‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup runs over.'
This idea of His full provision now turns the Psalmist's thoughts to a great feast. Jesus regularly depicted what He had come to offer in terms of a great feast. Here the table was prepared, like the good pasturage for the sheep, and it was laden with good things. Even when surrounded by their enemies His people can feast at His table. For the Shepherd watches over them to protect them. There are already echoes here of the coming Messianic feast.
And they eat in comfort and luxuriously, the sweat of the hills forgotten, for He anoints their heads with oils and perfumes, and He ensures that their cups are full and overflowing. The perfumes are the perfumes of Arabia (1 Kings 10:15), and there is no stinting when it is He Who pours out the wine (compare Psalms 36:8). ‘I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly' (John 10:10). Thus do they feast at the King's table (2 Samuel 9:7). And this is not just some future hope, although it is that, but is intended to be enjoyed in the present. For He has provided us with His word and the means of entry into His presence (Hebrews 10:19-20), as He had David (Deuteronomy 17:18-19), and we can constantly feast at His table, even in the darkest circumstances.