Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 23:2

A Midrashic approach based on Midrash Tehillim 23: Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Shimon where the Israelites got all their clothing during the forty years in the desert. Rabbi Shimon answered that their clothing came from the same source as that of the ministering angels. He based this on Ezekiel 16,10: “I clothed you in embroidered garments.” Concerning the meaning of the word רקמה, “embroidered,” used by the prophet, Rabbi Simai said that it is a kind of mantle. To the question: “did they not wear out?” Rabbi Shimon replied: “Did you not ever read the text of the Torah? The Torah tells you that the clothing did not wear out!” To this Rabbi Rabbi Simai retorted: ‎”did then the clothing grow with the children?” He was told to take his cue from the lizard whose skin (compared to clothing because it is shed) also grows with it. To this came the question: “did this clothing not ever need laundering?” He was answered that the cloud would both wash it and iron it. The questioner then wanted to know if these clothes did not ever burn, catch fire? He was told to observe a certain category of animal called Sitin (salamander) which are “sort of dry-cleaning themselves” in fire without suffering burns. The questioner now wanted to know if the people wearing the same clothing for forty years did not ever experience attacks by vermin such as lice, etc.? Thereupon the questioner was told that if the bodies of these people were not subject to attacks by worms, they would certainly not be vicitimized by vermin while they were alive. The next question concerned the foul smell that must have emanated from people who wore the same clothes year in year out without change. The answer given was that the traveling well produced fragrant smells which neutralised any stench emitted by the clothing of the people. This is why they did not have to change their garments at all. In fact, according to our tradition this well made all kinds of herbs grow, herbs the fragrance of which could be inhaled from one end of the earth to the other. The people would waft these herbs to and fro; this is what David referred to in Psalms 23,2 בנאות דשא ירביצני, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Solomon also referred to this phenomenon in Song of Songs 4,11 when he said: “and the scent of your robes is like the scent of Lebanon”. Thus far Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 23. The meaning of the word sittim is “garment;” a garment the size of a זרת, the span between the two outermost fingers of the hand, is called sit.

“The clothes upon you did not wear out” [8:4]. The clothes of the Israelites did not rot for forty years. This was a great miracle, to wear the same shirt for forty years. Nowadays, when a person wears a shirt for thirty days, he has troubles. How much more so for forty years? The Holy One caused a good wind to blow and it caused all the clothes to be new and it did not get sweaty. Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Simeon: with what did the Holy One clothe the Israelites in the desert? He responded: with silk garments that the angels clothed the Israelites. If someone was small, the garments grew with him, so that it fit properly even when he was grown. They did not smell from sweat. The well caused good vegetation to grow and they were fragrant from one end of the world to the other end. The Israelites wafted the smoke from this vegetation over themselves and no sweat was smelled from them, as the verse says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures” [Psalms, 23:2]. King Solomon also said, “the scent of your robes is like the scent of Lebanon” [Song of Songs, 4:11]. This means, the scent of your clothes is as fragrant as good incense. Your feet were not swollen. Some sages say that the Levites who carried the Holy Ark in the desert went barefoot, without shoes. Nonetheless, their feet were not swollen. Some sages say that the Israelites also went barefoot, since the soles of their shoes rotted, and yet their feet were not swollen.⁹Bahya, Deuteronomy, 8:4.

נחית. Bis dahin war Gottes Tat an Mizrajim der Gegenstand, hier beginnt Gottes Tat für Israel. נחה heißt zum Ziele führen (siehe Kap. 13, 17). נהל kommt immer vor als Führen eines Schwachen mit Rücksicht auf seine Schwäche. So עלות ינהל (Jes. 40, 11), על מי מנוחות ינהלני (Ps. 23, 2). אתנהלה לאטי (Bereschit 33, 14) und sonst. Also: In deiner Liebe hattest du dieses Volk nicht nur gerettet, sondern auch dessen Weiterführung zu seinem Ziele übernommen, hattest in deiner unwiderstehlichen Macht, mit welcher du es sofort hättest zum Ziele, d. i. zu der Stätte deiner Heiligkeit hättest führen können, doch mit Rücksicht auf seine noch unreife Schwäche den Weg geführt, den es ertragen konnte. (Vergl. oben: ולא נחם אלקי׳ וגו׳). — Die Rettung aus der Misshandlung und Knechtung Ägyptens war zunächst ein Akt der Gerechtigkeit, die Weiterleitung ein Akt reiner sich an die Wohlfahrt des andern hingebenden Liebe: חסד. — Das zu erreichende Ziel ist nicht der Besitz eines fruchtbaren Landes, sondern eines Landes, das "Stätte der absoluten Gottesherrschaft" sein soll. Vergl. זה אל ואנוהו.

וינהלם — is the same as וינהגם AND HE GUIDED, LED THEM. Similar in meaning are (Isaiah 51:18) “There is none (מנהל) to lead her”, and (Psalms 23) “he guideth me (ינהלני) beside the still waters.”