Posted on 08/07/2026 8:53:51 AM PDT by LouAvul
Psalm 23:2: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Commentaries I use (Adam Clark, Barnes Notes, Matthew Henry, etc) reference the "green pastures" in terms of our bountiful environment.
But I read a statement by a shepherd that added some insight. He said he takes/took his sheep to graze in green pastures. When they were full, they were hot, tired and thirsty. But if he immediately took them to water, they'd put water into their already full stomachs and would get sick.
Therefore, he made them lie down in the pasture in which they'd been feeding. They'd go to sleep and when they awakened, the food had been digested enough for them to drink water.
His conclusion re v.2 is that sometimes God makes us lie down in green pastures. IOW, He brings/allows something in our lives to force us to reflect upon our lives. A person is too busy for Christ and falls away from the Faith. The Lord allows that person to become ill. The person then has time to reflect upon his life and sees that he's ignored the really important things. Etc.
I have a book: "A Shepherd Looks At The 23rd Psalm." That might be where I read it. But the book is inaccessible as it's in one of a couple dozen books in the attic.
Anybody know where the above came from? thnx
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I love that book. I've taught that book.
From Grok:
W. Phillip Keller (full name Weldon Phillip Keller, 1920–1997) is the author of the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (originally published 1970 by Zondervan; sometimes titled with “the 23rd Psalm”).
He grew up in East Africa among herders, later worked as a sheep rancher/owner in British Columbia for about eight years, and drew on that experience for the book’s verse-by-verse insights into the Psalm from a practical shepherd’s perspective. It is a well-known Christian classic that has been widely quoted in commentaries, sermons, and devotionals.
The specific statement/anecdote you described—sheep grazing until full/hot/tired/thirsty, the shepherd deliberately making them lie down in the pasture first so the food can digest before they drink (to avoid sickness from adding water to a full stomach), and the application that God sometimes forces us to “lie down” for reflection—does not appear to come from Keller’s book.
Keller’s treatment of Psalm 23:2 (“He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet/still waters”) centers on different practical observations:
Secondary sources that extensively quote or summarize Keller consistently report these points and do not mention the full-stomach-then-drink-sickness sequence or the exact application you recalled.
Related but distinct ideas do appear in other shepherd/Psalm 23 discussions (sheep ruminate/chew the cud while lying down after eating; they may not drink well with undigested food in the rumen; forced rest aids digestion and health; applications about God compelling rest or reflection). These surface in various sermons and writings, sometimes loosely mixed with Keller material, but the precise story you outline is not traced to his book in available sources.
There is a separate audio message titled A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm by Larry Guthrie (IBLP), based on his own shepherding experience; it is possible the anecdote originated there or from another practical shepherd source, oral teaching, or a different book/commentary.
In short: the book you own is by W. Phillip Keller, and it is an excellent source for shepherd insights into the Psalm, but the particular statement about making sheep lie down to digest before drinking does not appear to be from it. If you eventually retrieve the book from the attic, you can confirm the “green pastures” and “still waters” chapters directly.
Nope.
Again, I'm borrowing from Grok....
In A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, W. Phillip Keller interprets Psalm 23:5 (“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”) by continuing the shepherding metaphor rather than shifting to a banquet-host image. He links “table” to the high summer ranges (often called tablelands or mesas—Spanish for “tables”) where shepherds take their flocks for the best grazing.
A careful shepherd does not simply drive the sheep up into the mountains. He goes ahead, often weeks or months earlier (sometimes while snow is still on the ground), to survey and ready the range:
All of this hard, advance work ensures the sheep have safe, abundant forage and clean water when they arrive.
Even on the prepared tableland, danger remains. Predators (wolves, coyotes, cougars, bears) often watch from the rimrock or nearby cover, waiting for a chance to stampede the flock and pick off a straggler. Keller recounts cougar attacks on his own flock: sheep were killed, clawed, or injured in panic, yet he rarely (if ever) actually saw the cats—only the damage they left. The shepherd must stay constantly alert, hunt or trap the predators when possible, and keep the flock close so they can graze in relative peace right under the eyes of their enemies.
Distant or wandering sheep are the most vulnerable; those that stay near the shepherd are safest.
Keller draws clear parallels for the Christian life:
Keller emphasizes the personal cost and diligence involved: the shepherd’s advance labor is demanding and often unseen by the sheep, just as Christ’s care and intercession for us go far beyond what we usually notice. The result is that the sheep (and the believer) can feed and rest securely even while enemies look on.
This chapter fits Keller’s overall approach of reading the entire psalm through the practical realities of sheep management rather than switching metaphors midway.
I dunno but it’s an interesting thought.
