At any rate, the images are colorful. David speaks of a banquet in front of enemies, a head anointed with oil, a cup overflowing. Then, in his closing summary, David employs a vivid picture: personified goodness and mercy follow him “all the days” of his life. David’s poetry displays a grain and texture that draws the reader into the poetic world and alters his awareness of ultimate realities.

The Bible is full of imaginative literature (by imaginative I do not mean “made up,” but rather “literature that makes its appeal to the imagination”). Much of Scripture is cast in the form of stories. Several biblical books are devoted exclusively to poetry, and others employ poetic forms extensively in their composition. Parts of the Bible are apocalyptic, and whatever else apocalypses may do, they appeal to the imagination (specifically, the speculative fantasy).

If we want to discuss the use of the imagination in Scripture, we find ourselves nearly stymied by an embarrassment of riches. Where shall we turn? For the present discussion, I propose to select a work that is widely known and can be easily recalled. We shall discuss the Twenty-Third Psalm.

David begins this psalm with the line, “The Lord is my shepherd.” This line is worth pondering for what it assumes. Clearly, David has been contemplating shepherds—no surprise, since he spent his youth performing the work of a shepherd. When David thinks of a shepherd, however, he is not merely thinking of a man doing a job. For David, shepherds point to something beyond themselves. They are symbols, and what they symbolize is something like the notion of provision and care.

This point is so important that it bears restating. David has already been “looking through” shepherds before he begins to associate them with God. His vision of a shepherd is what controls the analogy of Psalm 23. For David, God is not so much like an actual shepherd whom one might meet in the field (sweaty, grimy, and bored, for example) as He is like what a shepherd represents to David.

What if David had thought of shepherds differently? Suppose he had viewed shepherds from a different perspective, perhaps as those who profit from the flock. Given this understanding of a shepherd, it simply would not have worked to suggest that “the Lord is my shepherd.” The image would have said all the wrong things.

In other words, David is making a double move within the primary imagination. First, a shepherd is a symbol of provision and care. Second, temporal provision and care is a symbol of God’s provision and care for His people.

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