The Shepherd (Blake) of The Shepherd as Christ is initially found in another Song, The Little Black Boy. Psalm 23 depicts God as a shepherd of mankind, and the capitalization of the word 'Shepherd' in the first and last lines furthers the idea that the Shepherd is a symbol of God. In the bible, a shepherd's presence is representative of guidance. In this poem, the Shepherd can be viewed as the spiritual guide or a savior of the herd, rejoicing in their numbers. Jesus is also referred to in the bible as the Lamb of God. Since the poem depicts The Shepherd as
Psalm 143 currently the fourth Thursday prayed at Lauds in the Liturgy of the Hours and every Tuesday night at compline. This psalm is a prayer request. The Psalmist's cry is divided into four stages: the psalmist is sorry and is not better than another; it is at an impasse; but he sees that the Lord has saved other men; so he puts his trust in the Lord. The psalm evokes the problem of a prayer request from the sinner, the one that persecutes the enemy. The solid base that helps the psalmist hope in the LORD is his reminiscence of the