“But what about anointing the head with oil and the cup running over? Go on, my friend.”
“Oh, there begins the beautiful picture at the end of the day. The psalm has sung of the whole round of the day’s wandering, all the needs of the sheep, all the care of the shepherd. Now the psalm closes with the last scene of the day. At the door, of the sheepfold the shepherd stands and ‘the rodding of the sheep’ takes place. The shepherd stands, turning his body to let the sheep pass; he is the door, as Christ said of Himself. With his rod he holds back the sheep while he inspects them one by, one as they pass into the fold. He has the horn filled with olive-oil and he has cedar-tar, and he anoints a knee bruised on the rocks or a side scratched by thorns. And here comes one that is not bruised but is simply worn and exhausted; he bathes its face and head with the refreshing olive-oil and he takes the large two-handled cup and dips it brimming full from the vessel of water provided for that purpose, and he lets the weary sheep drink.
“There is nothing finer in the psalm than this. God’s care is not for the wounded only, but for the worn and weary also. Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.