Verse:
Psalms 23:3
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness ( justification / tsedeq ) for his name's sake.
Commentary by Adam Clarke
He restoreth my soul In the paths of righteousness
Brings back my life from destruction; and converts my soul from sin, that it may not eternally perish. Or, after it has backslidden from him, heals its backslidings, and restores it to his favour. See the old paraphrase on this clause in the preceding note. For his name's sake.
bemageley tsedek, "in the circuits" or "orbits of righteousness." In many places of Scripture man appears to be represented under the notion of a secondary planet moving round its primary; or as a planet revolving round the sun, from whom it receives its power of revolving, with all its light and heat. Thus man stands in reference to the Sun of righteousness; by his power alone is he enabled to walk uprightly; by his light he is enlightened; and by his heat he is vivified, and enabled to bring forth good fruit. When he keeps in his proper orbit, having the light of the glory of God reflected from the face of Jesus Christ, he is enabled to enlighten and strengthen others. He that is enlightened may enlighten; he that is fed may feed. Source
To display the glory of his grace, and not on account of any merit in me. God's motives of conduct towards the children of men are derived from the perfections and goodness of his own nature.
Commentary by Coffman
He restoreth my soul He leadeth me. for his name's sake
(Psalms 23:3). This is the thought of the shepherd metaphor in Jesus' parable of the lost sheep. The human application is that of converting Christians who have fallen away from duty. Some writers would soften what is said here by rendering refresheth instead of restoreth; but as Kidner pointed out, The verb used here refers to `repentance,' or `conversion.' In this context, the restoring or bringing back of the sheep, Pictures the deeper renewal of the man of God, spiritually perverse or ailing as he may be. Source
(Psalms 23:3). This passage is where many commentators have missed it altogether. Why does God perform all these wonderful activities for men? It is not for the purpose, Of upholding his reputation for fair dealings with his people. It is not merely because it is his nature to do so. It is because the ones cared for are called by God's name. The prophet Isaiah gave the correct answer thus: I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine ... I have called thee by my name ... I have created thee for my glory (Isaiah 43:1-7).
Yes indeed, the plan of salvation is in this psalm. Those persons who are the object of the kind of protection and guidance assured in this psalm, in the present dispensation, are Christians. No one is "called by God's name" (Isaiah 43:7) who has not been baptized into it; and although the ancient Israelites were, in their day, called by God's name, it was for an utterly different reason from that which prevails now. Nothing in the Bible emphasizes the exclusiveness of these marvelous promises quite as effectively as Isa 43:1-7.
Isa 43:1-7
1 But now, this is what the LORD says-
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD , your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
To restore the soul is to revive or quicken it (Ps 19:7), or relieve it (La 1:11, 19). Source
paths of righteousness--those of safety, as directed by God, and pleasing to Him.
for his name's sake--or, regard for His perfections, pledged for His people's welfare.
Ps 19:7
The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
Commentary by John Gill
He restoreth my soul he leadeth, he in the paths of righteousness;
Either when backslidden, and brings it back again when led or driven away, and heals its backslidings; or rather, when fainting, swooning, and ready to die away, he fetches it back again, relieves, refreshes, and comforts with the discoveries of his love, with the promises of his word, and with the consolations of his Spirit, and such like reviving cordials, (See Gill on 19:7); for his name's sake;
in the plain paths of truth and holiness, in which men, though fools, shall not err; in right ones, though they sometimes seem rough and rugged to Christ's sheep, yet are not crooked; there is no turning to the right hand or the left; they lead straight on to the city of habitation; and they are righteous ones, as paths of duty are, and all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord be; moreover, Christ leads his by faith, to walk on in him and in his righteousness, looking through it, and on account of it, for eternal life; see (Proverbs 8:20) ; and all this he does
Proverbs 8:20
I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice,Source
for his own glory and the praise of his grace, and not for any merits or deserts in men.
Commentary by John Wesley
Restoreth - Heb. He bringeth it back; from its errors and wandering. For - Not for any worth in me, but for the glory of his justice, and faithfulness, and goodness.
Source
Commentary by Matthew Henry
The divine guidance they are under is stripped of its metaphor (Psalms 23:3): He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, in the way of my duty; in that he instructs me by his word and directs me by and providence. Theses are the paths in which all the saints desire to be led and kept, and never to turn aside out of them. And those only are led by the still waters of comfort that walk in the paths of righteousness. The way of duty is the truly pleasant way. It is the work of righteousness that is peace. In these paths we cannot walk unless God both lead us into them and lead us in them.
(3.) They are well helped when any thing ails them: He restoreth my soul.Source
[1.] "He restores me when I wander." No creature will lose itself sooner than a sheep, so apt is it to go astray, and then so unapt to find the way back. The best saints are sensible of their proneness to go astray like lost sheep (Psalms 119:176); they miss their way, and turn aside into by-paths; but when God shows them their error, gives them repentance, and brings them back to their duty again, he restores the soul; and, if he did not do so, they would wander endlessly and be undone. When, after one sin, David's heart smote him, and, after another, Nathan was sent to tell him, Thou art the man, God restored his soul. Though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, he will not suffer them to lie still in it. [2.] "He recovers me when I am sick, and revives me when I am faint, and so restores the soul which was ready to depart." He is the Lord our God that heals us, Exodus 15:26. Many a time we should have fainted unless we had believed; and it was the good shepherd that kept us from fainting.
