Green Pastures and Still Waters, Psalm 23:2 Wall Art

A meadow by the river

Jesus sits on a gray boulder in a long cream robe, a gray-blue mantle around his shoulders and a coral-red stole hanging to his knees. He bends toward a sheep that stands close and lifts its face to him, and his hand cups the back of its head. In the foreground a lamb lies curled in the grass with its eyes shut. His wooden crook leans against the rock.

This time the landscape is generous. The grass is thick and green, an olive tree stands on the left, and behind the shepherd a river slides by so calmly that it barely ripples, with reeds along the bank, a few cypresses and a blue mountain in the distance. Three lines of brown script above: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” and Psalm 23:2 below.

Why would a sheep need to be made to lie down?

Sheep are nervous animals. They will not settle while they are hungry, thirsty or frightened, so a flock lying down in the open is a sign that a shepherd has done his work: found grass in a dry land, kept away the danger, brought them to water. The verse describes a peace that someone else has made possible.

“Green pastures” in the Judean hills are not a given. They appear after the winter rains and fade by early summer, so a good shepherd had to know where to look. And sheep are wary of rushing streams; the Hebrew behind “still waters” is closer to “waters of rest”, a quiet pool or a slow bend where they can drink without fear.

Notice that the verse moves: he makes me lie down, then he leads me. Rest is not the end of the road, it is a stop along it. The Bible returns to the picture at its very end, in Revelation 7:17: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

In memory of someone at rest

Few passages are heard at American funerals more than the Shepherd Psalm, and this verse in particular is chosen to remember someone who has finally been allowed to lie down after a long illness or a long life. As a sympathy gift it says something gentle without saying too much, and many families hang it near a photograph of the person they miss.

The calm green palette also makes it a soft choice for a bedroom or a baby's nursery, and it is often given at a baptism, with the sleeping lamb for the newest member of the flock.