He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Ver. 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures] In folds of budding grass, where he feedeth me daily and daintily, plentifully and pleasantly, as among the lilies, Song of Solomon 6:3; that is, amidst the ordinances (David here seemeth to resemble powerful and flourishing doctrine to green pastures, and the secret and sweet comforts of the sacraments to the still waters), where I shall not need to bite on the bare ground, but may go in and out, and find pasture, John 10:9, such as will breed life, and life in more abundance, Joh 10:10 Isaiah 49:10; fat pastures he provideth, Ezekiel 34:14; and fair cotes, or coverts from the sun's heat, as the word here used may also be rendered. Confer Song of Solomon 1:6,7. Virgil saith, it is the office of a good shepherd,
Aestibus in mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem.
He leadeth me (Heb. gently leadeth me) beside the still waters] Heb. waters of rests, Ex quibus diligunt oves bibere, saith Kimchi, such as sheep love to drink of, because void of danger, and yielding a refreshing air. Popish clergymen are called the inhabitants of the sea, Revelation 12:12, because they set abroad gross, troubled, brackish, and sourish doctrine, which rather bringeth barrenness to their hearers, and gnaweth their entrails, than quencheth their thirst or cooleth their heat (Brightman). The doctrine of the gospel (like the waters of Siloah, Isa 8:6), run gently, but taste pleasantly.
Lens fluit Nilus, sed cunctis anmibus extat
Utilior (Claud.).