Psalm 23

[contemplative]

You set a table before me as my enemies watch. What does that all mean? Return

Mind you….the day is done. It is dark outside and the shepherd and his flock are far from the safety of their built dwelling.

After reaching the cavern in which he is to spend the night, the shepherd secures the entrance with some thorns and brush. He builds a fire, by the light of which he partakes of his evening meal. From a small bag he feeds a little grain to the leader of the flock to supplement the day’s grazing on the mountain. When, as a shepherd, David fed a few of his sheep thus, he must have often realized that the sheep were being spied on by some ravenous beast of prey which perchance, had its abode in an adjacent cave, yet was unable to molest his flock. Thus into his song of trust the Psalmist weaves, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”

Dessert,
As I have time… I will use quotations from this article to address something you alluded to earlier in this thread. This article has some interesting information on goats, sheep and how they were sorted and hirelings.

 

[lak611]

There actually is a book available called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, written by Phillip Keller, who actually worked as a shepherd in Africa before becoming a minister. It explains a lot of the symbolism in the Psalm.

 

[puzzleannie]

we don’t have a lot of sheep down here, but a lot of people keep goats, usually a half dozen or so, cabrito is a staple menu item so I assume they are raised for meat rather than milk and cheese. This may be beyond the scope of the material you have, but Jesus claim “I know my sheep and mine know me” has always struck me as a deeply personal statement about not only his relationship with his disciples, but “our personal relationship” with Him. I recall Heidi and Goat-Peter in that story calling the goats by name, understanding the personality of each goat.

Do I understand that in bible times the flock might consist of both sheep and goats, or were they herded separately and differently?

 

[contemplative]

Do I understand that in bible times the flock might consist of both sheep and goats, or were they herded separately and differently?

At the close of day, as the flock nears the sheepfold, the shepherd runs ahead of his bleating charges, eager to enter their home. He plants himself in the doorway, counts the sheep one by one as they “pass under the rod,” which is used in driving away any animal not of the flock, for often a street dog tries to take advantage of the open door. “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be save, and shall go in an out, and find pasture,” said Jesus in his parable.
This present-day method of taking advantage of a narrow place to get the sheep, one by one, to “pass again under the hands of him that telleth them,” is often mentioned in the Scriptures. It goes back to the days of Moses on Sinai, when concerning the tithing of the herds and flocks, he alludes to thus counting them.
There is a type of sheepfold rarely to be seen nowadays, which illustrates the description of the Last Judgment, found in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew. In it the shepherd builds across the sheepfold a partition, lower than the surround walls, but still a complete barrier, so far as the animals are concerned. He has a large flock, both of sheep and goats, and during the day the black goats, with their long ears and horns, mingle freely with the sheep, which almost invariable are white and hornless, except for the males. At night however, upon racing home, the shepherd “divideth his sheep from the goats,” placing the latter in a separate pen; for he explains that, since the goats are of a restless, fighting disposition, they are excluded from the sheepfold.

So it seems that goats and sheep pastured together but slept separately at night. Also…it would help greatly if I describe

the manger in the home.

This I will do tomorrow.

This may be beyond the scope of the material you have, but Jesus claim “I know my sheep and mine know me” has always struck me

Sometime this week I hope to have my hands on a 600+ page book which is now classified as rare. I expect to find information to address this. The book is The Arab in the Desert by H. R. P. Dickson.

 

[contemplative]

This may be beyond the scope of the material you have, but Jesus claim “I know my sheep and mine know me” has always struck me

One of the most astonishing things about the Badawin and their sheep is the wonderful manner in which the shepherds know their sheep. I refer particularly to the ‘Awazim tribe. Here every shepherd gives a name to each of his ewes as soon as she has lambed. From that day till she dies or is eaten he knows her and calls her by name. Each ewe knows her name and answers to the call.
On 14th of January, 1934, I made a point of being present when the lambs and sheep belonging to Salim al Muzaiyin came home at night, to see if I had been told the truth about this “naming” business.
The lambs, a month or two months old, had been out all day grazing under little Marzuk, the black slave boy, and Hamud, Maeira’s son. They went only some quarter mile from camp and wandered about gaining strength and learning how to eat the dry stubble that had fallen from the ‘arfaj bushes. There had as yet been no rain, so there was no grass.
The lambs were brought in at sunset and were tied up as usual in their tent for the night. Each had its little loop attached to a long goat-hair rope.
At about 6:30p.m., or an hour after sunset, the ewes were brought back to camp by Nasir and Falah, the ‘Awazim shepherds. It was pitch dark and no moon was shining. After keeping the mother waiting 50 yards from the tents, until the shepherds had examined the lambs and ascertained where each was tied, the mothers were brought close up in front of the big tent,. Apart from the small fire that Salim and Dhuwaihi had lit and were making coffee on, the whole place was in darkness.
The mothers, which number 51 (42 sheep and 9 goats), were kept back from the lambs by Falah and Salim, while Nasir began to call them by name, and as each was allowed to come up Nasir slipped the noose off the young one’s neck and gave it to the mother. He knew every mother and every lamb. An astonishing thing was that he called up each ewe and picked out her lamb in complete darkness. Out of the 50 mothers and 50 lambs I saw him make one mistake only. All through the process of loosing the lambs, calling up the mothers and handing the baby to its dam to suckle, he was calling out name after name amidst the din of mother’s “baaing” and lambs crying for their food. To me it was pandemonium, to Nasir and Falah an everyday procedure.

