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a Cornell University 
 J Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029303513 
 
© 19 trty 5bepber?>; 
 i9baUt)0lv^aiit/El maUefb 
 me to lie tioyn id ivcct} pastu 
 
 re$: leafrtb mc be^lDe tbe 
 
 $mi wtcr$."'IS reetorclf) my sovl: 
 leaDetb m^ in tbe paths of ri^bte 
 0D5ne99 for name's 5al<e.''Wa, 
 tboD^iif) I xyalk tftrou^h tbe valley 
 of tbe $bat»ou» <>f Oeatft. I v^ill 
 fear no evU: for art m\^ 
 me; rot» anD $taff Itiey 
 1 comfort tTie/'if preparcat 
 
 < a table before me in tbe pre$e- 
 
 < nee of mine enemieo: tnou'»'>»' 
 i anointest my beaD u^itb oil; my 
 i cvp runnetb over/<^urely <^ooi> 
 jne$o an9 mercy jsbalt foUov^iDe 
 
 < alt tbe Days of my life: anD I v^ill 
 i Oi^ell in tbe bov5e of tfie g 
 (ffor ever. ^e;©^^^'=^3?s^s^^=®3s> 
 
Se5l^)ptl)e5till^Vatc^5 
 
on:$of 
 p^^yriio) Client 
 
 lUi'^lrAlioDS «iD^ !Dccorj^ivc JDcsUna by 
 
 
Copyright, 1904, igos, 1Q06, igii 
 
 BV 
 
 William Allen Knight 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall , London 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 BOSTON 
 
the han^ th^^t helD 
 
 g^ 30)5 the fsk^ces of 
 the tvpo little m?ii0j5 
 
Illustrations 
 
 Beside the Still Waters . Frontispiece 
 The Valley of the Shadow of 
 
 Death 28 
 
 The Rodding of the Sheep- . . 36 
 
'^^(j-JCJt^ 
 
 ?7. 
 
 .1 
 
 yf GODSPEED is fitting as a pil- 
 grim after much journeying fares 
 forth once more; and such is this little 
 book. Of the memories that hover about 
 the pen writing these lines, one only may 
 have place on the page. It is of a day 
 when this word came from a mountain 
 village: "It has shown me the shepherd 
 as a savior and the Savior as a Shep- 
 herd." Because some who will look 
 upon these pages are in sick-rooms, some 
 are lonely being companioned only 
 by grief, some are poor, some for the 
 time are misunderstood, some are rich 
 and allured by many voices, some are 
 discouraged and feel that they are little 
 loved, some are young and cannot find 
 their way, and some are old and way- 
 worn — because all have need of the 
 Shepherd's care, go, little Book, once 
 more, bearing this token only. 
 
 [9] 
 
Vbc Song of Our 
 Syrian Guest 
 
\ 
 
 N 
 
 
 .o' 
 
 
 FADUEL MOGHABGHAB,'* .6-4? 
 said our guest, laughing as C-.^^ 
 he leaned over the tea-table to- O. 
 
 ward two little maids, vainly trying 
 to beguile their willing and sweetly 
 puckered hps into pronouncing his 
 name. "Faduel Moghabghab," he 
 repeated in syllables, pointing to the 
 card he had passed to them. "Ac- 
 cent the u and drop those g's which 
 your little throats cannot manage," 
 he went on kindly, while the merri- 
 ment sparkled in his lustrous dark 
 
 \ 
 
 [13 J 
 
^< JA^.p^ eyes, and his milk-white teeth, 
 -^/t»j^^| seen through his black mous- 
 tache as he laughed, added 
 beauty to his delicate and vivacious face. 
 
 He was a man of winsome mind, this 
 Syrian guest of ours, and the spiritual- 
 ity of his culture was as marked as the 
 refinement of his manners. We shall 
 long remember him for the tales told 
 that evening of his home in Ainzehalta 
 on the slope of the Syrian mountains, 
 but longest of all for what he said out 
 of the memories of his youth about a 
 shepherd song. 
 
 "It was out of the shepherd life of 
 my country," he remarked, "that there 
 came long ago that sweetest rehgious 
 song ever written — the Twenty-third 
 Psalm." 
 
 After the ripple of his merriment 
 with the children had passed he turned 
 to me with a face now serious and 
 pensive, and said: "Ah, so many 
 
 [14] 
 
things familiar to us are 
 strange to you of America." 
 
 "Yes," I answered, "and 
 no doubt because of this we often 
 make mistakes which are more serious 
 than mispronunciation of your names." 
 
 He smiled pleasantly, then with 
 earnestness said: "So many things in 
 the life of my people, the same now as 
 in the days of old, have been woven 
 into the words of the Bible and into 
 the religious ideas expressed there; you 
 of the Western world, not knowing 
 these things as they are, often misun- 
 derstand what is written, or at least 
 fail to get a correct impression from it." 
 
 "Tell us about some of these," I 
 ventured, with a pa- 
 rental glance at two 
 listening little faces. 
 
 
 •». * 
 
 [15] 
 
lot * Ovr* After mentioning several in- 
 |Q\)^( stances, he went on: "And 
 there is the shepherd psalm; 
 I find that it is taken among you as 
 having two parts, the first under the 
 figure of shepherd Ufe, the second turn- 
 ing to the scene of a banquet with the 
 host and the guest." 
 
 "Oh, we have talked about that," 
 said my lady of the teacups as she 
 dangled the tea-ball \yith a connois- 
 seur's fondness, "and we have even 
 said that we wished the wonderful 
 little psalm could havfe been finished 
 in the one figure of shepherd life." 
 
