Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine;
By verse 65, Israel's story has hit bottom: the tabernacle abandoned, the ark in enemy hands, the people cut down. Then God wakes — and the picture raises three questions: was He asleep, what stirred Him, and what did He do next?
One commentator traces the collapse that leads up to verse 65, then marks the turn:
Psalm 78 gives the account of Israel's complete failure on the ground of responsibility. Everything is lost once it rests on their own works. The tabernacle is abandoned (verse 60); the ark goes into captivity (verse 61); judgment falls on the land, and the people are destroyed (verses 62-64). Then, in verse 65, the people's situation changes completely — a change brought about entirely by Jehovah.
Losing the ark was not one setback among many. It shut down the whole system God had given them:
Losing the ark to the Philistines was a deeply serious situation. It would stop the yearly Day of Atonement. There could be no forgiveness of sins, no priesthood at work, no sin offering. This was the consequence of their rejection of God.
The image describes how God's delay felt to people living through it, not a truth about God Himself.
This is a remarkable statement. It is as though He were unaware of the whole matter, or did not care about it. His people in that situation could certainly conclude that God had forsaken them. But thank God, in these verses we see His sovereign right to act at the very time when man has wasted himself, like the prodigal son.
The second half of the verse borrows its picture from human excitement. One writer also notes which name for God stands here:
The Lord here is not Jehovah, but Adonai, the Sovereign Lord. He awakes, as the strong figure puts it, as one out of sleep, and His full strength is with Him at once. He is "like a strong man shouting because of wine." It takes the excited energy of a man to supply the picture.
This is not Israel rallying to win back what it lost:
It is also, as we know, a beautiful trumpet-call of victory after defeat — but the Lord's victory, not man's.
Nothing in Israel caused it. God's dealings had left their hearts unchanged.
Sovereign grace is the only resource of God, if He is to bless man. All His dealings, however gracious, fail to reach their goal. He loves His people, but He has no resource for blessing them except His own grace. If He acted on the results of His dealings, He would give them up; they only turned aside like a bow that cannot be trusted. It is always so. But when all was at the worst, He wakes in His love to His people, because of their misery and His love to them.
He did not rebuild what had failed. He chose afresh — Judah, Mount Zion, David — and the choice held.
Scripture links Zion with David and his rule. It links it just as plainly with the sovereign grace of God. Everything entrusted to man in Israel had failed: the priesthood had broken down, and the ark had gone into captivity in the enemy's land... Everything looked lost, but it was not... And this was no temporary choice. As a later psalm adds, "For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: 'This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.'" (Ps. 132:13-14.)
Commentators differ on where this pattern finds its fullest meaning. One reads the waking as fulfilled at the cross:
This is what the cross means. This is what it means to strip the rulers and authorities and display them openly (Col. 2:15). Here is the Lord Jesus — not seized by wicked hands, but drawing His enemies and all who hate Him into open conflict in order to rout them completely.
Another points to a rescue still future:
But the intervention of the Lord Jesus at the end of the Great Tribulation will be sudden and not expected by the world. He will beat back His enemies and put them to everlasting shame.
- Bottom — The ark was gone. Sacrifice and priesthood had stopped. Israel's own record gave God no reason to act.
- Sleep — God had not slept; He had seemed to. The picture describes how His silence felt to people who thought He had abandoned them.
- Shout — The waking is instant and at full strength. Only the picture of a roaring strong man can carry it.
- Grace — What roused Him was their misery and His own love, not their improvement. Sovereign grace is God's only resource for blessing people.
- Choice — He rose and chose: Judah, Zion, David. The old order had failed; this choice He never took back.
And he smote his adversaries in the hinder part, and put them to everlasting reproach.
The psalm has just described Israel at her lowest — the ark of God in enemy hands, her priests fallen by the sword. Then the tone changes, and this verse raises a question: why does God's blow fall on the enemy, and not on the people who provoked Him?
One writer hears a note of triumph here, and says whose triumph it is:
It is also, as we know, a beautiful trumpet-note of victory after defeat — but the Lord's victory, and not man's. And its opening words declare exactly that.
He then points to God's title here, and to the picture of a man roused by wine:
The Lord — not Jehovah, but Adonai, the Sovereign Lord — awakes, as the strong figure puts it, as one out of sleep; and His full strength appears at once with Him. He is "like a mighty man who shouts because of wine." It takes the excited energy of man to supply that picture: "He struck His adversaries backward; an everlasting reproach He inflicted upon them."
