Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 77:20
Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
20. Conclusion. The convulsions of nature were the heralds of deliverance (Luk 21:28), and the Shepherd of Israel led forth His flock under the guidance of His chosen servants. Cp. Exo 15:13; Psa 78:52 ff; Psa 74:1, note. The words of the last line come from Num 33:1; cp. Mic 6:4; Isa 63:11 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron – This satisfied and comforted the mind of the psalmist. God had never forsaken his people. He had shown himself faithful in his dealings with them. He had acted the part of a good shepherd. In all the dangers of their way; in their perilous journey through the wilderness; amidst foes, privations, and troubles – rocks, sands, storms, tempests – when surrounded by enemies, and when their camp was infested with poisonous serpents – God had shown himself able to protect his people, and had been faithful to all his promises and covenant-engagements. Looking back to this period of their history, the psalmist saw that there was abundant reason for confiding in God, and that the mind should repose on him calmly amid all that was dark and mysterious in his dealings. In view of the past, the mind ought to be calm; encouraged by the past, however incomprehensible may be Gods doings, people may come to him, and entrust all their interests to him with the confident assurance that their salvation will be secure, and that all which seems dark and mysterious in the dealings of God will yet be made clear.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock] This may refer to the pillar of cloud and fire. It went before them, and they followed it. So, in the eastern countries, the shepherd does not drive, but leads, his flock. He goes before them to find them pasture, and they regularly follow him.
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.] They were God’s agents; and acted, in civil and sacred things, just as directed by the Most High.
ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH PSALM
In this Psalm the prophet shows the bitter agony which a troubled spirit undergoes from a sense of God’s displeasure; and the comfort which it afterwards receives through faith in his promises.
There are two parts in this Psalm: –
I. The psalmist sets forth the strife between the flesh and the spirit; and how the flesh tempts the spirit to despair, and calls in question the goodness of God, Ps 77:1-10.
II. Next, he shows the victory of the spirit over the flesh; being raised, encouraged, and confirmed by the nature, promises, and works of God, Ps 77:11-20.
This is an excellent Psalm, and of great use in spiritual desertion.
I. The strife. The prophet betakes himself to God. 1. He prays. 2. Prays often. 3. Prays earnestly. 4. And with a troubled soul. The Psalm is, therefore, not the expression of a despairing soul, but of one that has a great conflict with temptation.
Though he complains, yet he despairs not.
I. His complaint is bitter, and he sets down how he was exercised.
1. He found no intermission; day and night he was in distress. His voice was continually lifted up, and his hands constantly stretched out to God in prayer. When no man saw him, he prayed. His complaint was in secret, and far from hypocrisy, which always loves to have witnesses.
2. He refused to be comforted, Ps 77:2.
3. Even the “remembrance of God troubled him,” Ps 77:3.
4. His soul was overwhelmed, Ps 77:3.
5. He became at last speechless through grief, Ps 77:4.
6. All sleep departed from him, Ps 77:4.
II. He shows that his grief was aggravated by a consideration of the happiness he once enjoyed, but had lost.
1. He had considered the days of old, Ps 77:5.
2. He could rejoice in and praise God, Ps 77:6.
3. But now, on diligent search, all good is gone, Ps 77:6.
4. His debate between hope and despair, which leads him to break out in the following interrogations: 1. Will the Lord cast off for ever? 2. Will he be favourable no more? 3. Is his mercy clean gone? 4. Doth his promise fail? 5. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? 6. Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Ps 77:7-9.
II. How he is restored.
1. He begins with a correction of himself: “I said, This is my infirmity,” Ps 77:10.
2. Takes encouragement from a remembrance, –
(1) Of God’s ways: “I will remember – the right hand of the Most High,” Ps 77:10.
(2) Of his WORKS: “I will remember thy wonders of old,” Ps 77:11.
3. On these he will meditate and discourse, Ps 77:12.
(1) He then addresses his speech to God; who he understands is to be sought in his sanctuary, Ps 77:13.
(2) And who is “infinitely great and good,” Ps 77:13.
(3) Who has declared his strength among the people, Ps 77:14.
(4) And particularly to the descendants of Jacob, Ps 77:15.
