Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 114:1
When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
1. When Israel went forth out of Egypt ] LXX , In the exodus of Israel from Egypt; Vulg. In exitu Israel.
a people of strange language ] The Egyptian language was unintelligible to Israelites (Gen 42:23). In the ancient world difference of language emphasised difference of race; and a stranger was presumably an enemy. The tyranny of oppressors seemed to be aggravated by the barrier which difference of language placed between them and their victims. Cp. Deu 28:49; Isa 28:11; Isa 33:19. The Greek work barbros (used by the LXX here) which originally meant simply a foreigner as one who spoke unintelligibly came gradually to bear the modern sense of barbarous.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1, 2. When Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt He separated them from all other nations to be a holy people over which He Himself designed to rule.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When Israel went out of Egypt – literally, In the going out of Israel from Egypt. This is not to be confined to the exact act of the exodus, but embraces all that properly entered into that migration – the whole train of events which resuited in their being brought into the promised land.
The house of Jacob – The family of Jacob – a name appropriately used here, since it was the family of Jacob that had gone down into Egypt, and that had increased to these great numbers.
From a people of strange language – Speaking a foreign or a barbarian tongue. See the notes at Psa 81:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 114:1-8
When Israel went out of Egypt.
The workings of the Eternal will
God has a will. He doeth all things after the counsel of His own will. The universe is but His will in form and action. It is the primordial, the propelling and presiding force of all forces and motions. The psalm leads us to look at this Eternal will in two aspects–
I. As acting on moral mind. In the deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian bondage, it acted both on the Egyptian mind and on the Hebrew mind.
1. This will acted on the Egyptian mind disastrously. Whose fault was this? Not Gods.
(1) Man can resist the Divine will. Herein is his distinguishing power. This binds him to moral government, and renders him accountable for his conduct.
(2) His resistance is his ruin. To go against the Eternal will is to go against the laws of nature, the current of the universe, the eternal conditions of well-being. Acquiescence to the Divine will is heaven, resistance to the Divine will is hell.
2. This will acted on the Hebrew mind remedially.
(1) It brought Israel out of Egypt,
(2) Into blessed relationship with God.
II. As acting on material nature.
1. Its action on matter is always effective. God has only to will a material phenomenon, and it occurs. He spake, and it was done. Nothing in material nature comes between His will and the result purposed. Not so in moral mind.
2. Its action on matter is philosophically exciting (verses 5, 6). The motions of matter are constantly exciting the philosophic inquiry. Would that philosophy would not pause in its inquiries until it traced all the forms and motions of matter to the Eternal will! It was that will that.was now working in the mountains, in the hills, and the rocks.
3. Its action on matter is sometimes terrific (verse 7). (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM CXIV
Miracles wrought at the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt,
at the Red Sea, and at Jordan, 1-6;
and at the rock of Horeb, 7, 8.
NOTES ON PSALM CXIV
This Psalm has no title. The word Hallelujah is prefixed in all the Versions except the Chaldee and Syriac. It seems like a fragment, or a part of another Psalm. In many MSS. it is only the beginning of the following; both making but one Psalm in all the Versions, except the Chaldee. It is elegantly and energetically composed; but begins and ends very abruptly, if we separate it from the following. As to the author of this Psalm, there have been various opinions; some have given the honour of it to Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed-nego; others to Esther; and others, to Mordecai.
Verse 1. A people of strange language] This may mean no more than a barbarous people; a people whom they did not know, and who did not worship their God. But it is a fact that the language of the Egyptians in the time of Joseph was so different from that of the Hebrews that they could not understand each other. See Ps 81:5; Ge 42:23.
The Chaldee has here meammey barbarey, which gives reason to believe that the word is Chaldee, or more properly Phoenician. See this word fully explained in the note on Ac 28:2. My old Psalter understood the word as referring to the religious state of the Egyptians: In gangyng of Isrel oute of Egipt, of the house of Jacob fra hethen folke.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which was a great aggravation of their captivity and misery. Compare Jer 5:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-4. of strange language(comparePs 81:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language; or barbarous; as every language was reckoned by the Jews but their own; the Egyptian language they did not understand; see Ps 81:5, no doubt many of them learned it during their long stay there, but in general they retained their own language. This was an emblem of the Lord’s people in effectual calling, coming out of bondage into liberty, out of darkness into light, out of superstition, and idolatry and profaneness, to the service of the true God in righteousness and true holiness; and from a people of a strange language to those that speak the language of Canaan, a pure language, in which they can understated one another when they converse together, either about experience or doctrine; and the manner of their coming out is much the same, by strength of hand, by the power of divine grace, yet willingly and cheerfully, with great riches, the riches of grace, and a title to the riches of glory, and with much spiritual strength; for, though weak in themselves, yet are strong in Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Egypt is called (from , cogn. , ), because the people spoke a language unintelligible to Israel (Psa 81:6), and as it were a stammering language. The lxx, and just so the Targum, renders (from the Sanscrit barbaras , just as onomatopoetic as balbus , cf. Fleischer in Levy’s Chaldisches Wrterbuch, i. 420). The redeemed nation is called Judah, inasmuch as God made it His sanctuary ( ) by setting up His sanctuary ( , Exo 15:17) in the midst of it, for Jerusalem ( el kuds ) as Benjamitish Judaean, and from the time of David was accounted directly as Judaean. In so far, however, as He made this people His kingdom ( , an amplificative plural with Mem pathachatum ), by placing Himself in the relation of King ( Deu 33:5) to the people of possession which by a revealed law He established characteristically as His own, it is called Israel. 1 The predicate takes the form , for peoples together with country and city are represented as feminine (cf. Jer 8:5). The foundation of that new beginning in connection with the history of redemption was laid amidst majestic wonders, inasmuch as nature was brought into service, co-operating and sympathizing in the work (cf. Psa 77:15.). The dividing of the sea opens, and the dividing of the Jordan closes, the journey through the desert to Canaan. The sea stood aside, Jordan halted and was dammed up on the north in order that the redeemed people might pass through. And in the middle, between these great wonders of the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into Canaan, arises the not less mighty wonder of the giving of the Law: the skipping of the mountains like rams, of the ills like , i.e., lambs (Wisd. 19:9), depicts the quaking of Sinai and its environs (Exo 19:18, cf. supra Psa 68:9, and on the figure Psa 29:6).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Deliverance of Israel Celebrated. | |
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 saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little 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.
The psalmist is here remembering the days of old, the years of the right hand of the Most High, and the wonders which their fathers told them of (Judg. vi. 13), for time, as it does not wear out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out the sense of mercy. Let it never be forgotten,
I. That God brought Israel out of the house of bondage with a high hand and a stretched-out arm: Israel went out of Egypt, v. 1. They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they driven out, but fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of honour; they went out from a barbarous people, that had used them barbarously, from a people of a strange language, Ps. lxxxi. 5. The Israelites, it seems, preserved their own language pure among them, and cared not for learning the language of their oppressors. By this distinction from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.
II. That he himself framed their civil and sacred constitution (v. 2): Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his dominion. When he delivered them out of the hand of their oppressors it was that they might serve him both in holiness and in righteousness, in the duties of religious worship and in obedience to the moral law, in their whole conversation. Let my people go, that they may serve me. In order to this, 1. 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 Exo 25:8; Eze 37:26), much more those that, like Judah here, are his sanctuaries, his living temples, on whom Holiness to the Lord is written. 2. He set up his dominion among them, was himself their lawgiver and their judge, and their government was a theocracy: The Lord was their King. All the world is God’s dominion, but Israel was so in a peculiar manner. What is God’s sanctuary must be his dominion. Those only have the privileges of his house that submit to the laws of it; and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he might bring us into God’s service and engage us for ever in it.
III. That the Red Sea was divided before them at their coming out of Egypt, both for their rescue and the ruin of their enemies; and the river Jordan, when they entered into Canaan, for their honour, and the confusion and terror of their enemies (v. 3): The sea saw it, saw there that Judah was God’s sanctuary, and Israel his dominion, and therefore fled; for nothing could be more awful. It was this that drove Jordan back, and was an invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that people, and therefore they must give way to them, must make room for them, they must retire, contrary to their nature, when God speaks the word. To illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a poetical strain (v. 5), What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest? And furnishes the sea with an answer (v. 7); it was at the presence of the Lord. This is designed to express, 1. The reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature, or from any natural cause, but it was at the presence of the Lord, who gave the word. 2. The mercy of the miracle: What ailed thee? Was it in a frolic? 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 3:8-13; Isa 51:10; Isa 63:11, c. 3. The wonder and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of such a thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its fundamental laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God’s Israel? Well may the dukes of Edom be amazed and the mighty men of Moab tremble, Exod. xv. 15. 4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph over the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. Note, There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God’s time shall come for the redemption of his people, it shall be divided and driven back if it stand in their way. Apply this, (1.) To the planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as they did? Mark i. 34. What ailed the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb, struck dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they died away before the gospel, and melted like snow before the sun? What ailed the persecutors and opposers of the gospel, that they gave up their cause, hid their guilty heads, and called to rocks and mountains for shelter? Rev. vi. 15. It was at the presence of the Lord, and that power which went along with the gospel. (2.) To the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What ails the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back, that the prejudices are removed and the whole man has become new? It is at the presence of God’s Spirit that imaginations are cast down, 2 Cor. x. 5.
IV. That the earth shook and trembled when God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (<i>v. 4): The mountains skipped like rams, and then the little hills might well be excused if they skipped like lambs, either when they are frightened or when they sport themselves. The same power that fixed the fluid waters and made them stand still shook the stable mountains and made them tremble for all the powers of nature are under the check of the God of nature. 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. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills what ailed them to skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the seas, it was at the presence of the Lord, before whom, not only those mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble (v. 7), since it has lain under a curse for man’s sin. See Psa 104:32; Isa 64:3; Isa 64:4. He that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he pleases, dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his enemies and make them tremble.
V. That God supplied them with water out of the rock, which followed them through the dry and sandy deserts. Well may the earth and all its inhabitants tremble before that God who turned the rock into a standing water (v. 8), and what cannot he do who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a rock to be a wall to Israel (Exod. xiv. 22) turned the rock into waters to be a well to Israel: as they were protected, so they were provided for, by miracles, standing miracles; for such was the standing water, that fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was turned, and that rock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4. For he is a fountain of living waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 114
The Exodus Psalm
Scripture v. 1-8:
This is a meditative Passover song of praise to God for delivering Israel from Egypt’s oppressive bondage into the land of Canaan. It is declared to be typical of man’s deliverance from sin’s bondage, oppression, depression, and condemnation today, with assurance of a better home of rest, beyond this life, Joh 14:13; 1Co 10:6; 2Co 5:6; 1Co 2:9.
Verses 1, 2 recount that when Israel “went out. of Egypt, the house of Jacob (twelve tribal families) from a people of strange language,” a language of worship and praise to idol, heathen gods, “Judah was (existed as) his God’s sanctuary, and Israel his dominion;” This means God lived among Israel as their help, hope, and one to be worshipped, Deu 28:49; Psa 81:5; Psa 22:3; See also Psa 87:1; Joh 20:15; See too Exo 6:7; Exo 19:6; Exo 25:8; Exo 29:45-46; Deu 27:9.
