23:2a: - He makes me to lie down in green pastures

Having taken up his metaphor of the Lord as his shepherd, David now develops the theme into an extended metaphor that runs all the way to the end of v4. First, "he makes me to lie down in green pastures."

What this line conjures up for most of us is the picture of sheep pasturing contentedly in a field such as in the scene above. But, this, of course, could not have been the reality David had in mind, for everywhere we look in the land of Israel — modern or, as likely, ancient Israel in the time of David — we see shades of brown, not green. And Judea, where David's formative years were spent as a shepherd and where desert takes up most of the real estate, was certainly no "green pasture" as English farms are. Even places like Bashan and Gilead, famed in the OT for their richness and fertility, would have been a veritable tapestry in brown most of the year, as the photo of the Yarmuk valley (below) illustrates.

The words translated "green pastures," ne'ot deshe', is literally "folds of new growths." Israel does not see rain very often. The long summer from mid-April to late October is hot and dry. The early rain comes in late October, is gone by the end of November and does not return until the latter rain arrives in late March-early-April. Most of the year then, the grass are starved and struggling to thrive. Their seeds, once shed, however, lie dormant and hidden in the soil. When the rain comes they germinate and soon the land is covered in a magnificent burst of soft luscious green shoots that provide the choicest food any animal can have. This is the ne'ot deshe'. No plain hay — which is food still — but the juicy succulent best. "The Lord makes me rest in pastures of the choicest best." Yes, God our Father is like that!

Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2015