III. He amplifies the story of their deliverance from Egypt by several instances of God’s power.
1. In the RED SEA: “The waters saw thee,” Ps 77:16.
2. In the HEAVENS: “The clouds poured out water, Ps 77:17.
3. In the EARTH: “The earth trembled and shook,” Ps 77:18.
IV. The final cause of all was that he might lead his people out of their bondage, and destroy their enemies, Ps 77:19-20.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 doth his sheep. And therefore I hope thou wilt take care of thy poor dispersed and distressed flock, and bring them once again into their own land.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-20. Illustrations of God’spower in His special interventions for His people (Ex14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature(Psa 22:11-14; Hab 3:14)which may have attended those miraculous events (Ex14:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou leddest thy people like a flock,…. Either through the Red sea, according to R. Moses Hacohen, as Aben Ezra observes; see
Isa 63:11, or rather, as he and Kimchi, through the wilderness, after they were led through the sea; the people of Israel are compared to a flock of sheep; the Lord is represented as the Shepherd of them, who took care of them, protected and preserved them from their enemies:
by the hand of Moses and Aaron; the one was their civil and the other their ecclesiastical governor, and both under the Lord, and instruments of his, in guiding and conducting the people in all things needful for them. The Arabic version adds, “Allelujah”; from all this the psalmist concluded, though it is not mentioned, that as God had delivered his people of old out of their straits and difficulties, so he hoped and believed, that as he could, he would deliver him in his own time and way; and by this means his faith was relieved and strengthened.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If we have divided the strophes correctly, then this is the refrain-like close. Like a flock God led His people by Moses and Aaron (Num 33:1) to the promised goal. At this favourite figure, which is as it were the monogram of the Psalms of Asaph and of his school, the poet stops, losing himself in the old history of redemption, which affords him comfort in abundance, and is to him a prophecy of the future lying behind the afflictive years of the present.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock A beautiful Asaphic figure, (Psa 80:1,) and a resting of faith at last in the great Shepherd of Israel. Here the psalm abruptly closes, as if the author had left it unfinished. But “where our psalm leaves off, Habakkuk, chap. 3, goes on, taking it up from that point like a continuation. For the prophet begins with the prayer to revive that deed of redemption of the Mosaic days of old, and in the midst of wrath to remember mercy; and, in expressions and figures which are borrowed from our psalm, he then beholds a fresh deed of redemption, by which that of old is eclipsed.” Delitzsch.
Psa 77:20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock The complaints of good men in the Scriptures of the Old Testament are of two sorts: one regards the national calamities of the Jews, the other the sufferings of particular men. The first (as well as the second) seems to have made a principal subject of the Psalmist’s complaint in this psalm, as is probable from the conclusion, in which he reckons up the great things formerly done by God for the deliverance of his people; and concludes with one of the greatest: Thou leddest thy people like a flock, [through the Red Sea and through the wilderness, to the Promised Land,] by the hand of Moses and Aaron. His seeking comfort from a remembrance of God’s great kindness to Israel, intimates that his sorrow was partly on account of their sufferings. See Bishop Sherlock as above.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Among the several conflicts that we may endure, are those inward temptations, trials, and bodily pains, with which our spirit may be afflicted; but let us not despair of comfort and relief, when it stands here on record, I criedand he gave ear unto me. We have here,
1. The Psalmist’s fervent and incessant prayers in the day of his trouble. I cried with my voice, earnest and aloud, I sought the Lord, with eager importunity; my sore ran in the night, his heart bled with anguish; or, my hand was stretched out in the night in prayer to God, and ceased not. Note; (1.) In our distress we are especially called upon to fly to the compassionate bosom of our God, and pour out our complaints to him. (2.) If we would succeed, we must be both importunate and unwearied in our application.