Verse 3 states “The sea (Red Sea) saw it, and fled (receded); Jordan was driven back,” by His power, before the Canaanites, as well as Israel, as certified, Exo 14:21; Jos 3:13-16; Psa 77:16. The sea and rivers of waters are symbols of massive world powers, yet under control of the living God, Psa 107:23-30.
Verse 4 recounts “the mountains skipped like rams; and the little hills like lambs,” mountains and hills symbolize world powers, trembling before God, as Sinai did, Exo 19:18; Jdg 5:4; Psa 29:6; Psa 68:8; Psa 76:4; Zec 4:7.
Verses 5,6 chide the mountains, hills, sea, and the Jordan river for their skipping, fleeing, and drawing back from the presence of the Lord, as described v.3,4. It is a form of irony, indicating that so shall heathen, gentile world dominions fall before the Lord, with trembling fear at the second advent of our Lord, Psa 68:16; Jer 4:23-24; Mic 1:3-4; Nah 1:5; Hab 3:8; 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:11; Rev 20:11.
Verse 7 answers the Psalmist’s chiding, “what aileth thee?” question to the fear of fleeing earth, at the presence of the Lord, (your creator and owner), at the presence of the God of Jacob,” the living God, Psa 97:4-5.
Verse 8 concludes that this God of Jacob “Turned the rock (at Horeb) into a standing (continual flow) of water, the flint into a fountain (artesian flow) of waters,” as recounted Exo 17:6; Num 20:11; Deu 8:15; Deu 32:13, Psa 105:41; Psa 107:35; And “that rock” was Christ, 1Co 10:4. These facts of God, in behalf of His people Israel, were retold in word and song, with instrumental music, annually, on the way up to and around the Passover supper of the Jews. .
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1 When Israel went out from Egypt That exodus being a remarkable pledge and symbol of God’s love for the children of Abraham, it is not surprising that it should be so frequently called to remembrance. In the beginning of the psalm, the prophet informs us that the people whom God purchased at so great a price are no more their own. The opinion of certain expositors, that at that time the tribe of Judah was consecrated to the service of God, according to what is said in Exo 19:6, and 1Pe 2:9, appears to me foreign to the prophet’s design. All doubt about the matter is removed by what is immediately subjoined, God’s taking Israel under his rule, which is simply a repetition of the same sentiment in other words. Judah being the most powerful and numerous of all the tribes, and occupying the chief place among them, here takes the precedency of the rest of the people. At the same time, it is very evident that the honor which is in a peculiar manner ascribed to them, belongs equally to the whole body of the people. (359) When God is said to be sanctified, it must be understood that the prophet is speaking after the manner of men, because, in himself, God is incapable of increase or diminution. Judah is called his holiness, (360) and Israel his dominion, (361) because his holy majesty, which hitherto had been little known, secured the veneration of all who had witnessed the displays of his incredible power. In delivering his people, God erected a kingdom for himself and procured respect for his sacred name; if then they do not constantly reflect upon such a remarkable instance of his kindness, their insensibility is totally inexcusable.
(359) “Judah represents here the whole people of Israel, as Joseph does, in Psa 81:6. The reason assigned by Kimchi for this use of יהודה here is, that at the time of the departure from Egypt, Judah was considered the head or chief of the tribes; see Gen 49:8. This, however, is mere conjecture. If it be necessary to assign reasons for the distinction here conferred on this tribe, I should mention as one:, that the ark was kept in the region occupied by the descendants of Judah, and, as another, that from him the Messiah was to spring.” — Phillips.
(360) God ’ s holiness being often taken for the keeping his promise sacred or inviolate, as in Psa 102:9, when, reference being made to the immutability of his covenant, it is added, “ holy [as in another respect, reverend ] is his name;” some, as Hammond and Cresswell, suppose that the meaning here is, that God’s dealings towards Judah — the people of the Jews, were a demonstration of his faithfulness in performing his promise made to Abraham long before.
(361) Hammond reads, “And Israel his power,” by which he understands that Israel was an instance of his power; that God, in his acting for Israel, declared his omnipotence most signally.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
INTRODUCTION
Date and Authorship unknown; ascribed to the three Hebrew children, Esther and Mordscai.
BONDAGE AND DELIVERANCE
(Psa. 114:1)
I. The bondage was degrading. Israel, Egypt. The descendants of the prince with God making bricks for Pharaoh. So is the bondage of sin. All men are princes. They have crown rights by virtue of their divine parentage and royal brotherhood. They should occupy thrones. All their faculties are regal. Yet how are they employed? In a bondage that is humiliating because of
(1) The master that is served;
(2) The nature of the service;
(3) The wretchedness of the remuneration.
II. The bondage was unnatural. The house of Jacob.
1. Once a free and independent tribe, who previously to this had never been in bondage to any man. So man was once independent and free. No evil forces were permitted to exercise dominion over him.
(1.) His reason was free. All Gods vast domain was open to its scrutiny.
(2.) His will was free. No power was permitted to tamper with it, and no predestination fettered it.
(3.) His affections were free.
(4.) His soul was free. All this shows that the bondage under which he groans is not natural to man.
2. A family of a long, ancient and honourable lineage. They were not a people of yesterday, yet they were slaves. Man is a member of a household which dates its origin from before the foundation of the world. The eternal God is his father, and Christ his elder brother. With an ancestry compared with which the oldest dynasty on earth is but of yesterday, man is enslaved. Surely this is the climax of unnaturalness. For the heirs of the Mowbrays, the Bourbons, the Guelphs, the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, to be in bondage were enough to strike the world dumb with astonishment. Man is a child of God, and yet he is a slave.
III. The bondage was exasperating. From a people of strange language. These are circumstances which mitigate that execrable sum of all human vilaniesslavery. These obtained largely among the Jews. Often the slave spoke the same language, was protected by the same laws, and was of the same blood as his master. Not so with the poor Egyptian slave.
1. There was no community of feeling and sentiment. Hence terrible oppression and thankless service. Between man and his oppressors there is nothing naturally in common. Man knows it. Satan knows it. Hence the terrible burden of sin and woe, and the terrible insurrections of reason and moral sense against the tyranny.
2. There was no community of language between the Egyptian and the Jew. Hence misunderstanding and distress. Man does not take altogether naturally to the language of hell. Facility in the understanding and use of that language requires long practice, and that practice never makes perfect. Hence constant misunderstandings. Good is represented by evil; evil by good. Ignorance exchanges places with knowledge, and knowledge with ignorance. Pain is substituted for pleasure, and pleasure for pain. And amidst these conflicting dialects man is bewildered; and it is of that bewilderment that Satan takes advantage.
3. There is no community of law. There is a show of one. Liberal terms are offered. Emoluments, honours, rewards, are promised. But there is nothing to make Satan keep his own terms; and, after years of painful and unremunerative toil, the wages of sin is death. All these circumstances combine to make the sinners bondage most exasperating.
IV. This bondage was followed by a Divine Redemption.
1. That redemption was an historical fact. When? Israel looked back upon it as such. So is the redemption of the world by Christ. The Church can be traced back to it without a missing link. Institutions were connected with it, date from it, and are still commemorative of it. In the one case, the Passover, &c., Scripture references and doctrines. In the other, all evangelical preaching commenced with it and refers to it. One day in the year is set apart for its contemplation, and one rite most impressively sets it forth.
2. That redemption was nut an iniquitous proceeding. Went out. They were not driven out or stolen out, but went out, through the divinely supported claim of their national rights. Pharaoh had no claim upon them. His service was robbery. Contrast and analogy.
(1.) Contrast. Man is subject to the rightful claims of law on his service. Those claims have been deliberately disregarded, and the law imposes a curse and a penalty. Man is redeemed from the law by Christ bearing that curse and suffering that penalty.
(2.) Analogy. Satan has no right to mans service. When that ceases Satan suffers no wrong. When man is released he is not stolen or driven, nor does he flee. He marches forth in honourable triumph, because Satan is overthrown and the law satisfied.
(3.) That redemption was the beginning of their national life. When Israel. House of Jacob. Before they were merely a tribe; in Egypt merely a caste; when redeemed, a nation. By Christs redemption those who were not a people became the people of God and a holy nation. Before men were disintegrated members of the human race; afterwards brothers, friends, one in life, one in feeling, one in aim. Let political rulers, social agitators, and moral philanthropists note this. The redemption of Jesus Christ has succeeded in social purification and unity where every other scheme has failed.
IN CONCLUSION.(i.) If the Son has made us free, we are free indeed. (ii.) Stand fast in that liberty, &c.
THE TEMPLE AND THE KINGDOM
(Psa. 114:2)
God dwells among His people in a twofold character: as an object of worship, and as a monarch to rule. Hence in the sanctuary He secures His peoples reverence and love. On His throne and over His dominion He secures their obedience and homage. Both the sanctuary and the throne are combined
(1) in the human heart;
(2) the Christian Church;
(3) the material universe.
I. The Temple. Judah was His sanctuary. The name is singularly appropriate. The praise of Jehovah. In the sanctuary
1. God dwells. His presence makes the temple what it is. Nature would be no temple if God were absent from it. Christ in the midst makes the Christian Church a temple; and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost the human heart.
2. God manifests Himself. In nature (Rom. 1:20). In the Church by the means of grace. In the soul (Joh. 14:23).
3. God communicates His will. In nature (Rom. 1:19). In the Church, which is the depository of His written word and the organ for its dissemination. In the heart (Heb. 8:10-11).
4. God must be adored. In nature. All Thy works praise Thee. In the Church (1Co. 14:25). Bless the Lord, O my soul.
II. The Kingdom. Israel His dominion. The term again is appropriate. God is not the despotic master of a number of slaves, but King of kings and Lord of lords. His people are princes with God, a royal priesthood. It is the acknowledgment of His rule that ennobles nature, the Church, and the individual soul.
1. God reigns in His dominion. His presence pervades infinite space, and natures orderly movements betoken the indwelling of natures King. The Church in its spiritual powers, extension, working out of the divine plans, witnesses to the all-pervading presence of her Lord. The soul, in the provision that is made for its wants, and its power to withstand its foes, bears testimony to the presence of its Master.
2. God reigns over His dominion. The forces of nature emanated from Him, and He guides them to the fulfilment of their various destinies. The Church is under His command. It is Go ye into all the world, Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. The soul is His, and is subject to His authority.
3. God reigns for the good of His subjects. In nature everything serves benevolent ends. Philosophy and legislation have not improved on the laws Christ gave to His Church. Only by keeping Gods laws can the benefit of the soul be secured.
4. God reigns that His dominion may be universally acknowledged. It is so acknowledged in nature. It will be in the moral world by His Church. Christ shall reign, &c. God yearns for the homage of each individual heart, and says, Be ye reconciled to God.
THE REMOVAL OF OBSTACLES
(Psa. 114:3-4)
The sea (the Red Sea) saw the mighty movementthe marshalled hoststhe moving massesthe cattlethe pursuing enemiesthe commotionthe agitation on its usually quiet shores. We are to conceive of the usual calmness of the desertthe waste and lonely solitudes of the Red Sea; and then all this suddenly broken in upon by vast hosts of men, women, children, and cattle, fleeing in consternation, followed by the embattled strength of Egypt,all rolling on tumultuously to the shore. No wonder the sea is represented as astonished at this unusual spectacle, and so fleeing in dismay.Barnes.
