Bellarmine on Psalm 94 : Verse 7

Verse 7

For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

quia ipse est Dominus Deus noster, et nos populus pascuae ejus, et oves manus ejus.

This is the fifth and final reason, because the Lord not only made us but guides us by a special providence, like a shepherd with a flock of his (sheep). St. Augustine notes an elegant transposition of words here, for it seems that the Prophet should have linked the sheep with (His) pasture and the people with His hand, (as in): “ and we are the people of his hand and the sheep of his pasture;” instead, he links the people with His pasture and the sheep with His hand, so as to signify that the people are from God’s viewpoint like sheep, who need a shepherd : and yet they are not sheep lacking in reason, that need to be driven with a crook;[1] but these sheep are called sheep of His hand, either because God made them, as St. Augustine explains, or, as others teach, because God guides them with His own hand; for although God’s people have (their own) shepherds and teachers, by whom they are fed and guided, yet God Himself has a special care for them and does not allow them to be harmed by the neglect, the ignorance or the malice of (their shepherds). From which we understand that God’s people should place their trust in God, the supreme shepherd, and have recourse to Him through prayer when confronted by a shepherd less suited for their care; for He Himself says through Ezechiel: “I will feed my sheep:”[2] 

[1] a. A shepherd's staff, having one end curved or hooked, for catching the hinder leg of a sheep. OED.

[2] I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. Ego pascam oves meas, et ego eas accubare faciam, dicit Dominus Deus. [Ezech. Xxxiv. 15]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.