Psalms 78:55 · Bible study
Psalms 78:55 Commentary: God's Sovereign Gift of the Land
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the theological weight behind God driving out nations, allotting Canaan, and settling Israel in their tents. A study in covenant faithfulness.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God drove out the Canaanites and gave Israel a measured inheritance, settling them to dwell in the land.
- Key words: gārash (drive out), naḥălāh (inheritance), shākan (cause to dwell), all emphasize God's active, sovereign provision.
- Main debate: Whether the "tents" refer to dwellings or to the portable nature of early Israelite settlement; most agree it simply means homes.
- Theological theme: Covenant faithfulness, God keeps his promise to give the land, making the subsequent rebellion of Israel all the more striking.
- Best use: Preaching the goodness of God's gifts and the seriousness of ingratitude; a bridge between exodus and exile.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
WEB World English Bible 2000
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
KJV King James Version 1769
He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
He drove out the nations also before them, And allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And casteth out nations from before them, And causeth them to fall in the line of inheritance, And causeth the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents,
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Translations in other languages (9 available)
Y echó las gentes de delante de ellos, y repartióles una herencia con cuerdas; é hizo habitar en sus moradas á las tribus de Israel.
E expulsou as nações de diante deles, e fez com que eles repartissem as linhas de sua herança, e fez as tribos de Israel habitarem em suas tendas.
Il chassa devant eux les nations,
und vertrieb vor ihnen her die Völker und ließ ihnen das Erbe austeilen und ließ in jener Hütten die Stämme Israels wohnen.
En Hij verdreef voor hun aangezicht de heidenen, en deed hen vallen in het snoer hunner erfenis, en deed de stammen Israels in hun tenten wonen.
Scacciò le nazioni dinanzi a loro, ne assegnò loro a sorte il paese quale eredità, e nelle tende d’esse fece abitare le tribù d’Israele.
I wyrzucił przed twarzą ich narody, i sprawił, że im przyszły na sznur dziedzictwa ich, ażeby mieszkały w przybytkach ich pokolenia Izraelskie.
他在他們面前 趕出 外邦人，用繩子 將外邦的地量給他們 為業，叫以色列 支派 的人住 在他們的帳棚裡。
Driving out nations before them, marking out the line of their heritage, and giving the people of Israel their tents for a resting-place.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 78:55
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that verse 55 summarizes the conquest and settlement of Canaan as a single, divine act. Matthew Henry places it among the "renewed mercies" God gave to Israel despite their rebellion in the wilderness. Barnes notes that the nations were not driven out randomly but replaced by a people God had chosen. Gill names the seven specific nations expelled, citing Deuteronomy 7:1. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown explain that the land was "allotted by line", measured and divided as a formal inheritance. The verb used for driving out (gārash) implies a forceful, decisive expulsion; the verb for making them dwell (shākan) carries the sense of settling down in peace. All see the verse as a dense restatement of the exodus journey's goal: God brought his flock to a place of rest.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: God himself drove out the Canaanites, measured out the land, and caused Israel to live there — a sovereign act of covenant fulfillment.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Driving out the nations | God sovereignly removed the Canaanite peoples to make room for Israel. | Some see it as divine judgment on Canaan's sin; others emphasize election, God's choice of Israel as his people. |
| Allotment by line | The land was divided fairly by lot and measurement, as recorded in Joshua. | Calvin sees it as a sign of God's specific care; dispensationalists often view it as a literal, permanent inheritance for ethnic Israel, while covenant theologians see it as typological of the new creation. |
| 'Tents' of the heathen | The word 'tents' refers to the dwellings or settlements of the Canaanites that Israel now occupied. | Barnes says 'tents' simply means homes; Jamieson-Fausset-Brown includes it as part of the imagery; no strong debate, but some insist it underscores the nomadic background of the patriarchs. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 78 is a retelling of Israel's history from Egypt to David, written to teach coming generations (verses 5, 7). The psalmist, likely Asaph, walks through the plagues, the wilderness, and now the entry into Canaan. Verse 55 gathers up several events from Joshua: the driving out of inhabitants (Joshua 6:21), the casting of lots for land (Numbers 33:54; Joshua 13:7), and the actual settlement of the tribes (Joshua 19:51).
The phrase "allotted them for an inheritance by line" pictures a surveyor measuring fields with a cord. Land was sacred; God assigned each tribe a portion. "Tents" may seem odd since Israel built houses, but the word ohel can simply mean a fixed home. The point is contrast, not the tents of wilderness wandering, but homes that had belonged to others. Israel moved from homelessness to a homeland, from promise to possession.
The surrounding psalm emphasizes that this gift was followed by Israel's rebellion (verse 56). The Cambridge Bible notes that the psalmist sets God's goodness against the people's ingratitude. So verse 55 functions as a high point: the faithful God who brought them out of Egypt now brings them into the land, a complete salvation. Readers are meant to see not just history but theology: God gives what he promises, and that makes the disobedience that follows all the more serious.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 78:55. The Hebrew text is stable across the Masoretic tradition, and the verse appears without variation in the principal ancient versions (Septuagint, Peshitta, Targum).