 "It seems to us," I added, wishing 
 to give suitable support to my lady's 
 rather brave declaration of our sense 
 of a hterary flaw in the matchless 
 psalm, "it seems to us to lose the 
 sweet, simple melody and to close with 
 strange, heavy chords when it changes 
 to a scene of banquet hospitality. Do 
 
 [i6] 
 
you mean that it actually keeps E ^^ nf ?Oifr? 
 
 the shepherd figure to ^^^ ^in^xil (allr^t 
 end?" VJ'^MWywvw* 
 
 "Certainly, good friends." 
 
 With keen personal interest I asked 
 him to tell us how we might see it as 
 a shepherd psalm throughout. So we 
 listened, and he talked, over the cool- 
 ing teacups. 
 
 "It is all, all a simple shepherd 
 psalm," he began. "See how it runs 
 through the round of shepherd life 
 from first word to last." 
 
 With softly modulated voice that 
 had the rhythm of music and the hush 
 of veneration in it, he quoted: '''YHE 
 LORD IS MY SHEPHERD: I 
 SHALL NOT WANT.'" 
 
 "There is the opening strain of 
 its music; in that chord is sounded 
 the key-note, which is never lost 
 till the plaintive melody dies away 
 at the song's end. All that follows 
 
 i7J 
 
of ^VUr* ^^ *^^^ thought put in vary- 
 
 I wish it were possible to 
 reproduce here the light in his face and 
 the interchange of tones in his mellow 
 voice as he went on. He talked of 
 how the varied needs of the sheep 
 and the many-sided care of the shep- 
 herd are pictured in the short sen- 
 tences of the psalm. 
 
 "Each is distinct and adds some- 
 thing too precious to be merged and 
 lost," he said. 
 
 "'HE MAKETH ME TO LIE 
 DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES,' 
 — nourishment, rest. 'HE LEAD- 
 ETH ME BESIDE THE STILL 
 WATERS,' — the scene changes and 
 so does the meaning. You think here 
 of quietly flowing streams; so you get 
 one more picture of rest; but you miss 
 one of the finest scenes in shepherd 
 life and one of the rarest blessings of 
 
 i8] 
 
the soul that is led of God. 
 All through the day's roaming 
 the shepherd keeps one thing 
 in mind. He must lead his flock to 
 a drinking-place. The refreshment of 
 good water marks the coveted hour of 
 all the day; the spot where it is= found 
 amid the rough, waterless hills and 
 plains is the crowning token of the 
 shepherd's unfaihng thoughtfulness. 
 When at last the sheep are led 'BE- 
 SIDE THE STILL waters; how 
 good it is, after the dust and heat of 
 the sheep-walks! 
 
 "This is what a shepherd would mean 
 by those words, 'HE LEADETH ME 
 BESIDE THE STILL WATERS.' 
 You know of rivers and 
 brooks in the Holy Land, 
 for their names are read 
 many times in the Bible; 
 
 
 v-'-n 
 
 ^^: 
 
 
 19 
 
Of*Ovr* ^^* y^^ *^° ^^^ think how 
 ■WjCvCSt ^^^ rivers are far from each 
 other through rough country; 
 and you know not how many of the 
 brooks are called 'wadies' by us be- 
 cause they are only ravines that run 
 dry when the rainy season ends. Job 
 says, 'My brethren have dealt deceit- 
 fully as a brook, as the channel of 
 brooks that pass away.' In the region 
 where David was a shepherd Hving 
 streams are scarce indeed; for Judea 
 borders on the south country called 
 Negeb and that means 'the dry.' 
 Even in other parts where the lasting 
 streams are, how often the shepherd 
 finds them in gullies between broken 
 hills, how often the banks are too dan- 
 gerous for the sheep and the flow too 
 rough. Sheep are timid and fear a 
 current of water, as they well may, for 
 they are easily carried down stream 
 because of their wool." 
 
 20 ] 
 
"Poor things, how do they ^Oof^&tf* 
 ever get a good drink!" ex- j^yHxYl 0|}£;Af 
 
 claimed one of the two little 
 
 maids, whose heart was always open 
 
 lovingly to animals. 
 
 "The shepherd sees to that, doesn't 
 he?" said the other timidly, with 
 earnest eyes set on our guest. 
 
 His face beamed with winsome rehsh 
 of these tributes to his success. "Yes, 
 the sheep would indeed have a hard 
 time finding water to drink, were it 
 not that the shepherd sees to that." 
 
 The playfulness faded from his eyes 
 and the shadow of manhood's years 
 was there as he said to me: "Brother, 
 you and I have learned how much is 
 in that question and answer. How 
 should we get the refreshment we need 
 in the rough world, if the Shepherd 
 did not see to that? But he does, he 
 does!" 
 
 His face brightened again as he 
 
 [21] 
 
Ll::dOC''vVr* turi^^d to the four blue eyes 
 ,*3}TI^0V^^I across the table, 
 
 "Shall I tell you how the 
 shepherd sees to it that the sheep 
 have a good drink every day? Listen. 
 "There are wells and fountains here 
 and there in the regions where the 
 flocks roam, and in some parts there 
 are cisterns, though the sheep hke 
 the living water best. The shepherds 
 know where these drinking-places are 
 / all through the country where streams 
 are few. It is a fine sight to see the 
 shepherds bring their flocks 'BESIDE 
 ■ :. THE STILL WATERS' at some well 
 ■-•;' or fountain, while the wide, silent 
 '^ft country, over which they and many 
 cf4 Other sheep have wandered, spreads 
 j all around them, and the far 
 
 )"-^^^;3. expanse of the sky arches over 
 ■ '•"*'- them. 
 