From the Arab of the Desert by H.R.P. Dickson pages 402-04

 

[contemplative]

…and just a little more …

The mothers all appeared to recognize their own lambs by smell. The lambs on the other hand did not seem to mind much whether they drank from their mother or from a stranger. It was the mothers who made the fuss.

        In conversation afterwards with Nasir, the shepherd, the latter told me that he named a ewe only when it gave birth to a lamb, not before.  The purpose was purely utilitarian.  The names saved time at night when the mothers came home.  He had names for all the sheep and goat mothers.  He could recognize each mother and each baby by the feel with his eyes shut.  All were black, but by feeling heads and backs he knew by touch which was which.
        This skill, Nasir said, was universal among all the ‘Awazim tribes, and among the shepherds of Kuwait and Jajd.  None of the Iraq tribes or the Muntafiq shepherd tribes named their sheep, nor could they recognize them in the dark.

From the Arab of the Desert by H.R.P. Dickson page 404

 

[contemplative]

Inside the large one-roomed home with its high, thick walls, the fellah (peasant) builds half across the back, a rowyeh, a sort of mezzanine floor, over a series of small domes supported on short pillars. This elevation, reached by steep, narrow steps, is the abode of the family.

Of special interest is the lower level of the house—the stable portion of the home. Along the walls are ranged stone mangers to which are tied the plow oxen, milch cows, and the inevitable camel. Beneath the rowyeh are the quarters for the flocks partitioned off from the rest of the cattle by piles of thorn bushes collected for winter fuel.

During the winter the sheep are housed in these partitioned quarters. A description of the different seasons is given in the Dec. 1926 National Geographic.

At night, wrapped in a sheepskin coat and his unchanging aba; the youth sleeps on the flat roof, from which point of vantage he can see the sheep in the fold, peacefully chewing their cuds, at any time of the night; for, although they are surrounded by high stone walls and the single door is securely locked and barred, he knows that thieves are always to be feared, and therefore is constantly on the alert.

Unlike modern bandits, the Palestine brigand or robber is a petty thief, and to him lock-picking is an unknown art, So about the door the shepherd has little concern; he knows that “he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

Despite all the vigilance and precautions taken, often on a dark night, when the shepherd is overcome by deep sleep, the marauder scales the wall and after cutting the throats of as many sheep and lambs he can, slings them over the wall to his confederates and escapes.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy,” says Jesus in his shepherd parable, as related in the Gospel according to John. Here the Saviour uses as a background for His lesson the sheepfold and depictss Himself as the Good Shepherd. He speaks of His own sheep knowing His voice and not following a stranger’s.

 

[dessert]

Yes, I would like to write out these verses as they are also significant.
John 10; 1-18 NAB
“Amen, amen I say to you, hoever does not enter a sheephold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a hief and a robber. But whoeveer enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his vioice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own. he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of a stangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again,"Amen, amen, I say to you. I am the gate for the sheep. All who came (before me) are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate.Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy, I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.This is because he works for pay and has no concern for his sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down on my own I have power to lay it down and to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.

The verse that spoke to me is the one about the hired man who is not a shepherd. This expains to me about some of the differences between some religons. Thanks for pointing me to this chapter as I have never read it before or understood as much. Return

 

[dessert]

I do not mean to be derogatory or argumentative in any of my posts, so please tell me more!

 

[contemplative]

tell me more!

The shepherd boy wears a simply robe of cotton; this is strapped around his body by “a leathern girdle about his loins”; and still, like John the Baptist in the Wilderness, has his raiment or coat of camel’s hair or of coarse handspun wool.

This aba, or outer garment, is warm, sheds the hardest rain, and takes the place of a blanket. When the youth is out with the flocks at night he wraps his aba about him and, with a stone for a pillow, sleeps like Jacob of old from Bethel. No wonder the, that Moses, the lawgiver, commanded that “if thou at all take thy neighbor’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin; wherein shall be sleep?”

tomorrow…how men and boys spun their own yarn for coats

yes…

Not the women, but more especially the men in their leisure hours, and the shepherd boys

spun their own yarn.

 

[contemplative]

Not the women, but more especially the men in their leisure hours, and the shepherd boys, as they lead the flocks on the mountains, spin the long, coarse wool into yarn for their own coats.