2. His anguish was bitter, and he found no immediate relief. My soul refused to be comforted; laid hold on none of the promises; yea, when suggested to him, he thrust them from him as if they belonged not to him. I remembered God, and instead of finding relief from thence, I was troubled; his inexorable justice, and terrible majesty, fastened on his mind, and sunk him in deeper dejection. I complained of my sufferings, and my spirit was overwhelmed, as if my trials were too heavy to be borne. Thou holdest mine eyes waking; no balmy sleep brought for a time a truce of respite to his afflicted spirit: I am so troubled, that I cannot speak; his distress so unutterable, and his soul so dejected. Note; (1.) Under deep temptation we are apt to feed our own sorrows, and reject the consolations that God’s word suggests to us. (2.) If we cannot speak but in groans, that is a language which God can understand, and will answer.
3. His melancholy fears occasioned great searchings of heart. I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search into the cause of my distress, and where it would end; and, between hope and fear, reason with myself, Will the Lord cast off for ever? as he seems now to have forsaken me; and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy, so often shown to me, clean gone for ever? Is there no more mercy, not a drop yet in store for me? doth his promise fail evermore? that no word of comfort shall again refresh my spirit? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? is it possible? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? so mused, so reasoned his dejected heart; and it speaks the strength of the temptation, which could cause him to question in the least degree truths so evident.
4. One beam of hope at last brightens up the prospect; he had gone far in his fears, much farther than he had any real cause for; now he stops short, and chides his unbelieving heart. I said, This is my infirmity, my lot of affliction, under which I ought not to complain; or rather my weakness and sin, ever to entertain a doubt of the love and compassions of my God: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High, that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, able to save to the uttermost, and therefore ever to be remembered and trusted. Note; (1.) We have already got, in a measure, out of our troubles when we begin to condemn our unbelief, and to cast our care upon God. (2.) There is no sin more besetting, none more to be lamented, than this dishonourable distrust of God’s willingness to save.
2nd, Though we find not the immediate effect of the means of grace, we must not grow weary in using them: when we continue in God’s way, we shall certainly succeed at last. 2. He acknowledges God’s way to be holy. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, or in holiness; all his dispensations altogether righteous, and they who wait upon him in his sanctuary will see the reasons of them opened and made known to them. Note; Though we may not always be able to solve particular difficulties in God’s dealings with men, yet this principle we must hold fast, that God is holy in all his ways, and just in all his works.
3. He magnifies God’s power and grace, so eminently displayed in behalf of his people: Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the people, in those stupendous miracles wrought for their redemption out of Egypt. Afraid and troubled at the presence of God, the depths of the Red Sea were discovered, and its waters stood up as congealed into a wall of stone; the showering skies poured down torrents on the Egyptians, the thunders roared, the lightnings flashed, the earth quaked, and filled them with terror and dismay before the waters overwhelmed them; circumstances which, though not recorded in the Mosaic history, attended that fatal overthrow of Israel’s enemies: whilst Israel, conducted by the way which God had opened through the sea, following his paths in these great waters, passed safely through; and then the sea returned to his strength, and no footsteps remained: thus, like a flock, God led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and brought them at last to the promised rest in Canaan. In all which he gloriously manifested his power and grace towards his people, and hath given his faithful followers everlasting cause to triumph in him: Who is so great a god as our God? Note; (1.) The redemption of Israel from Egypt, is typical of our redemption from the bondage of corruption. (2.) Like this passage through the sea, so are many of the works of God’s grace and providence, incomprehensible to us; we can only stand on the shore and cry, O the depth! Rom 11:33. (3.) As God of old thus delivered his people, so will he ever lead, guide, and preserve his faithful ones; and they who trust in him shall not be disappointed of their hope.
REFLECTIONS
READER, ponder over the weighty contents of this blessed Psalm. Do we see Christ in it? Did Jesus so cry in the days of his flesh? Did he accomplish salvation for his people, when he bore their sins and carried their sorrows? Oh! then, let us delight to trace his footsteps amidst all the dark and hidden providences with which we may be exercised. Depend upon it, he is bringing all his redeemed by a right way to a city of habitation. He that led his people like a flock safely through the wilderness, by the hand of Moses and Aaron, is never inattentive to his people now. They may be exercised, they may he cast down; but they shall not be cast off, nor forgotten by him forever. Let us do as the writer of this sweet Psalm did; under our sharpest trials, let us call to mind the days that are past, and the years of God’s faithful dealings with his people in ancient times; see whether we cannot find exercises, with which the faithful were brought to the test, similar to our own. This will help us, by the Spirit’s sweet application of it, under numberless occasions. Faith will revive in the review. The soul will say, Was Jesus faithful then, and will he not be faithful now? He mightily delivered his people under their distresses, and is he not Jesus still to me under mine? Doth he not rest in his love? Doth he not hate putting away? Set up, my soul, this day, this very day, thy Ebenezer afresh. Hitherto the Lord hath helped. Though I cannot see at all times my path clear, yet let me see, Lord, thy faithfulness at all times the same. Ere long I shall see thy glory. Hallelujah! Jesus lives, and Jesus reigns: all shall be well. Thou art then the God of my salvation, on thee will I lean, and to thee will I come, and in thee let me be found now and forever.