 "The shepherd^ makes a 
 ■' T ; certain sound; all his sheep lie 
 
 [22] 
 
down and are quiet. Then ^^Of "OVV''* 
 he fills the drinking- troughs, i^yiis^ wV(!S| 
 
 The bubbling of the fountain, 
 or the current, if it be by a stream, is 
 no longer there to trouble the sheep. 
 They can drink now undisturbed. 
 This is the dehcate meaning of that 
 word 'still.' As the Hebrew words 
 put it, ' He leadeth beside the waters of 
 quietness.' 
 
 "Then the waiting sheep hear a 
 whistle or a call. They never mis- 
 understand; they know their shep- 
 herd's voice and never respond to the 
 wrong shepherd if several flocks have 
 come up together. And, strangest of 
 all, the sheep come up by groups; the 
 shepherd makes them understand. So 
 in groups he leads them until they 
 stand 'BESIDE THE STILL WA- 
 TERS.' And, oh, how they drink, 
 with the shepherd standing near!" 
 
 After a pause, with a far-off look 
 
 [23i 
 

 0f^Au^ in his eyes, he said, "It is a 
 
 ^U£^l t)eautiful scene, so beautiful 
 that St. John has used it in 
 picturing heaven." A smile broke over 
 his face as he quoted r '"The Lamb 
 that is in the midst of the throne shall 
 be their shepherd, and shall guide them 
 unto fountains of waters of hfe.'" 
 
 No one spoke as he sat turning his 
 teacup. A tear started from his down- 
 cast eyes. Presently he seemed to re- 
 call himself. 
 
 "But I must tell you of one more 
 scene that comes to; my memory 
 whenever I read the words, HE 
 LEADETH ME BESIDE THE 
 STILL WATERS.' It would make 
 a beautiful picture if some one would 
 paint it. 
 
 "Up in the mountainsides of Leb- 
 anon, where my knismen have long 
 been shepherds, often there are no 
 regular drinking-places, such as the 
 
 [24: 
 
IT J r L ^i^^SfP^ 
 
 wells and lountains on the fSg^Ot^OUt^ 
 
 plains. But as the shepherd j^VHSkOdlCISt 
 
 leads his sheep over the rough 
 slopes, he finds many a spring and 
 sees its rivulet noisily running down 
 a crevice. His sheep need water. 
 They cannot drink from the^ leaping 
 little stream. What does he do? He 
 finds a suitable turn or nook in its 
 course; he walls it up with a little 
 dam and so holds the water till it 
 forms a quiet pool. Then, right there 
 on the open hills, he leads his sheep 
 'BESIDE THE STILL WATERS.* 
 which the shepherd's own hand has 
 stilled. I know of nothing more fit 
 to picture the Shepherd's care of souls 
 that trust him than that scene up 
 there on the mountainside." 
 
 While our thoughts were carried 
 away to these scenes of thirsty flocks 
 drinking, I chanced to notice that the 
 tea-ball was again quietly at work. 
 
 [25] 
 

 OU^Ovr* ^^ ^^ ^^* thinking on that 
 
 Cv^t picture up in the mountain, a 
 
 good hand offered our guest 
 
 a fresh cup. He received it with a 
 
 low bow, sipped it in quiet, then with 
 
 a grateful smile began speaking again. 
 
 "'HE RESTOREW MY SOUL.' 
 You know," he said, turning to me, 
 "that soul means the hfe or one's self 
 in the Hebrew writings." 
 
 Then addressing us all he went on: 
 "There are perilous places for the 
 sheep on all sides, and they seem never 
 to learn to avoid them. The shepherd 
 must ever be on the watch. And there 
 are private fields and sometimes gar- 
 dens and vineyards here and there in 
 the shepherd country; if a sheep stray 
 into them and be caught there it is 
 forfeited to the owner of the land. 
 So, *HE RESTORETH MY SOUL' 
 means, 'The shepherd brings me back 
 and rescues me from fatal and forbid- 
 den places.'" 
 
 [26] 
 
" ' Restores me when wan- ||^rtf^O>Ty^ 
 dering,' is the way it is put ^iyiVSJtClitBt 
 
 in one of our hymns," I inter- 
 posed. 
 
 "Ah, sir, that is it exactly," he 
 answered. "'Restores me when wan- 
 dering!' 
 
 "'HE LEADETH ME IN THE 
 PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR 
 HIS NAME'S sake: Often have I 
 roamed through the shepherd country 
 in my youth and seen how hard it is 
 to choose the right path for the sheep; 
 one leads to a precipice, another to a 
 place where the sheep cannot find the 
 way back; and the shepherd was al- 
 ways going ahead, 'leading' them in 
 the right paths, proud of his good 
 name as a shepherd. 
 
 "Some paths that are right paths 
 still lead through places that have 
 deadly perils. 'YEA, THOUGH I 
 WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY 
 OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH/ is 
 
 [27] 
 
IOt*vVr* ^^^ '^^y psalm touches 
 
 ^CV(5t ^^^^ ^^'^^ ^" shepherd life. This 
 way of naming the valley is 
 very true to our country. I remember 
 one near my home called 'the valley 
 of robbers,' and another, 'the ravine 
 of the raven.' You see 'the valley of 
 the shadow of death ' is a name drawn 
 from my country's old custom. 
 
