Book Review: a shepherd looks at PSALM 23

Keller, Phillip a shepherd looks at PSALM 23, illus.  by Robert Doares,  Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1970, 144 pp.

 

    I first came across the name of Phillip Keller when my father gave me a used book titled On Wilderness Trails. I was at an age when wildlife, woods and back-packing all appealed to me, and here was the ultimate outdoorsman. Born and raised in Kenya, Keller came to Canada and got a degree from the University of Toronto, in Science and Agriculture. Early in their marriage, he and his wife, Chic, bought a decayed old farm on the southern tip of Vancouver Island and gradually turned it into a wildlife sanctuary.

        At other stages in his life he was a photographer, a journalist, a pastor, and always a conservationist. This book draws on Keller’s eight years’ experience as a sheep rancher. His purpose is to bring God’s people into an “appreciation of the endless effort put forth by our Saviour, for His sheep.” He points out that David wrote this psalm speaking as a sheep! The Shepherd owns me and His ownership is legitimate.

      This book is a devotional that also informs—in twelve short chapters he praises the Saviour on every page, and every chapter brings us relevant facts about keeping sheep. For instance, Keller describes the “butting order” that sheep establish—and there are definite advantages to being “bottom sheep”. We learn that sheep will drink from any dirty pool; it takes the shepherd to find them good water. We learn about a “cast” or “immobilized” sheep; this is one that has rolled onto its back and can’t get up again. It will lie there and flail till it dies, if the shepherd doesn’t get it back on its feet. The parallel with our Shepherd is unmistakable. Keller makes the point that Christians are so much like sheep that it is “well nigh embarrassing”.

Phillip Keller

        The parallels with the spiritual life keep coming: We have to go through the valleys; we can’t be “air-lifted” to higher ground. The shepherd combs the meadows for poisonous plants and removes them to “prepare the table” for the sheep. The shepherd applies a mixture of oil and sulphur to the heads and noses of the sheep to protect them from flies. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me—Do I leave a trail of sadness or gladness?”

        Keller really knew his stuff and he packaged it in a delightful book. You’ll read Psalm 23 with fresh eyes again.