The Book of Psalms

Psalm 114

Psalm CXIV · Vol. II, p. 1061

The miracles of God's power, when he brought his people out of Egypt, are a just ground of fearing him.

Margin referencesNotes ↓

1 When Israel^a went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of ^bstrange language,¹

B.C. cir. 1491.

a Ex.13.3;12.31,41,42. De.16.1;26.8.

b Ps.81.5. Ge.42.23.

1 Strange language—'A tyrannous people.'—Horsley.

2 Judah^c was his sanctuary,² and Israel³ his dominion.

c Ex.19.5,6;6.7;25.8. De.27.9,12;32.9.

2 Sanctuary—his separated people, to bear the foremost standard of the camp. C.——Reference appears to be made to the choice of Jerusalem, the capital of the tribe of Judah, as the place of God's permanent abode. There the temple was built, and there God ruled as a visible—visible in the Shekinah—as well as an omnipotent Monarch.—P.

3 Israel. All the tribes, his dominion in which to display 'the goodness and severity' of his government.—C.

3 The^d sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back.

d Ex.14.21. Ps.77.16; 66.6;74.15;106.9. Jos.3.13,15,16. Is.63.12-14.

4 The^e mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

e Ex.19.18. Ps.68.8; 29.6. Hab.3.6,8,10. Ju.5.4,5.

5 What^g ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

g Hab.3.8.

6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble,^h thou earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

h Mi.6.1,2. Ps.97.4,5;77.18; 144.5; 18.7-15; 104.32;68.8. Hab.3.6. Je.10.10;4.23-26. Is.64.3.

8 Whichⁱ turned the rock into a standing water, the flint⁴ into a fountain of waters.

i Ex.17.6. Nu.20.11. De.8.15. Ps.74.15; 78.15,16; 105.41; 107.35. Ne.9.15. Is.48.21.

4 The kind of stone is not specified by the original. It merely signifies any very hard stone.—C.

Notes

Reflections.—In infinite tenderness God chooses all who accept Christ to be his peculiar people, and to be blessed with the Spirit's witness, and gracious influences. And nothing can detain his people in their spiritual bondage if they are faithful. Nothing, no not seas of tribulation, nor mountains of unbelief and corruption, can stop their passage to the heavenly Canaan. Nor while Jesus, our smitten Rock of ages, continues a fountain open, shall they want refreshment by the way. Tremble then, my carnal heart, at the presence of a God in Christ as my own. And let all my hardened powers be melted by his love.