 "'FOR THOU ART WITH ME.' 
 Ah, how could more be put into few 
 words ! With the sheep, it matters 
 not what the surroundings are, nor 
 how great the perils and hardships; if 
 only the shepherd is with them, they 
 are content. There is no finer picture 
 of the way of peace for the troubled 
 in all the world. 
 
 "To show how much the presence 
 of the shepherd counts for the welfare 
 of the sheep I can think of nothing 
 better than the strange thing I now 
 tell you. It is quite beyond the usual, 
 
 [28 J 
 
^be Valley of tb^baDow of'Dtalb 
 
daily care on which the flock M^ q{ '^ vVr* 
 depends so fondly. But I j9)TUU9^lI(^^ 
 
 have seen it more than once. 
 
 "Sometimes, in spite of all the care 
 of the shepherd and his dogs, a wolf 
 will get into the very midst of the 
 (lock. The sheep are wild with 
 fright. They run and leap and 
 make it impossible to get at 
 the foe in their midst, who 
 at that very moment may be 
 fastening his fangs in the throat of 
 a helpless member of the flock. But 
 the shepherd is with them. He knows 
 what to do even at such a time. He 
 leaps to a rock or hillock that he may 
 be seen and heard. Then he lifts his 
 voice in a long call, something like a 
 wolf's cry: 'Ooh! ooh!' 
 
 "On hearing this the sheep remem- 
 ber the shepherd; they heed his voice; 
 and, strange to tefl, the poor, timid 
 creatures, which were helpless with 
 
 29. 
 
l0(*0lfr^ terror beiore, instantly rush 
 'GvCSt with all their strength into a 
 solid mass. The pressure is 
 irresistible; the wolf is overcome; 
 frequently he is crushed to death, while 
 the shepherd stands there on a rock 
 crying, 'Ooh! ooh!' '/ WILL FEAR 
 NO EVIL: FOR THOU ART WITH 
 
 me: " 
 
 He paused, looking questioningly at 
 one and another. 
 
 "Yes," I said at last, "'in all these 
 
 things we are more than conquerors 
 
 through him that loved us.'" He 
 
 bowed his satisfaction in silence. 
 
 THY' ROD AND THY 
 
 STAFF ' — this also is true 
 
 to hfe; the double expression 
 
 covers the whole round 
 
 \ .^ °^ protecting care. 
 
ror the shepherds carry a H^^of^Ovr' 
 crook for guiding the sheep ^rixn Gyg^t 
 and a weapon suitable for 
 defending them, the staff and the rod; 
 one for aiding them in places of need 
 along peaceful ways, the other for de- 
 fense in perils of robbers and wild 
 beasts. This saying describes as only a 
 shepherd could how much those words 
 
 mean, « THOU ART WITH ME.' 
 "And what shall I say of the next 
 
 words, ^THEY COMFORT ME'? 
 Ah, madam, you should see the sheep 
 cuddle near the shepherd to under- 
 stand that! The shepherd's call, 'Ta- 
 a-a-a, ho-o-o,' and the answering patter 
 of feet as the sheep hurry to him are fit 
 sounds to be chosen out of the noisy 
 world to show what comfort God gives 
 to souls that heed his voice; and those 
 sounds have been heard in my country 
 this day as they were the day this 
 shepherd psalm was written! " 
 
 [31 
 
lOf *Ovr* ^ ^^^ ^^ silence a moment 
 'WUCSl "^^si^g ^s ^f t^^ sounds were 
 in his ear. 
 
 With quiet animation he lifted his 
 thm hand and continued: "Now here 
 is where you drop the shepherd figure 
 and put in a banquet and so lose the 
 fine climax of completeness in the shep- 
 herd's care." 
 
 It need not be said that we were 
 eager Hsteners now, for our guest was 
 all aglow with memories of his far-off 
 homeland and we felt that we were 
 about to see new rays of light flash 
 from this rarest gem in the song- 
 treasury of the world. 
 
 " ■ THOU PREPAREST A TABLE 
 BEFORE ME IN THE PRESENCE 
 OF MINE ENEMIESl' " In the same 
 hushed voice in which he quoted these 
 words he added: "Ah, to think that 
 the shepherd's highest skill and heroism 
 should be lost from view as the psalm 
 
 I 32] 
 
begins to sing or it, and only HHrtf *(C>UI^ 
 an indoor banquet thought ^Wrivn (atic^l 
 
 of!" Again he sat a little 
 time in quiet. Then he said: 
 
 "The word for table here used 
 simply means something 'spread out.' 
 One of the psalms quotes the saying, 
 'Can God prepare a table in the wil- 
 derness?' In olden times the: table in 
 our country was often just what you 
 see to this day among the Arabs, only 
 a piece of skin or a mat or a cloth 
 spread on the ground. That shows 
 what IS meant when the psalmist says, 
 'Let their table become a snare; and 
 when they are at peace let it become 
 a trap.' Do you not see? He was 
 thinking of this way of having meals 
 on the ground in the open country, 
 and wished that his enemies might be 
 caught off guard while eating and en- 
 tangled among the things that were 
 spread before them. This is the kind of 
 
 [33 
 
lof *OlJ^ table that would be thought 
 1 0it^f of in shepherd life. Why not 
 so in a shepherd song? 
 
 "Now is not that exactly Uke what 
 the shepherd prepares for his sheep? 
 Along with finding water he has the 
 daily task of searching out a good and 
 safe feeding-place. He 'prepares a 
 table before them' in truth, and it is 
 none the less a table in his eyes be- 
 cause it is a spreading slope of grassy 
 ground. 
 
