What did Psalm 23 mean to Bob Marley? When the Reggae King was buried in May 1981, he was buried with his red Gibson guitar, a Bible opened to Psalm 23, and a stalk of ganja. So, what did the passage mean to him? Find out here.
What was Bob Marley's Religion?
The legendary Jamaican singer Bob Marley was always known to practice Rastafarianism for the majority of his life. However, his religion goes a long way than that.
During his early years, Bob was raised as a Catholic. He had only taken an interest in religion once he started exploring other religious practices, which led him to take Rastafari traditions to heart in the 1960s.
Rastafarianism was a religion that began in Jamaica in the 1930s. It helped lead a movement of renewing the culture among Africans, which Marley incorporated its beliefs into his songs in the 1960s-1970s.
On some accounts, Bob began converting from Catholic to Rastafari in 1967 or 1968, while according to Timothy White's biography Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley, the legend's conversion was not completed "until the early 70s."
However, not many were aware of Bob Marley's late rejection of Rastafari and his eventual conversion to Christianity before his death.
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Why Was Bob Marley Buried with Psalm 23?
Prior to his death, Bob Marley converted to Christianity in 1981. While the reason remains unknown, Timothy White's book, Catch a Fire, implied that Bob's wife, Rita, had influenced the Jamaican entertainer.
Bob knew that his wife was a Christian when they got married in 1966. Even though Rita converted to Rastafarian, his funeral was of Christian tradition.
White implies in his book that in 1980, which was three years after Bob's initial cancer diagnosis and months before he died, Bob Marley took a trip to New York where he was baptized.
"He had become a Christian Rasta" as Rita had him baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church at the Wellington Hotel in midtown Manhattan, according to Stephen Davis' biography of the singer, Conquering Lion of Reggae.
Some Rastafari considered his conversion as a form of betrayal of the movement.
The passage of Psalm 23 A Psalm of David reads that "The Lord is my shepherd and that He would restore one's soul as He will guide one's paths of righteousness for his name's sake."
Marley likely sought out the Lord, in an attempt to seek help on his deathbed.
But it remains to be discovered whether Marley had a personal interest in Christianity or if it was merely to please his wife and his mother who had been "trying for years to bring him back to Christianity."
His latest biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, is now premiering in theaters.
READ NEXT: Who Shot Bob Marley and Why? How He Survived the 1976 Assassination Attempt
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