Psalm 23

[contemplative]

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.

Thanks puzzleannie, This is interesting stuff. I hope to add to it in a day or so. I’m busy baking batches of Christmas cookies right now. Please pardon me for a little bit.
Contemplative

 

[water]

“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Who are the staff?

 

[contemplative]

Who are the staff?

Who? Try referring back to post # 8

A flute is among the few items a shepherd carries.

…if we may thus designate his nayeh or zamoora, a double flute made of reed. The two pipes, each punched with six holes are bound together with wax and cord. Two smaller sections of reed, about an inch and a half long, with slits cut like an organ reed, inserted into one end, form the mouthpieces. A doleful tune of only a few notes is produced; but, simple as it is, it is capable of stirring the heart of the peasant.

That David piped to his flocks on this simple instrument, as do the Bethlehem shepherd boys to-day, there can be no doubt. The Hebrew word for psalm is mizmor, which is the same as the present day Arabic word mazmoor, which means simply “played on a zamoora.”

Mijwiz, Arabic for “dual”, is a double-pipe, single-reed instrument (sometimes referred to as a “double-clarinet”) popular in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. It is predominantely used to accompany the dabkah, or line dance, at weddings and other festive celebrations. The mijwiz is one of the oldest wind instruments, with counterparts in antiquity. Comparable instruments in Egypt are the zummârah and the arghûl, which uses one of the two pipes as a drone. Click here for website and demonstration

We can imagine David joyously dancing before the ark, perchance with the zamoora of his shepherd days in his mouth, and thus with inflated cheeks inspiring his followers to the singing of the psalm of praise, exactly as the shpherds and peasants are now singing and dancing to the tune of the simple reed pipe.

 

[contemplative]

I hope no one minds these few more small pieces of information about shepherds.

Every shepherd boy caries a sling which he has made by cutting a tuft of long wool from the back of the sheep spinning it into yarn while resting during the noon hours, and weaving a short, narrow web. The ends are braided into cords about a yard long and the simple sling is complete.

With this sling the shepherd can drop a stone beyond a wandering sheep which does not heed call or cry; with it he can drive off an attacking beast, and while he toys with during the long hours of watching over the flocks, he relies upon it as the main weapon of defense in case of need.

Tucked into the leathern girdle of slung across the shoulder is the jrab, a shepherd’s bag or scrip, such as that carried by the ruddy youth David, who leaving his father’s sheep behind him, “chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a Shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his: and he drew near to the Philistine.”

In this scrip the boy puts his bread and olives or other food for the midday meal; also flint, steel, and tinder for striking fire. Besides, he may have a simple knife of Nazareth make, the curved blade folding into a slot cut into a handle of ram’s horn.

 

[contemplative]

And the location is Ain Farah.

Northeast of Jerusalem, bordering on the desert, is Anata, ancient Anathoth, home of Jeremiah, and still farther eastward, lying low between precipitous walls and pinnacles of rock, is Ain Farah, a tiny stream of clear water flowing between banks of summer green.

Many who know Ain Farah see this rocky oasis pictured by the Psalmist when, in his later years, he composed the Shepherd Psalm, in which he recalls the youthful care he bestowed upon his father’s flock, in such surroundings of “still water,” “green pastures,” and deep valleys with their early shadows. But not only did David, in composing the Twenty-third Psalm, pen poetry of sublime quality; he also, in those six short verses, described the life of the Palestine shepherd a thousand years before him and which remains the same to-day, some three thousand years after.

Please remember that this quote is from a 1926 magazine. I would not expect to visit Ain Farah today with the hope that technology and modernization hasn’t changed the landscape.

 

[contemplative]

And finally…

As we reach the crest, a view of Jerusalem looms before us, encircled by walls and ramparts, gates and towers, the sun setting behind golden and crimson clouds.

The Dome of the rock greets the eye—a Moslem sanctuary, second only in importance to the Mosque at Mecoa. On the site Solomon built the first temple to Jehovah. While the Psalmist never saw this temple, he had provided materials in abundance for its construction.