 "All the shepherd's skill and often 
 heroic work are called forth in this 
 duty, for it is done many a day 'in 
 the presence of the sheep's enemies.' 
 There are many poisonous plants in 
 the grass and the shepherd must find 
 and avoid them. The sheep will not 
 eat many poisonous things, but there 
 are some which they will eat, one kind 
 of poisonous grass in particular. A 
 cousin of mine once lost three hundred 
 
 [34) 
 
T r IT ^M^^5P^ 
 
 sheep by a mistake m this |^^i|f»Ourv 
 hard task. ^^WOQvtdt 
 
 "Then there are snake holes 
 in some kinds of ground, and, if the 
 snakes be not driven away, they bite 
 the noses of the sheep. For this the 
 shepherd sometimes burns the fat of 
 hogs along the ground. Sometimes he 
 finds ground where moles have worked 
 their holes just under the surface. 
 Snakes lie in these holes with their 
 heads sticking up ready to bite the 
 grazing sheep. The shepherd knows 
 how to drive them away as he goes 
 along ahead of the sheep. 
 
 "And around the feeding-ground 
 which the shepherd thus prepares, in 
 holes and caves in the hillsides, there 
 may be jackals, wolves, hyenas, and 
 panthers, too, and the bravery and 
 skill of the shepherd are at the highest 
 point in closing up these dens with 
 stones or slaying the wild beasts with 
 
 [35] 
 
IpfJ^^J^ his long-bladed knife. Of 
 'Guest nothing do you hear shep- 
 herds boasting more proudly 
 than of their achievements in this 
 part of their care of flocks. 
 
 "And now," exclaimed our guest 
 with a beaming countenance and sup- 
 pressed feehng, as if pleading for recog- 
 nition of the lone shepherd's bravest 
 act of devotion to his sheep, "and now 
 do you not see the shepherd meaning 
 in that quaint line, 'THOU PRE- 
 PAREST A TABLE BEFORE ME 
 IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE 
 ENEMIES?"' 
 
 "Yes," I answered; "and I see that 
 God's care of a man out in the world 
 means far more for his good than ■ 
 seating him at an indoor banquet- 
 table! 
 
 "But what about anointing the head 
 with oil and the cup running over? 
 Go on, my friend." 
 
 36] 
 
SbeHotibiD^ of the Bbeep 
 
day. The psalm has sung of 
 the whole round of the day's wander- 
 ing, all the needs of the sheep, all the 
 care of the shepherd. Now it closes 
 with the last scene of the day. At the 
 door of the sheepfold the shepherd 
 stands and 'the rodding of the sheep' 
 takes place. The shepherd turns his 
 body to let the sheep pass; he is the 
 door, as Christ said of himself.' With 
 his rod he holds back the sheep while 
 he looks them over one by one as 
 they go into the fold. He has the 
 horn filled with olive-oil and he has 
 cedar-tar, and he anoints a knee bruised 
 on the rocks or a side scratched by 
 thorns. And here comes one' that is 
 not bruised but is simply worn and 
 exhausted; he bathes its face and head 
 with the refreshing olive-oil and he 
 takes the large two-handled cup and 
 
 13?: 
 
lOf "VVr* dips it brimming full from the 
 I ^VC$t water he has brought for that 
 purpose, and he lets the weary- 
 sheep drink. 
 
 "There is nothing finer in the psalm 
 than this. God's care is not for the 
 wounded only, it is for those who 
 are just worn and weary. 'THOU 
 Al (^: TEST MY HEAD WITH 
 OIL; MY CUP RUNNETH OVER.' 
 
 "And then, when the day is done 
 and the sheep are snug within the 
 fold, what contentment, what rest 
 under the starry sky!. Then comes 
 the thought of deepest repose and 
 comhrt:' SURELY Gf):' ON ESS AND 
 MERCY SHALL FOLLOW ME ALL 
 THE DAYS OF MY LIFE,' as they 
 have through all the wandering of the 
 day now ended. 
 
 "As the song dies away the heart 
 that God has watched and tended 
 breathes this thought of peace before 
 
 [38] 
 
the roaming of the day is for- 
 gotten in sleep: i WILL 
 DWELL IN THE HOUSE 
 OF THE LORD FOR EVER.' The 
 song is hushed, and the sheep are 
 at rest, safe in the good shepherd's 
 fold." 
 
 Do you wonder that ever since that 
 night we have 
 called this psalm 
 The Song of Our 
 Syrian 
 Guest? 
 
 
 [39l 
 
Hutbor'8 JVotcQ 
 
Hutbor's J^otes 
 
 " Ainzehalta on the slope oj the Syrian 
 mountains." — Pace 14. 
 
 When the little train has crawled up the 
 rack and pinion railway which zigzags from 
 Beyrout and its expanse of sea over the snow- 
 topped Lebanons toward Damascus, one of 
 the small stations at which it halts among the 
 heights is Ain Sofar. The traveler will there 
 notice a carriage road running southward. 
 That road would soon lead to a spot where a 
 flat-roofed village some ten miles from Ain 
 Sofar could be seen across a mountain valley. 
 That is Ainzehaita. An excellent water-color 
 drawing of this village, with the best descrip- 
 tion of scenery and life thereabout known to 
 me, may be found in the first ten chapters of 
 Inchbold's Under The Syrian Sun. 
 
 [43' 
 
J6C30W:5^ "You of the Western world, not 
 iiOi^vVr* knowing these things as they 
 
 *WVCSl °-^^' often misunderstand what 
 
 is written." — Pace 15. 
 
