Joe L Barnes is not only a gospel singer and songwriter but he also enjoys teaching and exploring the Word of God. In Barnes’ upcoming EP The Good Shepherd, the artist breaks down the meaning of Psalm 23, one of the most well-known bible scriptures.
Barnes spoke with rolling out about The Good Shepherd, how believers should read the Bible, and the essentials of Psalm 23.
Where did you come up with the idea of The Good Shepherd?
I started unpacking Psalm 23, I’m falling asleep to sheep noises like on YouTube, and I’m getting books on sheep. I need to understand the lens of a sheep to understand how this works. My pastor gave me a book called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, and it basically breaks down what David said, and here’s where he got the reference point.
It gives you the natural reference point from the eyes of a shepherd and why David said each individual line. One specific line is “Thou anointest my head with oil.” That sounds super poetic and beautiful but it’s the reference point of sheep having no defense system against insects or predators, and those flies will try to plant larvae into the nostrils of the sheep, causing a lot of pain to the sheep, and a lot of sheep will bury their faces in the dirt and bang their heads against rocks and trees, and sometimes even to their own demise because it is dying.
In the process of trying to get out of their internal struggles, the oil does three things. It reaches into the nose, pulls out the larva, loosens the eggs and gets all the stuff out. It provides a protective layer around the nostril so that doesn’t happen again, and then it heals the bruises left behind from them banging their heads against the rock. What David was saying is that You anoint my head with oil, You protect my internal struggles, my internal thoughts, my internal garden and You make sure that nothing can infiltrate my thoughts. You’re going to heal my depression, my anxiety, and my fears and calm the storms that might come up in here, and then You will even heal the bruises left behind.
How would you suggest someone to read the Bible?
I read a bunch of different translations so that I can understand the context. I have a Bible now called the One New Man Bible, and from what I’ve researched is the closest translation from the actual Aramaic and Hebrew Aramaic translations, not the KJV, and I know that’s blasphemy in a lot of people’s ears. When I read it, I try to read and get the context of everything that happened at the time. We take scriptures like “I could do all things through Christ that strengthens me,” and apply that to winning a basketball game.
I think that’s fire. If it’s for whatever motivation, I get it, but if you read the entire context of the chapter, he was talking about dealing with persecution, because they were trying to kill him. He’s saying that he’s literally on the verge of being killed, but even in looking at death in the face, I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. I can endure the hardship of being actually persecuted in my life as being like my life is in danger. I learned to read the entire context.
