Psalm 23: Intro  
The Lord is my Shepherd
     What can be said about this Psalm that has not been said a thousand times before? I’ve read about it, meditated upon it, listened to it, quoted it, preached it and lived it and yet I’m sure I have never and will never, exhaust it’s meaning!

In May 1992 I stood, looking south, over the plain between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, an undulating, rock strewn, tract of land that was parched and, in my English eyes, pretty barren. Then I heard the tinkle of a small bell and looking to my right I saw a rough-hewn, weather-beaten Arab man with a staff. As he came closer, I realised that he had a small herd of mixed animals following him – a donkey with the bell round its neck and then an eclectic group of sheep and goats. This little troupe remained in view for several minutes and I learned a lot about a Middle Eastern shepherd! 
The scene was one that I am sure had not changed for millennia, just one man and his flock, roaming across the landscape. These Judean hills have seen many sheep, for it was here that they were brought for sacrifice and shepherds were employed by the priests at the nearby Temple in Jerusalem, to raise and guard the sacred animals destined for slaughter. That scene has long since passed, but the rural view that I enjoyed has remained and was probably enacted long before the building of even Solomon’s Temple.
I noticed that the shepherd always went ahead of his flock, they followed him, a sight we do not see very often in the west. There were no marked boundaries or enclosures, but the sheep were safe for they had the shepherd close by. He obviously kept an eye out for predators, but he was also keenly inspecting the landscape for patches of edible foliage and grass and as soon as one area was exhausted, he moved the sheep on to the next. As the shepherd drew closer, I realised that he was talking nearly all of the time, calling names, giving instructions, encouraging and guiding his animals and there is no question that they were listening and heeding his voice. It was that attachment to him, that sense of unity between a man and his animals, as they drifted leisurely across the rough pasture, that was so compelling. This man was not just doing a job, he was part of the flock, they would be lost without him, they were fully dependent upon him and they were inseparable.  Shepherd and flock were one!

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