The blow lands at the nation's lowest point, and Israel could not have struck it:
Israel could hardly have been in a state of greater confusion and ruin than when David set up his throne on Mount Zion. The sanctuary was defiled, the priesthood corrupted, the ark of God in captivity, and "Ichabod" written on the whole scene — the glory had departed. For this terrible state of things there was no hope, no resource, in Israel. But God in mercy steps in.
Commentators tie these words to the Philistines, who had captured the ark of God. One writer reads the psalm as heaven's own account of what happened to them:
How solemn the divine commentary of Psalm 78 on the events of this chapter. Having said of Israel, "Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation," the Psalmist states, "Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. And He struck His enemies backward; He put them to lasting shame." If man, in his folly, seeks to identify the glory of God with idols, God will maintain His glory by judgment.
Another writer notes the sharpness of the insult. The Philistines paraded the ark and mocked it, as they had mocked the blind and chained Samson. Now they were dealing with Samson's God, and they "pay dearly for the insult offered to Him who is able to vindicate Himself" (C Knapp).
One writer sets two destinies side by side:
The enemy, the Gentile, must come to this, and then he will be put to lasting shame. That shame is never Israel's portion. She may have been cast off for a time because of her sins, yet she will be like a "wife of youth" (though an adulteress), when she was despised.
One writer hears this same awakening at the cross. He starts with how God's silence feels to the people living under it:
It is as though He were unaware of the whole matter, or did not care. No doubt His people in that situation could conclude that God had forsaken them… Like Israel, we have brought ourselves into the place of this governmental judgment. But "the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine," and He will destroy His enemies. This is what the cross means. This is what stripping principalities and powers and making a show of them openly means (Col. 2:15). This is the Lord Jesus — not seized by wicked hands, but drawing His enemies and all who hate Him into open conflict, in order to rout them completely.
Others look forward, and commentators differ over which fulfilment is mainly in view. One applies the verse to the Lord's return:
Israel's condition has proved hopeless. So the time comes for the Lord to step in, in absolute sovereign grace, and the victory is soon won — not by Israel, but by the Lord of Israel alone… But the intervention of the Lord Jesus at the end of the Great Tribulation will be sudden and not expected by the world. He will beat back His enemies and put them to perpetual reproach.
Another writer makes the Philistine story the pattern for that future stroke. Golden memorials of their plague remained "as a perpetual witness of their shame (1 Sam. 5:6)," and "with a still more deadly and irreparable blow, Jehovah's arm will descend in judgment" on the armies gathered at the end (A. Pridham).
- Awakening — God seemed asleep. His people could conclude He had forsaken them, yet the silence ends in action, not abandonment.
- Sovereign — The title here is Adonai, the Sovereign Lord. What follows is a trumpet-note of victory after defeat — His victory, not man's.
- Backward — The enemies driven back are the Philistines who paraded the captured ark. When men tie God's glory to idols, He defends that glory by judgment.
- Everlasting — Lasting disgrace is the oppressor's portion, never Israel's. God may set her aside for a time, but He takes her back like a wife of youth.
- Again — The same pattern appears at the cross, where Christ put the powers on open display. It waits for one final blow, when the Lord steps in for a people with no resource of their own.
And he rejected the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
Psalm 78 retells Israel's whole story, and by this point enemies have carried off the ark and Shiloh lies abandoned. This verse names what God did next: He set aside the tribe that had held the leading place, and the question is why.
Joseph and Ephraim were not minor names. The right of the firstborn had passed to them, and God's sanctuary stood on their ground at Shiloh.
After that, Shiloh lost the standing among the tribes that it had held since the days of Joshua — more than three hundred years. Jacob had given Ephraim the place of firstborn over his brother Manasseh — the place of privilege. But the tribe failed, so God's sanctuary left Ephraim's territory, where it had stood, and settled at last in Judah's inheritance, at Jerusalem. "Our Lord was descended from Judah." Here we see a truth found everywhere in Scripture. When the first man fails, and everything trusted to him falls into ruin, God steps in and brings in Christ, "the second Man." Under His headship, and in His hands, everything is secured for ever.
Ephraim had turned back in battle. Nothing was missing on God's side.
