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Biblical Hebrew Applied: Psalm 23 (part 2)

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Psalm 23:2: “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”

He makes me lie down… continually

One of the fascinating things about the Hebrew language is the explicit meaning of its verbs in picturing for us God’s sovereign care and intervention in our lives, and here is one of those instances. The phrase, “He makes me lie down,” comes from the Hebrew verb יַרְבִּיצֵנִי yarbîsenî, which is a Hiphil verb form in the imperfect tense. The actual root verb is רָבַץ (rābas), which means “to stretch out and lie down.” However, the Hiphil form of the verb indicates what is called “causative action”—that is, action that has been or is being caused to occur by someone – and the imperfect tense indicates action that is continuous and ongoing. Thus, a more literal translation of the first part of this verse would be, “He continually causes me to lie down in green pastures,” with the implication being that at times I do not have the sense to know when it is best to lie down and rest in order to be renewed and refreshed. Therefore, God, as my heavenly Father and Shepherd, “causes me to lie down in green pastures” where He might renew and replenish my spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical strength. What an incredibly wonderful promise of God’s care, concern, and sovereign guidance for us who are His children!

He leads me… continually

The second part of this verse, “He leads me beside quiet waters,” is equally as important. The phrase “He leads me” comes from the Hebrew verb form יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי (yĕnahălenî), which comes from the root verb נָהַל (nāhal), and it is a Piel imperfect verb form. The Piel indicates intensive action, and the imperfect, once again, emphasizes an ongoing, continuous action. Thus, the picture for this verse is that of God continually causing us to “lie down in green pastures” when He knows we need to, and intensely leading us “beside quiet waters” when we need that as well – in both of these instances, the verb pattern is clearly presenting God doing for us what we are either unwilling to do for ourselves when we need to stop and be refreshed, or we are blind to our need for spiritual, mental, emotional, and even physical rest and refreshment.

Oftentimes it is at these occurrences in our lives that God has to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we will listen to what He is wanting to say to us. Quite frequently in our busy lives we are not taking the time to listen to God because we feel we must first of all be engaged in our activities, whatever they may be, versus as our first priority being still and listening to Him through His Word and prayer.

Comments

  1. Good thoughts. But a stretch for supporting your calvinistic beliefs. Nonetheless, this scripture does inspire and encourage.

    • For in Christ Jesus neither Calvinism nor Armenianism, but a new creature. This pinpoints the relevance of THE MINISTRY AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC. Brother, what is that? Who is this Melchisedec? Forget about Armenius and Calvin, they were men of like passions, passion for polemics.
      God is the first cause. He began it all. And he will end it with a glorious church.
      May the Lord lead you to the stilling waters of baptisms and his equally stilling word, the green pastures (Rom.16:17;25-26).
      Green grace be with you all.
      Poor and needy one,
      mathew

      • Sadly, sadly, we have Lutherans,
        We have Wesleyans
        We have Calvinists
        We have Armenians
        Was Luther crucified for you?
        …what a travesty just after Easter!
        He is the Leader, Commander, Forerunner
        Run after him not before him, holding on to the rope of the anchor. Strive lawfully and our law is THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS, THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH! Amen.
        Green grace be with you all.
        Poor and needy one,
        mathew

    • Dear Tom:

      I do thank you for your brief and succinct comment with regard to this exegesis on Psalm 23:2 being “a stretch for supporting your calvinistic beliefs.” Dear, precious brother, this exegesis has nothing to do with Calvinism, Arminiaism, or any other doctrinal “ism,” but rather it has everthing to do with biblicism, that is, the study and exegesis of the biblical languages in their syntactical and contectual setting.

      God bless you,

      Justin T. Alfred

    • Looks like there will be lots of people here on the outer perimeter of Heaven arguing doctrine! One faith, One Lord, One doctrine! I wonder what Jesus would say?

      • Not what Jesus would say or what would Jesus do. God had already spoken let us adhere to what he has and not what he would do but what he has already done…. have a wonderful blessed Be Like Christ attitude life.

        • that is adhere to what Christ has said and not what would he say…speak with authority given us by Christ. Also let us not imagine ouselves to be more that we should.

      • Sister, outer darkness, outer court, New Earth, New Heavens, New Jerusalem, Zion.The lord is tempering, compacting Zion (Ps.102:16). Go from faith to faith, glory to glory, grace upon grace, strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God (Ps.84). May the Lord of the laaaast sparrow and the least grain turn your Baca into Berachah for his glory and honor. Amen
        Grace be with you all.
        Poor and needy one,
        mathew

  2. Doesn’t stretch my Calvinistic beliefs at all. . .It gives me comfort to know that my Sovereign will continually cause me to lie down in green pastures, when needed, and the He will continually lead me beside the still waters. It is, in fact, something that I pray for continually. Wish that I understood the “Hiphil” and “Piel” verb forms more. I have read other materials that explicate verb forms of which I have never heard in the Hebrew. As a linguist, that part of the language is fascinating and gives nuance to meaning.