 One of many misconceptions of this sort 
 may serve to illustrate. Only a western view- 
 point could have made the ; words "laid him 
 in a manger" lead Christendom into its long 
 thought of a stable as Christ's birthplace. 
 In Palestine one sees, as I have sought to 
 show in No Room in the Inn, that a lowly 
 home rather than a stable is indicated — an 
 understanding which does not do violence to 
 age-long customs of the land, and also is far 
 happier in its suggestion.^ Since that Httle 
 book was pubhshed I have had the satisfac- 
 tion of hitting upon the following: "It is my 
 impression that the birth [of Jesus] actually 
 took place in an ordinary house of some com- 
 mon peasant, and that the babe was laid in 
 one of the mangers such as are still found 
 in the dwellings of farmers in this region." 
 (Thomson's The Land and the Book, v. 2, p. 503.) 
 On page 98 of the same volume this author 
 tells how his own children were once thus 
 accommodated. 
 
 44] 
 
" There is the shepherd psalm; I find M|s^ O^^L/ODa 
 that this is taken among you as ^^^Of^^VIT* 
 having two parts, " e(c. — Page i6. jjymjkm Gu^t 
 
 Even reading men are often unaware that 
 authoritative writers have seen a shepherd 
 unity throughout this psalm for centuries. 
 The great eye of Augustine, fifteen hundred 
 years ago, saw an essential, onward movement 
 which carries the shepherd thought on to the 
 table prepared in the presence of enemies — 
 a spiritual deepening in that the shepherd's 
 goodness widens with the need, providing care 
 not alone in pleasant places but also where 
 the way becomes hard and perilous. Here 
 are his words: "Now after the rod by which 
 I was brought up while a little one and having 
 life among the flock in the pastures, after that 
 rod when I began to be under the staff, thou 
 hast prepared a table in my sight that I should 
 not now be fed with milk as a little one, but 
 should take food as a larger one, having been 
 estabhshed against them that trouble me." 
 This view can be traced in eminent writings 
 (see notes below) down to our own time. No 
 less a modern scholar than George Adam Smith 
 (Four Psalms, 1896) says that "the last two 
 
 [45I 
 
O^MOlWk verses are as pastoral as the first 
 of *VVI^* four," and shows that the psalm 
 0VCdl does not leave the shepherd figure 
 at the table verse. 
 
 "See how it runs through the round of shepherd 
 lije from first word to last." — Pace 17. 
 
 In The Expositor (London, 1899), Armstrong 
 Black published an elaborate article on the 
 shepherd unity of this psalm which is the most 
 comprehensive treatment of the subject I 
 know. The following, somewhat condensed, 
 will surely be welcomed here: 
 
 "The shepherd is as plain in the midst and 
 last of this psalm as in the first of it, the 
 same shepherd brave and wise and good in 
 paths of fear, as he who sauntered with his 
 flock beside the still waters. His sheep 
 huddle round him, as he leads through the 
 gloomy ravine. And what would he, there in 
 a place so haunted of wolf and bear? Beyond 
 that valley is the place he seeks. There, 
 encircled by the rocks where prowl the foes 
 of the flock, is the fair spot — nature's own 
 
 [46] 
 
■^^^ 
 
 table spread with food convenient; 
 the odorous trees, shedding their 
 gum, are there to refresh and alle- ^ywxil ^|IC^ 
 
 viate; and there is the unceasing 
 well spilling its gift of waters. And the 
 contentment and peace of the flock seem to 
 say: 'Thou spreadest a table before me in 
 the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest 
 my head with oil; my cup runneth over.' 
 Thus the whole psalm is purely pastoral, a 
 musical parable of a good shepherd and his 
 sheep." 
 
 " In the region where David was a shepherd living 
 streams are scarce indeed." — Pace 20. 
 
 Mr. John Whiting, whose home has been 
 in Jerusalem from boyhood and whose scholarly 
 observations are known at Harvard and else- 
 where in America, rode with me one day to 
 Ain Fara, two hours of rough riding northeast 
 from the city, to show me what he deems the 
 only spot in Judea which supplies the natu- 
 ral setting for the imagery of this psalm. It 
 is a copious and perennial spring whose stream 
 
 [47] 
 
allv^jTV'M^ runs deep down in the greenness at 
 iPV^VVr** the bottom of a rocky gorge, the 
 *^V(5f sides of which are steep, perilous, 
 filled with caves, and still the 
 resort of fiocks. "Here," said he, "David 
 must have come." His reasoning, based on the 
 fewness of perennial streams in all the country 
 round about, was convincing. Bethlehem lies 
 but a few miles to the south with no all-year 
 waters near it save a well or two. To repeat 
 this psalm in the Ain Fara ravine, with these 
 facts in mind, with goats and sheep seen at 
 the openings of caves or nibbling high on the 
 precipices, with a wolf or fox spied as it ran 
 along the wild heights, with a shepherd dis- 
 cerned among the rocks by the sound of his 
 singing or calling to his flbck or blowing on 
 his reed-pipe — this was to feel that I stood 
 at last where the twenty-third psalm first 
 v/oke its music in a human breast. 
 
 "They know their shepherd's voice." — Pace. 23. 
 
