“Your rod and your
staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4B)
Welcome back! Today
we are going to look at the second half of verse 4 from the 23rd
Psalm. This is an interesting
verse. Basically it is speaking about
the two most important tools the shepherd in Jesus’ day would carry with him
when he took his flock into the wilds for their important time of summer
grazing. I’m sure you are very familiar
with the names of these two tools. They
are the shepherd’s “rod and staff”. I
didn’t really understand the significance of these two items as they are used
in Psalm 23 but have found that there is a lot more behind the two common
sounding objects than one might think.
Let’s take some time and take a look at them, their use to the shepherd
and their importance to his sheep….and to us as the sheep in the Good
Shepherd’s flock.
The rod was basically a club. It was the shepherd’s main weapon in protecting
his sheep. To make the rod a shepherd,
especially a young shepherd boy, would find a sapling and dig it up. They would select one with a straight shape
and pull it out of the ground. A length
of tree about 2 feet long would be cut with the root ball (knot of wood at the
base) at one end. This ball or knot
would be very dense with lots of smaller roots growing out from it. The knot would be trimmed until it was much
smoother creating a slight taper or bulge, making it the business end of the
rod. The end of the rod was often
imbedded with shards of metal or stone to make it even more dangerous to
predators. The other end we can call the
handle and it was shaped and trimmed so as to fit the shepherd’s hand well.
When I referred to the rod as a club it’s actually a pretty
apt description. The shepherd boys, from
a very young age, would make these rods and learn to throw them. That’s right, the rod was an offensive weapon
in the shepherd’s hands. The young boys
would have contests where they would see who could throw the rod the farthest
and with the greatest accuracy. They
became very skilled at hitting small targets at long distances. Here’s the reason this is so important. The shepherd would use this rod to drive away
predators who were closing in on his flock.
It could have been a bear, a lion, cougar or any other such animal that
was trying to get close enough to attack a weaker member of the flock. When a shepherd spotted one of these menaces
he would throw his rod right over the heads of his sheep in an attempt to
strike the offender and drive them away.
It was used to protect his valuable sheep from outside dangers.
There was another use for this rod which wasn’t quite as
harmful to the “target” but just as important.
Sometimes there would be individual sheep that just wouldn’t follow the
shepherds’ leading. Such a sheep would
wander away from the flock and often be headed for trouble. It might be a cleft in the rock into which
the wayward sheep might fall and become injured or it might be that the sheep
was about to eat some plant which was poisonous and would cause it to become
sick even die. The shepherd, not being
near enough to reach out and snatch the sheep back from danger would use his
rod to stop the sheep before something bad could happen to it. I don’t know if the shepherds’ intention was
to hit the sheep or just scare it but in the end it would cause the sheep to
return to the safety of the fold and the shepherds’ protective care. In his
book, The Good Shepherd, Haddon W.
Robinson wrote of the skill of the shepherd.
"A skillful
shepherd could not only swing the club to smash the head of an attacker, but he
could also hurl the club like a missile over the heads of his flock to strike a
wolf lurking in the distance." [Haddon
W. Robinson - The Good Shepherd]
As the shepherd used the rod to protect his sheep, the Good
Shepherd uses weapons in His arsenal to protect us from harm. It could be the prodding of the Holy Spirit,
words from a Christian friend or pastor or words brought to our attention from
the Bible. God works to protect us from
the dangers that are around us. These
dangers could be spiritual “predators” who seek to pull us away from the
protection of our “flock.” They could be
worldly activities or objects that are dangerous for us to even be near and God
tries to warn us and move us back from the edge of real danger. Sometimes, as with the wayward sheep, God
will use such a “rod” to open our eyes to what we are doing so that we will
want to rush back into His arms. If you
take a moment or two I’m sure there are many ways you can think of where God
used just this kind of protection as well as correction in your life. You see, sometimes when we don’t expect it
and aren’t looking or asking for it God still lets us know that we are outside
of His will (being disobedient) and are in danger of great harm. This is no different than a parent seeing his
child heading toward a busy street or reaching out to touch the “pretty” flame
in a campfire. The parent takes
immediate and strong action to prevent their child from being hurt. It’s no different than the way God acts in
our lives sometimes.
In my reading I have learned another interesting use of the
shepherd’s rod. When leading sheep out
of a corral or sheep fold the shepherd could use his rod as a type of gate or
stop. As the sheep came out of the
enclosure the shepherd would use his rod as a bar to block the sheep’s path
when it was right in front of the shepherd.
