The book that started it all!
I’m so glad you could join me today. I really look forward to this time with you, sharing from my heart things that have tied another knot in my string of faith. Oh, how I hope that the words in this series will help you tie lots of knots in your string of faith! Grab your coffee and come on in. 
Before we go out to the pasture of the 23rd Psalm, let me give you a little explanation. I have been taking this class online called Literature of the Bible, and if I had only one word to describe the experience, I would use the word challenging, and that’s putting it mildly so I’m super excited to be just about done with it.
Coffee Hour!
One of the most painful lessons I’ve learned in this class is that everything I don’t read for myself, I seem to take for granted and/or assume. Assumption is a dangerous thing, especially when it comes to the Word of God. The truth is there’s some inaccurate information based on assumptions spoken as truth out there so we must dig and learn for ourselves, and in this case, NOT think like a lost sheep who has lost focus of his/her Shepherd!
My first assumption – that of thinking the Bible, as I’ve been reading it and studying it, is chronologically correct! – has actually been erased and now I’m itching to get a “chronological” Bible! I can hear your many questions, and perhaps the loudest one matches my own: Why are the books in the Bible in the order that they are and why isn’t the Chronological Bible the one we study from?” Good questions and for all my studying, all I can say is the fact that they are canonically approved is the most significant, and as far as the second question, I think it would be a great idea for us to get a chronological Bible and check it out! Otherwise, we can Google “chronological order of the books of the Bible” and begin to read them in their order. You can also email me at evinda@chicklitpower.com and I’d be happy to give you that chronological order!
That being said, let’s get to the first thing we need to overcome in the 23rd Psalm, that of the time it was written. Though the exact timing of the writing of the 23rd Psalm has not been determined, there is enough historical evidence to say unequivocally that the author is David. Many think he had to of written it while he was a shepherd boy, but I would whole-heartedly, respectfully refute that because he hadn’t made any enemies yet as a shepherd boy, except for maybe his brothers! But after David’s miraculous slaying of Goliath, if anything, he had more fans and supporters.
As we read the six verses of this beautiful psalm, they speak of life experienced, of hardships, of joys, sorrows, and victories, things that a young boy could not have experienced, so it is more probable than not that he penned this in his later years. I would agree that it is very likely that as he penned this psalm, he was reflecting on the days of being a shepherd boy. 
For the purpose of this exploration, we will presume that David wrote the 23rd Psalm sometime during his later years and before the Babylonian exile. I, like Dr. Hyles, think that David penned this psalm at a very dark hour, perhaps even during the civil war caused by his own son’s, Absalom, rebellion.
See, right there begs a stop sign. David had so much history in his life and there’s certainly not enough time in this series to go through all of it, so I will just give little snapshots to add clarity to these amazing truths of the 23rd Psalm.
Join me Monday for more grazing…Looking to our Shepherd,
Evinda
P.S. I’d like to say “Happy, Happy Birthday to Bre, my step-daughter. I pray that as we spend this weekend together, we make memories that make your heart smile for years to come! I love you, tiny one!
