Written by G.R.
Psalm 23 is one of the most popular out of all 150 psalms. Many of us find peace in the poetic words, but is there something more that YHWH would like to show us? Is there a prophetic message that can be found from reading this beautiful psalm? In this study, we are going to examine Psalm 23 and look at it in light of End Days’ prophecy.
I will go through each verse of the psalm and share related Scriptures.
Psalm 23:1 יהוה is my shepherd; I do not lack.
John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd. And I know Mine, and Mine know Me.”
Yahushua said He was the Good Shepherd. The people to whom He was speaking would have known Psalm 23. They would have known that YHWH is the shepherd of His people Israel. Yahushua expressed Himself as a shepherd and as such He had two roles to fulfill.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
In His first coming, His role was to lay down His life for His sheep.
John 10:17-18 “Because of this the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, in order to receive it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
His second role as the Good Shepherd is to gather His sheep together as one flock.
John 10:14-16 “I am the good shepherd. And I know Mine, and Mine know Me, even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold – I have to bring them as well, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd.”
The way Yahushua will gather His sheep is through His voice. His sheep will hear His voice through His Word which tells them where they should go to be gathered. Once His sheep are in the sheepfold, He will come and guide them into safe pastures. The prophet Ezekiel foretold this gathering.
Ezekiel 34:11-13 ‘For thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I Myself shall search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so I shall seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered in a day of cloud and thick darkness. And I shall bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the lands, and shall bring them to their own land. And I shall feed them on the mountains of Yisra’ĕl, in the valleys, and in all the dwellings of the land.”
Ezekiel 34:16 “I shall seek out the lost and bring back the strayed. And I shall bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick, but the fat and the strong I shall destroy. I shall feed them with right-ruling.”
When YHWH gathers His people He will take good care of them. We know from the first verse of Psalm 23 that the sheep will not be lacking. All their needs will be met by their Shepherd.
Psalm 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters
While gathering the sheep, YHWH says again that He’ll make them lie down in pastures.
Ezekiel 34:14-15 “In good pasture I shall feed them, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Yisra’ĕl. They shall lie there in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Yisra’ĕl. I shall feed My flock and make them lie down,” declares the Master יהוה.
The prophet Ezekiel uses similar wording as Psalm 23, which further shows that this Psalm has prophetic significance. A shepherd leads sheep to green pastures so they can feed. Yahushua will gather us and then provide for us.
YHWH is going to lead us “beside still waters”. A shepherd leads his sheep to water sources so they can drink peacefully. When YHWH brought His people out of Egypt, He led them to camp by fountains and sustained them in the desert with water from a rock (Exodus 15:27, 17:1-6). When He gathers His people from the nations, He will once again provide clean water for them to drink in peace.
Jeremiah prophesied about YHWH leading people to rivers of water after they have been gathered from the ends of the Earth.
Jeremiah 31:8-9 “See, I am bringing them from the land of the north, and shall gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labour, together – a great assembly returning here. With weeping they shall come, and with their prayers I bring them. I shall make them walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they do not stumble. For I shall be a Father to Yisra’ěl, and Ephrayim – he is My first-born.”
Jeremiah 31:10 “Hear the word of יהוה, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Yisra’ěl gathers him, and shall guard him as a shepherd his flock.’
Psalm 23:3 He turns back my being; He leads me in paths of righteousness For His Name’s sake.
The Hebrew word for “turn back” is “shub” which means to repent or to return. Repentance is about turning away from sin and learning how to do what our Shepherd wants. People are turning back to YHWH by returning to the Torah and recommitting to His laws and commands. YHWH commands His people, the ones who have returned to Him, to gather together.
Zephaniah 2:1-2 Gather together, gather together, O nation without shame, before the law gives birth – the day shall pass on like chaff – before the burning wrath of יהוה comes upon you, before the day of wrath of יהוה comes upon you!
YHWH wants us to be gathered into one fold. This is a literal return as well as a spiritual one. When His people have spiritually and physically returned to Him, He will reveal the paths of righteousness to them in the wilderness.
Ezekiel 20:34-36 “And I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. And I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples and shall enter into judgment with you face to face there. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Mitsrayim, so I shall enter into judgment with you,” declares the Master יהוה.
In this prophecy, Yahushua brings His sheep into a wilderness place where He teaches them the paths of righteousness. He will enter into judgment with them the same way He did when the House of Israel came out of Egypt.