Psa 77:20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Ver. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock ] And so he still leadeth his Church with much love and care, by good magistrates and ministers, who are as his under-shepherds.
Moses and Aaron. Only here in this third book.
Psa 77:20
Psa 77:20
GOD’S GUIDANCE OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS
“Thou leddest thy people like a flock,
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
This was another of the mighty works of God upon which the psalmist had resolved to meditate; and this was indeed a wonder. The manna from heaven, the water from the rock, the victories over enemies, the bitter waters made sweet, the thunders of Sinai, the giving of the Law, etc., etc. There was never anything else in the history of mankind that deserves to be compared with what God did for Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai.
As Leupold expressed it, “A man is well on the way to recovery from all uncertainty and doubts when he remembers the record of God’s guidance of his people in the past, and the fact of God’s always providing adequate leadership for his true followers.
The great lesson of this psalm is that those who love God must trust him however distasteful or even disastrous may be the circumstances through which it is our duty to pass. This writer has known persons who in some disaster, such as the sudden death of a beloved child, have turned against God in bitterness and unbelief; but such a reaction is never right. God loves his children no matter what wretched sorrows they suffer; and the heart of faith must always, “take it to the Lord in prayer.” There is no consolation, utterly no help, anywhere else.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 77:17-20. The closing verse of this paragraph shows that David was still writing about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt by way of the Red Sea. We therefore should take many of the references to the weather conditions in a figurative or general sense. There is nothing in the history of Exodus 14, 15 that indicates any literal rainfall at that time. The actual event was the opening and closing of the Sea. That mighty deed induced the Psalmist to paint a picture in general of God’s control of all the elements of the universe.
Psa 78:52, Psa 80:1, Exo 13:21, Exo 14:19, Isa 63:11, Isa 63:12, Hos 12:13, Act 7:35, Act 7:36
Reciprocal: Exo 3:10 – General Exo 6:26 – That Aaron Exo 6:27 – to bring Exo 14:29 – walked Exo 15:13 – led Exo 16:6 – the Lord Lev 26:46 – by the hand Num 9:22 – abode Num 26:51 – General Num 33:1 – under the hand Deu 1:33 – Who went Deu 11:5 – General 1Sa 12:6 – It is the Lord Psa 103:7 – He made Psa 105:26 – sent Psa 106:9 – so he Psa 107:7 – he led Psa 136:16 – General Jer 2:17 – when he Hab 3:13 – with Heb 8:9 – to lead
Psa 77:20. Thou leddest thy people First through the sea, and afterward through the vast howling wilderness to Canaan; like a flock With singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep. The Psalm concludes abruptly, and does not apply those ancient instances of Gods power to the present distresses, whether personal or national, as one might have expected. For as soon as the good man began to meditate on these things he found he had gained his point. His very entrance upon this matter gave him light and joy; his fears suddenly and strangely vanished, so that he needed to go no further; he went his way and did eat, and his countenance was no more sad.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. He continues to meditate on God’s works and ways for the comfort of his soul. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old; the great things he had done for his people of old, and the earnest of what he will do for them in future. I will meditate also of all thy work, of providence, redemption, and grace, for his own strength and consolation, and talk of thy doings, for the support and edification of others. Note; (1.) It becomes us often to remember the wonders of God’s dispensations of providence and grace towards us, to awaken our greater thankfulness and gratitude. (2.) What he has done for our souls should be spoken of to his glory, and for the encouragement of others who may be in the like distress.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments