5a. Thou preparest a/ table before me The sheep graze contentedly in a meadow as the shepherd stands next to a bush. Shepherds David and Joachim flank the scene. This verse begins the second part of the psalm, perhaps realizing the food-giving implied in the second verse. The shepherd becomes a host, who sustains his guests with food, a fundamental act of Middle Eastern hospitality. The Syrian shepherd refers to the Middle Eastern custom of laying a mat or cloth on the ground as a "table", recalling the spread-out "green pastures" of the second verse. One also recalls the manna from heaven, found on the ground, that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness. There are also overtones of a sacrificial meal in thanksgiving for God's deliverance, possibly a temple rite. The Syrian shepherd notes that a shepherd takes care to clear the meadow of enemies; poisonous plants, snakes and predators dens before letting the sheep graze. The shepherd's hospitality to, and care of, his sheep is evident to all, including their enemies. Some Christians interpret this verse as a prophetic reference to the Eucharist instituted by Jesus at the last supper, and of the messianic banquet in heaven. - The flanking shepherds are David (left) and Joachim (right). The young shepherd David sees the armed giant Goliath approaching from the distance, the enemy he will kill. The small size of the figure of Goliath seems to symbolize the Philistine's fate. Joachim was the apocryphal father of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus grandfather of Jesus. Estranged from his wife Anne for their inability to produce a child, he waits by the Golden Gate of the Temple to be reconciled with her, after an angel tells them they will have a child, Mary, future mother of Jesus.