted,
But replys no sooner granted,
Than the rifted cloudland closes.1 [Note: J. A. Hammerton, Stevensoniana, 92.]
My mothers unquestioning evangelical faith in the literal truth of the Bible placed me, as soon as I could conceive or think, in the presence of an unseen world; and set my active analytic power early to work on the questions of conscience, free will, and responsibility, which are easily determined in days of innocence; but are approached too often with prejudice, and always with disadvantage, after men become stupefied by the opinions, or tainted by the sins, of the outer world: while the gloom, and even terror, with which the restrictions of the Sunday, and the doctrines of the Pilgrims Progress, the Holy War, and Quarles Emblems, oppressed the seventh part of my time, was useful to me as the only form of vexation which I was called on to endure; and redeemed by the otherwise uninterrupted cheerfulness and tranquillity of a household wherein the common ways were all of pleasantness, and its single and strait path, of perfect peace.1 [Note: Ruskin, Praeterita, i. 224.]
III.
The Assurance
For his names sake.
1. The ground of the Psalmists confidence that God will guide him aright is expressed in the words for his names sake. That phrase is the secret of Gods kindness to us. God hath loved us with an everlasting love. Divine love springs from nothing external to God Himself. It is His very essence and being. I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy names sake. And here is our hope and inspiration. The love we do not cause we cannot change or destroy. Be our state what it may, we are still the objects of the love of God. Then with all our sins, if we throw ourselves on that absolute and boundless affection, we shall be both welcomed and blessed.
Very falsely was it said, Names do not change Things. Names do change Things; nay, for most part they are the only substance which mankind can discern in Things.2 [Note: Carlyle, Miscellanies, iv. 116.]
2. A true name of old not only pointed out and identified, but also described. It did not merely turn our thoughts to a particular individual, but was significantcarried a meaning in it, declared something characteristic of the individual. Thus the dying Rachel called her boy Benoni, the son of my sorrow; and Hannah called hers Samuel, asked of God, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.
The name of God not only distinguishes Him from other beings, but describes Him; tells who He is, and what He is; so that if we know His name, we know Himself. The name is much more glorious for us than it was for David. Marvellous disclosures have been made since his time, both in word and act; above all, the name has been revealed in Jesus, so that whosoever hath seen him hath seen the Father also. I do not think that David has in view the name as given to Abraham or to Moses; but the name which he has used in the beginning of this Psalmthe shepherd-namewhich tells of care, love, guidance, defence, fellowship, salvation.1 [Note: J. Culross, Gods Shepherd Care, 90.]
3. When God leads us in the paths of righteousness for his names sake, it is implied that the reason for the leading is not in us, but in Himself; He is true to His shepherd-name. It is a name that He has taken to Himself; and He will not falsify, He will not dishonour it. In all His dealings with me He will show forth that He is my Shepherd. And this is why He leads me in the paths of righteousness: it is for his names sake.
We should have expected him to say, God is leading me in green pastures on account of the good life I have led. On the contrary, he says, God is leading me in green pastures to further the good of other peopleto minister to those who have not led a good life. And I think the experience of the Psalmist will be found true to all experience. I do not believe that any man is led into prosperity or into adversity for the sake of that prosperity or adversity; it is always for the sake of Gods name or holiness. You pray for worldly wealth and it comes to you. Has God led you into that wealth? Yes, but not to reward your prayer. Rather would I say that the prayer and the riches are both parts of His guidance into a path of humanitarian righteousness where you can minister to the sorrows of man. Why was Abraham promised the land of Canaan? As a reward for leaving Ur of the Chaldees? No, but with the view of making blessed all the families of the earth. God did not give him the new country as a recompense for leaving the old; He inspired him to leave the old because He meant to give him the new.2 [Note: George Matheson, Thoughts for Lifes Journey, 21.]
There is a valley paved with tears,
Whose gates my soul must pass,
And to dim sight it yet appears
Darkly as through a glass.
But in its gloom faith sees a light
More glorious than the day;
And all its tears are rainbow bright
When Calvary crowns the way.
Jesus, my Lord, within that veil
Thy footsteps still abide;
And can my heart grow faint or fail
When I have these to guide?