They were equipped, and so they could have stood. God had not failed them. Circumstances were not too strong for them. They had every assurance of success. They stood on ground that God's own promise had secured for them: "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours." Yet despite all this, they turned back. This was no small slip: "they did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to His law. They forgot His works and the wonders that He had shown them."
God did not repair the old arrangement. That is the force of "chose not."
But new grace must come with new experience. We must see that this is not a return to the old conditions. Once again God sets aside the firstborn, nature's own first place. The tent of Joseph is not restored. Taking up the tribe of Ephraim again as His dwelling would not display God's sovereign choice. His new relation rests on one thing only: the love in His own heart. So Zion becomes the unchanging seat appointed for His kingdom on earth, and Judah the tribe linked with it.
The names of the two tribes carry the contrast, and the same setting aside runs back through the family.
Ephraim's name speaks of the fruits of the life. Judah is the contrast: our Lord came from that tribe, and its name, "praise," points to the one thing God can dwell in: "You are enthroned on the praises of Israel." Praise for Christ is the only atmosphere in which God can stay. See how everything stresses the refusal of the flesh! Joseph himself displaced Reuben the firstborn. Ephraim, the younger brother, was chosen before Manasseh. So now again the tribe that had held the headship must be set aside — the tribe the nation's great leader Joshua came from. "The Lion of the tribe of Judah" is the only One who can prevail. All these changes press home a fact God has written all over His word: man cannot be relied on, the flesh is of no use, Christ is all.
The refusal of Ephraim comes with a choice — of a tribe, a mountain, and a man.
He refuses Ephraim and the strength of nature. He acts according to His own sovereign choice. In sovereignty He "chose" the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion for His sanctuary, and David to feed His people. So Zion becomes the symbol of grace, and David a picture of Christ, the One through whom all the grace comes to us.
If Ephraim lost the place by failing, one might assume Judah earned it. The record says otherwise.
Joseph and his son Ephraim (for whom the ten tribes were named) are displaced by Judah (vv. 67-68). Is this because of Judah's faithfulness? No indeed. Judah had been deeply guilty in selling Joseph into captivity. So he shows the total failure of the flesh. But later Judah broke down completely in repentance when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. This shows that Israel can be blessed only when they give Christ His place of total authority and are humbled in broken repentance before Him.
- Privilege — Ephraim held the firstborn's place, and God's sanctuary stood at Shiloh on his ground. No tribe began with more.
- Failure — They were equipped and had God's promise. He never failed them. Still they turned back and forgot His works.
- Refusal — God did not rebuild the old order. He set nature's first claim aside; He did not repair it.
- Choice — God took up Judah and Zion, not for merit, but out of the love in His own heart. Zion becomes the symbol of grace.
- Christ — Where the first man fails, God brings in the second Man. The Lion of Judah alone prevails, and in His hands everything is secure.
But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved;
Psalm 78 has just told a long story of failure. Shiloh lost its place, the Philistines took the ark, and Israel's king and his sons were killed. Then, in one verse, everything turns on what God Himself chooses. Why did He pass by Ephraim, the tribe that held the birthright, and settle on Judah and on one hill He loved?
Here God starts again on a new basis, after the old one had collapsed.
Up to this point, God had dealt with Israel on the basis of their own works. But when they had brought themselves into complete ruin, He falls back on His sovereignty and acts on His own initiative for their blessing. So we read that He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves, and again, that He chose David. This is the sovereignty of divine mercy, making a sovereign choice for the blessing of man. A mountain is a symbol of power. Mount Zion is a symbol of mighty power used in sovereign grace.
Jacob gave Ephraim the place of the firstborn, and the tabernacle stood in Ephraim's land at Shiloh for centuries. Then the tribe failed, and God moved His sanctuary south.
From that hour Shiloh lost the standing among the tribes that it had held since the days of Joshua — more than three hundred years… Jacob gave Ephraim the place of firstborn over his brother Manasseh — the place of privilege. But the failure of the tribe moved God's sanctuary out of Ephraim's territory, where it had been, and settled it at last in the inheritance of Judah, at Jerusalem. "Our Lord was descended from Judah." Here we see a truth found everywhere in Scripture. When the first man fails, and everything entrusted to him falls into ruin, God comes in and brings in Christ, "the second Man." Under His headship and in His hands everything is secured beyond change.
Psalm 78 keeps repeating one verb: God chose. That choice sets aside the rights that birth would have given.
