Bible Commentaries
Psalms 114

Verses 1-8

Psalms 114:0

Theme - At 4:00 a.m., March 1, 1983, I woke up from a dream where I had run in fear from a bear. The Lord told me to turn to Psalms 114:0, read it and then Psalms 149:0 and to praise Him. Note Psalms 149:5.

Psalms 149:5, “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds .”

The application is this. God dwells in us. We are to praise Him always. God will deliver us from fears. The earth trembles before God (even while He is in us). Amen. Thank you, Lord God Israel, for your wonderful mercy and grace, for Jesus Christ who died on Mount Calvary for my sins. Praise the Lord.

Structure - Psalms 114:0 is structured in poetic Hebrew parallelism. In this case, the second line restates the first line, which can be called synonymous parallelism.

1 When Israel went out of Egypt

The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

2 Judah was his sanctuary,

and Israel his dominion.

3 The sea looked and fled

The Jordan turned back;

4 The mountains skipped like rams,

the hills like lambs.

5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?

thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams;

and ye little hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob;

8 Which turned the rock into a standing water,

the flint into a fountain of waters.

Psalms 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

Psalms 114:2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

Psalms 114:2 Comments - God dwelt with Judah His sanctuary. God was the God of Israel His dominion. God’s presence was in Judah, His sanctuary. The God of Jacob (Israel) means that Israel was His dominion. Thus, the whole earth trembles before God (Psalms 114:7). He delivers his children (Psalms 114:1).

Psalms 114:3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

Psalms 114:3 “The sea saw it, and fled” Scripture References - Note:

Exodus 14:16, “But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”

Exodus 14:21, “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

Psalms 114:3 “Jordan was driven back” - Scripture References - Note:

Joshua 3:15-17, “And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.”

Psalms 114:3 Comments - Psalms 114:3; Psalms 114:5 are parallel. The Psalmist is mocking the Red Sea and Jordan, as they fled before the presence of the Lord.

Psalms 114:3 Comments - Note that Psalms 114:3 sums up the 40-year Exodus, beginning from the Red Sea crossing to the Jordan crossing.

Psalms 114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

Psalms 114:4 Comments - Psalms 114:4; Psalms 114:6 are parallel. As in Psalms 114:5, the psalmist mocks nature as it flees at the presence of the Lord.

Psalms 114:4 Comments - Psalms 114:4 is a reference to the presence of the Lord upon Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18).

Exodus 19:18, “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.”

Psalms 114:5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

Psalms 114:6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?

Psalms 114:7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

Psalms 114:8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Psalms 114:8 Comments - Psalms 114:8 is a reference to the times when Moses struck the rock and brought water forth for the children of Israel (Exodus 17:6, Numbers 20:11).

Exodus 17:6, “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

Numbers 20:11, “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”

Regarding the phrase “the flint into a fountain of waters,” we find a similar description in Deuteronomy 8:15, “Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint ;”

Note the same poetic use of the words “rock” and “flint” in Deuteronomy 32:13, “He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;”