In biblical studies these days, you can’t get very far before you bump into the truism that while Western culture is individualistic through and through, ancient cultures are family- and tribal-oriented. Concepts that stand out as conundrums to us, like the “we were in Egypt” of the Passover Sedar, seem unremarkable to them.
But the other day in a little talk he gave, my colleague William Atkinson pointed out something that seemed unremarkable to individualistic me, but that must have sounded quite odd to ancient ears: Psalm 23. Even though he comes from a corporate-culture mentality, and is comparing God to a shepherd, this is a shepherd who is not portrayed with a whole flock. Instead, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me …” etc.
Fascinating.