Psalms 78:70

My Notes

What Does Psalms 78:70 Mean?

One of the most important sentences in the Old Testament — and one of the shortest. "He chose David also his servant" — God chose. The verb (bachar) is the same used for God choosing Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6). David's kingship wasn't earned by ambition, political maneuvering, or even military prowess. He was chosen. Selected. The initiative was entirely God's.

"And took him from the sheepfolds" — the sheepfolds (mikh'laot tson) were the livestock pens, the enclosures where sheep were kept. David wasn't in a school for kings. He wasn't training with weapons or studying statecraft. He was herding sheep — the lowest occupation in the family, the job given to the youngest son. The text wants you to feel the distance: sheepfold to throne. That's the distance God covered in a single choice.

The verse that follows (v. 71) completes the picture: "From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance." God took a boy who was feeding pregnant sheep and gave him a nation to shepherd. The skills were transferable — patience, watchfulness, care for the vulnerable — but the promotion was absurd by any human metric. Nobody recruits kings from sheep pens. God does.

Psalm 78 is a historical psalm recounting God's faithfulness through Israel's failures. David's selection comes at the climax — God's answer to centuries of rebellion: a shepherd-king chosen from the back pasture.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What is your 'sheepfold' right now — the unglamorous, unseen work you're doing that might be preparation for something bigger?
• 2.God chose David while he was following pregnant ewes. How does that challenge the idea that you need to position yourself for promotion?
• 3.David's shepherd skills became his leadership skills. What skills are you building in your current season that God might be preparing to use in a larger context?
• 4.The verse says God 'chose' David. How does knowing that calling comes from God's initiative — not yours — change how you wait for the next season?

Devotional

God found His king in a sheep pen. That tells you everything about how God promotes.

David wasn't networking. He wasn't campaigning. He wasn't building a platform or positioning himself for influence. He was following pregnant ewes — the slowest, most vulnerable animals in the flock, the ones that need the most patience and the most care. And God looked at that boy doing that work and said: that's my king.

The sheepfold wasn't a detour. It was preparation. Everything David learned watching sheep — the patience, the protection, the willingness to fight a lion and a bear for a lamb — became the skills that defined his kingship. God didn't choose David despite the sheep pen. He chose him because of what the sheep pen revealed.

"He chose David also his servant." Servant first. King second. The title that precedes the throne is servant. David's identity before God wasn't royalty. It was service. And the service started with sheep before it graduated to people.

If you feel overlooked — stuck in the back pasture while everyone else seems to be advancing — this verse is your biography. The sheep pen isn't a dead end. It's a proving ground. The work nobody sees is the work God is watching. And the person who is faithful with the pregnant ewes — the slow, unglamorous, patience-requiring work — is the person God takes from the fold and sets on a throne.

You don't need to be seen by the right people. You need to be faithful with the sheep in front of you. God handles the rest.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture