Five-minute study · Day 339 · Psalms 23
Psalm 23:6
A word worth stopping on: follow / pursue רָדַף radaph
'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.' The Hebrew word translated 'follow' is radaph. It does not mean to walk behind at a polite distance. Radaph means to pursue, to chase, to hunt down. David uses the word elsewhere for enemies in pursuit: Saul pursuing David through the wilderness (1 Samuel 26:20), warriors chasing a fleeing army (Joshua 2:5). The word belongs to the vocabulary of the hunt, the pursuit, the relentless chase. David takes that word and puts it behind 'goodness and mercy.' God's tov and chesed are not trailing behind you like reluctant companions. They are running you down. You are being hunted by kindness.
Word study: follow / pursue
- Hebrew
- רָדַף
- Pronounced
- radaph
- Strong's
- H7291
- Definition
- To pursue, to chase, to follow after with intensity, to run after, to hunt down. Used primarily of pursuing enemies in battle, chasing fugitives, or hunting prey. Occasionally used in a positive sense: to pursue righteousness, to be pursued by blessing.
Radaph appears 143 times in the Hebrew Bible. BDB defines it as 'to pursue, chase, put to flight, follow after.' The overwhelming majority of its uses are hostile: an army pursuing a retreating enemy (Genesis 14:14, Abram pursuing the kings who captured Lot), a hunter chasing prey (Lamentations 4:19, 'our persecutors are swifter than the eagles'), or an avenger of blood pursuing a manslayer (Deuteronomy 19:6). The word carries velocity and intention. The pursuer means to catch what is pursued.
Craigie's commentary on Psalms 1-50 (WBC) highlights the surprise of radaph in Psalm 23:6. Throughout the psalm, David has been describing God's provision: green pastures (verse 2), still waters (verse 2), restored soul (verse 3), the rod and staff (verse 4), the table (verse 5). The imagery has been gentle, pastoral, protective. Then David reaches the final verse and introduces a word from the battlefield. Goodness and mercy do not accompany. They pursue.
Craigie observes that David's choice of radaph may reflect his personal experience of being pursued. Before he was king, David spent years as a fugitive, hunted by Saul through the wilderness of Judea (1 Samuel 23-26). He knew what it felt like to have someone relentlessly on his trail, never stopping, never giving up the chase. He takes that same relentless energy and attributes it to God's goodness (tov) and mercy (chesed). The hunted man reimagines himself as hunted, by grace.
The combination of tov (goodness, the concrete good that God provides) and chesed (covenant loyalty, the love bound by promise) produces a comprehensive picture. Tov is material provision. Chesed is relational commitment. Both are in radaph mode: active, persistent, closing the distance. The psalm ends with David in 'the house of the LORD for ever,' caught at last by what has been chasing him.
Historical context · c. 1010 BCE
David the Fugitive and the Language of Pursuit
David's years as a fugitive from Saul form the biographical background for much of his poetry. After his anointing by Samuel (1 Samuel 16) and his defeat of Goliath (1 Samuel 17), David entered Saul's court and rose rapidly in military rank. Saul's jealousy grew into murderous intent (1 Samuel 18:10-11, 19:10). David fled and spent approximately seven to ten years moving through the wilderness of Judea, the territories of the Philistines, and the hill country of southern Canaan, constantly pursued.
The pursuit was literal and relentless. In 1 Samuel 23:25-28, Saul receives intelligence of David's location and moves his forces to surround him. David escapes only because a Philistine raid forces Saul to withdraw. In 1 Samuel 24, Saul enters a cave where David is hiding. In 1 Samuel 26, David infiltrates Saul's camp at night and stands over the sleeping king. The verb radaph appears in these narratives. David knew the sound of pursuit: scouts reporting his position, soldiers moving through the wadis, the king himself refusing to stop.
Craigie connects this biographical context to the daring inversion of Psalm 23:6. A man who had been chased by enemies for years writes a poem in which he is chased by goodness and mercy. The word radaph, saturated with memories of danger, is reclaimed for blessing. The hunter becomes the hunted, and the pursuer is God's own tov and chesed.
Archaeological survey of the Judean wilderness, the region where David hid, reveals a landscape of deep wadis, cliff faces, and hundreds of caves. The area around En Gedi, where David famously spared Saul's life, includes caves large enough to shelter hundreds of men. The terrain is ideal for evasion. A fugitive who knew the paths could stay ahead of a larger force for years. David did exactly that. And when he wrote Psalm 23, he turned the vocabulary of that survival into a statement about what God does with grace: the same energy that enemies bring to destruction, God brings to blessing. The pursuit never stops.
For reflection
David knew what it felt like to be hunted. He spent years with enemies on his trail, sleeping in caves, watching the ridgeline for soldiers. He took that experience and said: this is what God's goodness does. It chases me with the same relentlessness. Look behind you, at the last year of your life. Can you see the radaph? Where has goodness found you when you were not looking for it?
You do not outrun chesed. It is faster than you. The pursuit of God's mercy does not depend on your cooperation. It depends on his character.
Sources: BDB; Craigie, "Psalms 1-50" (WBC)