The shepherd's hand

Here's a detail I've just noticed, and rather love.

Psalm 95:7 in the NIV reads as follows:

"For he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture
and the flock under his care."

Take that phrase "flock under his care" and look more closely.

וְצֹ֣אן יָד֑וֹ

Literally "the flock of his hand".

You can see how that translates as "under his care" - the flock "in the hand" of the shepherd would be a way of speaking of the shepherd's care and provision for his flock.

However, seeing that the word is "hand" opens up a couple of glorious allusions.

Firstly, within the Psalm, we've just read that God's hand holds the depths of the earth (Psalm 95:4), and that his hands formed the dry land (Psalm 95:5). How wonderful to read that the same hand is the hand that holds us, his precious flock.

Second, the language of God's people as his flock is picked up in John 10 where Jesus famously calls himself the good shepherd. This literal rendering of Psalm 95:6 adds richness and colour to the beautiful claim in John 10:28-29:

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

Indeed, we might notice that the verse before that, John 10:27, describes Jesus' sheep as characterised as those who hear his voice. This is, of course, precisely where Psalm 95 goes in verses 7b-11.