Twenty Third Psalm Explication

Currently, the future of his congregation members’ lives is very grim: death in eternal flames, powerless to escape, all due to the wrath and whim of God. However, he informs his audience that all across the colonies Christ is accepting all repentant applicants into Heaven. Once they convert, he promises that his pitiful audience will rejoice, sing, and revel in God’s glory, shed of the burden of eternal damnation.

I sing of mercy and justice: to you, LORD, I sing praise. I study the way of integrity; when will you come to me? I act with integrity of heart within my royal court. I do not allow into my presence anyone who speaks perversely. Whoever acts shamefully I hate; no such person can be my friend. I shun the devious of heart; the wicked I do not tolerate. Whoever slanders another in secret I reduce to silence. Haughty eyes and arrogant hearts I cannot endure. I look to the faithful of the land; they alone can be my companions. Those who follow the way of integrity, they alone can enter my service. No one who practices deceit can hold a Post in my court. No one who speaks falsely can be among my advisors. Each morning I clear the wicked from the land, and rid the LORD’s city of all evildoers (The New American Bible, Psalm 101.1-8). An important allusion in O Pioneers is the one made to the 101st Psalm. The 101st Psalm is alluded to when Ivar repeats the verse in part five, chapter one. In the verse, David gives his guidelines for living life. This scripture was of the utmost importance in olden times, as many people memorized it and implemented David’s guidelines in their own lives. This scripture expanded on the novel’s theme of Christianity and drew my interest because I have similar views as some of the characters.

"Psalm 23" comes from the Christian Bible. It is one of the most famous of these Biblical psalms. The beginning of the poem reads, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (line 1). In the poem, the first-person narrator asserts that as long as they believe in God, then they will never be in need. Further, the poem reads, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me" (line 4). This narrator believes completely that no matter what negative issues they may have to deal with in their life, they will be fine because of their faith. The Bible is the written history of the Christian religion and its purpose is both to inspire and instruct people of that faith. The Psalm's purpose is to underscore the potency of the power of belief in Christianity.

Some of these words evoke very strong emotions. The word "reverence" makes me imagine a crowd of worshipping masses, as it means "feelings of deep respect or devotion" ("Reverence"). This is a rather obvious conclusion to draw, as the poem at its heart is very much about God's stature. One can assume that the preacher is probably not one to criticize God, given his profession, and thus the praise heaped upon God by the narrator is appropriate.

The main idea of this is to get the reader to understand that things always get better and bad times will always have an end even if it does not seem that way. I think that the theme of this poem is self confidence and that things can be difficult, but you will always get over it. Lauren Hill thinks of herself as a very powerful and important person. She thinks that everyone deserves to live the life that they dreamed of and she understand that they are going through many different struggles because they are teenagers and are starting to change. She wants them to persevere and believe in themselves and they will eventually overcome the changes. Lauren Hill thinks of herself as a very powerful and important person. In the poem, Lauren Hill

develops the theme of “god is always watching over you, even through the hard times”. The eyes of

Like the song, he is hopeful and associates this with victory. The persona is portrayed as nervous and worried about being martyred, but after self-affirming through acknowledging that his life is hidden with Christ, that he is bound to God by love; which he metaphorizes to be a strong cord, and that no pain or struggle in this life is worthy to be compared to the reward prepared for him; as shown through the biblical allusion used, he experiences a calm. The victory effectuated by martyrdom was constituted by the incentives he would receive for dying as a martyr: he would acquire a starry crown, his own mansion, an opportunity to walk on golden streets, through gates of pearl and ultimately, the opportunity to meet his Lord, Jesus Christ. The persona gets excited at the thought of these rewards and mentally annunciates “Victory over defeat! Life and death!” and after repeating “Victory over death!”, he verbally exclaims, “Jesus and I have almost met!”, placing the tragic and heart-rending idea of martyrdom in a positive and even desirable light. Simply, the first persona verbally declares that his physical death will only result in his freedom to be with God, (stanza 5 line 5) thereby characterizing not only hope and victory in death but also freedom.

16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Adding God into this this puts a religious spin on it that could mean something deep down. I really liked this poem because there’s so many questions at first about the meaning that I had to really think about my interpretation.

To some people verses 2-3 give off the image of peace, and to some, such as the writer of this commentary, it shows that God’s, “primary intent is to say that God keep the psalmist alive.” (McCann 767). These verses show how God is the shepherd and we are the sheep. He makes us lay in green land means to give us (the sheep) food from grass, and to lead us to waters so we can drink and stay replenished (McCann 768). In verses 3-4, it shows that God keeps us alive and guides us out of danger and into safety. In verse 4, the threat of death and darkness is there but we aren’t going in it alone, we have God to be our protector from it. The phrase “darkest valley” or “the valley of the shadow of death” as said in the NIV translation, comes from, “the historical setting of Isiah 40-55 that of exile”, in Israel. (McCann 768). Even in the darkest days such as in Israel, God will provide for you and guide you through it. The mentioning of the staff and the rod continue the metaphor because the shepherds carry a staff to help guide the sheep’s. The rod signifies power and authority over the sheep’s as it God’s power does over us. The metaphor of the rod or staff shows how God’s power and control comfort us by him being able to lead us against all power and evil. In verses 5-6, God is seen to be, “portrayed as a gracious host.” (McCann 768).

The characteristics of The Lamb of God is meek and mild. The temperment of the little lamb would also share these character traits. The speaker next relates himself, as a child, to this trait of innocence. The Lamb of God was also a child, He is God incarnated, born of a virgin. The next line; “We are called by his name.” implys that wer are all called by his name. We are his flock and his creation. The poem is then finished with the speaker telling the little lamb, “Little Lamb God bless thee.”

The last segment of the Psalm is Moses’ appeal to God for him to return his presence to his people: “Return, O LORD, how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.” Not only should God return, but Moses asks for complete restoration and for God to bless the work of man: “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

God is our shepherd. He provides for us and keeps us safe. The world is helpless without him. God has provided everything we need to survive. This psalm is the only psalm that I read and actually liked.

Furthermore, in Psalm 23, this section of the bible is well-known to be describing the Lord as the shepherd of the people. The central idea that pertains to this portion of Psalm 23 is God's provision, protection, and preservation of humanity. "He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still water. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." It emphasizes how

To start of, the poem has an appeal of imagination and has many features that show this. First of, we have numerous metaphors, "I am a thousand winds that blow" and "I am the diamond glints on snow" are examples. These metaphors are indirectly comparing him to the greatness, to the amounts of them, trying to relate to us by telling us how he is everywhere. He might not be here in person but he is all around as used in the metaphors the wind, in the snow, in sunlight that ripens the grains everywhere. Second, the poem has the symbol of "do not stand at my