Table in the Presence of My Enemies

Psalm 23, the most beloved of the Psalms, contains a perplexing riddle. What can it possibly mean that God prepares a table in the presence of the psalmist''s enemies? Matthew Umbarger proposes that Psalm 23:5 makes the most sense when read according to its cultural context of prebattle covenant banquets. Beginning with ancient Mesopotamian mythology, Umbarger traces a conceptual trajectory of the...