Psalms 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
I found something very interesting when I did a study on the words follow (radaph) and dwell (shaveti), both words have a bridal meaning to it. The word follow in Hebrew is radaph which is a word used for a bride pursuing a groom and the word shaveti which comes from the root word yashav is a word used for a bride dwelling in the house of her beloved or groom. Something we do not usually consider about Hebrew poetry is that Hebrew poetry can often carry a double motif. The obvious motif of Psalms 23 is that of shepherding, but there is also a secondary motif and it is that of a bride pursuing or following her bridegroom. The word radaph is in a Qal imperfect form so as my study partner pointed out this is not so much the bride pursuing her beloved, but just following him as wives often did during the start of the civil war. Early in the Civil War a wife often followed her husband as he moved from camp to camp as a soldier and finally camping at the site of the battlefield. These women performed the traditional duties of a wife, cooking, laundry and eventually perform the duties of a nurse. In the early part of the war it was not unusual for soldiers to have private tents where they lived with their wives shared an intimacy with their wives before going into battle. Their motivation was out of love and the fact that when they married their husband they committed to live with him no matter where it was.
My study partner pointed out that this passage seemed reversed, it should be, and “I will dwell in the house of the Lord” first and the goodness and mercy will follow. The syntax suggests she may be right. Radaph (follow) is in an imperfect (incompleted action) form while dwell (shaveti) is in a perfect (completed action) form. Hence you should render this as, “Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life and I am dwelling in the house of the Lord forever.”
The bridegroom has filled his bride with such goodness (tov) and mercy (chasad) that she will follow him all the days of her life, even if, like in the civil war it means following him all the way to the battle field. She does this because of goodness which is the Hebrew word tov and means to be in harmony. She is in such harmony with her beloved that she is one with him, even to the point of following him all the way to the battlefield. She is also filled with his mercy which is the Hebrew word chasad and means to find favor through lovingkindness. She has found favor through his lovingkindness.
But soft, notice that David is saying that he is dwelling (shaveti) in the house of the Lord forever. Translators always put this in a future tense yet it is clearly in a perfect (competed action) form in the Hebrew. David is already dwelling in the house of the Lord. The word house (byrith) has a wide range of meanings, one of which is the dwelling place of the bride in the groom’s home. I believe that this is the meaning to be used in this context in order to follow the bridal motif. But the groom’s home is more than just his physical house, it is his world. The bride leaves her world, the world of her parent and her siblings. She leaves the rules and life style of her family and joins the rules and life style of her husband. In ancient times and even in some places in the Middle East today, a man simply builds his house as an attachment to his father’s house and brings his bride in to live in his father’s dwelling. Hence David is picturing himself as a bride, not just entering the home of his beloved, but the home of his beloved’s father. But this is more than just a physical dwelling place, it is a new world for the bride, a new family and a new life style where she is loved and respect because of her beloved and made to feel at home, but most important, it is the dwelling (shaveti) of her beloved where she will dwell with him in harmony (tov – goodness) and mercy (chasad – favor through lovingkindness) forever. She will follow him no matter where he goes. This is picture with Mary who was pregnant and yet followed Joseph to Bethlehem to pay his taxes. She did not have to be with him for him to pay his taxes, but she was married to him, he welcomed her into his world despite the possible scandal from her pregnancy and as a result of his lovingkindness she followed him on a difficult journey begin almost full term in her pregnancy. She should have stayed behind in the house of her husband where his family would have taken care of her, but she chose not to, she wanted to be with her beloved and deliver her baby with him present. She stepped into his word, his shaveti (his dwelling or his world) and would not leave because goodness (tov – harmony) and mercy (chasad) from her husband would follow her.
Psalms 23:6 is best described in a song written by Martin Schmidt many years ago, Welcome to My World:
Welcome to my world, won’t you come on in,
Miracles I give and they will happen now and then.
Step into my heart, leave your cares behind
Welcome to my world built with you in mind.
Knock and the door will open, seek and you will find
Ask and you will be given the key to this heart of mine
I’ll be waiting here, with my arms opened wide
Waiting just for you, welcome to my world. – Martin Schmidt
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