The marvelously poetic twenty-third Psalm, probably the most memorized passage of the Old Testament, is marred. The problem comes in the line "Thou preparest a table in the presence of mine enemies." Before and after this phrase the image of God as shepherd is perfectly maintained.
There have been many attempts to explain this fractured image, none of them able to justify a table set in the presence of enemies. The flaw in the Psalm as we have it is in the translation, likely by the King James Bible team . . . .or in the early printing of their version.
In order to make sense and maintain consistence in the poem, it is necessary to change one word: table. The writer is describing the care given by the shepherd in preparing pasture for his sheep, ridding that land of the sheep's enemies, the jackals, snakes and foxes that prey on sheepfold. Perhaps the word table suggests flat table-land or an expanse of pastureland.
The telling phrase in the Psalm should read: "Thou preparest a field ridding it of my enemies."
That revision clearly retains the imagery of the Psalm, adding an emphasis on God's outreaching care for his people.
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