I. Antagonisms are quelled. The sea saw it and fled. Wherever the Church has advanced
1. Sin and Satan have receded. Where it has not been so the Church is to blame. The promise depends on the proper spirit and the use of proper means. It is only when she loses her spirituality, or fights with carnal weapons, or depends upon the arm of flesh, that she has failed. When clad in her armour, she encountered the vices and follies of Roman civilisation, she was fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.
2. Idolatry has receded. Christianity simply annihilated the classical, Druidical, Saxon, Tartar, and Scandinavian mythologies, the bloody rites of the South Seas, and is now doing the same for the debasing superstitions of Africa and the foul abominations of Hindustan. If not Christianity, what has? Not civilisation: it boasts that religion is out of its sphere. Not philosophy: in its palmiest days it gave itself to its exposition and was glad of its alliance. Not legislation: it has been the aim of human governments to protect it on utilitarian and other grounds. Clearly no other theory will account for it.
3. Infidelity has receded. For all the ancient philosophies she proved an overmatch. From her infancy she has given birth to giant intellects, who have saved the world from intellectual anarchy. She has vanquished the infidelity of the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the elder Deism, and Tom Paine. Socialism and rationalism have been weakened, and scientific materialism is met by an array of learning and acuteness without a parallel, and it will pass away.
II. Boundaries axe removed. Jordan was driven back.
1. Christianity levels all class distinctions. To all castes, Jewish, Roman, Indian, &c., it is a formidable foe. In Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, &c., It reduces all mankind to one common level of crying need, for which but one provision has been made.
2. Christianity obliterates all physical barriers. It goes into all the world and preaches the Gospel to every creature. It was not made for home consumption, but is the property of all nations
3. Christianity fills up all intellectual chasms. No greater remove could possibly be than that between the old philosopher and the common people. Christianity appeals to both. Its truths are the food of the scholar and the refreshment of the slave.
III. Difficulties are overcome. The mountains skipped, &c.
1. All difficulties of nature. Wherever Christianity has appeared the valleys have been exalted, &c. Crooked ways have been made straight. No mountain has been too high, no sea too broad, no continent too wide, for the pioneers and missionaries of the faith.
2. All difficulties of human prejudice. Armies have been levied to extirpate it. Fires have been kindled to burn it. Learning has been accumulated to refute it, but in vain.
IN CONCLUSION.This history is prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy in some instances. It holds good through the ages. Let the Church in the strength of it redouble her efforts, brighten her hope, perfect her faith, and go on conquering and to conquer.
WHY OBSTACLES ARE REMOVED
(Psa. 114:5-7)
I. Because of the omnipotent presence of the Lord. Nothing is too hard for the Lord in the physical, intellectual, or moral world. He is the Author of nature, and can either suspend her laws or give His people strength to overcome them. He is the Lord of mind. He can bring to naught the understanding of the proud, or give His servants wisdom to expose their sophistries. He is the Lord of soul. He can subdue its sinfulness, or enable His ministers to bring that moral influence and suasion to bear upon it which shall turn it from darkness to light, &c. He has done, does, and will do so (Isaiah 40; Isa. 54:14-16).
II. Because of the covenant presence of the Lord. The God of Jacob. He has pledged His gracious presence with His people to lead them on to victory (Isa. 54:17; Romans 8). It was by virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and renewed to them, that Israel overcame their obstacles and inherited the promised land. And by virtue of a new and better covenant, God is on the side of His Church and against her numerous foes, and prepares her rest in heaven when her work is done.
III. Because of the merciful presence of the Lord. God rules in mercy as well as in power. It was good for Israel, good for the world then and through all time, that the sea should flee and Jordan should be driven back. The Canaanites were a curse to Gods earth. It was in mercy that they were cut off. God established His people in their place, that through them all the nations of the earth might be blessed. This end has been answered, for of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. The same applies to the Church.
IV. Because of the righteous presence of the Lord. Tremble, thou earth, &c. Since God rules in righteousness He holds the power of retribution. The measure of the iniquities of the enemies of His people became full before the judgment fell. Righteousness still characterises Gods rule. And because of that nations fall and are swept away when they disrespect His covenant and disobey His law.
TO CONCLUDE.The Lord Omnipotent, covenant, merciful, and just, is with His Church. Let the Church be encouraged, humbled, energised, brave.
DIVINE PROVISIONS
(Psa. 114:7-8)
Psa. 114:7 is the point of connection between Psa. 114:3-6 and Psa. 114:8. Gods presence enabled His people to overcome their difficulties, and guaranteed a permanent provision for their need. God employs the Church to accomplish His magnificent designs, and His presence in its midst assures it constant blessing. Divine provisions are
I. The result of the divine presence. God in His works is the source of their continual stability and strength. The fountain of their life and fruitfulness is there, and by His supports they flourish. God in His word is the source of its continual inspiration and suggestiveness, and because He is there, there is ever more light to break forth from it. God in His Church is the guarantee that the means of grace shall be efficient, and in consequence of this she grows in strength as she grows in grace. So in the soul.
II. Contemplate real need. God does not promise the luxuries or superfluities, but the necessaries of life; not confections or things merely grateful to the palate, but things necessary for refreshment, strength, and life. God does not undertake to pamper His people with worldly grandeur and mere material success; but He does promise that all things necessary for life and godliness shall be secured. Men can dispense with wine, but they cannot dispense with water. And so the Church can dispense with State alliances and popular applause, but cannot dispense with the water of life.
III. Come in unexpected forms. Even the faith of Moses would hardly have looked to the hard granite of Horeb, or the basalt of the desert, for refreshing streams. Yet at the command of God the rock was turned into standing water. And so invariably with the operations of providence and grace. Israel was led out of Egypt and to the promised land under the guidance of a shepherd. By a shepherd she was consolidated into a permanent kingdom. The prophets and apostles, as a rule, were drawn from the lowest stratum, and the foolishness of preaching has silenced the rhetoric of the schools. The good things of the worlds redemption came out of Nazareth, and the power that has moved the world emanated from a malefactors cross. Gain has come out of loss, life out of death, prosperity out of suffering at the presence of the Lord.
IV. Flow with abounding fulnessa fountain of waters. Wealth and prodigality characterise the divine gifts. Men minimise and contract them, but not God. The air, light, showers, sun, the magnificence of the heavens, the beauty of the landscape, and the grandeur of the mountains and the sea, all witness to the bounty which is at the disposal of needy man. But these things are an allegory of the riches of His grace. Ask whatsoever ye will; My God shall supply all your need; &c. God is able to do exceeding abundantly, &c. God multiplies to pardon, gives plenteous redemption, and finally vouchsafes an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom.
V. Are constantly permanent.
Fountain. Standing water. As God changes not, His bountiful provisions do not change. Mans need is abiding, so is Gods gift. Man always needs waterat all times His water is sure. The Church needs a perpetual application of the benefits of Christs death. His eternal redemption supplies the eternal need. The Spirit abides ever in the soul to confirm its faith, soothe its sorrow, and brighten its hope.
FINALLY.It is to this and other passages (Exo. 17:6-7; Num. 28:11) that the Apostle (1Co. 10:4) draws his spiritual inferences respecting the support and refreshment Christ gives to His people. In the wilderness Israel (i.) Were supplied without money and without price. So Christ offers the water of life freely. (ii.) Were indebted to the cleaving of the rock at the word of Moses. So Christ, the Rock of ages, was cleft for us, and from His riven side flowed those streams which are for the cleansing and refreshment of the world. (iii.) Now, as then, the blessings are permanent, to stimulate our courage and confirm our faith.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 114
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
A Passover Song.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 114:1-2, The Deliverance out of Egypt set forth as the Basis of Jehovahs Worship and Reign in Israel. Stanza II., Psa. 114:3-4, Natures Excitement over the Birth of the Nation. Stanza III., Psa. 114:5-6, Nature Interrogated as to the Cause of her Excitement. Stanza IV., Psa. 114:7-8, The Psalmist Answers for Nature: Jacobs God is Natures Lord.
(P.R.I.) Praise ye Yah!
1
When Israel came forth out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of unintelligible speech
2
Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his realm.
3
The sea saw and fled,
the Jordan turned backward;
4
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like the young of the flock.
5
What aileth thee O thou sea that thou fleest?
thou Jordan that thou turnest backward?
6
Ye mountains that ye skip like rams?
ye hills like the young of the flock?
7
At the presence of the Lord be in birth-throes O earth!
at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8
Who turneth the rock into a pool of water,
flint into a fountain of water.
(Nm.)
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 114
Long ago when the Israeli escaped from Egypt, from that land of foreign tongue,
2 Then the lands of Judah and of Israel became Gods new home and kingdom.
3 The Red Sea saw them coming and quickly broke apart before them! The Jordan River opened up a path for them to cross!
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs!
5 Whats wrong, Red Sea, that made you cut yourself in two? What happened, Jordan River, to your waters? Why were they held back?
6 Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Jacob.
8 For He caused gushing streams to burst from flinty rock.
EXPOSITION
The exceeding beauty of this psalm must be confessed by all who, being able to appreciate poetry as such, at the same time possess an historical imagination. The moment this little poem is regarded as written for a passover celebration, and therefore as one of a series let into the midst of historical readings and accompanied by ceremonial actions,not only is its beauty seen, but its brevity is saved from all suspicion of baldness. Each stanza says so little; and yet, for such an occasion, there is in that little so much that is to the point. The first stanza covers at once the birth of the nation, and its orderly establishment in the Holy Land under David and Solomon. The second stanza comprehends the miracles at the Red Sea and the Jordan, and the agitations of Sinai which attended the bringing of the nation into Covenant. In the third stanza, the poet interrogates the Sea, the River, the Mountains and Hills, as though he were there on the spot as a witness of their actions. In the fourth stanza, he justifies their excitement, by charging them to do the very things of which he has been witnessing; only with the understanding that these things are the legitimate concomitants of such a nations birth. Even this he says in suchwise as to convey two further truths: namely, that he Lord (Adon) of nature is the God (Eloah) of Jacob, and no mere tribal Deity,as moderns too hastily assume; and, by expressing the action of Omnipotence on rock and flint by means of a timeless participle (who turneth) further intimates that such manifest control over natures laws merely awaits Jehovahs sovereign will.
This psalm being anonymous and the immediate occasion of its composition being unknown, dogmatism is precluded; but, if conjecture may sometimes serve useful ends, it may be asked,Could any author more likely than ISAIAH be named? or any occasion more probable be suggested than Hezekiahs Great Passover? Its position in The Hallel could have been assigned to it at a later date.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Show the beauty and purpose of this psalm.
2.
Trace the progressive history of Israel in the psalm.
3.
Who was the possible author? What was the possible occasion of its composition?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) When Israel went out.LXX., in the Exodus of Israel.
