3.-Q. What is the meaning of "the valley of the shadow of death "? R. T. C.
A.-Your inquiry raises an interesting and oft mooted question:-Does it mean death itself, or the world, as that over which the shadow of death is cast? We incline to believe it is the latter. Did it mean death itself, "the valley of death" would have been, it seems to us, the expression used, but "the shadow" of death presents to the mind the idea of danger of death, or of what leads into it, and brings the anticipation or dread of it upon the soul. A comparison of other places in the Psalms where the term is used, makes this clear. In Psa. 44:1919Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. (Psalm 44:19), the remnant of Israel speak of themselves, under the government of God, as "sore broken in the place of dragons, and covered with the shadow of death." So again in Psa. 107:10,1410Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; (Psalm 107:10)
14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. (Psalm 107:14), when "redeemed from the land of the enemy," they recall the mercy that reached those that " sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound with affliction and iron," and, that when they had cried to Jehovah, "He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death."
From these scriptures it would appear that "the valley of the shadow of death" was, to the psalmist, the path where the gloom and danger of death was specially in question, but where the protection and support of Jehovah were his comfort, so that he feared no evil, as one who would be preserved from death itself. What follows in the Psalm supports this thought.
For the believer now, the world, or rather his pathway through it, is "the valley of the shadow of death." How truly was this so to the blessed Lord! Death's dark shadow ever rested on the path He trod. Especially in Gethsemane, where He says, "my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death;" but death itself He tasted in all its bitterness, unprotected and unsupported, on the cross. The shadow of death, where His rod and staff comfort us, is all we can know, for the rest we await His coming, and not death itself. C. W.