Meditations: Psalm 23, Part II

I began our study with the first phrase of Psalm 23, "The LORD is my Shepherd." I didn't realize today that I forgot to ask you, dear readers, to comment! This weblog is an easy forum for us to discuss our thoughts about this Psalm. I hope that you will partcipate if you have time.

"I shall not want." In Psalm 23, this sentence is from one word chacer.

Chacer at its root means "to lack" and by implication "to
want" (Strong's Dictionary). This word occurs 40 times in the Old Testament.
We see it after the flood in Genesis 8:3 (and 8:5 "decreased"), "and
after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." They
failed; they were in want. They "decreased."

It is only ten chapters later that we see this word again in another familiar
passage in Genesis. In chapter 18, the Lord has come to speak with Abraham about
Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham knows that his nephew Lot is in Sodom and asks the
Lord, "Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, wilt Thou destroy
the whole city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy
it if I find forty-five there" (Genesis 18:28 NASB). Here we see chacer
used as "lack" or "lacking."

The next time we see this word is Exodus 16:18 when God provided manna
for the children of Israel. It says, "he who had gathered much had no excess,
and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he
should eat" (NASB).

The Lord blessed the Israelites, and they didn't lack a thing (Deuteronomy 2:7).
God promised the Israelites a land where they wouldn't lack anything (Deuteronomy
8:9).

Part of God's law was to provide for the poor "whatever he lacks"
in the seven year cycle God gave the Israelites (see Deuteronomy 15).

When David was on the run from Saul he went to a king in Gath to hide. But when
he heard what the king's servants were saying about him, he was afraid what
the king might do and pretended to be insane. That is why king Achish said,
"Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in
my presence? Shall this one come into my house?" (1 Samuel 21:15 NASB).

There is another "famous" instance of this word. Elijah, the prophet
of God, had told the evil king Ahab that there would be no rain the next few
years except by Elijah's word. God provided miraculously for Elijah at a brook
by commanding ravens to feed him there. But when the brook dried up, God sent
Elijah to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon. But she hardly had anything. But God
performed a miracle by the word of the prophet: (1 Kings 17:14 KJV) For thus
saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall
the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. It is that word "fail" that is the word chacer in Hebrew. That jar of oil did not lack until the Lord allowed it to rain again.

In the well-known Psalm, David asks "What is man, that Thou dost take thought
of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him? {5} Yet Thou hast made
him a little lower than God, And dost
crown him with glory and majesty!" (Psalms 8:4-5 NASB). The word "lower"
is chacer in this verse.

The bible says, "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who
seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing" (Psalms 34:10 NASB).

The Proverbs are filled with verses about people who are "lacking sense"
(Proverbs 6:32; see also 7:7; 9:4, 16; 10:13, 21; 11:12; 12:9, 11; 13:25; 15:21;
17:18; 24:30; 28:16). In fact, every verse in Proverbs uses chacer
in a negative sense except one. In Proverbs 31:11, the bible says, "The
heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain" (Proverbs
31:11 NASB). This is talking about the "virtuous woman" whose "price
is far above rubies" (v. 8).

In light of many of these verses, it is easy to see why David says, chacer
"I shall not want." God has promised to provide for those who seek
Him. In the context of the Psalm, we are the sheep; the Lord is our Shepherd.
Let us seek Him. And He will provide for all our wants.

* Or the angels; Hebrew Elohim; Septuagint
aggelos back

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The LORD is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name�s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.

(NASB)