A people of strange language.LXX., rightly, a barbarous people. Since the Hebrew word, like the Greek, implies a certain scorn or ridicule, which ancient races generally had for those speaking another language. To this day the Russians call the Germans dumb.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Strange language A foreign and unintelligible language. See Psa 81:5. The word occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, and the suggestion is, that there could be no natural bond between Israel and a people of a strange dialect; and this barbarity of language not unfrequently became an occasion of enmity. It was plain enough that it was out of the divine order that Israel should dwell among such a people, (see Deu 28:49; Isa 28:11; Isa 33:19,) except for punishment.
Jer 5:15. On the strangeness of the dialect of Egypt to the Hebrews see Gen 42:23
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psalms 114
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, read it and then Psalms 149 and to praise Him. Note Psa 149:5.
Psa 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 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.
Psa 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
Psa 114:2 Psa 114:2
Psa 114:3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
Psa 114:3
Exo 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.”
Exo 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.”
Psa 114:3 “Jordan was driven back” – Scripture References – Note:
Jos 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.”
Psa 114:3 Comments – Psa 114:3; Psa 114:5 are parallel. The Psalmist is mocking the Red Sea and Jordan, as they fled before the presence of the Lord.
Psa 114:3 Comments – Note that Psa 114:3 sums up the 40-year Exodus, beginning from the Red Sea crossing to the Jordan crossing.
Psa 114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
Psa 114:4
Psa 114:4 Comments – Psa 114:4 is a reference to the presence of the Lord upon Mount Sinai (Exo 19:18).
Exo 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.”
Psa 114:5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
Psa 114:6 Psa 114:7 Psa 114:8 Psa 114:8
Exo 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.”
Num 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 Deu 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 Deu 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;”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The God of Jacob the Deliverer out of Egypt.
v. 1. When Israel, v. 2. Judah, v. 3. The sea saw it and fled, v. 4. the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs, v. 5. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? v. 6. Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams? and ye little hills, like lambs? v. 7. Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, v. 8. which turned the rock into a standing water,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
A PSALM of reminiscence, designed to encourage the exiles on their return from Babylon, during their “day of small things” (Zec 4:10; comp. Ezr 3:12). If God had done so much for them when he brought them out of Egypt, if such glorious prodigies had marked that epoch, might they not be sure that his hand would be stretched out for them now? Formally, the psalm is more like a modern poem than most. It divides into four stanzas of four lines each, very evenly balanced, and perfect in its metrical arrangement. “The psalm is evidently by a skilled artist” (Cheyne).
Psa 114:1
When Israel went out of Egypt; literally, at the going forth of Israel from Egypt; , LXX. The “going forth from Egypt” was the only thing parallel in Israelitish history to the going forth from Babylon. The nation should learn what to expect in the future by what occurred in the past. The house of Jacob (compare the more common “house of Israel,” Psa 98:3; Psa 115:12; Psa 135:19) from a people of strange language; literally, from a stammering people; but a people of foreign speech is no doubt meant.
Psa 114:2
Judah was his sanctuary; or “became his sanctuary;” Judahi.e. the land of Judahreceived the special honor of being chosen for the seat of God’s sanctuary. And Israel his dominion. While all the rest of Israel was accepted as constituting his kingdom or dominion. The whole people came under God’s special protection.
Psa 114:3
The sea saw it, and fled. “The sea” is the Red Sea. It “looked,” and saw God leading his people (Exo 14:19-24), and then at once “fled,” and left a dry channel as “a way for the ransomed to pass over.” Jordan (literally, the Jordan) was driven back (comp. Jos 3:13-17). These two marvels “marked respectively the beginning and the end of Israel’s long journey” (Cheyne). They were parallel facts, and are naturally alluded to together (comp. Hab 3:8).
Psa 114:4
The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. The poet sees in the earthquake that shook Sinai (Exo 19:18) a general commotion of the entire region, in which both the greater and the lesser elevations take part (comp. Psa 29:6; Psa 68:8, Psa 68:16).
Psa 114:5, Psa 114:6
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou filledest thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back t. ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Most poetically, the psalmist apostrophizes the sea, the Jordan, the mountains, and the lesser hills, inquiring of them for what reason they had forsaken their nature and done such strange things; or rather, addressing them as present, and as if the scenes were being enacted before his eyes, and asking why they are so strangely employedwhat is causing the commotion and disturbance (see the Revised Version, where the present tense is used throughout the two verses).
Psa 114:7
Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord. The answer is given, but only indirectly given, in these words. Nothing less than “the presence of the Lord”a miraculous and abnormal presencecan have produced the strange phenomena. The earth has felt the presence of God, and has trembled, and has done right to tremble; but Israel may take comfort from the theophany, for it is a manifestation on her behalf. The presence that has made itself felt is the presence of the God of Jacobthe God who watches over Jacob, and will succor and protect him constantly.
Psa 114:8
Which turned the rook into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters (see Exo 17:6; Num 20:11). Miracles of mercy, showing at once God’s almightiness and his care for Israel.
HOMILETICS
Psa 114:1-8
God with us.
This psalm, which is so full of fine poetry, is also charged with spiritual suggestiveness. In the few verses of which it is composed, it brings before us the nearness of God to us, and the power he is exerting on us. We have
I. HIS DWELLING–PLACE IN US. “Judah was his sanctuary” (Psa 114:2). God dwelt in Judah in a sense in which he dwelt nowhere else. There was his manifested presence, and thither the tribes came up when they wanted to offer sacrifice, to make supplication, to hold high and happy fellowship. It was the place of his abode. Now God dwells not merely with, but in, his people. We are “the habitation of God through the Spirit.” Our human hearts are his earthly home. To the pure, obedient, believing heart that seeks his presence (see Luk 11:13) God will come, and in that heart he will abide. “If any man love me we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (Joh 14:23).
II. HIS INHERITANCE IN US. “Israel was his dominion” (Psa 114:2). The kingdom of Israel, i.e. the people who dwelt within it, were God’s inheritance (see Psa 94:5; Jer 2:7). If God “rejoices in his works,” in those things which he made and “pronounced good,“ much more does he rejoice in his own childrenin those who know, who worship, who trust, who love, who serve, him. More precious than all fruitful fields, than “all the cedars of Lebanon,” is one human heart that, redeemed by his Son and renewed by his Spirit, reciprocates his Fatherly affection, is gladly subject to his will, and labors heartily in his cause. How great, then, is his inheritance in all his people, in all those of every age and beneath every sky who have returned to him, and who are rejoicing in him! Are we such, in spirit, in conversation, in life, that our God can find a part of his Divine heritage in us.
III. HIS ENERGIZING PRESENCE. (Psa 114:3-7.) What was it that moved the mountains, that rolled back the river that made the waters of the sea to stand up like a wall? It was the operative presence of Cod himself; it was the working of the unseen hand. What is it now that makes the tides of the ocean to keep their time, the streams and the rivers to fertilize the soil through which they flow, the seed to germinate in the soil, the corn and the fruit to ripen in the sun? When we have reached the ultimate physical cause, we have not obtained the explanation that we seek. We come finally to the great fact of God’s presence, of the energizing power which he supplies, without which there could be no life, no growth, no motion, no result. What the psalmist says in fine poetic language, our intelligent piety confirms; the answer to our questions How? and Whence? is thisThe presence of the Lord, “without whom nothing can be made that is made.” “The Lord of hosts is with us;” “My Father worketh.”
IV. HIS CONVERTING POWER. (Psa 114:8.) The “turning of the rock into standing water” was a Divine, a wonderful action. But the spiritual and the supernatural are as Divine as the miraculous. Equally wonderful as, and more gracious and more benignant than, such physical transformation is the changing of the flinty heart into the water of penitence, into the fountain of piety and purity. God is doing daily, through his people, in his Churches, that which “calls for loudest songs of praise.” But this, his greatest work, is not on rock, or soil, or sea, or river: it is on the hard tablet of the human heart, and on the sinful habits of the human life.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Psa 114:1-8
The soul’s exodus.
The psalm is a wonderfully vivid and beautiful description of the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt. In all ages of the Church this has been looked upon as the pattern and type of the soul’s deliverance by the redemption of Christ. Much of that history is suggested here. We are shown
I. FROM WHENCE THE SOUL WAS SET FREE.
1. From Egypt, the true type of the world. At first so pleasant, so prosperous, so Goshen-like, so free from care, life so easy and secure.
2. But at length its true character is revealed. They are a strangea barbarous, or tyrant, so the word is variously renderedpeople. And the redeemed soul has found that out.
II. WHAT HAPPENED AT THIS EXODUS. (Psa 114:2.)
1. There was the indwelling of God. The soul became his shrine. He was worshipped, beloved, trusted day by day.
2. There was willing obedience. God was the Lord of their life. The soul becomes the dominion, the domain, of God.
3. Things beforehand impossible, happened. (Psa 114:3, Psa 114:4.) The sea, symbol of the whole power of spiritual death, saw and fled. “You hath he quickened who were dead,” etc. It is a true picture of what takes place at the real conversion of a soul. Old things pass away. The stream and course of life are turned in an opposite direction, as was the Jordan. On and on, rapidly flowing downwards to the Dead Sea, so was it with the Jordan; so is it with the soul till its redemption comes. But then there is a conversion, a complete turning round, in the aims, principles, and motives of the life. The fixed habits and propensitiesfixed like the mountains and hills of Sinaithe pride, unbelief, selfishness, love of sin, all which seemed firmly settled in our nature, are shaken, plucked up by the roots. The rock-like heart, so hard and barren and lifeless, becomes transformed as into a standing water, a very fountain of waters (cf. Joh 7:37, Joh 7:38). The soul is blessed, and becomes a blessing.
III. HOW IS ALL THIS TO BE EXPLAINED? Men will ask this, and no answer will they find save that it is the presence of the Lord (Psa 114:5-7). It is the standing miracle of the Christian Church.S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Psa 114:2
Man is God’s temple.
“Judah became his sanctuary.” Though neither the author nor the occasion of this psalm can be definitely known, it clearly belongs to the time of the returned exiles, when the remaking of the nation was the matter most prominent in the interests of the people. It was quite a familiar thing to compare the remaking of the nation with the first making of it; and to get the comforting assurance that God was presiding over the remaking, by realizing, in as forcible a manner as possible, how he had presided over the making. In the making there had indeed been very remarkable, truly miraculous, outward and visible signs of the Divine presencethe dividing of the Red Sea at the beginning, the quaking mountains in the earlier part, the smitten rock and flowing water in the latter part, the divided Jordan at the end. After these signs had fixed their impressions, the people could act as a nation.
I. GOD‘S PRESENCE AND POWER WERE THE GLORIES OF THE NATION FROM THE FIRST. This truth was impressed by the marvels which were wrought in connection with their deliverance from Egypt. The plagues were indeed judgments; but they were, even more truly, teachings, sanctifying impressions made upon the people of Israel. They taught them God, and helped them to realize what God with them would involve. The truth was impressed by such signs as dividing the sea; but this only illustrated God’s presence as the Ruler, Rewarder, and Judge of the people. From all material signs of the Divine relations, we should rise to discern the far more important moral signs. God himself moulding the national life; God himself directly ruling the moral and religious life of the nation;these are the marvels of grace and wisdom which the Jews never tired of contemplating.
