"But what about anointing the head with oil and the cup running
over? Go on, my friend."

"Oh, there begins the beautiful picture at the end of the day. The
psalm has sung of the whole round of the day's wandering, all the
needs of the sheep, all the care of the shepherd. Now the psalm
closes with the last scene of the day. At the door, of the
sheepfold the shepherd stands and 'the rodding of the sheep' takes
place. The shepherd stands, turning his body to let the sheep
pass; he is the door, as Christ said of himself. With his rod he
holds back the sheep while he inspects them one by, one as they
pass into the fold. He has the horn filled with olive-oil and he
has cedar-tar, and he anoints a knee bruised on the rocks or a side
scratched by thorns. And here comes one that is not bruised but is
simply worn and exhausted; he bathes its face and head with the
refreshing olive-oil and he takes the large two-handled cup and
dips it brimming full from the vessel of water provided for that
purpose, and he lets the weary sheep drink.

"There is nothing finer in the psalm than this. God's care is not
for the wounded only, but for the worn and weary also. '_Thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over_.'

"And then, when the day is done and the sheep are snug within the
fold, what contentment, what rest under the starry sky! Then comes
the thought of deepest repose and comfort: '_Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life_,' as they have
through all the wanderings of the day now ended.

"The song dies away as the heart that God has watched and tended