This allowed him to check each sheep for parasites and other skin problems. The shepherd could treat them as needed. It also allowed the shepherd to check on the
overall health of each sheep to make sure they were healthy, well fed and in
good shape. The shepherd would actually
use the rod to part the sheep’s thick wool coat to examine it for wounds,
infestations or anything else which could indicate a problem for the sheep.
“Search
me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Psalm 139: 23, 24)
Think for a moment of how psalm 139: 23, 24 fits so closely
to the idea of the shepherd carefully checking over each sheep in his care and
how such attention is a comfort to the sheep as well. Of course, this applies to you and I as sheep
in His flock. I don’t know about you but
these words bring great comfort for me as one of God’s sheep. He knows me and cares deeply about my
thoughts, my moods or emotional health and my spiritual state as well. The goal isn’t to make me feel bad but to
help fix these problems and lead me forward in this life until I reach the
final goal of eternal life. It is good
to remember that God knows us intimately.
In the early verses of Psalm 139 we are reminded us of this in great
detail.
“You
have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you
perceive my thoughts from afar. You
discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my
ways. Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and
you lay your hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” (Psalm 139:1-6)
While the shepherd’s rod was an aggressive and offensive
weapon in the hands of the shepherd his “staff”
functioned as a much more defensive tool in his hands. The staff is that prop you see at every
nativity scene or play at Christmas time.
You remember, some of the kids in Sunday School got to be shepherds and
carry that really cool walking stick with the tall hook on top? That was the shepherd’s “staff” or as I heard
it called many years ago, the “shepherd’s crook”. This staff was a long piece of wood that was bent
or hooked at one end. It was often as
tall as or taller than the shepherd and was used for lots of different
things. When a sheep got tangled in a thicket
the shepherd would use the staff to hook the sheep and help pull it out of the
tangle. When the shepherd encountered
branches or bushes that impeded the sheep’s path he could reach in with the
straight end of the staff to pry the branches back, making a way for his sheep
to pass through safely. When a sheep
fell into a crevice or hole the shepherd could once again use the crook or bent
end of his staff to pull the sheep to safety.
The crook was used almost like a rake to beat down high grass to drive
out snakes and other animals from fields he was preparing for his flock to
enter. When necessary, the shepherd
could wield the staff as a weapon as well to drive off predators that were a
threat to the sheep or to the shepherd himself.
The shepherd, using his staff, protected his sheep with his power and
skill just as God does for us, His sheep.
I’m sure you have experienced times in your own life when
God has used His skill to rescue you, to get you out of trouble that you have
gotten yourself into or opened a pathway that you couldn’t even see to help you
get through difficult times. Just
picture yourself as one of those sheep in the shepherd’s flock which did the
same thing. God knows you, and loves you
and wants the best for you so He watches over you and reaches into your life to
guide, direct, and correct. He doesn’t
push but He leads and calls you and I to follow. Here are a few more great scriptures which
speak of His love and protection for all of us “sheep”.
“my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my
shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior;
you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies. ” (2 Samuel 22:3, 4)
“You are a shield
around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” (Psalm 3:3)
“But
the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil
one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
“God
is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)
“In
peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8)
“Though
I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger
of my foes; with your right hand you save me.” (Psalm 138:7)
I could go on and on with such verses but I would recommend
that you take a little walk through the Psalms when you are feeling troubled or
fearful. The Psalms are filled with words
much like those versed listed above.
Please remember that God doesn’t promise that you won’t have any trouble
in this life. As I have shared in
previous posts Jesus clearly reminded us of that in John 16:33 when he said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.” What he’s saying is that we need to remember
and be encouraged that no matter what God is with us. Jesus, through his death and his resurrection
he showed his absolute power over death.
That same strength is within us.
Jesus is telling us that no matter what he will be with us and stand by
us as our Good Shepherd.
Because of some scheduling difficulties this post has taken
a few days to follow the last post. I
hope to bring the next few posts a little closer together but time will tell
just how often they appear. I will
always put a brief post on my Facebook page as a reminder that there is a new
article in this blog. If you are not on
my Facebook page and would like to get connected just leave a note in the form
of a “comment” at the end of this post and I’ll try to get you connected to my
Facebook page. Otherwise, just keep
checking back on this site to see what’s new.
God bless you as you continue to study His Word. Next time we will address the first half of
verse 5 of Psalm 23. In the meantime
please remember that our “shepherd” is watching over us with all kinds of love
and care. He stands ready to offer protection
and comfort through His own form of the rod and staff. May God’s care over you bring you great
comfort. Until next time, God’s best to
you and thanks for taking the time to study with us.
“The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not be in want. He
makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he
restores my soul. He guides me in paths
of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
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