    • IT should add meaning and nuance when it comes to teaching on the subject but how will we teach the unlearned and less educated these accounts. if they are without understandisng it would be helpful to them to simpley have faith and beleive the simplistic form of speech when explaininng to them the word of God. why cant it be simply God gives rest to those who follow him rather than these complications for indicating true meaning? because when it comes to words seasoned with grace it should be by faith.

      • Hear, Harden NOT. Hear Hebrews, Read Hebrews (Heb.12:25). FIRST HEBREWS, SECONDARILY Hebrew seems to be a sound dictum. Amen.
        Grace be with you all.
        Poor and needy one,
        mathew

    • I have noticed that people today are in search of a better understanding of the WORD OF God….this is good…we should and we must study God’s Word. IT also good that if a person desires to study he/she should above all things get a good understanding with emphasis on The Word “good”. is it good to dive into the word for better understanding? of course it it…what can we do without understanding.
      but have it to yourself. we should not be trying to out-do one another by showing off our head-knowledge. Brothers and Sisters, this is Vain..for if we bite and devour one another we should be careful that we are not devourerd by each other. who then will be left to witness. I believe I have the Holy Ghost. What I say to one I say to all trust and Beleive have faith in this dispensation of grace. God Bless you and your household

  3. Thank you for bringing Dr. Alfred on board. This breakdown on the Hebrew, word by word is extremely important. The Word itself cleanses the mind–it is alive, the mind is alive, therefore the Word heals the mind/soul–which begins healing in the body. Jesus said, “My Father is always working.” Jesus is with the Father–He too is working. The Bible says that the Word is sharper than a double-edged sword, able to separate bone from marrow and spirit from soul.

    There is too much doctrinal discussion among scholars. The work of Jesus is simple enough for an uneducated person to accept. The foolishness of man is the extremeness to which he stretches his mind in search of his Creator, when it is our Lord Who simply reaches down to us.

    • YES, brother. The Master, Rabbi who assiduously taught Ask ,Seek, Knock in Matthew Seven is Himself standing at the door outside weathering the harsh elements ‘continually’, ‘tuk’,’tuk, ‘tuk’. Ask Him in and the dance begins! That is the extent of His love, humility. He indeed has a crush on you, that is why he crushed death to death. Amen,He is much greater than Romeo. Yield to Him.
      Green grace be with you all.
      Poor and needy one,
      mathew

      • He RESPECTS your/my sovereignty,so never will gatecrash into your domain. So let the sup begin.Halle…lujah.
        This Christmas eve my daughter took me to Old Navy Shop. All blithe young associates dressed in red with Santa hats too. Whenever one customer donates one dollar for their cause, that Cashier rings the bell and shouts in joy and all follow suit and it was a real joyous eve indeed.
        That reminded me of our Conventions of old days where one joyfully working, toiling saint shouts a Halle…lujah, the whole workers(drones too?)join in and echoe it for the God of Glory. Really, ” the shout of a King of kings is in their midst.” Halle..;ujah, Amen. Rejoice again I say..
        Poor and needy one,
        mathew

        • Thou preparest a TABLE before me… That IS The Safe Table in these days of “PINK SLIME”!
          So ‘BEAUTIFUL’ ( Acts.3:2 ) churches, “state-of-the-art sanctuaries”, isms, open the doors with joyfulness and gladness (Deu.28:47) and let the SUP begin. ORDER is crucial to any sup. An order of serving and an order in eating. Are you brought, bought into the banqueting house? (Song.2:4). He has a banner & a manner (1Sam.8). He will teach you the manner of the King.
          “FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK AND DIVERSE WASHINGS, BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS (first King of righteousness), PEACE ( then King of peace) (Heb.7:2) AND JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST. Fist Hebrews, then Hebrew – that is an ORDER too. My Math Teacher taught me both Ordinals & Cardinals.
          So let the SUP begin, Halle…lujah. Amen.
          Green grace be with you all.
          Poor and needy one,
          mathew

          • I suspect that all hear has knowledge but if we are smply vain for our much speaking then it is a disgrace to ouselves and unto God we unwise and damaginng to ourselves. Even in our writings we must remember his presence and not simply what we ourselves have head knowledge about. It seems as though some here are challenging each the other in order that the one may seem to have more knowledge concerning Christ. May I remind those of you who say that; I know him that Christ is the Word..so let every one of us starting with me be mindful that our words should be seasoned with grace so, that others might benefit from our conversion which should be rooted Christ.

  4. I’m grateful for the gifts that the Lord has given to Pastor Justin! This passage, written out from the literal Hebrew, ministered to me this morning. What’s more comforting and joy-inspiring than to recognize the Father’s love and ministry over us? I’m in a season of rest, renewal and refreshing, and this posting was just another confirmation that my heavenly Father has designated it as such! Thanks, as always, BLB!

