The Lord Is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm by Harold S. Kushner

"God's promise was never that life would be fair," writes Rabbi Harold Kushner, best-known for his bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People. "God's promise was that, when we had to confront the unfairness of life, we would not have to do it alone" (page 3). This, Kushner points out, reflects the wisdom of Psalm 23. Many volumes could be written about this psalm, Kushner says, since "the Twenty-third Psalm gives us an entire theology, a more practical theology than we can find in many books" (page 9). Kushner's short book walks us, verse by verse, through the orchard of Psalm 23, plucking bits of wisdom along the way.

"We can read this Twenty-third Psalm as a drama in three acts," Kushner writes (page 164). I take my cue from Kushner and divide this review into three parts:

(1)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul. (Psalm 23:1-3)

"Act one is serene, pastoral," Kushner comments. "The psalmist feels safe and secure, and he thanks God, his faithful shepherd, for providing him with that security."

This part of the Psalm reminds me of the more idyllic seasons of Life. Perhaps one purpose of this part of the Psalm is to remind us of God's role "behind the scenes" of the pleasant parts of Life. It's all too easy to grow complacent when everything is going well--I know I, personally, am vulnerable to this spiritual blind-spot.

Rabbi Kushner offers a number of informed points which help us appreciate these verses. To better understand the responsibilities of a shepherd--and the meaning Psalm 23 would carry for ancient hearers--Kushner directs us (at page 21) to Jacob's self-declared conscientiousness as a shepherd to Laban's flocks (Genesis 31:38-39); and, in fact, a shepherd's duties were so serious that they're written into the Mosaic Law (see Exodus 22:10-13).

Also, Kushner points out that the Hebrew for "still waters" is mei menuhot--"waters of rest and relaxation" (page 56). And how, specifically, does God "restore [our] soul[s]"? For starters, by giving us the "rest and relaxation" commanded by the Sabbath: "Do you know who was the first to replenish his soul on the Sabbath? God Himself....(Exodus 31:13-17). In Hebrew, the verbs referring to God's resting and being refreshed are shavat, "He stopped," from which we get the word 'Sabbath'" (page 65).

(2)
Yea, though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. (Psalm 23:4-5)

"Act two turns dark and stormy," Kushner comments. "The psalmist's life is interrupted by trauma, tragedy and bereavement...he finds himself alone in a dark valley. Then he learns he is not really alone. He comes to see God not only as the source of the good things in life, but as the source of comfort and consolation in hard times" (page 164)

Just as complacency about God is a spiritual risk during good times, rejection of God is a hazard during down times. "A skeptic might ask, If the Lord is my shepherd, if it's His responsibility to keep me safe, why isn't He doing a better job of it?" (page 21) It's noteworthy that Rabbi Kushner has personal experience with this: when his son died (of progeria), Rabbi Kushner and his wife attended a support group; there, he met people "who were so angry at God that they had not set foot in a church or synagogue for years" (page 101). Kushner understands this anger. At best, all we can say is what was mentioned at the head of this review: God's promise is that, in those times we feel deluged by the slings and arrows of life, we need not endure that trial alone; God's promise is the comfort to "protect us from letting pain and loss define our lives" (page 98).

A scholarly footnote: Rabbi Kushner points out that in Psalm 23, "the Hebrew text does not speak of 'the shadow of death'--the original Hebrew word was tzalamut, meaning 'deep darkness.' But the editors of the King James Bible read it as two words tzal mavet ('the shadow of death'), and in a sense they may have understood what the author was trying to say better than the author himself did" (page 86).

Kushner also directs our attention to the shift in Divine pronoun from "He" (verses 1-3) to "Thou" (verses 4-5). The transition is important, Kushner observes: In using "He," the psalmist is "offering us theology, talking to us about God," but in the switch to "Thou," the psalmist is "offering religion, the experience of encountering God" (pages 100-101).

On to verse 5. When I, personally, read "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies," I am reminded of God's comforting of a fearful, dejected Elijah at 1 Kings 19:4-6:
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,
and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested
for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now,
O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an
angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals,
and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

And when I read "Thou anointest my head with oil," I'm reminded of the healing advice given in the Christian Scriptures:
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15)

Rabbi Kushner finds significance in the word anointed: "[The word] 'Christ'...[is] a Greek word meaning 'the anointed one'....If every one of us, like the author of the Twenty-third Psalm, feels anointed by God,...then every one of us has a responsibility to make this world a little bit more like the world God would like it to be" (pages 139-140).

Lastly, for Rabbi Kushner, the verse "my cup runneth over" connotes gratitude, "the fundamental religious emotion" (page 145). And indeed, insofar as gratitude occurs when we realize we've received a gift "not by [our] own efforts" (page 146), then to have gratitude is to see our possessions as expressions of Divine Grace. Conversely, an inability to be grateful often points to the deeper spiritual maladies of feeling entitled ["I deserve it!"] or self-sufficient ["I could have gotten that myself!"] (page 150-151).

(3)
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6)

Just a couple of points here:
(a) "Whole books have been written about the Hebrew word hesed, here translated as 'mercy,' more commonly rendered as 'lovingkindness.' I like to think of hesed as 'unearned love'...[though] is there really any other kind [of love]?" (pages 160-161)

(b) "What does it mean to dwell in the house of the Lord? 'Home' is such an evocative word. It speaks of love, an enduring relationship. [In "Death of the Hired Man,"] Robert Frost defines it as 'something you somehow don't have to deserve'...[it] symbolizes safety, security, a refuge from the dangers of the world outside" (page 165)

In sum, I'm delighted I've read Rabbi Kushner's gem of a book; it's deepened my meditations on the 23rd Psalm. I know I'd be pleased to read this book again.