That the spinner spins as he walks along precludes the use of a wheel; even the simple spinning wheel of our forefathers is beyond the ingenuity and needs of a fellah (peasant). A small contrivance of oak wood, into which he can wind the yarn like a ball, suffices. He gives the ball a dexterous whirl, and it spins about, twisting the separate wool strands into a coarse yarn.

The yarn is taken to the village weaver. Most of it is a natural white; a smaller portion is of undyed black to produce the customary wide stripe. In making the better and finer garments, the cloth is woven wide enough for the required length of the aba.

Sewn together sleeveless of a single straight strip of goods, we are reminded that after the Crucifixion, the Roman soldiers divided the garments of Jesus; but on his coat they cast lots, not being willing to rend it for the “the coat was without seam, woven from the top-throughout.” Page 730-31 dec 1926 National Geographic

I imagine the shepherds had plenty of quiet hours to spin wool into yarn.

 

[dessert]

What does the verse my cup runneth over mean? return

 

[contemplative]

my cup runneth over?

This morning the shepherd has decided to climb some of the highest peaks in search of pastures. It is too far to return to the brook, but he knows of a rain-filled cistern of cool water. From it, at noon, with the aid of a long rope and a leathern bucket, which he has carried for the purpose, he waters the sheep. He empties the bucket into a stone trough or a great circular basin hewn from solid rock, perchance the capital of an ancient column. He sings at his work and draws the water even faster than the sheep can drink; so that the trough overflows and the Psalmist writes: “My cup runneth over.”

The picture in the magazine shows the shepherd doing this for his sheep. It looks just like what you would imagine.

 

[dessert]

It sounds like the sheep would not know where to even get a drink of water and they are very dependent on the shepherd for everything. If they were left to be on their own they would only eat out that pasture and then probably scatter out and geet lost and die by the wolves etc. And the shepherd was controlling the when and wwhere they ate and drank as he didn’t want them to get sick and he knew of only the safe places for the sheep! Is this right? return

 

[contemplative]

Correct

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

 

[puzzleannie]

when I lived in Ohio there was a woman on a farm near us who kept sheep, she sold the wool to knitters and artsy-crafty people. We would visit her, and her life was very wrapped up in her sheep. She also called them by name. the knitter would pick out a ewe, and when the wool was ready to be sheared, would receive the wool from “her” ewe, which was labelled by the sheep’s name. One thing I remember is how dumb sheep are, they don’t have the sense to know bad plants, to get across a barrier or water, have to be helped to eat and drink the right things in the right amounts, “stampede” easily and can actually get sick and die if they get overstressed because of running around the field. I don’t know of Christ’s comparison of his people with a flock of sheep is exactly flattering to either one, but probably very accurate.

 

[contemplative]

I don’t know of Christ’s comparison of his people with a flock of sheep is exactly flattering to either one, but probably very accurate.

chuckle Your thought supports the idea of how important it is that the flock has a good shepherd and not a hireling.

“He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him.”

To-day, as in the parable, the good shepherd never drives his sheep; he leads them. If the reader visits these historic lands, he may encounter a man driving sheep, but he may be sure that such a shepherd is only a “hireling”.

 

[dessert]

Since we are not really sheep, are we the ones that are picking the shepherd that we choose to follow or to lead us?

Or does the shepherd pick us?

Should we be trying to lead ourselves?

I think I know some goats in my herd not trying to be too cynical, they can get a quiet sheep moving a little faster but the rest at night would seem to me to be the quiet time of prayer where in my busy life a have a hard time doing it.

What else does it say about in His names sake? return

 

[contemplative]

Since we are not really sheep, are we the ones that are picking the shepherd that we choose to follow or to lead us?

Or does the shepherd pick us?

I have called you by name: you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

Should we be trying to lead ourselves?

refer back to post #33 It is not a good idea to lead ourselves.:nope:

I think I know some goats in my herd not trying to be too cynical, they can get a quiet sheep moving a little faster but the rest at night would seem to me to be the quiet time of prayer where in my busy life a have a hard time doing it.

Goats are a fact of life. And yes…everyone needs silent space in a day to pray.

What else does it say about in His names sake?

After the sheep have been watered they rest, perchance, in the “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” and when the cooling afternoon breezes blow, the shepherd again leads to pasture.

We have already noted that the valley paths are precipitous and treacherous. As the shepherd leads the flock, he avoids dangerous places as much as possible. If a sheep should slip, he calls to Allah for protection. All along the steep sides we see low retaining walls, which have been built for the betterment of the paths, and a sort of causeway of loose stones has been thrown across the brook.

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.”

All the Shepherd does leads us safely to God.

 

[puzzleannie]

yes we took the brownies to visit the “sheep lady” and she explained she could not just open the gate and drive them out to the pasture, she had to lead them, by taking the oldest ewe, who wore a bell, by the collar with a crook (like Bo Peep) and leading her out, so the rest would follow her. I had forgotten that. This lead sheep was called the bellwether, and when the shepherdess went to round up the sheep again she started with the bellwether.