I
PSALM XXIII: GOD OUR SHEPHERD

II
PSALM XXXVI: THE GREATER REALISM

III
PSALM LII: RELIGION THE OPEN AIR OF THE SOUL

IV
PSALM CXXI: THE MINISTRY OF THE HILLS AND ALL GREAT THINGS
PSALM XXIII

GOD OUR SHEPHERD


The twenty-third Psalm seems to break in two at the end of the fourth
verse. The first four verses clearly reflect a pastoral scene; the fifth
appears to carry us off, without warning, to very different associations.
This, however, is only in appearance. The last two verses are as pastoral
as the first four. If these show us the shepherd with his sheep upon the
pasture, those follow him, shepherd still, to where in his tent he
dispenses the desert's hospitality to some poor fugitive from blood. The
Psalm is thus a unity, even of metaphor. We shall see afterwards that it
is also a spiritual unity; but at present let us summon up the landscape
on which both of these features--the shepherd on his pasture and the
shepherd in his tent--lie side by side, equal sacraments of the grace and
shelter of our God.