Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 114:8
Which turned the rock [into] a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
8. Which turned &c.] Who turneth the rock into a pool of water. The participle in the Heb. is independent of time. It denotes not merely a historic fact but an attribute expressed in the terms of historic fact. He Who made water flow from the rock in Rephidim and the cliff in Kadesh (Exo 17:6; Num 20:8 ff.; cp. Psa 78:15-16; Psa 78:20) can still provide streams of blessing for His people. The verse combines reminiscences of Isa 41:18 (‘pool of water,’ ‘fountain’), and Deu 8:15 (‘flint’): cp. Psa 107:35.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which turned the rock into a standing water – That is, Before him who could do this, the earth should tremble; the inhabited world should stand in awe of such amazing power. The words rendered a standing water, mean properly a pool of water. They indicate nothing in regard to the permanency of that pool; they do not imply that it remained as a standing pool during the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness – whatever may have been the fact in regard to that. The simple idea is, that, at the time referred to, the rock was converted into a pool; that is, the waters flowed from the rock, constituting such a pool.
The flint – Another name for the rock – used here to describe the greatness of the miracle.
Into a fountain of waters – That is, The waters flowed from the rock as from a fountain. The Bible is a book of miracles, and there is nothing more improbable in this miracle than in any other.
In the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac, the Arabic, and in many manuscripts, there is no division of the psalm here, but the following psalm is united with this, as if they were a single poem. Why, in those versions, the division of the Heb. was not followed, cannot now be ascertained. The division in the Hebrew is a natural division, and was evidently made in the original composition.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. The flint] I have translated challamish, GRANITE; for such is the rock of Horeb, a piece of which now lies before me.
This short and apparently imperfect Psalm, for elegance and sublimity, yields to few in the whole book.
It is so well translated in the old Psalter, that I think I shall gratify the reader by laying it before him.
Ps 114:1. In gangyng of Isrel oute of Egipt,
Of the house of Jacob fra hethen folke.
Ps 114:2. Made is Jude his halawyng
Isrel might of hym.
Ps 114:3. The se sawe and fled,
Jurdan turned is agayne;
Ps 114:4. Hawes gladed als wethers,
And hilles als lambes of schepe.
Ps 114:5. What is to the se, that thou fled?
And thou Jordane that thou ert turned agayne?
Ps 114:6. Hawes gladded als wethers?
And hils als lambs of schepe.
Ps 114:7. Fra the face of Lorde styrde is the erth,
Fra the face of God of Jabob;
Ps 114:8. That turnes the stane in stank of waters,
And roche in wels of waters.
And, as a still more ancient specimen of our language, I shall insert the Anglo-Saxon, with a literal reading, line for line, as near to the Saxon as possible, merely to show the affinity of the languages.
Ps 114:1. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:2. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:3. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:4. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:5. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:6. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:7. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:8. [Anglo-Saxon]
Ps 114:1. On outgang Israel of Egypt,
House Jacob of folk foreigners;
Ps 114:2. