"Pour One Out for my Homies”

Sept. 20

Read: Psalm 23

"Pour One Out for my Homies”; Death cult vs. the people of God

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

for you are with me…You prepare a table before me…my cup overflows.” - (v.4,5)

The “valley of the shadow of death” is an actual place parallel to the Jordan River outside of Bethlehem and to the south of Jericho. (It’s Arabic name is Wadi Qelt.) I think most of the time we think of it as a theoretical place, but the people of God during biblical times would have read that phrase and had a somewhat different context. In this “valley of death” there are many stone tables known as “Dolmans”. These stone monuments were grave sites, and the place where people would come to venerate and worship the dead. They would come to pour out offering of drink and bring food to “feed” they dead in the afterlife. These traditions survive even unto today! Look at how “pouring one out” (pouring a drink out onto the ground) for a dead friend is still a tradition or how they continue to celebrate the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico. The idea is clear: people in this world need to remember you in the afterlife or you will cease to exist. The ancients thought that if your “cup” was not filled in these rituals that you would suffer in the after life… that is you were not “fed” you would cease to exist or suffer more. This is just another example of the twisted worship of these lesser / deceptive gods who oppose God Most High. These are gods which seek to mislead humanity and destroy them!

God is the “good shepherd” of Psalm 23. Jesus - God incarnate - describes himself as the “good shepherd”. (John 10) What a stark contrast to the “death cult” and its rituals! As we read this Psalm we see that the people of God walk right through the valley of the shadow of death. This other deceptive and malicious gods that seek to destroy us do not strike fear in us… we need not fear death or the afterlife one bit! (cf. Heb. 2:14) The Lord is a good shepherd who leads us through this place and protects us from our enemies… spiritual as well as material. The imagery does not stop there though. “you prepare a table before me” and “my cups overflows”. The significance of this may be lost on us. Think about the death cult, this valley of death, the stone tables, and the sacrifices…

As the people of God - with the Good Lord as our shepherd - we do not depend on other humans to memorialize us to stay alive. We do not need to worry about being “fed” in the afterlife so that we stay intact and do not suffer. We do not need to hope that someone will come and “fill our cup” so that we don’t have to “eat dust” for all eternity. We do not have to stress over someone “pouring one out” for me or “saying my name” or any other hold over from the death cult religion. God sets a table for us! God fills our cup… and our cup is SO FULL that it runs over. This is yet another example of how God is the opposite of the gods of this world. Our life here and now is provided for by the Lord. Our lives in the afterlife are in his hands. We may walk in the midst of these demons and their “dark magic” with its death rituals… but we “fear no evil”. We belong to the “Good Shepherd”. Our table is set. We are well fed. Our cup runs over and no one has to come to a ritual stone table in the very place that is known for death to fill it up for us! Praise the Lord for this truth!