January 27, 2017

Tom Lowe

 

PSALM 77

(To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph)

 

Title: When God Doesn’t Seem to be Listening.

 

Theme: Perplexity about the mercy and goodness of God.

 

Psalm 77 (KJV)

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 

Introduction to Psalm 77

This is the sixth of a dozen Asaph psalms.  We do not know when it was written.  The best conjecture is that it was after the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom had passed into history and when the Babylonian invasion of Judah was becoming an increasing certainty.  The sorrow of the singer in this psalm seems to transcend personal anguish.  It has a national character.

In Judah, about the time it became increasingly evident to devout people that Jeremiah was right—that the Babylonians were coming and that Judah was to be handed over to the fierce Chaldeans for a thorough thrashing—there arose a prophet by the name of Habakkuk.  He was a most unusual prophet.  He seemed more concerned with solving a problem than with delivering a prophecy.  Why would God allow Judah to be handed over to the Babylonians?  That was Habakkuk’s problem.  Why would God allow Israel to be punished by a nation far more wicked than herself?

So, here is a little psalm, born out of the sorrow of a devout Hebrew who was aware that God was about to punish Judah, just as He had punished the sister kingdom of Israel. The psalmist’s heart is overwhelmed with sorrow and grief.  The psalm also anticipates the troubles of Israel during the days of the beast.  Moreover, it gives us a vocabulary of prayer to use when our own personal circumstances seem overwhelming.

The psalmist opens with a lament.  Ordinarily the cause of the distress in a lament is physical suffering, or an unsettling consciousness of sin, or the aggressive hostility of dangerous foes, personal or national.  But in this psalm the suffering is that of the earnest thinker whose mind is restlessly seeking an explanation for a problem.

 

Commentary

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

“I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice.” It was not so much that God refused to hear, for the psalmist had the assurance of soul that God did hear.  The problem was not that God could not or would not hear; the problem was that God did not reply.

 

We have all had that experience.  It would be so much more reassuring if God would say something, if He would answer in an audible voice, underline in red a verse of Scripture, or send an accredited prophet as He sent Isaiah to Hezekiah.  God rarely does that.  All too often we pray, we know that He hears, he has promised to hear, but He does not seem to answer.

 

God is never rude, never preoccupied, never too thoughtless, careless, or disinterested to pay attention.  It is His greatest delight for us to talk to Him.  Then why doesn’t He answer? God’s refusal to answer troubled the psalmist because it was not like God. Like the psalmist, when God seemingly does not answer, we think He has changed. Usually we are the ones who have changed.

I suppose the answer is that He does answer but He speaks with such a still small voice that we fail to hear.  We are so preoccupied with our talking that we fail to hear Him answering.  God will hear you, my friend, when you are in trouble.  You can go to Him.  He is real, and He will hear when you pray, and He will help you—not because I say so, or because it is written here, but because you find it out by experience.  He has already told us to taste of the Lord and see whether He is good or not.  Try this thing out.

“and he gave ear unto me.”Perseverance prevailed. The gate opened to the steady knock. And that is the way it will be with us in our hour of trial, the God of grace will hear us in due season.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

“In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.” There are some things God, in His goodness, simply does not explain.  Like the psalmist, we pray desperately, but God does not answer.  He knows that time will reveal everything, and if time does not, eternity certainly will.  For then “we shall know even as we are known.”

“My sore ran in the night, and ceased not.”  The New International Version has rendered this clause as, “at night I stretched out untiring hands.” Out of his deep distress even as he complains to God he stretches out his hand to Him in murmuring prayer.  Sleep has vanished from his eyelids.

“My soul refused to be comforted.”  I rejected all those consolations which either my friends or my own mind suggested to me.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

 “I remembered God, and was troubled.” One would have thought that the remembrance of God and of His infinite power, and truth, and goodness, which used to be very sweet and comforting to him, would console and cheer him, but it did not: “Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him” (Job 23:15). When he remembered God his thoughts fastened only upon His justice, and wrath, and dreadful majesty, and thus God himself became a terror to him—everything was working against him, so he thought, and God Himself, his only friend, was now angry with him, and had become his enemy.  When he meditated upon the matter he only groaned, for it seemed that the Lord had not only failed Him, He had failed His people.  But had he?  Wasn’t the Lord being faithful to His covenant and chastening Israel for their sins?  The very chastening was proof of His love. Solomon wrote: “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:11-12).

