(Part 1)

JBTM Jeffrey G. Audirsch
66
In summary, Ps 23 is one of the most recognizable texts in the Bible. Familiarity with the
psalm can possibly present interpretive pitfalls, especially given its popularity at funerals.
The psalm is about living life in accordance to God’s leading. Thus, it should come as no
surprise that the shepherding metaphor in Ps 23 is further heightened elsewhere in the Old
and New Testaments. 32 In other Old Testament texts, God tasks Israelite kings to shepherd
the people of Israel (e.g., 2 Sam 5:2; Jer 10:21; 23:1–3; and Ezek 34:23). 33 Of importance,
Ezekiel chastises the failures of Judah’s kings/shepherds for not appropriately caring for
the people/flock. 34 As a result, in a dramatic reassignment of metaphor, Ezekiel declares
God to be the true shepherd of the people:
Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out
his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep,
and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and
thick darkness. . . . I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel
shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture
they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself
will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the
strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the
strong I will destroy. . . . Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must
tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must
muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden
with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? . . . I will rescue my flock;
they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up
over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be
their shepherd. (Ezek 34:11–23)
From a cursory reading it is readily apparent that Ezekiel recontextualizes the shepherding
metaphor from God in Ps 23 to Israelite kings and back to God in Ezek 34. In Ps 23, the
shepherd is God and the flock/sheep is David. Yet, in Ezek 34 the flock represents the people
of God. The recontextualization of Ps 23 from individual to the people of Israel is heightened
in the New Testament. The parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1–7) appears to utilize the
imagery presented in Ezek 34, especially the seeking out the lost sheep. Furthermore,
the Gospel of John declares that Jesus is the “good shepherd,” clearly a Christological
title. With his designation of Jesus being the “good shepherd,” John is equating him with
32
The use of a biblical text elsewhere in the Bible, especially with regard to recontextualization, is
principle 8 in my “Guiding Principles for Interpreting Poetry.”
33
Within the ancient Near East, according to Nel, the metaphor of shepherding became “an
indication of the just rule of the king, who, in terms of the royal ideology of Mesopotamia was
accountable to the main deities who delegated the administration of justice to the king.” Within
Egypt, the pharaohs were also depicted as shepherds, particularly with the flail and crook. See Nel,
“Yahweh is a Shepherd,” 93–96; cf. Matthew Montonini, “Shepherd,” Lexham Bible Dictionary, eds. J.
D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2015).
34
For similar arguments, see Ezek 37:24 and Zech 11:7–17.