After describing the ruin of Israel, Psalm 78 shows us Jehovah awaking. But it sets aside all rights of inheritance, and all witness to His earlier dealings with Israel. For, as 1 Chronicles 5 records, the birthright was Joseph's — yet He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves. He chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
Judah's own history rules out any thought of merit. It also shows the one thing God waits for before He blesses:
Is this because Judah was faithful? No indeed, for Judah had been badly guilty in selling Joseph into slavery. So Judah illustrates the total failure of the flesh. But Judah later broke down completely in repentance when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. This shows that Israel can be blessed only after they give Christ His place of total authority, humbled in broken repentance before Him. God loves Mount Zion because it stands for the pure blessing He will finally give His people Israel in the millennium.
The verse gives no reason for Zion beyond God's love for it.
What reason did God have to interest Himself in this place more than in another? There was no reason whatsoever except that He loved this city which had been under the power of the Jebusites, the enemies of Jehovah and of His anointed. His heart was attached to this place, because this is where He wanted to set up the throne of His grace on earth for good. "For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it" (Ps. 132:13-14).
Scripture sets two mountains against each other.
No mountain in the Old Testament stood in such direct contrast with Sinai as Zion. The one was the unforgettable scene of the nation's responsibility to the law. The other was Jehovah stepping in with grace for His king when everything was in ruins. People and priests alike were wicked. The Philistines had taken the ark. Israel had said "Ichabod" — the glory has departed. Israel's king and his sons were killed. The Jebusites held the centre and stronghold of Jerusalem, and they were defiant and insulting. It was then that Jehovah, just as He chose David, also chose Mount Zion which He loved.
The choice of David points beyond David.
The crowning fact is His sovereign grace in choosing Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. Here we may well think of the Son of David, God's Anointed. In Him God makes His sovereign grace known, and He will yet feed Jacob and Israel His inheritance.
- Ruin first. Shiloh lost its place and the ark went to the enemy first. God chooses at the point where everything trusted to man has collapsed.
- Choice, not claim. Ephraim held the birthright and lost it; Judah had no better record. The verb "chose" cancels every natural right.
- Love as the reason. Nothing in Zion explains the choice. God loved it, desired it for His dwelling, and made it stand for the blessing He will yet give Israel.
- Zion against Sinai. Sinai stands for Israel's responsibility under law. Zion stands for God stepping in with grace after that failed.
- David, then David's Son. The choice of Judah and Zion prepares for the King who will yet feed Jacob as His inheritance.
And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever.
Psalm 78 has just told of a nation that failed again and again, of a God who left His tent at Shiloh, and of His glory falling into enemy hands. Verse 69 is the turn: God refuses Ephraim, chooses Judah and Mount Zion, and builds something meant to last as long as the earth.
The building described here does not happen at a high point in Israel's history. It happens at the lowest.
When David set up his throne on Mount Zion, Israel could hardly have been in worse confusion and ruin. Both the royal side and the priestly side of the nation were in great disorder. The sanctuary was defiled and the priesthood corrupted. The ark of God was in captivity. "Ichabod" stood written over the whole scene — the glory had departed. For this terrible state of things there was no hope, no resource, in Israel. But God in mercy steps in.
Nothing on Israel's side explains the choice of Judah, Zion, or David. The reason lies in God.
The Lord awakens as one out of sleep. The picture of a mighty man expresses the energy with which the Lord deals with all His enemies. He also refuses Ephraim and the strength of nature, and acts according to His sovereign choice. In sovereignty He "chose" the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion for His sanctuary, and David to feed His people. So Zion becomes the symbol of grace, and David a picture of Christ, the One through whom all the grace comes.
Zion stands for more than David's rule.
Zion is not only identified in Scripture with David and his sovereignty, but very plainly with the sovereign grace of God. In Israel everything entrusted to man had failed. The priesthood had broken down, and the ark had gone into captivity in the enemy's land... All might seem to have gone, but it was not so.
Translations differ here. Some read "like the high heavens"; others read "like the heights." Israel had its own "high places," and the comparison in this verse is with a height of another kind.
"Like the heights" speaks of what is superior to Israel's "high places," above the natural level, where yet He may dwell among His people. So it is like the land (Israel) which He has established forever. Of course, this is prophetic.
God does not restart the old arrangement. The move from a tent to a permanent building marks a change in the relationship behind it.