“I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.”  One would have thought that pouring out his soul before God would give him relief, but it did not; he complained, and yet his spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load.

Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

“Thou holdest mine eyes waking,” by those severe and continual griefs, and those perplexing and tormenting thoughts. He is sleepless and speechless, his mind filled with dark thoughts and cares, which from time to time are stirred up in him. We can follow the line these thoughts must have taken. The tribal territories to the north have been made desolate and their cities left as heaps of ruins. The ten tribes are gone, scattered far and wide, and very little trace of them remains. The years have stretched into decades; the decades have become almost a century. New prophets had appeared to denounce Judah for the very same sins that destroyed Israel. New foes are looming beyond the horizons of the east. The psalmist can visualize it all: the coming invasion of Judah, the smaller towns and villages falling easy prey, the fugitives pouring into Jerusalem, famished and frightened, with dreadful tales of outrage and violence. He can see the whole senseless war being repeated. He can see the last of the refugees piling in through the gates as the banners of the Babylonians appear on the distant hills. Then the long, stubborn, dreadful siege: the whole senseless process of exhausting a populous, impregnable city by starvation and attrition. The psalmist can visualize famine and pestilence doing their dreadful work until the defenders can no longer lift spear or bow. The gates are breached, the barbarians come surging in, lusting to kill and rape, plunder and burn.

The new breed of prophets, Jeremiah and Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Ezekiel has made it all dreadfully vivid for this singer. It is all clear as crystal to him, but not for so many in Judah because of their skepticism and scorn.

“I am so troubled that I cannot speak”; the greatness of my sorrows stupefies my mind, and makes me both lifeless and unable to speak; nor can my words sufficiently express the amount of my misery.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

“I have considered the days of old.” Here is a man well-versed in Scripture.  Jehovah is a mighty God well-able to deliver His people.  A thousand exploits come to the mind of the psalmist.  The books of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, and Samuel tell of God’s power to save.  Oh, that God would raise up another Samson to smite the foe or another David for the defense of the kingdom!  In the dead of night, wide-awake and unable to rest, his thoughts turn to the past exploits of God, but the more he meditates, the more alarmed he becomes.

“The years of ancient times” are former times when God did mighty works for His people.The subject is the records and remembrances of God in ancient times. What is the testimony which the history of the world bears on this subject? Does it prove that God is worthy of confidence or not? Does it or does it not authorize and justify these painful thoughts which pass through the mind?

I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

“I call to remembrance my song in the night,” that is, the many and great mercies and favors of God bestowed by Him upon me, and upon His people, which have obliged me to adore Him, and sing His praises not only in the day, the time appointed for that work, but also by night, as often as they come into my mind. There had been sleepless nights before.  On those occasions he had been able to take his harp and turn insomnia into song, but now all that had changed.  The night was filled with intangible doubts and dreads.  The minutes dragged by and lengthened into interminable hours.  It was of no use to reach for his harp.  There was no song left in his soul.

“I commune with mine own heart.” I think over the matter.I communicate with my heart; or "meditate" with it, and ask questions of it, in order to find out the reason for the present overwhelming troubles.

“And my spirit made diligent search” into the causes of my troubles, and ways and means of deliverance out of them, and what would be the consequence of them; the result was all that follows.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

In verses 7-9 he asks six questions in three short verses. His questions would seem irreverent to us, yet we have often found ourselves just where he was—wrestling with unanswerable questions which attack the very foundation of our faith.

The psalmist asks three basic questions in verses 7-8. Has God rejected His people forever? Has God repudiated His pity forever? Has God revoked His promises forever? In other words: is this situation permanent.  He feels that the springs of God’s compassion have dried up.  Yet not God’s compassion to him as an individual, but to his people.  His lament began as the pouring forth of the distress of his own soul, but now we see it is rather the lament of his nation, uttered through him as one who feels keenly and with insight the woe of his people.

The psalmist has not yet told us what his problem is, but his lamenting words have prepared us for it and by withholding it he has sharpened our curiosity.  What is it that so disturbs him?  Now he tells us.

“Will the Lord cast off for ever?” The psalmist now speaks about the progression of his meditations, and of that debate which took place in his heart between faith and distrust. Most commentators suppose that the psalmist’s distress and despondency were caused chiefly, if not solely, by public calamities. This does not seem to agree either with God’s nature, or with that everlasting covenant which he had made with them.