II. GOD‘S PRESENCE AND POWER WERE THE GLORIES OF THE RESTORED NATION. But what a moral advance had been made when men could discern God’s working in ordinary providences, and no longer needed miracles of astonishment! To the restored exiles common providences became signs of direct working on their behalf. And they were right in so thinking. God was making things work together to work out the fulfillment of his promise.
III. GOD‘S PRESENCE AND POWER ARE THE GLORIES OF THE CHURCH TO–DAY. But we have risen above the reach of the restored exiles. To us God is present and workingnot in miraculous act, not specially even in providential orderings, but in the spiritual indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Then we may be reminded that there are conditions of this abiding in us, and that jealousy of our supreme possession is our fitting attitude of mind and feeling.R.T.
Psa 114:3, Psa 114:4
Nature made to serve God’s purposes.
These verses are poetical representations of three actual facts which are recorded in the history of God’s people. We may see facts in their bare, bald nakedness, or we may see them with the color on them which poetical genius can put. It may be disputed whether bald history or suggestive poetry is really the truer to nature, just as it may be disputed whether the realistic or the idealistic picture is the truer to life. If nature is to suggest thoughts to men, then men only see Nature aright when they know what she says as well as what she is. The poet tells us what Nature says. In these verses we are made to understand that the sea felt God working in it, and yielded to his touch. Jordan felt God working in it, and stopped its flowing. Sinai felt God working in it, and responded with a trembling of reverence and holy joy. The response of Nature is a lesson for man. God would work in his higher powers and his higher spheres; and his response should be more prompt than the hurrying waves, more complete than the check of the river’s flowing, and more joyous than the trembling and dances of the divinely honored hills. The psalmist was the moral teacher of his times, and had a definite purpose before him in thus recalling the most impressive events of the national history. His point may be thus briefly stated: Nature does respond to God and serve his purposes,and man should.
I. NATURE DOES RESPOND TO GOD AND SERVE HIS PURPOSES. This may be illustrated from the usual and the unusual. Pagans peopled the woods and streams and hills with fairies; Wordsworth poetically conceived of Nature as a living being. Religion finds God working out his thought everywhere, and everything responsive to his use. Nature is not God; it is distinct from him. But it is so kin with him that, unhindered, his thought finds expression in it. And so responsive is Nature to God, that it readily yields itself to the unusual, to the miraculous, when these are necessary to God’s purposes. Seas will part, rivers will stop, mountains will tremble, in response to him. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
II. MAN SHOULD RESPOND TO GOD AND SERVE HIS PURPOSES. He should, because he is a part of Nature, and ought to be in harmony with her. But man is a higher being than any thing or being in Naturea being with a will, a being made in God’s image. It is his willing response, it is his loving and obedient outworking of the Divine purposes, that God asks of restored exiles and of us.R.T.
Psa 114:8
The natural and the supernatural.
“Which turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters” (Revised Version). Wollaston tells us that “on the north-eastern face of Mount Sinai (Jebel Sufsafeh), in the Wady Shubeib, is a protruding mass of rock, about fifty feet in diameter, much water and weather-worn, and presenting a smooth and striking appearance. It forms a part of the solid granite cliff which rises twelve hundred feet above it. In the lower part of this protuberance is a fissure of a semicircular, or rather horse-shoe, shape, about four feet tong and four inches wide. Oat of this fissure, inside which a small shrub is growing, runs a perpetual stream of the purest spring water, clear as crystal, and of delicious coolness and flavor, which, according to the testimony of the Arabs, has never been known to fail. The water thus flowing out of the very heart of the living rock of Sinai is received into an artificial basin, thence it descends to a succession of small and rudely constructed terraces, where the Bedouins cultivated a few fruit trees and vegetables, and is ultimately absorbed in the gravelly hollow at the base of the mountain.” The incident is, no doubt, thus poetically recalled to the mind of the restored exiles, in order to assure them that God, in his power to provide, and his power to meet emergencies, was all that he had ever been; and this suggests a very suitable subject of meditation, which may be very effectively applied to our times and needs. But a less usual topic is suggested by the discovery of what is probably the very spring that Moses brought to light. As our knowledge advances, we are coming more and more fully to apprehend that the natural and the supernatural are inextricably blended in human life, and that in God’s working out of his purposes the natural and the super natural are one. See how this is suggested by the smiting of the rock and the result which followed. No one would suggest that God put the water into the rock specially and on purpose for the Israelites. It was there. It was its natural habitat. The fountains of water, the pools into which the waters drain, are always in the rocks. Miners have to be careful lest they let in upon them the floods of waters that are stored in the rocks. Our towns are often supplied with water that is pumped up from the reservoirs of the rocks. It was quite natural for the water to be in the rock. And man brings the water out of the rock by smiting the rock. Just now the workmen of our town have been engaged in tunneling the chalk rock to get a fresh supply of water; and the other day a workman, smiting with his pick, opened a fissure, from which a stream is pouring abundantly. To get water out of the rock by smiting the rock was also quite natural. It is fancy that makes Moses only give the rock a gentle pat. He smote it; on the second occasion he even roughly smote it twice before the fissure opened. So far the provision was natural, and the method of obtaining it also natural. But how evidently the supernatural was blended with the natural! Direct Divine direction fitted the time and the place. No mere human wisdom could have thus immediately discovered the exact spot where the rock would yield to a single smiting, and send forth its treasures. Only a divinely ordered man would think of such a way of relieving the necessities of a caravan. The supernatural character of the incident comes at once to view if we think of the leader of an ordinary caravan in that Sinaitic district going about tapping the rocks, hoping to meet with a fissure in which was a water-store. God directed Moses, and he went straight to the place. And the marvel that grows ever greater to devout souls, as they pass through the experiences of life, is not the mere presence of supernatural forces, but the way in which the super natural blends with the natural, until the deepest feeling is that the natural is lost in the supernatural and God, working everywhere, in everything and through every thing, becomes the most cherished thought. Men make sharp lines of distinction between the natural and the supernatural. When men come experimentally to know what God can do in their own souls and in their own lives, they cease to feel any interest in those sharp lines of distinction, for their sphere is the sphere of God. To them there is no natural. God is in it all, and his presence and actual working makes it all supernatural.R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 114:1-8
The spiritual exodus.
I. WE MAKE OUR ESCAPE FROM A STATE OF BONDAGEEGYPT.
1. A life of sin is a life of spiritual bondage. (Rom 6:16.)
2. Such a life of bondage brings us into “strange” and unnatural relations. (Psa 114:1.) Egypt was not the home of the Israelites.
II. THE SPIRITUAL EXODUS BRINGS US INTO OUR TRUE, OR DIVINE, RELATIONS. (Psa 114:2.)
1. We become consecrated temples for the indwelling of God. (Psa 114:2.) “Judah was his sanctuary.”
2. We are kingdoms over which God reigns. “And Israel his dominion.”
III. THIS EXODUS IS ACCOMPANIED BY GREAT EXCITEMENTS.
1. There is a grand revelation of the presence of God. (Psa 114:7.)
2. A wonderful proclamation of the Law of God. Sinai is shaken by it, and so is the soul of man. Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.”
3. There is a revelation of the abundant mercy of God. (Psa 114:8.) This manifestation of God “turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.”S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 114.
An exhortation, by the example of the dumb creatures, to fear God in his church.
BISHOP PATRICK supposes, that as the foregoing psalm recites some instances of divine providence to particular people, so this makes a brief narration of some miraculous works of that providence, which respected the whole Jewish nation, and which are very elegantly expressed.
Psa 114:1. From a people of strange language Or, according to the original, a barbarous people; such as the Jews esteemed all other nations: though the original word properly signifies only a stranger, or alien.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 114
1When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2Judah was his sanctuary,
And Israel his dominion.
3The sea saw it, and fled:
Jordan was driven back.
4The mountains skipped like rams,
And the little 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.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.The wonderful power of God over nature is celebrated in a compact lyrical form and with poetic vividness (Psa 114:3-6), as it was displayed in the leading of the people from Egypt, for the purpose of establishing a Divine government in Israel (Psa 114:1-2), and forms the ground of a summons to the earth to tremble before this wondrous God of Jacob (Psa 114:7-8). The time of composition cannot be ascertained. A union with the preceding so as to make one Passover-Psalm, under the supposition that a sacrifice intervenes (Ewald), is altogether arbitrary. The combination with the following into one Psalm (Sept., Syr., and others, Kimchi and some MSS.) was not made till later, and that for liturgical purposes.
[Perowne: This is perhaps the most beautiful of all the Psalms which touch on the early history of Israel. It is certainly the most graphic and the most striking in the boldness of its outlines. The following remarks may perhaps illustrate the conception and plan of the Poem. 1. In structure it is singularly perfect.We have four strophes, each of two verses, and each of these of two lines, in which the parallelism is carefully preserved. 2. The effect is produced, as in Psalms 29, not by minute tracing of details, but by the boldness with which certain great features of the history are presented. 3. A singular animation and dramatic force are given to the Poem by the beautiful apostrophe in Psa 114:5-6, and the effect or this is heightened to a remarkable degree by the use of the present tenses. The awe and the trembling of nature are a spectacle on which the Poet is looking. The parted sea through which Israel walks as on dry land; the rushing Jordan arrested in its course; the granite cliffs of Sinai, shaken to their basehe sees it all, and asks in wonder what it means. 4. Then it is that the truth burst upon his mind, and the impression of this upon the reader is very finely managed. The name of God, which has been entirely concealed up to this point in the poem, is now only introduced after the apostrophe in Psa 114:5-6. The reason seems evident and this conduct necessary, for if God had appeared before, there could be no wonder why the mountains should leap and the sea retire; therefore that this convulsion of nature may be brought in with due surprise, His name is not mentioned till afterwards; and then, with a very agreeable turn of thought, God is introduced at once in all His majesty (Spectator, No. 461).J. F. M.]
Psa 114:1-2. The people from which Israel was separated are called stammering [E. V.: of a strange language], not in ridicule, but for the purpose of describing their language as unintelligible, that is, foreign. [Dr. Alexander thinks that such expressions may perhaps involve an allusion to the pre-eminence of Hebrew as the primitive and sacred language. See Alexander on Isa 33:19. For the other view comp. Deu 28:49; Isa 28:11; Jer 5:15.J. F. M.]. It is characteristic of the poetic plan and beauty of this Psalm that God the Lord is only suggested in Psa 114:2 and not named definitely till Psa 114:7. [See addition above]. The differences in the designations applied to the people of God are also intentional and admirable. They are first named genealogico-historically the house of Jacob. [Alexander: The house of Jacob is a phrase peculiarly appropriate to those who entered Egypt as a family and left it as a nation.J. F. M.]. Next they are termed Judah, in allusion to the sanctuary in their midst; for after Davids time Jerusalem was regarded as belonging to Judah rather than to Benjamin. Lastly they are called Israel, with reference to the relation in which they stood to God as their King, as citizens of His kingdom.Judah is here feminine, being regarded as a nation or country.
