My Shepherd (7)

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(1 Corinthians 14:26)

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(Ephesians 4:15)

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9th July: My Shepherd (7)

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Commentators vary slightly over the function of rods and staffs in shepherding, but one who has been a shepherd himself (Phillip Keller: A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23) suggests that the rod (a kind of club) acts as an extension of the shepherd's right arm. Symbol of authority and power, it could be both weapon and warning. Thrown directly at an enemy, it becomes a deadly missile, while pitched into a wandering sheep's track it would act as deterrent. Ezekiel speaks, too, of sheep being counted as they pass 'under the rod' (Ex 20:37) as a check that all are present and correct. A sheep found to be sick or in need of special treatment would then be drawn out for personal attention by the shepherd before rejoining the flock. A rod scarcely sounds comforting, yet as a symbol of God's authority against evil it may be so. If it sometimes seems that he is holding back his hand, this is in mercy, not in impotence.

A scene in the Bayeux tapestry is described as King Harold 'comforting' his troops, yet portrays the monarch prodding them on with his spear. The old word comfort included the idea of urging on. So those who claim to be the sheep of his pasture must be willing to submit to God's authority and be assured (rather than alarmed) that his loving, searching glance will see all our defects and apply correction. Even so, his rod does not fall on us in anger, but we read the amazing fact that 'He was bruised for our iniquities' (Is 53:5). Punishment has been borne on our behalf by the Shepherd himself: the rod is not to slay us but to restrain us when straying and to convict us when sinning -- to separate us, to sort us out and to send us on again. Keller likens the rod to the word of God, authoritative and challenging, and the staff to the Spirit of God, comforting and strengthening.

O Saviour Christ, our woes dispel;

For some are sick and some are sad,

And some have never loved Thee well,

And some have lost the love they had.

Thy kind but searching glance can scan

The very wounds that shame would hide.

Henry Twells