But the new grace must have new experience. We must see that this is not a return to the old conditions... His new relation depends only on the love in His own heart. So Zion becomes, for good, the appointed seat of His earthly kingdom, and Judah the tribe tied to it. In the same way, the "tent" now gives place to a permanent dwelling. He builds as for eternity.
Because the choice rests on God's own love, He will never reverse it:
This was no temporary choice. A later psalm adds: "The Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: 'This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it'" (Ps. 132:13-14).
God's building has a purpose: worship. And worship has its own conditions.
Yet the Lord Himself would deliver them. He would carry out His purposes: royalty in David, and worship in the temple built by David's son... David himself had to pass through experience like the nation's, as many Psalms clearly show. The same was true of the One whom David pictured in a remarkable way. To bring God acceptable worship, a person must know blessing, and must know the Blesser. God has been pleased to reveal Himself as a Saviour God, and we must know Him in this way for the spirit of worship to awaken.
- Ruin first. God builds at the lowest point — sanctuary defiled, priesthood corrupted, ark captive, no resource left in Israel.
- Choice next. He refuses Ephraim and the strength of nature. He chooses Judah, Zion and David — so Zion becomes the symbol of grace.
- Higher ground. "Like the heights" marks a dwelling above the natural level, higher than Israel's own high places.
- Permanent. The tent gives way to a permanent dwelling. He builds as for eternity, on a relation that rests only on the love in His own heart.
- Worship. A lasting sanctuary exists for a worshipping people. Worship needs known blessing and a known Blesser — the God who reveals Himself as Saviour.
And he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds
Psalm 78 looks back over Israel's history. Most of it records failure: a people who forgot what God had done and turned away again and again. Verse 70 is where the story turns: God makes a choice, and the choice falls on a young shepherd.
God's choice of David did not come at a high point in Israel's life. It came when the nation had nothing left.
Raising David to be king marked a distinct stage in God's dealings with Israel. The nation had turned away from God and lost everything. His grace in raising David up was extraordinary. This divine action is like a giant waking from sleep, powerfully stirred. The Philistines had carried off the ark. But "He chose David also, His servant," and through him God rolled back the tide of disaster. His people had safety, food, and guidance. That intervention of about three thousand years ago pictures the far greater intervention of God, through Christ, which is still to come.
The verse says God chose. That word matters. By the ordinary rules of inheritance, the honour belonged to Joseph's line.
After describing the ruin of Israel, Psalm 78 shows us Jehovah waking up. But it sets aside all rights of inheritance, and all testimony to His earlier dealings with Israel. For the birthright was Joseph's — yet "He CHOSE the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved. He CHOSE David His servant." This psalm reaches further than the history we are looking at. Still, it applies election to David and to Zion.
Samuel had to learn this. At Jesse's house he first looked at David's older brother Eliab.
Samuel, deceived by appearances, thought Eliab was suited for the service of the Lord, the chosen ruler over God's inheritance. But he left Eliab where the Lord left him — "refused" — and the rest of Jesse's sons too. Then, at the Lord's command, they brought David in from the sheepfolds. His own family thought little of him and had not even called him to the sacrifice. God must be sovereign, or ruin would be universal and beyond remedy. God refuses, and God chooses, and there is no unrighteousness with Him. This was Samuel's lesson, and it is ours.
Each phrase carries weight: who chooses, what God calls David, and where God took him from.
"He chose David" — the Lord chooses the shepherds; they are not appointed by men. "David … His servant" — shepherds are servants of God. Christians talk a lot about "leadership" or even "servant-leadership". Scripture simply speaks about servants. "And took him from the sheepfolds" — the Lord found David where he was. Let us not forget where we came from, where the Lord has found us.
David's family gave him the job they valued least. God used it to prepare him.
The family treated minding the sheep as fit work for the youngest son. It was not even a large flock, but because he was "faithful in that which is least," God would entrust him with greater matters. Look at this young lad following his father's flock with a watchful, gentle eye on them. This marked him out as a man especially suited to be the "shepherd of Israel," a fitting picture of Him who was to be "the Shepherd of the sheep."
Because God took His king from a flock, the verse also tells us what kind of rule God approves of.
God's ideal king is neither selfish nor a tyrant. He is a wise shepherd of the people. He serves knowing that the people belong to God, and that he — the king — is only God's honoured servant in rule.