 A bare-lcggcd young shepherd, wearing a 
 skin bag in which he carried some bread and a 
 
 48] 
 
sling, gave me an example of this ^^^0^^|3|0D$ 
 near the village of Anata, north- ^^^Of^VVr^ 
 east of Jerusalem. " Er-r-r-ruh ! " jVli^W wV C^ t 
 
 he called, "Direh!" The scattered 
 sheep and goats looked up at this throat- 
 rattle, and a nanny goat, mottled as the name 
 "Direh" imphes, came running to' eat from 
 his hand. I called names which he gave us, 
 sounding the " Er-r-r~ruh," too. Not one 
 so much as Hfted a head. Then the shepherd 
 laughed, and shouted "Abeideh," which means 
 black one. Straightway a black sheep came 
 to him from among the rocks. "Hanoon," 
 he cried, and a gentle creature, one easy to 
 milk, as the name indicates, hurried to receive 
 his caress. "Katmeh," he callerf sharply. 
 Now that name means short-eared. Here 
 came such a one, and no mistake" as to its 
 being Katmeh! "He calleth his own sheep 
 by name," and, "they know not the voice of 
 strangers." Then the shepherd lad cried: 
 "Ta-a-a-a, ho-o-o-o," and the whole flock 
 came pattering to him, and once more, "He 
 goeth before them, and the sheep follow him," 
 was true on the Judean hills. 
 
 [49] 
 
mC^PJ01X$ "-f^e walls il up with a little dam 
 Pt^vVr* and so holds the water till it 
 
 viiOS^^^^ S*^^^^ " Quiel pool." — Page 2$. 
 
 I saw a shepherd do this near Zebedani in 
 the Anti-Lebanons. He thus turned water 
 from a swift stream into a grassy hollow, and 
 the sheep stood in the shallow pool drinking 
 with content. 
 
 Restores me when wandering ' is the way it is 
 put in one of our hymns." — Pace 27. 
 
 This is from Montgomery's hymn, the first 
 stanza of which runs: 
 
 "The Lord is my shepherd, no want shall I 
 
 know, 
 I feed in green pastures, safe-folded I rest; 
 He leadeth my soul where the still waters 
 
 flow. 
 Restores me when wandering, redeems when 
 
 oppressed." 
 
 [50 I 
 
"This way of naming the valley is n^^ ^^f^^*'^ 
 true to our country." —Page 2B. ^E|OJ*VVir'* 
 
 Everywhere in Palestine and Syria 
 this way of designating hills and valleys by a 
 descriptive or commemorative phrase is found. 
 In Psalm 84:6 is a similar designation — 
 "Passing through the valley of Baca;" the Re- 
 vised version rendering this, "the valley of 
 weeping," and in the margin, "or balsam 
 trees." The ravine behind Magdala on Lake 
 Galilee is still called "the valley of doves," 
 for a reason which dates back to the Saviour's 
 day, as the reader will find in my little book 
 Peter in the Firelight. The contemplative old 
 cast garners impressions and memories and 
 traditions in this ,w'ay as by many other 
 customs. 
 
 "Shepherds carry a crook for guiding the sheep 
 
 and a weapon suitable Jor defending them, 
 
 the staff and the rorf." — Page 31. 
 
 One mid-afternoon, near Sarghara; 4600 feet 
 above sea level in the Anti-Lebanons, I saw 
 
 [51] 
 
i «**Jfc^'^^ two shepherds with black goats and 
 iOC'*V'V|''* sheep, one having a long staff 
 
 '^V^l crooked at the end, the other a 
 knotted club. Near me as this 
 note is written is a heavy-ended, stout stick, 
 which I brought home from the hands of a 
 shepherd whom I met one evening on the hill- 
 side along the west shore of Lake Galilee. 
 When I pointed to animal hair clotted on the 
 knot, he explained by sign language how he 
 had used it on some wild creature, meanwhile 
 quieting with his caress the staccato bleating 
 of two stray Iambs now snug in his bosom. 
 Sometimes this weapon is studded with nails. 
 Beside me also is a stick bent at the end, the 
 use of which was shown me by the young 
 shepherd near Anata before mentioned. He 
 motioned as if hooking a leg and drawing the 
 sheep. The staff is sometimes straight — a 
 climbing stick, as common among shepherds 
 as the goad among plowmen; often it is merely 
 a short sapling so cut as to get the bend of 
 of the root, for fuller growth is scarce indeed 
 now in Palestine. But near Bethlehem I saw 
 an old shepherd carrying a long, well-rounded 
 crook, such as has been made familiar in 
 Christian art. The double significance, indi- 
 
 52 J 
 
, cated in the psalm by the plural, ^^P0^5^0l^|& 
 "they comfort me," is too precious 3pg jpf *P>ftV 
 to be lost sight of. In Ivanhoe ^VinxnGv^t 
 (chapter 36) there is an interesting 
 instance of the double significance, when the 
 Knight Templar, returned from Palestine, 
 speaks of one as needing "rather the support 
 of the staff than the strokes of the rod." 
 
 " The word for table here used simply means 
 something spread out." — Pace 33. 
 
 Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexicon so defined 
 it, and referred to this verse of our psalm 
 together with Psalm 78:19, "Can God prepare 
 a table in the wilderness?" 
 
 " This is the kind of table that would be thought 
 
 oj in shepherd life. Why not so in a 
 
 shepherd song? " — Paces 33-4. 
 
 In The Spectator, under date of Saturday, 
 July 26, 1712, in the paper numbered 441, 
 
 53] 
 
ffV?^^ Joseph Addison wrote of the bene- 
 ^VVC* fits of trusting reliance on God. 
 V^C^t He closes with a translation of the 
 twenty-third psalm, "which is a 
 kind of Pastoral Hymn and filled with those 
 Allusions which are usual in that kind of 
 writing." It begins: 
 
 "The Lord my Pasture shall prepare. 
 And feed me with a shepherd's care." 
 
