Psalms 78:52
in Psalms 78He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
KJV
But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
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This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The Psalm proceedeth then after the commemoration of the plagues of the Egyptians and saith, "And He took away like sheep His people, and He led them through like a flock in the desert." This cometh to pass to so much the greater good, as it is a more inward thing, wherein being delivered from the power of darkness, we are in mind translated into the Kingdom of God, and with respect to spiritual pastures we are made to become sheep of God, walking in this world as it were in a desert, inasmuch as to no one is our faith observable: whence saith the Apostle, "Your life is hidden with Christ in God." But we are being led home in hope, "For by hope we are saved." Nor ought we to fear. For, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" And our enemies the sea hath covered, He hath effaced them in baptism by the remission of sins.
The Spirit speaks with the authority of the Lord: "The Spirit said to [Peter], 'Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them.' " Are these the words of an abject inferior? "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Does a slave give commands like this? Isaiah says, "The Lord God and his Spirit have sent me," and "the Spirit came down from the Lord and led them." Do not try again to convince me that this "leading" by the Spirit is some lowly service.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But made his own people to go forth like sheep,....
He led them on safely, though in dangerous paths, so that they feared not, that is, they needed not to fear; they were indeed frightened at the Red Sea ( Exod. xiv. 10 ), but that was said to them, and done for them, which effectually silenced their fears.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
But made his own people to go forth like sheep. The contrast is striking, and ought never to have been forgotten by the people. The wolves were slain in heaps, the sheep were carefully gathered, and triumphantly delivered. The tables were turned, and the poor serfs became the honoured people, while their oppressors were humbled before them. Israel went out in a compact body like a flock; they were defenceless in themselves as sheep, but they were safe under their Great Shepherd; they left Egypt as easily as a flock leaves one pasture for another. And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. Knowing nothing of the way by their own understanding or experience, they were, nevertheless, rightly directed, for the All wise God knew every spot of the wilderness. To the sea, through the sea, and from the sea, the Lord led his chosen; while their former taskmasters were too cowed in spirit, and broken in power, to dare to molest them.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2723: “God's Dealings With Egypt and Israel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THERE is a very sharp line of division here between the Egyptians and the Lord's own people, and that line of division always has existed and always will, for all attempts to blend the seed of the serpent with the seed of the woman must fail. Between the Church and the world, however debased the Church may become, and however reformed the world may be, there will still be a clear distinction even until the end—and that distinction will be seen in the day of the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when "before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." At the present moment, in this congregation, though no human eye can read all our characters, there is a clear division among us who are here. If some infallible "teller" could now divide the house into Yeses and Noes, separating those who are on God's side from those who are not, the spectacle would be a very striking one. I pray that each one's own conscience may, at least in some measure, make that division and that we may all think within ourselves whether we fear the God of Israel or do not fear Him—whether we are for Him or against Him—for you can be well assured that as God dealt with Egypt of old, so will He deal with all His adversaries! And as He dealt with Israel of old, so will He deal with all His own people. The "parable" (for that is the expression with which the Psalm begins), will be written out again in history, and be repeated, enlarged and intensified throughout eternity. God has made an everlasting distinction between those who fear Him and those who fear Him not—and that distinction will be seen in His dealings with the children of men.
But made his own people to go forth like sheep. The contrast is striking, and ought never to have been forgotten by the people. The wolves were slain in heaps, the sheep were carefully gathered, and triumphantly delivered. The tables were turned, and the poor serfs became the honoured people, while their oppressors were humbled before them. Israel went out in a compact body like a flock; they were defenceless in themselves as sheep, but they were safe under their Great Shepherd; they left Egypt as easily as a flock leaves one pasture for another.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2723: “God's Dealings With Egypt and Israel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THERE is a very sharp line of division here between the Egyptians and the Lord's own people, and that line of division always has existed and always will, for all attempts to blend the seed of the serpent with the seed of the woman must fail.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But made his own people to go forth like sheep ... - That is, he was a shepherd to them. He defended them; provided for them; led them - as a shepherd does his flock. See the notes at Psa 23:1-2.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּסַּ֣ע | vaiyasa' | and he led out | H5265 → | 146 times |
| כַּצֹּ֣אן | katzon | like <the> sheep | H6629 → | 274 times |
| עַמּ֑וֹ | amo | people his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וַֽיְנַהֲגֵ֥ם | vaynahagem | and he led them | H5090 → | 31 times |
| כַּ֝עֵ֗דֶר | kaeder | like <the> flock | H5739 → | |
| בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
וַיַּסַּ֣עand he led out
vaiyasa'H5265 →146 times
כַּצֹּ֣אןlike <the> sheep
katzonH6629 →274 times
עַמּ֑וֹpeople his
amoH5971 →1873 times
וַֽיְנַהֲגֵ֥םand he led them
vaynahagemH5090 →31 times
כַּ֝עֵ֗דֶרlike <the> flock
kaederH5739 →
בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃in the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 95:7For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,
it leads to
- Hebrews 4:7
God again designated a certain day as “Today,” when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
- Hebrews 3:15
As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”
- Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
- Hebrews 3:7–11
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,
- John 10:14–16
I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,
- Hebrews 4:7
Through
Psalms 77:20You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
it leads to
- Exodus 13:21
And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel…
- Isaiah 63:11–12
Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His…
- Exodus 14:19
And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,
- Exodus 13:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, On the Psalms: Psalm 78; Basil of Caesarea, ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 19:49; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2723: “God's Dealings With Egypt and Israel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.