God's choice of David looks forward. The king He took from the sheepfolds was not the last word.
These passages show that God raised David to the rank of king by a special act of divine power. They also show that David was only an imperfect forecast of the infinitely greater One who was to come from his line as a man.
- Ruin first. God chose David after the nation had failed. The choice was pure grace, not a reward.
- Choice, not claim. The birthright belonged to Joseph's line. God set inheritance rights aside. He refuses and He chooses, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
- Sheepfold, not palace. The Lord found David doing the job his family valued least. God trusts the faithful in the least with more.
- Servant, not ruler. Shepherds are God's servants. The king is God's honoured servant in rule. The people belong to God, not to him.
- David, then Christ. The shepherd-king is only an imperfect forecast of the far greater One from his line — the true Shepherd of the sheep.
From following the suckling-ewes, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
Psalm 78 spends seventy verses on Israel's ruin. Then it ends with a choice: God takes a young shepherd from among the nursing ewes and hands him a nation.
After all that failure, God does not repair the old order. He makes a fresh choice. One writer notes how the psalm sets aside every claim of natural right:
After describing the ruin of Israel, Psalm 78 shows us Jehovah awaking. But it sets aside all rights of inheritance, and all testimony to His former dealings with Israel. The birthright was Joseph's, and yet "He CHOSE the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. He CHOSE David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds." This psalm reaches further than our present history, but it applies God's election to David and to Zion.
Nothing was left to build on. The priesthood and the ark had both failed before God made this choice:
Scripture identifies Zion with David and his sovereignty. It also identifies Zion, very plainly, with the sovereign grace of God. This was at a time when everything entrusted to man had failed in Israel. The priesthood had broken down, and the ark had gone into captivity in the enemy's land... All might seem to have gone, but it was not so.
Each clause carries a lesson for anyone who cares for others:
"He chose David" — the Lord chooses the shepherds; they are not appointed by men. "David… His servant" — shepherds are servants of God. Christians say a lot about "leadership" or even "servant-leadership", but Scripture simply speaks about servants. "And took him from the sheepfolds" — the Lord found David where he was. Let us not forget where we came from, where the Lord has found us. "From following the nursing ewes" — David knew about special needs among his sheep. "To shepherd Jacob His people, Israel His inheritance" — never forget: the sheep are the Lord's sheep, not ours! "Feed my lambs… Shepherd my sheep… Feed my sheep" (John 21:15–17).
(Older translations read "the ewes great with young" and "to feed Jacob his people.")
Hidden service came before public service. Scripture repeats the pattern:
Joseph, in prison, learned to rule in obscurity before he governed in public, next to the mighty Pharaoh. Moses spent forty years at the back of the desert. Then he led God's people across that wild land for forty years more. David struck down the lion and the bear in secret before he killed the giant in public. He cared for his father's sheep in the wilderness before God called him to care for His people. From the sheepfold to the throne is the moral order in which God lifts a man up.
Another writer points out how small the flock was, and why that mattered:
Minding the sheep was considered fit service for the youngest of the family. Nor was it a large flock, but being "faithful in that which is least," God would entrust him with greater matters... This marked him out as a man specially suited to be the "shepherd of Israel," a fitting type of Him who was to be "the Shepherd of the sheep."
David came to the nation straight from a flock. That sets a standard for everyone who holds power:
God's ideal king is therefore neither selfish nor a tyrant. He is a wise shepherd of the people. He serves knowing that the people belong to God, and that he, the king, is only God's honoured servant in rule. In this spirit David prayed for the people when the plague was raging. He pleaded with Jehovah to spare the sheep, and punish him instead (2 Sam. 24:17).
One writer sees in this choice a greater Shepherd than David:
The crowning fact is His sovereign grace. He chose Judah and Mount Zion, which He loved, and built His sanctuary there. He chose David His servant to shepherd Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance. Here we may well think of the Son of David, God's Anointed. In Him God makes His sovereign grace known, and He will yet shepherd Jacob and Israel His inheritance.
Others draw the same line through the whole psalm's close:
In sovereignty He "chose" the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion for His sanctuary, and David to feed His people. Zion thus becomes the symbol of grace, and David the type of Christ, the One through whom all the grace is ministered.
- Chosen — the psalm ends in a choice, not a reward. God sets aside every right of inheritance and chooses Judah, Zion and David.