  5. Thank you Justin Alfred for your sharing with the body of Christ your gifting and talent wit language. I love to read the Hebrew meaning and the scriptures come alive. Thank you; looking forward to more.

  6. WOW! this ministered to me SO much. I read this and then the commentary on the previous verse…just what I needed. Thank you for being obedient to God in choosing this portion of scripture!!! This is a GREAT addition to this site. Can’t wait for the next one!!! 🙂

  7. HI, Psalm 23 is beautiful and the explanation you gave fits and feels right. Thank you! I have been practicing to be quiet before the Lord. Looking forward to more commentary on Psalm 23.
    Blessings to you!

  8. I felt the peace while reading about the true meanings of the Hebrew Scripture. Thanks for having us think the way they did when it was written. We all need to “stop and smell the roses,” now and then.
    God Bless.
    Sister.

    • Hey Soul Sister, Once you kiss The Rose of Sharon, you won’t feel like kissing any other, What’s in a name, denomination?, you might ask. Name matters, names have signification (Acts.3:16)! “this” is a demonstrative pronoun. Amen.
      Green grace be with you all.
      Poor and needy one,
      mathew

  9. Interesting. I came in to do my bible study and lo and behold a study on Psalms 23. Interestingly I was given a lengthy book of the same title this past Christmas written by Phillip Keller in 1970. He uses a different approach and doesn’t break it down into the Hebrew. If my computer continues working it may be interesting to compare the two and expand my linguistics in my old age.

    It did sadden me to see debating of religiosity and it does cause divisions. Sadly it does confuse us that are less theologically enamoured.

    I have this Psalm on my wall and it is one of the most quoted and insightful passages. While semi new to this site I found Matthew’s comment on “Pink Slime” interesting as I have been called to expose some of the dystructive life issues we as humans have caused. The active is what my activism is about and I have turned my facebook page(s) into a forum for those who would be willing to make small changes through available resources, thereby respecting what God has given us. Just reverse the mohay and rix and the page should pop up if anyone is interested. Yes Matthew we are all from different backgrounds and hopefully this does not esculate into yet another denominational war. Let us keep our focus on our Lord and Savior instead of adding fuel to the flames of rage. 500 billion blessings. Rix Mohay

    • Brother, thanks. REligion is good. Only the Genesis story explains the Re- in Re-ligion. Re- ligare.Yooj-yoga.to fasten again to the ultimate source,first cause.Eve broke the bands of his love and became like a snapped kite! We are born to fly high! High calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says ‘knit together’ Col.2. Irreligion is the culprit. Amen. Thanks.
      Abundant grace be with you all.
      Poor and needy one,
      mathew

  10. Looks like there will be lots of people on the outer perimeter of heaven, arguing doctrine. “Blessed are the PURE IN HEART, for they shall see God”. I wonder what Jesus would say? “As much as lies within you, LIVE IN PEACE WITH ALL MEN”. What spirit is behind an argumentative spirit? One Faith, One Lord, One doctrine.

  11. “SUP” looks like an acronym. Just three letters, but it’s meaning-rich. Can some expand it, stretch like Behold, I Bring Eternal Life?
    Grace be with you all.
    Poor and needy one,
    mathew

  12. Please bear with me my folly, as Paul says.
    My son wanted to sell his house FSBO.
    He just took one straight snap with his camera and listed it.
    It was the most saleable house, yet it didn’t work.
    Finally, he gave it over to the Experts.
    Then came a guy with a special camera and ” virtual Tour” ensued!
    It was an amazing Burning Bush for me.
    When our Pastors preach, it is a virtual tour of the third heaven, from Genesis to Revelation, to use Paul’s phrase, God-sufficiency! Just think about it- the Nutrition Fact.
    But, let all your estimations be after the Shekel of the Sanctuary. Amen.
    Grace, vigorous and verdant, be with you all.
    Poor and needy one,
    mathew

    • Yes, this series is going to continue, and we will also be in the New Testament soon with some interesting truths from God’s Word that will give both assurance in our relationship with Him, as well as certainty on issues where the Lord intends to make things certain.

      God bless you,

      Justin T. Alfred

  14. Thanks for blessing us with Justin’s blog I look forward to reading them on a regular basis. But for the life of me I cannot see a Calvinist arguement in the Blog. maybe I’m just a stubborn Tennessee Mule. I remain in HIS service

  15. Thank you Mr. Alfred for taking us deeper into this passage. There is so much depth in Hebrew. I’m a beginner Hebrew student so I’m really looking forward to your post.

    Shalom,
    Joy

  16. Thanks for mentioning your blog and the Blue Letter Bible on TEMA. I have already added this site to my favorites and plan to use it for indepth research.

  17. Mr. Alfred in order to understand the verb forms better what would be a good resource to use?

    Also thank you for this insightful and informative study it helps in understanding how to apply and not apply the scriptures.