Psa 114:3 ff. The leaping of the mountains probably refers to the shaking of Sinai at the giving of the law (Exo 19:18), since the miracle at the Red Sea, which began the journey through the desert, and that at the Jordan, which terminated it, are mentioned. The last verse alludes to Exo 17:6; Num 20:11; Deu 8:15. The derivation of Challamish (Psa 114:8) is doubtful. According to Wetzstein, it is perhaps the ancient name of basalt. The word appears to be a mingling of the verbal roots: to be hard, and: to be dark-brown.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The religious reformation of Israel was bound up with its deliverance as a nation, and its historical separation from a strange people and country. Its formation into a separate people is not to be severed from its character as having been chosen, called, and planted as a people consecrated to God and a kingdom of Jehovah.
2. In this, God has proved Himself to be the unconditioned Ruler of all the forces of nature, and manifested Himself to His people as their Deliverer from bodily and spiritual distress. The Church upon the quaking earth should acknowledge this, proclaim it with praises, and exhibit it in her conduct.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Lord of nature and the Founder of the Church is one and the same God: what consolation there is in this assurance! And what a warning too in this truth!Deliverance from the powers of this world, and subjection to the dominion of God, go hand in hand with Gods people.The Almighty is thy God; what dost thou fear? But He is a holy King, too; how dost thou serve Him?Let the earth tremble, but bold thou fast to God, us His redeemed people and consecrated inheritance.
Starke: The misery of the oppressed is so much the more aggravated when it is endured in the midst of people whose language they cannot understand.If we are Gods kingdom, let none become lord and master of our hearts except Him who has purchased us at such a price, to be His peculiar possession.Sinai and Horeb quaked before the dreadful Lawgiver; Golgotha and Tabor leap with joy for the Redeemer.If God can make the stones and water, He can also make stones bread and water wine, and thus in every need help His own.Luther: We now sing this Psalm to the praise of Christ, who leads us out of death and sin, through the raging of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to eternal life.Osiander: Miracles are related to us that we may know how we, with the help and succor of our God, may overcome all adversity and trouble. For the course of nature must be changed, rather than that God should let us perish.The best weapon we can use against unbelief is this: with God nothing is impossible. Rieger: Faith must ever keep looking back to the small beginnings of Gods works.Guenther: All the history of Gods people is prefigurative, both for other nations and for the Church of the Lord, and for each of its members.Diedrich: Wherever Gods testimony is now beheld, there is Judah, and where there is strife for endless victory through Gods word alone, there is Israel.Taube: The Lord over all is the Lord of His people, the God of Jacob: the ever-green olive leaf of consolation for His Church at all times.
[Matth. Henry: What is Gods sanctuary must be His dominion. Those only have the privileges of His house that submit to the laws of it: and for this end Christ hath redeemed us that He might bring us into Gods service and engage us for ever in it.What turns the streams in a regenerate soul? What ails the lusts and corruptions that they fly back? that the prejudices are removed and the whole man becomes new? It is at the presence of Gods Spirit, that imaginations are cast down, 2Co 10:5.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.The same almighty power which turned waters into a rock to be a wall to Israel, Exo 14:22, turned the rock into waters to be a well to Israel; as they were protected so were they provided for by miracles, standing miracles, for such was the standing water, that fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was turned, and that rock was Christ, 1Co 10:4. For He is a fountain of living water to His Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.J. F. M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This psalm is descriptive of the going forth of Israel from Egypt; but as this was a transaction typical of the church being led forth by the great Captain of their salvation from the Egypt of sin and death, the whole ought to be read with reference to Christ in his victories for his people.
Psa 114:1
That we may not lose sight, in the history of the church’s first going forth from Egypt, of that far greater deliverance, the church’s salvation by Jesus, one of the prophets was commissioned by the Holy Ghost, to tell the church, that it was out of Egypt God called his Son: and that, in that account, the church might view Christ. One of the Evangelists was commissioned, also, to tell the church that Christ immediately after his birth went into Egypt, to fulfil this prophecy. Compare Hos 11:1 , with Mat 2:15 . So that, if we needed it, here is a key to the whole psalm. Reader, let you and I go over it, with our whole attention directed to this one point, as we read this Exodus, this going forth of Israel out of Egypt. One of the first beauties of the psalm is, the manner of Israel’s departure. Israel went out, and went out with a high hand; Egypt was nearly destroyed, and therefore Israel went forth as a conqueror. Reader, is it not so with the church at large, and every individual of the church? When the Lord Jesus rescues a poor sinner from the bondage of sin and Satan, doth he not lead him out with a high hand , and a stretched-out arm? Let us remark the striking expression concerning Egypt; The house of Jacob is taken from a people of strange language. Yes, as the Israelites, by the over-ruling power and providence of God, preserved the sacred language uncorrupted by the jargon of Egypt, so God’s people now are, by grace, preserved, in the sacred language of praise and prayer, from using the profane tongue of the carnal. Oh! how blessed to be so distinguished! 2Pe 2:7-8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Response of the Environment
Psa 114:1
I. It is said that man is affected by his environment. It is true; but it is equally true that man’s environment is affected by him. We are influenced by the sights and sounds around us; but it is no less certain that the sights and sounds around us are influenced by us. In this passage we have an incident of the latter kind. When Israel went out of Egypt there was a change in her environment. ‘The mountains skipped.’ She transferred to the things around her the impression of her own joy. She was inwardly leaping and dancing, and, as in a mirror, she saw the mountains leaping and dancing too. Why the mountains? Why not the brooks, the streams, the rivers? Is not the idea of motion more suitable to these? Certainly; therefore the Psalmist, because he was a poet, did not select them. He selected the most unlikely things the mountains. The mountains naturally suggest anything but dancing. They suggest immobility, steadfastness, iron determination to be affected by nothing. And that is just where the dramatic power of this poet comes in. He sees the joy of the soul infecting the most stolid objects in the world the sober, grave, serious mountains. If these could be made to dance to the rhythm of the heart, no part of nature could possibly remain unmoved.
II. I regard it as a fine stroke of literary genius that, in seeking a partner for the dance of the spirits, the Psalmist should have chosen, not the streams, but the mountains. He wants to show how utterly dependent is the aspect of Nature on the state of the heart, even where the aspect of Nature seems most fixed and stereotyped. He tells how in the joy of the spirit even the stable mountains cannot keep still to the eye of the beholder, but leap and bound and vibrate to the pulse of the gladdened soul.
III. Have you not felt this power of joy over prosaic things. Have you not felt how cold has lost its chillness, how rain has lost its dreariness, how wind has lost its bitterness, when the heart was young. Have you not felt how the long way became short, how the rough road became smooth, how the muddy path became clean, when the heart was young. The Psalmist was right when he said that when the soul is emancipated from its Egypt the very mountains leap.
IV. Lord, Thou hast said, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’. Yes, and the preparation must be rather in me than in the place. Any place will be joyous if my heart be young. When my heart grows old I get weary of localities; I migrate from spot to spot, I flit from flower to flower, I sigh for the wings of a dove to break the monotony of my rest. But that is because my heart is not leaping. If my heart would leap everything would leap the very mountains. It is not new objects I want; it is renewed joy in them. Revive the joy of my heart, O Lord! make my spirit young again! Then shall the waves resound once more; then shall the mountains leap as they did at morning’s glow.
G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, p. 61.
References. CXIV. 3. T. Sadler, Sermons for Children, p. 172. CXIV. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 390. CXV. 2, 3. J. J. Ingram, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xix. p. 304.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
Ver. 1. When Israel went out of Egypt ] E medio gentis, id est, ex visceribus Aegyptiorum, qui eos quasi deglutiebant, Out of the midst of that nation, that is, out of the bowels of the Egyptians, who had, as it were, devoured them; thus the Jewish doctors gloss upon this text (Midr. Tillin. in Psa 114:1-8 ).
From a people of strange language
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
It is not only Jehovah’s glory above the heavens, yet stooping to look on the lowliest here below, as proved already in Israel. The sea, the river, the mountains, and the hills, the earth, all teach from before Him, Who will be to Jacob all He was of old and more. His power in goodness is unfailing.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 114:1-2
1When Israel went forth from Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2Judah became His sanctuary,
Israel, His dominion.
Psa 114:1-2 This Psalm is about the exodus from Egypt (cf. Exodus 1-12). The exodus is a direct fulfillment of YHWH’s revelation and promise to Abraham in Gen 15:12-21. The exodus was the beginning of the People of God (cf. Exodus 19-20).
Notice the different designations for the people of God.
1. Israel
2. house of Israel
3. Judah
Psa 114:1 Israel See Special Topic: Israel (the name).
from a people of strange language This phrase occurs only here in the OT. The AB (p. 134) takes the same consonants and revocalizes them to fit the imagery of Isa 25:3, where it denotes a cruel people (BDB 470, i.e., the Israelites’ taskmasters, cf. Exo 3:7). The same root is used with an emphatic lamedh (i.e., Hebrew letter L) in Lam 4:3.
The historical reality of Israel’s having to deal with foreign domination is recurrent (cf. Isa 28:22; Isa 33:19; Jer 5:15). The question of interpretation is how God’s people could be dominated by pagans (cf. Habakkuk). As God took the Canaanite tribes out of the land because of their sin, so too, the Israelites because of their sin (i.e., the exiles by Assyria, Babylon, and Persia).
Psa 114:2 Because both Judah and Israel are mentioned, one wonders when this Psalm was written.
1. the United Monarchy lasted from Saul – Solomon
2. in 922 B.C. the Kingdom split between
a. Rehoboam in Judah
b. Jeroboam I in Israel
3. after the return from Persian exile under Cyrus II, the Israelites took their collective name again, although they possessed only a small part of the tribal allocation of Judah (i.e., small area around Jerusalem)
His sanctuary This refers to
1. the temple in Jerusalem on Mt. Moriah
2. the whole land of Canaan as YHWH’s special possession
His dominion This term (BDB 606) has two connotations.
1. YHWH’s universal reign/realm, Psa 103:22; Psa 145:13 (cf. Joshua 3; Joshua 11; Joshua 13)
2. Canaan as YHWH’s unique possession (i.e., the Promised Land, cf. Exo 15:17)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
When Israel. Compare Exo 13:3.
Egypt. Not Babylon. The Psalm not post-exilic.
Jacob. See notes on Gen 32:28; Gen 43:6; Gen 46:27, Gen 46:28.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 114:1-8
Now Psa 114:1-8 is a little psalm that calls the deliverance of the… recalls the deliverance of the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt.
When Israel went out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from the people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled ( Psa 114:1-3 ):
That is, the Red Sea, which parted for them.
Jordan was driven back ( Psa 114:3 ).
The waters of Jordan were stopped that they might come in the land.
The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs ( Psa 114:4 ).
There were earthquakes, actually. The walls of Jericho destroyed by earthquakes and so forth. “The mountains skipping like rams, the little hills like lambs.” And then the psalmist now recalling the sea and the Jordan, the mountains, he said,
What ailed you, O thou sea, that you fled? thou Jordan, that you were driven back? Ye mountains, that you skipped like rams; and you little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into the fountain of waters ( Psa 114:5-8 ).