As the youth David returned with his father’s flocks to Bethlehem, he must have seen Jerusalem often from these heights, and in composing this psalm he possibly had this view in mind, with the added vision of the beautiful temple he had long thought on and the building of which he had entrusted to his son Solomon. So he ends the lovely psalm with: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

 

[contemplative]

Here is more information for post #18

The following is taken from Manners and Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight (completed and unabridged)

Sheepcotes in connection with caves
There are many caves in the Holy Land, and when one of these is available it is utilized as a sheepcote. During stormy weather, and at night, the sheep retreat into the cave, but at other times they are kept in the enclosure immediately in front of the cave’s mouth. This enclosure is generally constructed of loose stones piled up in a circular wall, with thorns on the top. The cave into which King Saul went to rest, and David and his men were already within it, was a cavern with a fold built in connection with it. “And he came to the sheep cotes by the way where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet” (I Sam. 24:3)

sheepcotes

 

[dessert]

I realize now that David was tending the sheep and protecting, feeding and nourishing them for his father, the king, As Jesus does us for us, for our heavenly Father. And the shepherd calls us FRIENDS by name, we are this to Him, and He is everything to us.
return

 

[dessert]

And finally…

As David was looking at the temple from a near far off distance but did not enter does make the story even more interesting.
Also I would like to think that maybe an ancestrial sheep was present at the birth of Jesus, I guess a little far reaching but after all the shepherds saw the sign.
Maybe an hier to the shepherds, but of course Jesus is The shepherd being born.
My priest calls some of us by name and I am myself beginning to look at names more differently, this has been a great kind of revelation kind of thing that I am not sure if it will all ever really ending. return

 

[dessert]

Here is more information for post #18

The following is taken from Manners and Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight (completed and unabridged)

sheepcotes

NOW I want to know where is my sheepcote?
And where is the cave?

 

[contemplative]

My priest calls some of us by name and I am myself beginning to look at names more differently, this has been a great kind of revelation kind of thing that I am not sure if it will all ever really ending. return

never ending as long as we continue to meet new people…

From the Arab of the Desert by H.R.P. Dickson pages 402-05 Third Edition

Sheep Names Among The ‘Awazim

• Al Hamrah (The red one).
• Al Suwaid (The little black one).
• Al Hadiad (The hairy one).
• Al Shahaid (The white-shouldered one).
• Al Sugaih (The one with the white blaze).
• Al Kahail (Soft black-haired one).
• Al Wada’ah (The little cowri).
• Al Ziuadah (The wattled one).
• Al Arthaim (The white-nosed one).
• Al Hajlah (The white-stockinged one).
• Al Dahrijah (The stumpy one).
• Al Suwaidan (The black one).

1. (The contemplative one)

 

[contemplative]

NOW I want to know where is my sheepcote?
And where is the cave?

Follow the Good Shepherd with the iron rod.

In Psalm 2, God tells the Davidic king: “You are My son, today I have begotten you”(v.7)—anticipating the words spoken to Jesus at His baptism: “This is My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt3:17). The son of David would rule “the nations” with a “rod of iron,” according to Psalm 2:8-9. In Revelation, this promise is fulfilled as “the woman” brings forth her “male child,” who will “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev 12:5).

From Hail, Holy Queen by Scott Hahn

 

[puzzleannie]

thank you contemplative, this has been one of the most rewarding threads and loveliest discussions I have seen in a long time. merry Christmas to all the little sheep.

 

[contemplative]

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; worship the LORD with cries of gladness; come before him with joyful song.
Know that the LORD is God, our maker to whom we belong, whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock.
Enter the temple gates with praise, its courts with thanksgiving. Give thanks to God, bless his name; good indeed is the LORD, Whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age. Psalm 100

You are welcome. I’m spreading the goodness and benefits God has bestowed on us all……His well-tended flock.

 

[dessert]

Follow the Good Shepherd with the iron rod.

I think that would be him.

 

[contemplative]

I think that would be him.

In the Gospel of John we read how John the Baptist knows this.

The prophet Isaiah said: I am a voice of the one crying out in the wilderness: make straight the way for the Lord.
“Behold your God!”
He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs in his arms.
He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young (Is 40:3, 9-11)

John echoes this: "I am 'the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” (John 1:23)

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

 

[lak611]

thank you contemplative, this has been one of the most rewarding threads and loveliest discussions I have seen in a long time. merry Christmas to all the little sheep.

Thank you Contemplative, I agree as well. You discussions are fascinating and bring fresh meaning to words that are very familiar. Merry Christmas.