When the Israelites left Egypt, they did not go directly to the Promised Land. YHWH led them to the wilderness first. Yahushua will lead His sheep to the wilderness as well.
Psalm 23:4 When 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.
The phrase “shadow of death” is used in the Scriptures to describe a dark and dreadful place. It is often a place where massive death is occurring. In Psalm 107, we see that people are experiencing distress in the shadow of death from which YHWH gives them deliverance.
Palm 107: 10-14 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons, because they rebelled against the words of Ěl, and despised the counsel of the Most High. And He humbled their heart by toil; They stumbled, and there was no one to help. And they cried out to יהוה in their distress, and He saved them out of their troubles. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And He broke their chains in pieces.
In the End Days, YHWH’s people will be in many terrible and deadly situations, but as they cry out to Him, He will lead them out of the shadow of death and calm their fears.
Jeremiah 30:7 Oh! For great is that day, there is none like it. And it is the time of Ya‛aqoḇ’s distress, but he shall be saved out of it.
Psalm 23:4 also says that YHWH’s rod and staff are a comfort to us. Zechariah 11 is another passage that talks about two staffs; they are used for two different things.
Zechariah 11:7 So I shepherded the flock meant for slaughter, the truly poor of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs, the one I called Pleasantness, and the other I called Unity, and I shepherded the flock.
Zechariah 11:10-11 And I took my staff, Pleasantness, and cut it in two, to break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day. And the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of יהוה.
The first staff in Zechariah represents the Torah, the set of laws and instructions YHWH gave His people to flourish as a nation. We know that the House of Israel transgressed against the Torah, breaking the covenant. I think the staff in Psalm 23 represents the Torah as well. This should make sense because a staff is a tool of a shepherd. It communicates with the sheep about where to go and what to do, just as YHWH’s Word communicates to us.
Zechariah 11:14 Then I cut in two my other staff, Unity, to break the brotherhood between Yehuḏah and Yisra’ĕl.
At the time of Zechariah’s prophecy, the House of Israel had been divided into two Houses: Judah and Israel. The second staff represents unity, but it was broken.
A rod is also mentioned in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 20:37-38 “And I shall make you pass under the rod, and shall bring you into the bond of the covenant, and purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me. From the land where they sojourn I bring them out, but they shall not come into the land of Yisra’ĕl. And you shall know that I am יהוה.”
In ancient Israel, shepherds had their sheep pass under the rod to mark them as set apart to YHWH (Leviticus 27:32). In the wilderness, YHWH will distinguish the sheep that are His and those that are not. His sheep will then enter into covenant with Him.
Psalm 23:5 You spread before me a table in the face of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup runs over.
YHWH is going to spread a table before His people while they’re in the wilderness. He is going to physically feed and provide for them just like a shepherd provides for his sheep.
In Revelation 6, John saw visions of the Tribulation. Verses 4-6 describe war and food shortages. It will be in this time of food scarcity that YHWH will gather His people and miraculously sustain them just like He did with the Israelites who ate manna in the wilderness for forty years. Here are other Scriptures that talk about the provision YHWH will give His righteous people.
Isaiah 33:15-16 He who walks righteously and speaks what is straight, he who rejects the gain of oppressions, who keeps his hands from accepting bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil – he shall inhabit the heights; strongholds of rocks be his refuge. His bread shall be given him, his water be steadfast.
Psalm 37:18-20 יהוה knows the days of the perfect, And their inheritance is forever. They are not ashamed in a time of evil, And in the days of scarcity of food they are satisfied. But the wrongdoers shall perish; And the enemies of יהוה, Like the splendour of the meadows they vanish, Like smoke they vanish away.
YHWH will provide for His righteous people who are seeking Him in the End Days. He knows our needs, and as a Good Shepherd, He will meet them. The BEST blessing Yahushua gives His sheep is revealing Himself to them. He will give more and more understanding as His people return to Him. He will give until our cups are overflowing!
Psalm 23:6 Only goodness and loving-commitment follow me All the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the House of יהוה, To the length of days!
As the Good Shepherd, Yahushua will lead His sheep out of the nations and gather them into one sheepfold. He will deliver them from the shadow of death and bring them to safe pastures, providing them with food and water. They will return and recommit themselves to His covenant in the wilderness. Then He will bring them into His eternal House to dwell with Him. In the House of YHWH, His sheep will experience only kindness and goodness forever and ever!
Thank you for reading! May the Good Shepherd lead you to safe pasture!