 At the table verse, the rendering is: 
 
 "Though in a bare and rugged way, 
 Through devious lonely wilds I stray. 
 Thy Bounty shall my Pains beguile; 
 The barren wilderness shall smile, 
 With sudden Greens and Herbage crown'd, 
 And streams shall murmur all around." 
 
 Clearly Addison thought of the table spread 
 in the wilderness as the feeding place of the 
 sheep — "sudden Greens and Herbage." In 
 John Byrom's A Divine Pastoral, some fifty 
 years later, a similar view is found. 
 
 I 541 
 
"He has the horn filled with ohve-oil 
 and he has cedar-tar," eic — PAGE37. 
 
 
 In a letter headed "S.S. Strath- 
 cona — At sea off the Labrador Coast — 
 Thick Fog," Dr. W. T. Grenfell once wrote 
 that this passage specially pleased him, and 
 added words about his joys as a physician. 
 A London antiquarian wrote that he had veri- 
 fied all points in the narrative but this, and 
 asked what authentication I could send him. 
 Passing over all book references, let me record 
 here only the following. One day as we 
 journeyed in the Syrian mountains near 
 Ainzehalta I asked our dragoman about the 
 various uses of olive oil among his people. 
 Judge of my delight as these words from his 
 lips were written in my note book:' "It is a 
 great medicine with us, also. You know 
 when our Lord Jesus Christ gave that parable 
 he said: 'Pouring m oil and wine' — wine for 
 cleansing, oil for healing." 
 
 155} 
 
l^jSjWS "Safe in the good shepherd's fold." 
 lOC'PVr* -Page 39. 
 
 'V*'C9I Is there scholarly warrant for 
 carrying the shepherd thought of a 
 fold on to the "house" at the close of the 
 psalm? When Addison wrote his dehghtful 
 stanzas there were at least two great folio 
 works by eminent scholars to support his 
 rendering, both published shortly before his 
 birth in 1672. One was written by Hugo 
 Grotius, the other by Henry Hammond of 
 Oxford. The latter ends his paraphrase thus: 
 "To crown all this, thou shalt enfold me 
 at last in that best of sheep-coats, that place 
 of equal purity and safety, where no rav- 
 enous beast can come; there shall I rest, 
 and there abide forever." In a small, leather- 
 bound book bearing the date 1843, which I 
 have long treasured, are stanzas beginning: 
 
 "My shepherd's name is Love." 
 
 They were written by Edwin F. Hatfield, long 
 eminent in America. The last stanza runs: 
 
 "When raging foes surround. 
 My comforts still abound; 
 I breathe a fragrant air, 
 And feed on sweetest fare; 
 
 56. 
 
Thus in thy fold, fl^rtf SSS 
 
 When worn and old, B^ffiiy*' yV* 
 
 I'll dwell secure beneath thy care." 
 
 Qv^t 
 
 THE GAIN FROM THIS VIEW 
 
 The vital gain from this story's interpretation 
 seems to me twofold and really precious. First, 
 the idea of glorying over enemies who have to 
 gaze impotently on the honors paid a favorite 
 at a banquet must be a harsh note utterly 
 discordant in a song so sweet — the one human 
 flaw in a gem divinely pure. To keep the 
 shepherd imagery secures for the psalm itself 
 a hterary simphcity and a quiet heightening 
 of effect within that simphcity quite too fine 
 to lose; and it saves us from blurring its 
 picture of spiritual serenity at the point of 
 deepest beauty. 
 
 But for men in their troubled world-hfe, 
 it does far more than to secure the highest 
 hterary charm. It distinctly sounds the notes 
 of peace where men often cease to hear them. 
 It gathers up the music and the message of 
 the psalm, as it were, into a deep harmony. 
 In the first three verses there are food, refresh- 
 ment, rest, guidance. Yet there, all is in 
 
 l57 . 
 
V^gJVlfS^ pleasant places; it is a simple 
 of *VVr* melody. But at the words, "Yea, 
 1?^ WVCdt though," a second movement opens, 
 deeper, fuller. Not a melody, but 
 a harmony swells through the last three verses. 
 Here once more is guidance, but now it is 
 through a dark valley where perils are, and 
 protection is its consummation; here is food, 
 but now it is in the wilds where enemies 
 prowl and lurk with savage eyes; here is 
 refreshment, but now it is with alleviating 
 oil and ministering cup amid-hard places; and 
 here, too, is rest, but now it finds completeness 
 in the shepherd's shelter after the long day's 
 roaming. Nothing that is in the forepart of 
 the psalm is lacking even when the pleasant 
 places are left behmd and hardships and perils 
 abound. 
 
 This is the full glory of what the good 
 shepherd is to his sheep. He rises to the 
 situation, measures up to all emergencies of 
 need. Herein is the height of his goodness. 
 It goes beyond all that he could be to them in 
 the pleasant, easy days. 
 
 When at last the psalm sings: "Surely good- 
 ness and mercy shall follow me all the days of 
 my life," that word all is the high, full-toned 
 
 [58] 
 
note sounding out the meaning of a^^ IK J^01)j$ 
 tiie whole psalm. "All the days" QslOf "OlT'' 
 — days when pastures were green Hyri^yi G\f(;^ 
 
 and waters still; days when we 
 went through dark places in shadow and 
 peril; days when we were far out in the world, 
 in life's imperative quest, enduring hardship 
 and beset by enemies — "all the days of my 
 life." This psalm is the divine "Lo! I am 
 with you alway — through all the days," 
 sounding back from the heart of man. 
 
 [59] 
 
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