- Grace — the choice came at the lowest point, after priesthood and ark had failed. That is what makes Zion and David lasting pictures of grace.
- Sheepfold — God found David where he was, among ewes that needed special care. The hidden years were his training, and faithfulness with a small flock fitted him for a nation.
- Servants — Scripture calls those who care for God's people servants, not leaders. The flock is never theirs. The sheep belong to the Lord.
- Shepherd-King — shepherd-rule leaves no room for selfish or harsh power. David points on to the Son of David, who will yet shepherd Jacob and Israel, God's inheritance.
And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands.
Psalm 78 spends seventy-one verses tracing Israel's failure. Then it ends not with judgment, but with a shepherd on a throne. The closing line describes how David cared for the people. It answers the question the whole psalm has been building toward: what does God do when His people have failed Him completely?
The psalm's ending is not a reward for Israel's improvement. God found nothing in them to build on, so He turned to His own grace.
Psalm 78 is clearly a recap of Israel's history. It convicts them of their disobedience and unbelief, and shows how useless all God's dealings were as far as their hearts were concerned. Then, so magnificently, He turns to His own sovereign grace to bless. Sovereign grace is God's only resource if He is to bless man. All His dealings, however gracious, fail of their aim. He loves His people, but He has no way of blessing them except His own grace.
Israel's old order lay in ruins. God did not repair it.
The establishment of David upon Israel's throne was divine intervention in grace. God was setting up a new institution for the blessing of His people upon the ruins of the old.
The order matters. David cared for sheep before he ruled a nation.
Most vital of all is His choice of David as the ruler of His people. David — clearly a picture of Christ — was a shepherd before he was given the place of king. He was a servant before he became a ruler. His care for the sheep helped greatly to qualify him to be trusted with ruling the people. He learned to take and keep the lowly place of serving the people's needs instead of lording it over them.
The verse gives two measures of good shepherding, and they are not interchangeable. One is what a man is; the other is what he can do. The comment below quotes an older translation of the verse: "the integrity of his heart" and "the skilfulness of his hands".
'He chose David' — the Lord chooses the shepherds; they are not appointed by men. 'David … His servant' — shepherds are servants of God. Christians talk a lot about 'leadership' or even 'servant-leadership'. But Scripture simply speaks about servants. 'to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance' — never forget: the sheep are the Lord's sheep, not ours! 'So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart' — the first requirement for shepherds is a right moral condition of heart. 'and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands' — a special skill is also needed for this work.
Shepherding is not a sentimental word. In David's life it meant rescue, protection, provision and welcome.
He was a gathering point for the distressed and discontented in Israel. He provided safety for those fleeing from Saul. David recovered everything. He rescued Israel's captives from the Amalekites. He gave a share of the spoil to those too exhausted to follow him. He fed the weak and recovered the lost. He brought the lame Mephibosheth to his table and fed him royally. He had the heart of a shepherd. To feed is to satisfy, to maintain, to protect and to provide.
The verse also shows what God looks for in a king.
God's ideal king is neither selfish nor tyrannical. He is a wise shepherd of the people. He serves in the awareness that the people belong to God, and that he — the king — is simply God's honoured servant in rule. In this spirit David prayed for the people when a plague was raging. He pleaded with the Lord to spare the sheep and punish him instead.
Authority and tenderness are not rivals here. Both belong to the same office.
David's authority was absolute, and he was to rule. He was to carry out judgment if and as needed, but also to feed his subjects and to guide them. His rule was to be absolute but wholly good for them.
What was said of David can be said of Christ, and said far more fully.
It is said of David that he fed the people according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them according to the skilfulness of his hands. How fully and perfectly the same can be said of David's Lord! Though He is now in glory, He takes account of every hair of our heads. He is never unmindful of the smallest need of any sheep of His pasture. How sweet to think of the unwearied activity of this tender and gracious Shepherd — so patient with us, so forbearing, so full of pity and wisdom!
- Ruin — all God's dealings failed to change Israel's heart. Grace was His only resource left.
- Choice — grace then acted. God chose David as His servant and shepherd; the Lord picks His shepherds, and men do not appoint them.
- Heart — a right heart is the first thing God asks of a shepherd. Character comes before skill.
- Hands — skill is still required. Right motives do not replace the skill needed to guide people well.
- Fulfilment — what was partly true of David is fully true of Christ. The sheep were always God's, never the shepherd's.