“And will he be favourable no more,” or gracious no more? Surely such desertion by their covenant-God is incredible to the psalmist.

Is his mercy clean gone for ever?”  If He has no love for His elect, has he any mercy left at all? Has that dried up? Has He no pity for the mournful?

“Doth his promise fail for evermore?”His word is pledged to those who appeal to Him; has that become of none effect? Shall it be said that from one generation to another the Lord's word changes; in times past, He kept his covenant to all generations of them that fear him? It is a wise thing to put unbelief through the third degree. Each one of the questions is a dart aimed at the very heart of despair.

For the singer, knowing his Bible as he did, the simple fact of raising these questions in this specific way was enough. The answer from his Bible was, “Of course not!” God’s pledge and promise to Abraham were forever settled in Heaven, an unconditional promise of God that could never fail. It was a golden promise, backed by all the vast reserves and resources of Heaven.

 

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

 

He asks two more basic questions. Can nothing remind God of His grace? Can nothing restrain God in His government? “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah?” The psalmist triumphantly and daringly believes. He bases his belief on God’s own revealed character as a God of not just kindness but of lovingkindness. Yet the perplexities remain

The disappearance of the ten tribes into a captivity so complete, so long-lasting that to this day we sometimes speak of “the lost ten tribes of Israel,” frightened the psalmist. So long as a remnant remained in Judah, all was well, but now the handwriting was on the wall for Judah, too. Was God about to obliterate the chosen people? Surely not! And yet . . . ?

The questions he asked in verses 7-9 imply that the psalmist may have fallen into melancholy and depression; but faith has an answer ready:

  • “Will the Lord cast off for ever?” NO! (Romans 11:1)
  • “And will he be favorable no more?” NO! “His compassions fail not!” (Lamentations 3:22)
  • “Is his mercy clean gone for ever?” NO! (Psalm 103:17)
  • “Doth his promise fail for evermore?” NO! (Hebrews 6:18)
  •  “Hath God forgotten to be gracious?” NO! (Exodus 34:6)
  • “Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” NO! (Psalm 103:17)

It isn’t a sin to question God, for both David and Jesus asked the Lord the same question (22:1; Matthew 27:46), but it is a sin to demand an immediate answer or to suggest that God needs our council (Romans 11: 33-36).

We have finished the first half of the psalm. It is a section of sighs, ending in question after question and a Selah flung down almost in a spirit of defiance. Verse 10 brings a change. The sighing is changed to singing as he contrasts the present with those glorious days of old when Israel found favor in the Lord’s eyes, and when His compassion flowed forth toward them!

No matter what His hand is doing in our lives, His heart has not changed.  He still loves us and always will.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

“And I said;” or rather, this is how I answered these questions.  A new spiritual discernment has entered into his mind, a new conviction grounded in faith.  By use of strong rhetorical questions he gives expression to his belief that God’s right hand, the hand of action, has not weakened nor has the purpose of his deeds on behalf of His people changed.

“This is my infirmity”; these suspicions of God’s faithfulness and goodness proceed from the weakness of my faith, and from the mistake of a diseased mind.  He was wrong to think that God had deserted him because the Lord doesn’t change (102:26; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29).

“But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High (Elyon)”;the statement cuts the psalm in two. Until now everything has been pitched in a minor key; now the singer changes to a major key. Until now he has been growling in the bass; now he soars to the high notes. Suddenly the psalmist saw the years, all of them, even the years of tragedy and loss; the years during which God has done great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God’s right hand (Psalm 17:7; 20:6; 14:4), the right hand of the Most High Himself.  The name Elyon itself is significant for it was the very name of God to which Melchizedek introduced Abraham—“the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth!”

“I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.” The psalmist can’t stop thinking about God’s power that had been displayed time after time to deliver previous generations of His people.  God’s presence had been dramatically displayed through the parting of the Red Sea, thunder and lightning atop Mount Sinai, earthquakes, and other means.  Beyond a doubt, God had been with His people.  Therefore, any doubts about God are unfounded.  He is still a God of power and love who will deliver His people.  There is simply too much evidence of God’s involvement in Israel’s history for the psalmist to give up hope at this point.  “I will” indicates that he had come to the place of decision and determination.