Psalms 119:176
I have strayed like a lost sheep.
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commands.
Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD , who heals you."
Commentary by Spurgeon
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul. When the soul grows sorrowful he revives it; when it is sinful he sanctifies it; when it is weak he strengthens it. "He" does it. His ministers could not do it if he did not. His Word would not avail by itself. "He restoreth my soul." Are any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray to him, then, for the blessing -- "Restore thou me, thou Shepherd of my soul!" EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of his Master. "He leadeth me." The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others; he does not pick and choose, but yields to all. Observe, that the plural is used -- "the paths of righteousness." Whatever God may give us to do we would do it, led by his love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness. All this is done out of pure free grace; "for his name's sake." It is to the honour of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd's care. Source
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul, etc. The subjects experimentally treated in this verse are, first, the believer's liability to fall, or deviate even within the fold of the church, else wherefore should he need to be "restored?" Next, the promptitude of the Good Shepherd to interpose for his rescue. "He restoreth my soul." Then Christ's subsequent care to lead him in the paths of righteousness; and lastly, the reason assigned wherefore he will do this -- resolving all into the spontaneousness, the supremacy, the omnipotence of grace. He will do all for his own name's sake. Thomas Dale.
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul. The same hand which first rescued us from ruin, reclaims us from all our subsequent aberrations. Chastisement itself is blended with tenderness; and the voice which speaks reproof, saying, "They have perverted their way, and they have forsaken the Lord their God," utters the kindest invitation, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." Nor is the voice unheard, and the call unanswered or unfelt. "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." Jer 3:22. "When thou saidst, Seek my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." J. Thornton's "Shepherd of Israel", 1826.
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul. He restores it to its original purity, that was now grown foul and black with sin; for also, what good were it to have "green" pastures and a black soul! He "restores" it to its natural temper in affections, that was grown distempered with violence of passions; for alas! what good were it to have "still" waters and turbulent spirits! He "restores" it indeed to life, that was grown before in a manner quite dead; and who could "restore my soul" to life, but he only that is the Good Shepherd and gave his life for his sheep? Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 3. He shall convert my soul; turn me not only from sin and ignorance, but from every false confidence, and every deceitful refuge. He shall bring me forth in paths of righteousness; in those paths of imputed righteousness which are always adorned with the trees of holiness, are always watered with the fountains of consolation, and always terminate in everlasting rest. Some, perhaps, may ask, why I give this sense to the passage? Why may it not signify the paths of duty, and the way of our own obedience? Because such effects are here mentioned as never have resulted, and never can result, from any duties of our own. These are not green pastures, but a parched and blasted heath. These are not still waters, but a troubled and disorderly stream. Neither can these speak peace or administer comfort when we pass through the valley and shadow of death. To yield these blessings, is the exalted office of Christ, and the sole prerogative of his obedience. James Hervey.
Verse 3. He restoreth my soul: Hebrew. "He bringeth it back;" either,Verse 3. Paths of righteousness. Alas! O Lord, these "paths of righteousness", have a long time so little been frequented, that the prints of a path are almost clean worn out; that it is a hard matter now, but to find where the paths lie, and if we can find them, yet they are so narrow and so full of ruts, that without special assistance it is an impossible thing not to fall or go astray. Even so angels, and those no mean ones, were not able to go right in these "paths of righteousness", but for want of leading, went away and perished. O, therefore, thou the Great Shepherd of my soul, as thou art pleased of thy grace to lead me into them, so vouchsafe with thy grace to lead me in them; for though in themselves they be "paths of righteousness", yet to me they will be but paths of error if thou vouchsafe not, as well to lead me in them, as into them. Sir Richard Baker.
From its errors or wandering; or,
Into the body, out of which it was even departing and fainting away. He revives or comforts me. Matthew Poole.
Verse 3. Paths. In the wilderness and in the desert there are no raised paths, the paths being merely tracks; and sometimes there are six or eight paths running unevenly along side each other. No doubt this is what is figuratively referred to in Psalms 23:3, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness", all leading to one point. John Gadsby.
Verse 3. For his name's sake. Seeing he hath taken upon him the name of a "Good Shepherd", he will discharge his part, whatever his sheep be. It is not their being bad sheep that can make him leave being a "Good Shepherd", but he will be "good", and maintain the credit of "his name" in spite of all their badness; and though no benefit come to them of it, yet there shall glory accrue to him by it, and "his name" shall nevertheless be magnified and extolled. Sir Richard Baker.
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Prepared by William C. Barman for George Young Memorial United Methodist Church -- Palm Harbor, FL on 9/25/03; 5:05:43 PM