Thy track is left upon the sand
To point my way to Thee;
Thine echoes wake the silent land
To strains of melody.
What though the path be all unknown?
What though the way be drear?
Its shades I traverse not alone
When steps of Thine are near.
Thy presence, ere it passed above,
Suffused its desert air;
Thy hand has lit the torch of love,
And left it burning there.1 [Note: George Matheson, Sacred Songs, 86.]
Literature
Brooks (P.), The Spiritual Man, 281.
Burns (J. D.), Memoir and Remains, 293.
Clarke (G.), From the Cross to the Crown, 16.
Cooke (G. A.), The Progress of Revelation, 105.
Culross (J.), Gods Shepherd Care, 74.
Duff (R. S.), The Song of the Shepherd, 81.
Finlayson (T. C), The Divine Gentleness, 223.
Freeman (J. D.), Life on the Uplands, 63.
Gray (W. H.), Our Divine Shepherd, 1.
Griffin (E. D.), Plain Practical Sermons, ii. 230.
Howard (H.), The Shepherd Psalms , 46, 55.
Hunt (A. N.), Sermons for the Christian Year, i. 199.
Jerdan (C), Pastures of Tender Grass, 37.
Jowett (J. H.), in The Presbyterian (Canada), Sept. 1, 1910.
Knight (W. A.), The Song of Our Syrian Guest, 1.
McFadyen (J. E.), The City with Foundations, 201.
McFadyen (J. E.), Ten Studies in the Psalms , 23.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, i. 241.
Mamreov (A. F.), A Day with the Good Shepherd, 44.
Matheson (G.), Thoughts for Lifes Journey, 21.
Newbolt (W. C. E.), Penitence and Peace, 77.
Parker (J.), City Temple Pulpit, vii. 270.
Smith (G. A.), Four Psalms , 1.
Stalker (J.), The Psalm of Psalms , 57.
British Congregationalist, Feb. 27, 1908 (Jowett).
Christian World Pulpit, xii. 5 (Bainton); xxi. 387 (Haines); lxv. 232 (Parker).
Expository Times, iii. 329; xix. 51.
Sunday Magazine, 1892, p. 378 (Dale).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
restoreth: Psa 19:7, *marg. Psa 51:10, Psa 51:12, Psa 85:4-7, Psa 119:176, Job 33:30, Jer 32:37-42, Hos 14:4-9, Mic 7:8, Mic 7:9, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19, Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32, Rev 3:19
leadeth: Psa 5:8, Psa 34:3, Psa 143:8-10, Pro 8:20, Isa 42:16, Jer 31:8
for his: Psa 79:9, Eze 20:14, Eph 1:6
Reciprocal: Psa 25:9 – guide Psa 31:3 – for thy Psa 48:14 – guide Psa 119:10 – O let me Psa 119:35 – the path Psa 138:7 – Though I walk Pro 2:8 – keepeth Pro 4:11 – led Jer 30:17 – For I Joh 10:3 – and leadeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 23:3. He restoreth my soul Hebrew, , naphshi jeshobeb, my soul he bringeth, or, will bring back, namely, from its errors or wanderings. No creature is more ready to go astray than a sheep, or more at a loss to find its way back. And all we like sheep have gone astray, and are still too prone so to do; to leave the right way of truth and duty, and to turn aside into by-paths. But when God shows us our errors, gives us repentance, and brings us back to our duty again, he restores our souls; and if he did not do so, we would wander endlessly and be undone. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness In the plain, straight, and safe paths, in which the sheep of the Lords pasture are neither hurt, nor wearied, nor in danger of wandering. By his word and his providence he directs me to the right ways of truth and holiness, and by his Spirit he inclines and enables me to choose those ways, and to continue to walk therein; for his names sake Not for any merit in me, but merely for the demonstration and glory of his mercy, faithfulness, and goodness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:3 He {b} restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the {c} paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
(b) He comforts or refreshes me.
(c) Plain or straight ways.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God also gives His sheep guidance in the proper path of life so we do not wander aimlessly. He does so in part for the sake of His own reputation, as One who has promised to direct His people.