John Calvin Commentary Psalms 78:52

"But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock." — Psalms 78:52 (ASV)

And he made his people to go forth like sheep. The Psalmist again celebrates God’s fatherly love towards the chosen people, whom, as we have elsewhere remarked, he compares to a flock of sheep. They had no wisdom or power of their own to preserve and defend themselves; but God graciously condescended to perform the office of a shepherd for them. It is a singular token of the love which he bore for them, that he did not disdain to humble himself so far as to feed them as his own sheep.

What could a multitude who had never been trained in the art of war do against powerful and warlike enemies? So far from having learned the art of war, the people, as is well known, had been employed, when in Egypt, in mean and servile occupations, as if they had been condemned to toil under the earth in mines or in quarries.