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 131 of the Becker Psalter as SWV 236, "Herr, mein Gemüt und Sinn du weißt" (Lord, you know my mind and sense). The psalm in Hebrew is the text of the final movement of Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms", an extended work for choir and orchestra, with verse 1 of Psalm 133 added. The English composer David Bednall composed a choral anthem titled "O Lord, I am not haughty" using Psalm 131 that was sung by The Queen's College, Oxford choir on their 2018 recording, "The House of the Mind". Psalm 131 Psalm 131 is the 131st psalm of the Book of