“I will remember”—an instance of faith restored by memory.—the years of God’s past love are not likely to be all in vain.  Has He loved from eternity, and will He forsake or forget in time?  God’s way is in the sanctuary, i.e., it is holy (77:13); but it is also in the sea, i.e., it is full of mystery (77:19) “Some providences, like Hebrew words, must be read backwards.”

He turns at verse 11 to the Lord, speaking no longer of Him but addressing Him directly and in words that have changed from lament to prayer.

12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

“I will meditate also of all thy work,” Or “works,” which were many; he didn’t want to forget any of them, but he definitely wanted to remember the multitude of His tender mercies, and not only recall them, but dwell upon them during his meditations in the hope that that would bring him relief from his present circumstances.

“And talk of thy doings,” for the good of others, and so for the glory of God, as well as to imprint them on his own mind, so that they might not be forgotten by him; for all things that are frequently mentioned are better remembered (Psalms 145:4-7Psalms 145:11Psalms 145:12 ).

There comes a time when we have to take ourselves in hand and make a deliberate decision to talk, act, and think like believing people. That is what the singer resolved to do. It is a great moment for the soul when we resolve to do the same. We are then able to rise above our circumstances.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

The pronouns suddenly change from “I” and “my” to “Thee” and “Thou,” referring to the Lord.  When we look at our circumstances, we focus on ourselves and see no hope, but when we look by faith to the Lord our circumstances may not change but we do.

The psalmist’s prayer is in the form of a meditative hymn in which he celebrates the attributes of God—His holiness (77:13) and incomparable greatness (77:13)—and then moves on to the praise of His deeds 77:14, 15)

“Thy way, i.e., Thy way of doing things, or the course of Thy providence, which is often called God’s way; the various methods and causes of Thy dealings with Thy people.

“Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary.” It is not that God has forgotten His loving kindness; it is simply that God always acts in strict accordance with His holiness. If He has to frown upon his people, if He has to chastise them, it is because they deserve it. It is impossible for God to do anything inconsistent with His character.

Some interpret, “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary” to be a reminder to us who are believers to not forsake “. . . the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is . . .” (Hebrews 10:25).  We are admonished today to meet with God’s people.  God does not want you or me to go off in a corner and enjoy the Word of God by ourselves.  We are to share the Word with others so that we can grow together.  I don’t believe in super-duper saints.  God won’t let you get way ahead of your brothers and sisters.  We are in the family of God and we’ll have to share the Word and the blessing with each other.  Therefore, the way of God is in the sanctuary.  If you are going to find the answers to your questions, you will have to meet with God’s people.

 

“Who is so great a God as our God? [Who is a great El like Elohim?] Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.” There, what do you think of that!  There is the solution.  God is too loving to be unkind, too good to do anything wrong, too wise to make any mistakes, too great to be petty, spiteful, small, or mean; above all, too powerful to be thwarted.  God is God.  He is a God who rules, and because He rules He does wonders in the world.  He is also a God who redeems, and because He redeems there is no reason at all to fear or doubt Him.  Selah!

“Thou art the God that doest wonders” in nature, providence, and grace; it seems chiefly to regard what was done for the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness (Psalms 78:12Psalms 78:43).

“Thou hast declared thy strength among the people”; i.e., the nations of the world who heard what the Lord did for Israel by his mighty power, and with an outstretched arm as follows.

“Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people”; i.e., the people of Israel, who were brought out of Egypt, which was typical of the redemption of the Lord's people by Christ, the arm and power of God.

“The sons of Jacob and Joseph.” Joseph is mentioned for honor’s sake, and because he was the means of supporting Jacob and his family in Egypt; and had faith in their eventual deliverance from there.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

His memory is now fully active.  He roams back through the pages of sacred history with a deeper appreciation than ever.

He liberated His people with a deliverance which was both miraculous and mighty. The psalmist is recalling the miraculous liberation of Israel from Egypt; it was that momentous act which really began the national history of Israel.  A God who could do that could certainly liberate His people from Assyrian or Babylonian captivity.  So fear gives way to faith.

Verses 16-19 provide a political account of the passage through the Red Sea.  The thunderstorm described here is almost implied in Exodus 14:24.  God does as He will: but there are no difficulties are obstacles to stop Him; and, what He has done, He can do again.  He still speaks to the waves (Mark 4:39).

“The waters saw thee, O God”; the waters of the Red Sea not of the Jordan; they felt the power of God, who caused a strong east wind, which dried up the sea, and made way for the children of Israel to pass through, as if they were on dry land. (Psalms 114:3) (Habakkuk 3:10).

