That Yahweh is “shepherd” is consistent with claims elsewhere that he is “king,” since ancient Near Eastern monarchs also described themselves as shepherding their people and understood their gods as fulfilling this role as well. As shepherds, such kings understood their responsibility to provide protective order for their people and to administer just and effective laws.

It is especially significant within the continuing context of the consecutive Psalms 18–23 that the singular voice of the psalmist is associated—whether in reality or imagination—with the model king, David, who is particularly known for his shepherd experiences. That David, who understood himself to be the shepherd of Israel and who was acknowledged by the people as such, should speak of Yahweh as “my shepherd” (23:1) is a way of acknowledging that Yahweh is indeed the power behind the throne of David (and all the kings of Israel and Judah), and that in reality Yahweh is the true king of Israel. This theme finds its way throughout the remote corners of the Psalter, but it is especially prevalent in the final two books and concentrated in the Yahweh malak psalms in Book 4.

I shall not be in want. The focus of the word “want” is not so much on the idea of “desiring” something as on “lacking” something needed. The psalmist does not mean that Yahweh shepherds us by giving us everything we desire. Rather, those who trust in Yahweh as sheep do in a shepherd will never lack for whatever they need. The niv’s translation “I shall not be in want” succeeds in clarifying the true meaning of the phrase. In the verses that follow, the psalmist illustrates how the shepherd-God supplies abundantly all that his trusting people need.