A reference to the flinty rock that Moses struck from which God gave them water in the wilderness. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 114:1-8. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs. Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
I did not interrupt the reading of the Psalm by any exposition. It is a perfect whole, and could not well be divided without spoiling it. We may admire the poetry as well as the inspiration of this Psalm. It begins with rugged abruptness: When Israel went out of Egypt. It only gives just a hint of the discomfort of the Israelites while in Egypt, arising from the fact that they did not understand the Egyptians strange language. No doubt they were often beaten by their taskmasters, for not obeying orders, when they really did not understand what must have seemed to them the barbarous speech of their Egyptian oppressors. But God led them up out of the house of bondage, the tribe of Judah leading the van, and all the people following in due order.
How beautifully the psalmist describes the dividing of the Red Sea! He represents the waters as perceiving the presence of God, and fleeing away, not because Israel came to the bank, but because God was in the midst of his people: The sea saw it, and fled,-as if abashed at the presence of its Maker, alarmed at the terror of Jehovahs might. So was it with the Jordan; that swiftly-flowing river was driven back by a very special miracle. The dividing of the Red Sea was a marvelous act of Gods power, but the driving back of that rushing river has some extraordinary points about it peculiar to itself. And all this happened because God was there. The sea flees before him, the river is driven back by him. In like manner, my brethren, if God be in the midst of our church, nothing can withstand its onward march. If the Lord he in any man, that man need not even think or talk of difficulties; for, with God, nothing is impossible.
So mighty was the influence of Gods presence that the mountains themselves began to move, and even to skip like rams, and to leap like lambs. There was some fear there, for they trembled in their solid sockets, at the presence of the God of Jacob. There was joy, too. We speak of the everlasting hills, yet the psalmist depicts them as moving as easily as the lambs frisk in the meadows in the springtime: The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. How grand is the poetic utterance!
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Thou couldst no longer rush in thine accustomed channel, but must needs return to the source whence thou didst come.
What ailed you, O ye mountains, that ye trembled as if a palsy had seized upon you? What ailed you, O ye little hills?
Now comes the answer, which yet is not given in the form of an answer.
The inspired poet, in order to heighten the grandeur of his language, kept the name of God out of the Psalm until he came to the end, when he thus answered his own riddle: Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters;-another miracle, for God multiplied his marvels. Having brought his people out of Egypt, and led them through the wilderness, and made the hills to move at his majestic presence, now he performs a converting work, changing the rock into a mere, or lake, so plenteous was the effusion of water, and making the flint to gush into a veritable river, which followed the children of Israel through the wilderness, for, as Paul says, they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, (the margin is, that went with them,) and that Rock was Christ.
This exposition consisted of readings from PSALMS 114. and 48.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 114:1-8
Psalms 114
PRAISING GOD FOR ISRAEL’S DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT
This is one of the Hallel Psalms, being the second hymn always sung by the Jews at the beginning of various solemn feasts. (See the discussion of this in the previous chapter.) The theme here is God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Considering the brevity of the psalm, quite a number of the features of that deliverance are included.
“It is possible that in this psalm Israel, returned from Babylon, is looking back to the earlier exodus, and thrilling with the great thought that the old past lives again in the present. Such a historical parallel would have ministered courage and hope to Israel.
The very fact that the bondage of the Hebrew Children in Egypt is recognized in the New Testament as an eloquent type of sin, and that their deliverance from that slavery is seen as a type of how men, even today, are saved, endows this psalm with unusual interest.
The purpose of the psalm, stated by Leupold, was, “To encourage the downhearted people who had come back home and were encountering nothing except difficulties and disappointments.
Psa 114:1-8
“When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
The sea saw it and fled;
The Jordan was driven back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
What ailest thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest?
Thou Jordan that thou turnest back?
Ye mountains that ye skip like rams;
Ye little hills like lambs?
Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.”
“Israel went forth out of Egypt … Jacob from a people of strange language” (Psa 114:1). Note here that the name “Jacob” here is used as the name of all of Israel.
“Judah … Israel” (Psa 114:2). “Judah and Israel here do not refer to the two parts of the divided kingdom; after the return, Judah was regarded as the outstanding tribe; and Israel was still the common name for the whole nation.
“Judah became his sanctuary … Israel his dominion” (Psa 114:2). It is incorrect to make the word “when” in Psa 114:1 mean that the nation of Israel became God’s sanctuary and dominion at a point in time, “when” they came out of Egypt. Some have made that very mistake. The chosen people, as God’s sanctuary and dominion, date back to the patriarchs, as the very names “Judah,” and “Israel” most certainly indicate.
“The sea saw it and fled, the Jordan was driven back” (Psa 114:3). These are obvious references to the Red Sea crossing and to the crossing of the Jordan river on dry land at the very time when the Jordan was at flood stage! No greater wonders ever occurred in the history of God’s dealings with Israel.
“The mountains skipped like rams; the little hills like lambs” (Psa 114:4). This is a metaphorical reference to the wonders that occurred at Sinai where God delivered to Israel the Decalogue, ratified with them the covenant, and gave instructions for the construction of the tabernacle.
“What ailest thee, O thou sea? … thou Jordan? … ye mountains? … ye little hills?” (Psa 114:5-6). Here, in a figure of speech called `apostrophe,’ the psalmist addresses the sea, the Jordan, the mountains and hills, “Inquiring of them for what reason they had forsaken their nature and had done such strange things.
“Thou fleest … thou turnest back … ye skip like rams, etc.” (Psa 114:5-6). The use of the present tense throughout this passage suggests that the psalmist is addressing the sea, the Jordan, the mountains and the hills as if they were present, and as if he could actually see them doing such amazing things contrary to nature.
The answer to the question, “What ailest thee?” is not stated as bluntly as the question; but it is here, nevertheless. That answer, stated in the Psa 114:7, is, “All those mighty wonders are due to the presence of God.”
“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” (Psa 114:7). Here indeed is the answer as to why the mountains skipped, the little hills frolicked like lambs, the Red Sea fled before Israel, and why the Jordan river at flood stage suddenly presented Israel with a dry-land crossing. It was all due to the presence of God. All nature obeys His voice. He spoke, and great wonders ensued.
“Who turned the rock into a pool of water” (Psa 114:8). This, of course, is a remembrance of the waters of Meribah. Twice at Meribah and once at Marah, the water problem was solved for Israel by three of God’s most marvelous miracles.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 114:1. Israel and house of Jacob are the same since the event recorded in Gen 32:28. Strange means foreign or alien; the Egyptian language was foreign to Israel.
Psa 114:2. The pronoun his applies to the Lord, who was named at the close of the preceding verse. One meaning of sanctuary is “sacred thing.” Judah was the most numerous of the 12 tribes and Israel stood as a name for all of the tribes. The whole congregation, therefore, was a sacred possession of God.
Psa 114:3. This verse is a figurative reference to the opening of the Red Sea for the Israelites in escaping from Egypt, and the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua.
Psa 114:4. Since we know that the mountains did not literally move we must look for the thought implied. The mountains and hills and valleys and all the parts of the land were made to serve the needs of God’s people when they reached the promised land.
Psa 114:5-6. David addressed these inanimate objects in the spirit of fable. Of course they could not speak, and the language was a challenge to the unbeliever to explain the wonderful control of these things in nature. The only way it could he explained would be to acknowledge the existence of the God of all creation.
Psa 114:7. The language of this verse was used in the same figurative manner as the preceding paragraph. However, instead of asking a challenging question, the Psalmist put it in the form of a command. Tremble means to be filled with awe and respect.
Psa 114:8. God brought water out of the rock to quench the thirst of the congregation. Standing water is figurative, meaning there was an abundance of it. See the accounts of this kind of performance in Exo 17:6 and Num 20:10-11.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This is the second psalm in the Hallel. The first set forth the might and mercy of Jehovah. This is pre-eminently a song of His might, and so the name of God is used. If however it sings of His might, it sings of it as manifested in mercy. It is the song of the Exodus, and is full of beauty.
The first movement declares that the people passing out of Egypt, did so as the result of the presence of God. Among them was His sanctuary, and they were His dominion. Nature recognised His presence and obeyed His will. The sea fled, Jordan was driven back, mountains and little hills were moved. The singer asks the reason of this commotion, and without waiting for answer charges the earth to tremble at His presence.
Notice that this song includes the whole deliverance, the going out under Moses through the sea, and the going in under Joshua through Jordan. Again we imagine the great Leader about to accomplish His Exodus singing these words. Ere long all Nature would be convulsed as He passed out, and in breaking the way through for the oncoming hosts. It is possible in imagination to hear the thrill of triumph as the stately words so full of spiritual significance, sounded forth in that upper room.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Mighty God Uplifteth the Lowly
Psa 113:1-9; Psa 114:1-8
We detect the song of Samuels mother in the first of these psalms. She sang the Old Testament Magnificat and it was embalmed by the psalmist here. Thus it passed into the psalter of the Church. Note the universality of this ascription of praise. For all time, Psa 113:2; through all the earth, Psa 113:3; and above all heavens, Psa 113:4. What a wonderful God is ours! Heaven cannot contain Him, but He lifts the poor and needy out of the dust. Largeness is not greatness, and the babe in the cot is more important than the palace.
In Psa 114:1-8 Egypt represents the tyranny of sin; but we have been redeemed. Like Israel we have gone forth. We belong no more to the present world with its strange tongue. Ours is the language of Canaan, our home. This exodus of ours has made us the temple and sanctuary of God. If once the Church realized that she is God-possessed, she would become irresistible. Seas would divide, rivers would start back, mountains would cleave, and the hills would remove. Impossible would be blotted from our vocabulary. The power that made Sinai tremble gave earth water-springs. When the soul finds its all in God, the world ceases to affright or attract it, and the rocks yield refreshing streams.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 114:8
(with Deu 32:13)
I. Is it not instructive to us that things so high have become so low; that firmamental elements offer themselves, in the shape of stones, for the humblest uses? How beautifully passive they are to all operators and operations. They are as meekly submissive to the lowest uses as to the highest.
II. Hear another stone-sermon: We are stones, and you are souls. Our day of freedom is coming. Take heed, O souls, lest in the day of God, when stones shall awake to light, you should enter the house of darkness and bondage.
III. Stones are stubborn things, but stubborn souls are the stubbornest stones. Stones are less capable of resisting the influences of nature than souls the influences of God.
IV. Hear the stones once more, and from their heart of hearts: We are stones, and you are souls; but your Lord is our Lord, and our Lord is your Lord. He made us, and not we ourselves; and there is not a stone that is not pervaded through and through by His presence. When He died, souls mocked Him; but stones trembled to their centre.
V. We are stones, and you are souls. When the Lord lay enclosed in stone, we offered no resistance to His resurrection. Have you yielded, that He might rise from the dead in you?
VI. We have the substance of stones, but there is no stony will in us to resist Him whom nothing ought to resist. You have the substance of souls; but you carry within you a stony will, by which you resist your Lord, as stones never did. It is better to be stones than such souls.