“The waters saw thee”; which is repeated for the purpose of confirming it, and to bring attention to it, as well as to express the psalmist's admiration of it.

“They were afraid” of the majesty of God, but they obeyed their Sovereign, of whom they stood in awe, gave way to Him, and fled at His rebuke (Psalms 114:5) or "were in pain", as a woman in child birth, as were the Gentile world at the preaching of the Gospel of redemption and salvation by Christ, (Romans 8:22) .

“The depths also were troubled”; not only were the surface of the waters, or waves, moved by the strong east wind, through the power of God, but it reached to the bottom of the sea; the sea floor was made firm, and the foundation of the world exposed, and the children of Israel went through the sea as if they walked on dry land (Exodus 15:8; Psalms 18:15).

17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

“The clouds poured out water.” This, along with some other circumstances which follow, are not described by Moses in the history of this incident; but since they are recorded here by an inspired writer, there is no reason to doubt that they are true. Besides Josephus reports the same things; he says, that at the time when the Egyptians were drowned in the Red sea, rain descended from heaven, and there was terrible thunder and lightning; this was when the Lord looked through the clouds, and drown the host of the Egyptians in the Sea (Exodus 14:24).

“The skies sent out a sound”; or the light clouds, which were higher in the heavens than the before mentioned thick clouds, which were full of water, and hung lower; these were thunderclouds, and thunder is the sound which they made, as in the following verse.

“Thine arrows also went abroad.” “Thine arrows” are either hail-stones, or lightning or thunder-bolts, which are called God’s arrows.” (Psalm 18:14).

18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

“The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven.” Thunder is the voice of God (see Job 37:540:9). In finishing off his description of the thunderstorm, Elihu dwells upon its marvellousness. Each step in the entire process is strange and wonderful, beyond man's comprehension; and the lesson to be drawn from the consideration of the whole series of phenomena is that God does great things, which we cannot comprehend. Even after all that has been done in recent years to advance the science of meteorology, it cannot be said that the rationale of storms is fully grasped by the scientific community.

“The lightnings lightened the world”; not only that part of the world where the Israelites and Egyptians were, but the whole world; for lightning comes out of the east, and shines to the west (Matthew 24:27). This was in the night, and very dark night, as confirmed by Josephus (Psalms 97:4 ).

“The earth trembled and shook.” There was an earthquake at the same time; or perhaps this is to be understood as the panic which the inhabitants of the earth were put into upon hearing of this wonderful event (Joshua 2:9; Joshua 2:10).

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

“Thy way is in the sea”;the Red Sea; it was the Lord that made the way in the sea for the Israelites, and went before them, and led them through it.

“And thy path in the great waters.” The Jews imagine there were more paths than one, twelve in all, according to the number of the tribes, and which they think is intimated in Psalms 136:13.

“And thy footsteps are not known.” I like that!  The immediate reference is to the rolling back of the waters of the Red sea so that no visible trace of God’s victorious path was left. God frequently uses what we call “natural causes” to carry on His work in the world.  What the world calls “nature” we call God: just enough of Him revealed so that faith can see it, and far more of Him concealed so that unbelief can have its say.

 

A footprint in the sand!

Sometimes God leaves His footprints, plain and evident for all to see.  There are times when he bestrides the world like a colossus.  He puts His foot down firmly, as He did at Dunkirk when He halted Hitler’s hordes and held them back while the Allied troops crossed the channel.

But He does not always leave His footprints so plainly in the sands of time.  More often, like the Indians of the American forests, He comes and goes and carefully hides His tracks: “and thy footsteps are not known,” says the psalmist.  It then takes careful, persistent investigation to see that He has been at work at all.  That is where faith comes in.

God leaves enough footprints around in the world so that His ways can be seen.  But for the most part we may say with this singer, “And thy footsteps are not known.”

20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

“Thou leddest thy people”; first through the sea, and afterwards, through the vast howling wilderness to Canaan.

“Like a flock”; with singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd leads his sheep.

“By the hand of Moses and Aaron”—“Great was the power of these two men; but neither was the shepherd of the sheep: each was a servant of the Great and Good Shepherd, who made use of their hands.”

My friend, this has an application for us.  God is able to deliver His people today from the floodtide of atheism and lawlessness and immorality.  What a great loving Shepherd He is!