Psalm 114

Psalms 114:1

“When Israel went out of Egypt,.... The people of Israel in a body, publicly, openly, and not by stealth; freely and willingly, not forced and drove out; though urged by the Egyptians to go, through the hand of God upon them; and so went out with the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord, and with great riches, and in health, not one feeble or sick among them.”

Psalms 114:1

“When Israel went out of Egypt. The song begins with a burst, as if the poetic fury could not be restrained, but overleaped all bounds. The soul elevated and filled with a sense of divine glory cannot wait to fashion a preface, but springs at once into the middle of its theme. Israel emphatically came out of Egypt, out of the population among whom they had been scattered, from under the yoke of bondage, and from under the personal grasp of the king who had made the people into national slaves.”

Psalms 114:2

“Judah was his sanctuary - He set up his true worship among the Jews, and took them for his peculiar people. And Israel his dominion - These words are a proof, were there none other, that this Psalm was composed after the days of David, and after the division of the tribes, for then the distinction of Israel and Judah took place.”

Psalms 114:2

Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The pronoun "his" comes in where we should have looked for the name of God; but the poet is so full of thought concerning the Lord that he forgets to mention his name, like the spouse in the Song, who begins, "Let him kiss me, "or Magdalene when she cried, "Tell me where thou hast laid him."

Psalms 114:2

“He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he gave them the special tokens of his presence with them and promised to receive their homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have God's sanctuary among them (see Exod. xxv. 26 ), much more those that, like Judah here, are his sanctuaries, his living temples, on whom Holiness to the Lord is written.”

Psalms 114:3

“The sea saw it - The word it is supplied, not very properly, by our translators. It would be more expressive to say, “The sea saw:” that is, The sea - (the Red Sea) - saw the mighty movement - the marshalled hosts - the moving masses - the cattle - the pursuing enemies - the commotion - the agitation - on its usually quiet shores.”

Psalms 114:4

“The mountains skipped like rams,.... The mountains of Sinai and Horeb quaked and moved at the presence of the Lord, when he descended thereon to give the law; these saw his glory and trembled, Exo 19:”

Psalms 114:4

“The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. At the coming of the Lord to Mount Sinai, the hills moved; either leaping for joy in the presence of their Creator like young lambs; or, if you will, springing from their places in affright at the terrible majesty of Jehovah, and flying like a flock of sheep when alarmed. Men fear the mountains, but the mountains tremble before the Lord.”

Psalms 114:4

“Mountains and hills are, before God, but like rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as manageable by him as they are by the shepherd. The trembling of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the discoveries of his glory.”

Psalms 114:5

“What ailed thee, O thou sea? Wert thou terribly afraid? Did thy strength fail thee? Did thy very heart dry up? What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou wert neighbour to the power of Pharaoh, but thou didst never fear his hosts; stormy wind could never prevail against thee so as to divide thee in twain; but when the way of the Lord was in thy great waters thou was seized with affright, and thou becamest a fugitive from before him. Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? What ailed thee, O quick descending river?”

Psalms 114:6

“Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams,.... Not for joy, but fear; what caused these trembling motions, these violent agitations, and quakings, and movings to and fro like the skipping of rams? And ye little hills, like lambs? what was it that disturbed you, and put you into a panic, that you skipped like frightened lambs? These questions are put, by a beautiful and poetical figure, to inanimate creatures; the Red sea, the river of Jordan, the mountains of Sinai and Horeb, and the hills about them; to which an answer is turned in the next verse.”

Psalms 114:6

“Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? What ailed ye, that ye were thus moved? There is but one reply: the majesty of God made you to leap. A gracious mind will chide human nature for its strange insensibility, when the sea and the river, the mountains and the hills, are all sensitive to the presence of God. Man is endowed with reason and intelligence, and yet he sees unmoved that which the material creation beholds with fear.”

Psalms 114:7

“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,.... Or, "the earth has trembled at the presence of the Lord"; so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; the imperative is sometimes put for the preterite or past tense, see Psa 22:9, likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions thus render it, "the earth is moved at the presence of the Lord"; and then the sense is by a prosopopoeia.”

Psalms 114:7

“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. Or "from before the Lord, the Adonai, the Master and King." Very fitly does the Psalm call upon all nature again to feel a holy awe because its Ruler is still in its midst. Let the believer feel that God is near, and he will serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Awe is not cast out by faith, but the rather it becomes deeper and more profound. The Lord is most reverenced where he is most loved.”

Psalms 114:7

“The mercy of the miracle: What ailed thee? Was it only to amuse men? No; it was at the presence of the God of Jacob; it was in kindness to the Israel of God, for the salvation of that chosen people, that God was thus displeased against the rivers, and his wrath was against the sea, as the prophet speaks, Hab. iii.”

Psalms 114:8

“Which turned the rock into a standing water,.... Both at Rephidim and at Kadesh; which being smitten, streams of water flowed out like rivers, as if the rock itself was changed into water; and which came a constant and continual supply for the Israelites, for it is said to follow them; see Exo 17:6. The flint into a fountain of waters; referring to the same thing, the rocks were flinty ones.”

Psalms 114:8

“Which turned the rock into a standing water, causing a mere or lake to stand at its foot, making the wilderness a pool: so abundant was the supply of water from the rock that it remained like water in a reservoir. The flint into a fountain of waters, which flowed freely in streams, following the tribes in their devious marches. Behold what God can do! It seemed impossible that the flinty rock should become a fountain; but he speaks, and it is done.”

Psalms 114:8

“In singing this psalm we must acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did for Israel, applying it to the much greater work of wonder, our redemption by Christ, and encouraging ourselves and others to trust in God in the greatest straits.”