J. Pulsford, Quiet Hours, p. 241.
References: Psa 115:3.-A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 8. Psa 115:12.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. viii., p. 249. Psa 115:15-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1077.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalm 114-117
Psalm 114
Retrospect
As in the book of Deuteronomy Gods ways with His people are reviewed so we find in some of these Psalms the reminders of Gods dealing with Israel in the past. Here it is first of all the deliverance out of Egypt and what happened then, the type of the greater deliverance effected by the power of God. (See Jer 16:14-15.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
– Title This short, and apparently imperfect Psalm, for elegance and sublimity, yields to few in the whole book. The composition of it is inexpressibly beautiful, and in the highest style of poetry.
Israel: Exo 12:41, Exo_1
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The power of Jacob’s God.
The first psalm of the series is of the simplest character. It dwells upon the power of God as seen in the deliverance out of Egypt, and upon His gracious identification of Himself with them as His people at that time. It merely describes with emphatic brevity these things: suggesting the questions which formally it does not raise. Its fragmentary character is itself strikingly suggestive. Why should the history of which it speaks be thus exceptional and fragmentary? The covenant-Name, Jehovah, is significant in a very different way.
1. The psalm is in two parts of four verses each. The first speaks of God as Lord, and yet without mentioning Him: there was no need to do so. There is but One who can dry up the sea and make the mountains skip.
It was the beginning of their history as a nation: the passover, as we know, rearranged their year for them. Egypt, though so long the place of their abode, is but a place of strange language to those who are now to be the holy people of God. Only with redeemed ones can God dwell; and where He dwells He reigns: “Judah was His sanctuary; Israel His dominion.” The names have their significance otherwise than historically: the “prince with God” is thus ennobled by the yoke he bears; the holy place is one with the place of “praise.”
Nature realizes and owns her God: the sea and Jordan alike, at the two ends of the desert journey; Sinai between them no less manifests its awe: “the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs.”
2. The second part begins with an inquiry as to the cause of this, the answer revealing another character of Him whose sovereignty is thus recognized, and who yet softens the majesty of His presence, to walk in company with the “worm Jacob.” Nay, His glorious power is made but to serve the necessities of His creatures: “turning the rock into a pool, -the flint into a fountain of waters.”
Far apart as they may be in time and diverse in Planner, we see that it is the same God who afterwards put on a lowlier, yet more glorious dress in which to serve His people, coming into the wilderness Himself in fashion as a man; to do here the works which no other man did. What altered so for this people, the grace of such a beginning? What has banished from the world the tender presence of the Son of man? The two questions have but one answer. The generations of men; however far apart in time or place, have one fatal resemblance throughout. In the words of the apostle, “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 114:1-2. When Israel went out of Egypt That is, were brought out by mighty signs and wonders wrought by the power of God; from a people of a strange language From a barbarous people, as some render it: though it is not improbable that the Israelites, though they stayed so long in Egypt, yet, having little converse or society with the Egyptians, knew little or nothing of their language. Judah was his sanctuary The tribe of Judah is here put for the Jews in general, because Judah was their principal tribe. And they are said to have been his sanctuary and his dominion, because he appointed that a tabernacle should be placed for himself among them, promised to receive their homage and service, granted them a glorious token of his presence, and became their Lawgiver, King, and Governor, in a peculiar sense.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This is another hallelujah psalm, praising the Lord for deliverance from Egyptfor calling the Hebrews to holinessfor dividing the sea, and driving Jordan backfor making the mountains skip like lambsand causing the earthquake and the rock to give streams of water.
Psa 114:1. A people of strange language. The Egyptian language was so different from the Hebrew, that they could not understand one another. Joseph, speaking in the Egyptian to his brethren, did it by an interpreter. Gen 42:23. Yet this language was easily acquired by their neighbours, and must therefore have had the same primitive words.
Psa 114:8. Flint. The Hebrew is literally callous, or very hard rock. They had not the Gothic grouan, or granite, the real name of the rock.
REFLECTIONS.
This beautiful psalm is another specimen of the true sublime in Hebrew poetry: its apostrophes are original and striking. The author of Elements of Criticism was very much mistaken when he said, that no author had succeeded in sacred poetry. This may be true of poets who write on divine subjects with an unregenerate heart; but assuredly we have a version of this psalm equal to the original. When Israel out of Egypt came. See also Psalm 45. 73. 137.
From the doctrine of this psalm we learn, that if God removed all the difficulties out of Israels way in their exodus from Egypt, he will remove all the difficulties out of the way of his church in her pilgrimage to heaven. He will shake the mountains, and make the stoutest rebels tremble. The noisy and rebellious nations shall fear, and fly back as the sea. He will fix his presence in his Zion, and give her water from the flinty rock. Yea, Christ the true rock, smitten on Calvary, pours life and salvation on his saints. Boast then, oh believer, boast against thy foes. They shall all fly back at the name and presence of thy God, whose grandeur is here disclosed for thy admiration and encouragement.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
CXIV. The marvels on the way from Egypt to Zion, the future sanctuary of Yahweh, and to Canaan as Israels possession. A Passover hymn.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 114
The presence of the Lord in the midst of His people, dealing with every opposition, and meeting every need.
Prophetically the psalm looks on to the time when restored Israel will acknowledge that, as in the past so now, they owe their deliverance and blessing to the presence of the Lord acting in almighty power.
(vv. 1-2) The introductory verses look back to the commencement of Israel’s history as separated from the nations. They celebrate the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt, as well as the purpose for which they were redeemed. If God set Israel free, it was that He might dwell among, and rule over, His people: that Judah might become his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion (Exo 15:17-18; Exo 19:6).
(vv. 3-4) The verses that follow set forth the mighty power that wrought on behalf of Israel in the days of their former deliverances. At the deliverance from Egypt the Red Sea fled, and thus witnessed to the presence of irresistible power, even as at the end of their journey, at the entrance to the Land, Jordan was driven back. Between the Red Sea and the Jordan, the mountains of the desert had to bear witness to an unseen power when Sinai quaked greatly (Exo 19:18).
(vv. 5-6) What ailed the sea, the river, and the mountains? What mighty power was present from which the sea fled, before which the waters of the river were driven back, and the mountains shook?
(vv. 7-8) Restored Israel calls upon the whole earth to acknowledge it was the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel. He it was who crushed all opposition to His people and met all their needs (Exo 17:6).
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of {a} strange language;
(a) Or, barbarous.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Psalms 114
As mentioned previously, the Israelites sang this song at Passover. This was appropriate since it describes God delivering the nation in the Exodus, which event has cosmic implications. It is another psalm of descriptive praise.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. God’s deliverance at the Exodus 114:1-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He dwelt among them and ruled over them. The names Judah and Israel are in poetic parallelism here and refer to the same group, namely, the nation of Israel. Judah was its leading tribe.
The writer personified the Red Sea as seeing the Israelites coming and fleeing from them by parting its waters. Later when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the Jordan River backed up as far as the town of Adam, farther north in the Jordan Valley, to let them cross. The mountains around Sinai quaked when God came down on Mt. Horeb to meet with His people.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 114:1-8
It is possible that in this psalm Israel, restored from Babylon, is looking back to the earlier Exodus, and shrilling with the great thought that that old past lives again in the present. Such a historical parallel would minister courage and hope. But the eyes of psalmists were ever turning to the great days when a nation was born, and there are no data in this psalm which connect it with a special period, except certain peculiarities in the form of the words “turns” and “fountain” in Psa 114:8, both of which have a vowel appended (i in the former, o in the latter word), which is probably an archaism, used by a late poet for ornaments sake. The same peculiarity is found in Psa 113:5-9, where it occurs five times.
A familiar theme is treated here with singular force and lyric fervour. The singer does not heap details together but grasps one great thought. To him there are but two outstanding characteristics of the Exodus: one, its place and purpose as the beginning of Israels prerogative, and another, its apocalypse of the Majesty of Jehovah, the Ruler of Nature in its mightiest forms. These he hymns, and then leaves them to make their own impression. He has no word of “moral,” no application, counsel, warning, or encouragement to give. Whoso will can draw these. Enough for him to lift his soaring song, and to check it into silence in the midst of its full music. He would be a consummate artist, if he were not something much better. The limpid clearness, the eloquent brevity of the psalm are not more obvious than its masterly structure. Its four pairs of verses, each laden with one thought, the dramatic vividness of the sudden questions in the third pair, the skilful suppression of the Divine name till the close, where it is pealed out in full tones of triumph, make this little psalm a gem.
In Psa 114:1-2 the slighting glance at the land left by the ransomed people is striking. The Egyptians are to this singer “a stammering people,” talking a language which sounded to him barely articulate. The word carries a similar contempt to that in the Greek “barbarian,” which imitates the unmeaning babble of a foreign tongue. To such insignificance in the psalmists mind had the once dreaded oppressors sunk! The great fact about the Exodus was that it was the birthday of the Nation, the beginning of its entrance on its high prerogatives. If the consecration of Judah as “His sanctuary” took place when Israel went forth from Egypt, there can be no reference to the later erection of the material sanctuary in Jerusalem, and the names of Judah and Israel must both apply to the people, not to the land, which it would be an anachronism to introduce here. That deliverance from Egypt was in order to Gods dwelling in Israel, and thereby sanctifying or setting it apart to Himself, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Dwelling in the midst of them, He wrought wonders for them, as the psalm goes on to hymn; but this is the grand foundation fact, that Israel was brought out of bondage to be Gods temple and kingdom. The higher deliverance of which that Exodus is a foreshadowing is, in like manner, intended to effect a still more wonderful and intimate indwelling of God, in His Church. Redeemed humanity is meant to be Gods temple and realm.
The historical substratum for Psa 114:3-4, is the twin miracles of drying up the Red Sea and the Jordan, which began and closed the Exodus, and the “quaking” of Sinai at the Theophany accompanying the giving of the Law. These physical facts are imaginatively conceived as the effects of panic produced by some dread vision; and the psalmist heightens his representation by leaving unnamed the sight which dried the sea, and shook the steadfast granite cliffs. In the third pair of verses he changes his point of view from that of narrator to that of a wondering spectator, and asks what terrible thing, unseen by him, strikes such awe? All is silent now, and the wonders long since past. The sea rolls its waters again over the place where Pharaohs host lie. Jordan rushes down its steep valley as of old, the savage peaks of Sinai know no tremors; -but these momentary wonders proclaimed an eternal truth.
So the psalmist answers his own question, and goes beyond it in summoning the whole earth to tremble, as sea, river, and mountain had done, for the same Vision before which they had shrunk is present to all Nature. Now the psalmist can peal forth the Name of Him, the sight of whom wrought these wonders. It is “the Lord,” the Sovereign Ruler, whose omnipotence and plastic power over all creatures were shown when His touch made rock and flint forget their solidity and become fluid, even as His will made the waves solid as a wall, and His presence shook Sinai. He is still Lord of Nature. And, more blessed still, the Lord of Nature is the God of Jacob. Both these names were magnified in the two miracles (which, like those named in Psa 114:3, are a pair) of giving drink to the thirsty pilgrims. With that thought of omnipotence blended with gracious care, the singer ceases. He has said enough to breed faith and hearten courage, and he drops his harp without a formal close. The effect is all the greater, though some critics prosaically insist that the text is defective and put a row or two of asterisks at the end of Psa 114:8, “since it is not discernible what purpose the representation [i.e., the whole psalm] is to serve” (Graetz)!