23:3b - He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

The psalmist now shifts his thoughts from Lord as provider to thoughts of him as a guide: "he guides me in paths of righteousness."

The noun "righteousness" is most often used in the sense of "conformity to an ethical or moral standard."1 It is almost certain that the psalmist is not here referring to God fulfilling his desire and prayer to lead the right kind of life.2 Rather, he is affirming that the Lord will never lead him into paths that does not conform the His character as a holy and gracious God. The Lord is faithful, and He will always remain so. It is not difficult to imagine how important a shepherd's righteouness is for a sheep. In the Judean wilderness (photo below) where David spent most of his days as a shepherd, just one wrong turn can land a person or a sheep into a ravine from which there is no escape without help, and a sure and slow dreadful death.

". . . for his name's sake" adds an assuring dimension to the psalmist's experience of the Lord's faithfulness; the Lord "cannot" but be faithful to who He is. A person's name is his reputation, the sum of all that he is and is known to be. For God not to act faithfully is for Him to cease being who He is, to cease being what He is known to be. The fact that the Third Commandment requires us not to "take his name in vain" shows us how seriously God takes His name and is concerned to protect it. So He leads "in paths of righteousness" and He stakes His name on doing so; this is the ultimate guarantee that we, who have put our trust in Him, will never be led astray. What a grand and comforting assurance.3