A Story from Psalm 23

Shammah looked on with growing interest as the woman cried out for mercy for her son. Her fear was justified. The young boy, almost a man, had just been caught stealing a chicken from his neighbor. The punishment was double retribution or death. Everyone knew that. Judging by the tattered clothing worn by both mother and son, there was no way double retribution was a possibility. The law was clear. The King should have condemned the boy to a stoning, and went on to the next group of people who wanted his judgment in a matter.

Instead, Shammah felt the Kings eyes on him as he asked the boy, “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Why is he looking at me?” Shammah thought as he raised an insolent eyebrow at the King, also one of his closest friends.

The boy removed his mother’s arms from around him and stepped forward to address the King.

“I will not apologize. My father left us last year, and we were starving. I asked our neighbor for help and he refused. I had no choice. A man doesn’t let the people he loves starve.”

Shammah felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. Those words: “a man doesn’t let the people he loves starve.”. He had said those same words to the King almost 20 years ago; before he was King; when he was just David. Shammah, and his best friends, Josheb and Eleazar traveled over a hundred miles to a cave in enemy territory, to pledge their allegiance to David. On the journey, they were met with other men traveling in groups to the same destination. By the time they reached the cave, there were about 400 of them; all outcasts and outlaws pledging to follow the unrecognized King wherever he went. David spoke to each of them individually. It took two weeks before Shammah had a chance to talk to him. David wanted to know why he was running away to live as a criminal in exile from his family. Shammah confessed that he had been caught stealing and either had to leave or die.

“Do you acknowledge that stealing is wrong Shammah?” David questioned him.

Shammah remembered lifting his head and looking David in the eye and saying, “a man doesn’t let the people he loves starve.” He remembered David smiling at him and patting him on the shoulder and saying the words he would later hear him say as a prayer and sing as a song to Yahweh: “the Lord is your shepherd and in Him you shall not want.”

Over the years in exile, those words proved true time and time again. Yahweh really was watching over them. David was a man who knew his God, and so he was strong and did great exploits. Yahweh always had his back, and because of David being blessed, those around him were blessed. Shammah, Josheb and Eleazar started joining him in his times of prayer. They wanted the same favor of God that David had. They wanted others to be blessed because they were blessed.
Pretty soon they realized that their motive was honorable, but wrong. David pursued Yahweh because he loved Him and he knew that Yahweh loved him back. As hard as it was for them to believe, David had a true relationship with the Creator of all things. Their motives changed. They joined David, not just in prayer, but in praise and adoration, and Yahweh Himself, fellowshipped with each of them. They understood the words David would sing in the evenings around the camp fire: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul.” David’s relationship with Yahweh made him great. Shammah and his 2 friends also came to have a relationship with Yahweh who made them men of renown: David’s 3 Mighty Men. There were many mighty men in David’s camp, but none attained to the fame and stature of the three. Josheb killed 800 enemies of God with one spear during one battle. Eleazar fought and killed about 500 men with his sword and fought so long that hihand stuck to his sword. The three of them together fought an army just to get their King a cup of fresh water.

Shammah remembered the first time he didn’t just know with his mind, but experienced in body and spirit that Yahweh was his fiercely protective shepherd. He was on guard duty while the farmers were bringing in the harvest. They had heard a rumor that the Philistines were going to try and attack during the harvest because they knew the best way to kill a strong man was to make him weak with hunger. No harvest meant no food, and the lentil field Shammah was helping to guard was rich and plentiful and would provide for the people until the next year. True to the rumor, the Philistines attacked. Everyone ran, including the soldiers who were to help him guard and defend the field. As he looked at the odds against him, he suddenly felt another presence in him and upon him. He felt a calm envelope him that he could not comprehend, and he remembered a prayer of David from a few years back: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Fear will not conquer me, for You already have! Forever close to me, You will lead me through it all the way.

The strength of Your authority is my peace, my reassurance. The comfort of Your love takes away my fear. Even when my enemies dare to fight, You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit.” Shammah picked up his weapon and stepped toward his first enemy. The next thing he remembered, they were all dead at his feet. It was through that one mighty act that a nation came to see God as their provider.

Shammah was hit with a revelation. That is why the King was looking at him. He remembered his story. The boy reminded him of Shammah, and just like Shammah needed a David to show him Yahweh as provider, that boy needed Shammah. He rushed from his place among Josheb and Eleazar and yelled to the assembly, “I will pay his debt!”