Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Ver. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death] In the most dark and dangerous places, where there is Luctus ubique, pavor, et plurima mortis imago, those dark places full of cruelty, Psalms 74:20, where wolves wait for me. Though I walk (not step) through (not cross) the valley (not a dark entry only) of the shadow of death (the darkest side of it, death in its most hideous and horrid representations), I will not fear; for I fear God, and have him by the hand; I must needs be tutus sub umbraleonis, safe by his side, and under his safeguard. If God be for us, who can be against us?
For thou art with me] Hence my security. See a promise answerable to it, John 10:28. Christ is not to lose any of his sheep, John 17:12. Having therefore this ark of God's covenant in our eyes, let us cheerfully pass the waters of Jordan, to take possession of the promised land. Cur timeat hominem homo, in sinu Dei positus? saith a Father.
Thy rod and thy staff] He pursueth the former allegory; shepherds, in driving their flocks, have a rod or wand in their hands, wherewith they now and then strike them; and a staff or sheep hook on their necks, wherewith they catch and rule them. Of Christ's rods and staves, see Zechariah 11:7, &c.; foolish shepherds have only foreipes et mulctram, Zechariah 11:15. R. Solomon by rod here understandeth afflictions, by staff support under them, a good use and a good issue.
They comfort me] God's rod, like Aaron's, blossometh; and, like Jonathan's, it hath honey at the end of it.