Such an enriching reading about what The 23rd Psalm really speaks of. Going to read it that way from now on, using a shepherd’s perspective—as it should be. Looks to be how else should we as believers read and comprehend it? From The Good Shepherd—our Lord Jesus Christ.
is it true that a shepherd waits to water his flock until a certain time after they feed?
AI Overview
Yes, traditionally and practically, shepherds often managed the timing of watering their flocks to coincide with specific times of day—frequently around midday—rather than immediately letting overheated or exhausted sheep drink right after heavy grazing in the heat.
Why Timing Matters
Avoiding Heat Stress: In arid or warm regions, leading a hot, panting flock directly to water immediately after strenuous midday feeding can cause digestive shock or dangerous gorging.
The Midday Routine: Historically, flocks were grazed in the cooler morning hours and then brought to a well, spring, or quiet pool around noon. After drinking, the sheep would naturally rest together in the shade while the shepherd kept watch.
Community and Shared Wells: In ancient pastoral traditions (as recorded in Genesis 29), shepherds often waited at communal wells until all the individual flocks arrived so the heavy stone covering the well could be removed cooperatively and fairly, rather than opening it constantly.
Then I noticed that the AI was parroting info off of religious (Christian) sites. The same thing with the search results, versus regular every day farm and animal care sources.
>>>
outside of Biblical commentary, is it true that a shepherd waits to water his flock until a certain time after they feed?
AI Overview
No, modern or traditional pastoralism outside of strict biblical tropes does not require a set waiting period between a sheep grazing and drinking; instead, watering schedules are dictated by environmental temperature, access, and the moisture content of the forage.
On-demand access: Modern agricultural extension guidelines recommend that sheep have continuous, free-choice access to clean water rather than delayed or restricted intervals.
Forage moisture: When sheep graze on lush, dewy, or sappy green pasture, their water intake from food is so high that they may voluntarily drink little to no supplemental water.
The midday routine: Historically and practically, shepherds water flocks around midday or during the hottest part of the day not out of a physiological restriction regarding digestion, but to rest the flock in the shade during peak temperatures.
There's a reason I make it a regular point to check up on things repeatedly.
Research also begins with re, Latin for "back, again".
I really like John. He got the last word so to speak in the Gospel accounts before things moved on to Acts. Besides, this place has got a favorite dangling participle:
John 2117 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
Ἐὰν αὐτὸν θέλω μένειν ἕως ἔρχομαι τί πρὸς σέ:
"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" in verse 23 is the same as "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" in verse 22. John merely repeated Jesus' words, didn't go running off with half-baked 'interpretations'.
Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
I mean, not to undercut anything you said - I think it’s all relevant and useful information. But this Psalm is almost universally believed to be written by David while on the run to save his life from the rebellion of Absolom. He maketh me to lie in green pastures is juxtaposed against David *not* lying in his bed in the palace, beside cool waters instead of sitting on his rightful throne.
God has allowed this to happen, and David is good with it. Because he knows there is a reason, he knows it probably because of *his* failures, and God has named him king, so the throne will be his again.
At least, that’s what I get out of it.
You cannot trust anything it says or does.
I never heard that explanation.
Author Napoleon Hill wrote that as a boy he won a horse in a raffle. For a poor, hill country subsistence farm family that was a great thing. But overnight the horse broke out, overate on grain and then went to the creek to drink a lot of water. Insides swelled up and burst.
It isn’t always true that you can’t trust anything it says or does; and you can usually check what it gives you.
It just parrots what it sees and then acts like it's the truth. Includes sources on the side as if legit, kind of like "proof" text chapter/verses in parentheses.
I'll check the sources and routinely discover that the info is not there exactly; maybe those places were merely used to cobble together interpretive answers.
In any case, it gets it's "truth" from all kinds of sketchy places.
But often it will say "No, that's not correct.." as if it is capable of discernment.
Even worse, I've noticed that it will give plainly false answers for simple math. Not like I'm asking it to do that, but I might be searching on various numbers, and then forget to add enough context, so "it" assumes I'm doing some sort of calculation.
Totally wrong answers on its face, so perhaps these are tests to see if obviously false answers are copied anyway.
I actually find AI quite useful for what it says, although I suspect not *useful* in the way its programmers think.
You cannot trust anything it says or does.
Your comment is a false generalization. Thinking people use AI now in the same way they used books, encyclopedias, reference manuals, newspapers, etc. back in the olden days.
Yes. Whichever shepherd’s commentary I read gave that as the explanation. I guess I’ll have to go up in the attic and dig out the relevant volume. Ugh. Not the volume. The attic.
Thanks
BFL
No, it's not.
I know lots of people use it, but that does not make it more trustworthy. It lies quite frequently, thus you cannot trust it for anything--even when it's being truthful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.