Psalms 23:4

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, etc.] Which designs not a state of spiritual darkness and ignorance, as sitting in the shadow of death sometimes does, since the psalmist cannot be supposed to be at this time or after in such a condition; (see <230902>Isaiah 9:2 <400413> Matthew 4:13,16 <420179>Luke 1:79); nor desertion or the hidings of God’s face, which is sometimes the case of the people of God, and was the case of the psalmist at times; but now he expressly says the Lord was with him; but rather, since the grave is called the land of the shadow of death, and the distresses persons are usually in, under apprehensions of immediate death, are called the terrors…”

“In the darkest and most trying hour God is near. the valley of the shadow of death--is a ravine overhung by high precipitous cliffs, filled with dense forests, and well calculated to inspire dread to the timid, and afford a covert to beasts of prey. While expressive of any great danger or cause of terror, it does not exclude the greatest of all, to which it is most popularly applied, and which its terms suggest. thy rod and thy staff--are symbols of a shepherd's office. By them he guides his sheep.”

“Thy rod and thy staff - Two words denoting the same thing, and both designing God's pastoral care over him. Psalms 23:5”

“23:4 The shepherd used his rod and staff to fend off danger.”

“through: Psa 44:19; Job 3:5, Job 10:21, Job 10:22, Job 24:17; Jer 2:6; Luk 1:79 I will: Psa 3:6, Psa 27:1-4, Psa 46:1-3, Psa 118:6, Psa 138:7; Isa 41:10; Co1 15:55-57 for thou: Psa 14:5, Psa 46:11; Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10, Isa 43:1, Isa 43:2; Zac 8:23; Mat 1:23, Mat 28:20; Act 18:9, Act 18:10; Ti2 4:22 thy rod: Psa 110:2; Mic 7:14; Zac 11:10, Zac 11:14 Psalms 23:5”

“Rod and staff are here not so much those of the pilgrim, which would be a confusing transition to a different figure, but those of Jahve, the Shepherd (שׁבט, as in Mic 7:14, and in connection with it, cf. Num 21:18, משׁענת as the filling up of the picture), as the means of guidance and defence. The one rod, which the shepherd holds up to guide the flock, and upon which he leans and anxiously watches over the flock, has assumed a double form in the conception of the idea. This rod and staff in the hand of God comfort him, i.e., preserve to him the feeling of security, and therefore a cheerful spirit. Even when he passes through a valley dark and gloomy as the shadow of death, where surprises…”