Reception History
Psalm 78 was composed for teaching in Israel’s worship, and early readers heard it as a warning and a promise. The early church saw the land as a type of the inheritance believers receive in Christ. Irenaeus and other fathers used passages like verse 55 to argue that God’s earthly blessings were shadows of heavenly realities. Medieval commentators often read the verse morally: God drives out vices and settles virtues in the soul. The Reformation emphasized the covenant aspects, God’s faithfulness despite human failure. Modern scholarship has focused on the psalm’s structure and its place in the Asaph collection, but verse 55 remains a summary of grace: God gives rest to his people after a long journey.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- God drives out enemies to make room for his people. He is sovereign over nations, not just Israel. The conquest was God's judgment on Canaan, but also his provision for Israel.
- God allots the land by line, every tribe receives a measured gift. Inheritance is not random; it is intentional, personal, and generous. God does not just give land; he gives your inheritance.
- God settles Israel in tents, turning wanderers into dwellers. The same verb (shākan) is used of God himself dwelling with his people. Rest is a gift, not an achievement.
Five-point outline
- Retrospect: God acted in history. This verse is a memory anchor, what God did, not what Israel achieved.
- Removal: God cleared the way. The nations were cast out (gārash), a forceful, complete expulsion. God fights for his people.
- Allotment: God measured the gift. The line implies fairness and order. No tribe got too much or too little.
- Settlement: God gave rest. From the desert to a home. His people stopped moving and started belonging.
- Witness: God's goodness sets the stage for failure. Verse 56 begins the tragic turn. The greater the gift, the greater the ingratitude.
Illustration hooks
- The house keys. A friend moves into a home they didn't build, with a garden they didn't plant (Deuteronomy 6:10). That is Israel's story, and a picture of grace.
- The surveyor's line. Imagine someone marking out every inch of land as a personal gift. God doesn't just give a country; he gives each family their own portion.
- The worn suitcase. After forty years of packing and unpacking, the moment the tribes unrolled their bedding in a home they would keep, that is the emotional weight of verse 55.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God still drive out enemies or give land to his people today? (The answer is not about physical land but spiritual inheritance and rest.)
- What does it mean that God gave Israel a land that belonged to others? Was it fair?
- How does this verse help us when we feel like we never get to where God is leading us?
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 78 is a lesson from history. The psalmist wants the next generation to know God's deeds and not repeat the mistakes of their ancestors. Verse 55 sits at the climax of God's rescue, entry into the land. Read it slowly, then discuss.
Discussion questions
- What feelings do you think the Israelites had when they first lived in houses they had not built and ate from vineyards they had not planted? (See Deuteronomy 6:10, 12.)
- Why does the psalmist include the detail of God "allotting the land by line"? What does that tell us about God's character?
- In what ways does this verse show God's complete control over the nations and their borders?
- How does the gift of the land connect to the rest of Psalm 78, especially the failure of Israel in verses 56, 58?
- What "tents" has God brought you into, places or seasons where you realize you are receiving what you did not earn?
- How does knowing that God cleared the way for his people help you trust him when you face obstacles?
- This verse ends with rest. What does it mean for you to "dwell" in God's provision instead of striving to make your own place?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Numbers 33:54 | You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger groups you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. |
| Deuteronomy 6:10 | It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build, |
| Deuteronomy 6:12 | then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. |
| Joshua 6:1 | Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in. |
| Joshua 6:21 | They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. |
| Joshua 13:7 | Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.” |
| Joshua 19:51 | These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before Yahweh, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land. |
| Joshua 23:4 | Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes clarifies that the word translated "heathen" in this verse simply means "nations" in Hebrew, with no implied reference to their religion. He also notes that the division of the land by line refers to a careful survey that gave each tribe a fixed, secure inheritance, ending Israel's wandering.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees this psalm as a deliberate two-sided contrast: God's tender adoption and constant care for His chosen people, and their repeated, treacherous rebellion against such a generous Father. He also highlights a distinct act of renewed grace—God's second election in choosing David to rule, showing God's goodness persisting despite human faithlessness.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
But as God multiplied His mercies, Israel multiplied its acts of rebellion: and in order to set the heinousness of their ingratitude in a still stronger light, the Psalmist goes back to recount the miracles which preceded and prepared for the Exodus.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note stresses that God personally drove out the pagan nations, assigned their land as a hereditary gift to Israel, and then settled the tribes in those very homes. The point is divine sovereignty at every step: removal, allotment, and settlement all come from God's hand, not Israel's effort.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill highlights the thoroughness of God’s provision: the seven Canaanite nations were completely driven out, and the land was divided with exact precision by lot and measurement. Each tribe received its proper inheritance, and Israel settled directly into the homes and towns the previous inhabitants had occupied.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB explains that "by line" refers to a measured portion, and "divided them" means the possessions of the heathen are apportioned. The term "tents" likewise stands for the dwellings of the heathen, as seen in Deuteronomy 6:11.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch argue that the "angels of evil" in this verse are not wicked angels but messengers of misfortune, a grammatical construction meaning calamity-bringing angels. They see the plagues described as streams of fire, death personified as an executioner, and pestilence as a personal foe that forced Pharaoh to release Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry emphasizes that Israel's sin in the wilderness was not ordinary forgetfulness but a deliberate limiting of the Holy One, provoked Him despite witnessing His mighty signs in Egypt. They turned back