ritics, indeed, think that the
mention in the last verse of "the house of the Lord" compels the
supposition of an origin subsequent to the building of the Temple; but
the phrase in question need not have anything to do with tabernacle or
temple, and is most naturally accounted for by the preceding image of
God as the Host who feasts His servants at His table. There are no other
notes of time in the psalm, unless, with some commentators, we see an
allusion in that image of the furnished table to the seasonable
hospitality of the Gileadite chieftains during David's flight before
Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 27-29)--a reference which appears prosaic and
flat. The absence of traces of distress and sorrow--so constantly
present in the later songs--may be urged with some force in favour of
the early date; and if we follow one of the most valuable commentators
(Hupfeld) in translating all the verbs as futures, and so make the whole
a hymn of hope, we seem almost obliged to suppose that we have here the
utterance of a youthful spirit, which ventured to look forward, because
it first looked upward. In any case, the psalm is a transcript of
thoughts that had been born and cherished in many a meditative hour
among the lonely hills of Bethlehem. It is the echo of the shepherd
life. We see in it the incessant care, the love to his helpless charge,
which was expressed in and deepened by all his toil for them. He had to
think for their simplicity, to fight for their defencelessness, to find
their pasture, to guard them while they lay amid the fresh grass;
sometimes to use his staff in order to force their heedlessness with
loving violence past tempting perils; sometimes to guide them through
gloomy gorges, where they huddled close at his heels; sometimes to smite
the lion and the bear that prowled about the fold--but all was for their
good and meant their comfort. And thus he has learned, in preparation
for his own kingdom, the inmost meaning of pre-eminence among men--and,
more precious lesson still, thus he has learned the very heart of God.
Long before, Jacob had spoken of Him as the "Shepherd of Israel;" but it
was reserved for David to bring that sweet and wonderful name into
closer relations with the single soul; and, with that peculiar
enthusiasm of personal reliance, and recognition of God's love to the
individual which stamps all his psalms, to say "The Lord is my
Shepherd." These dumb companions of his, in their docility to his
guid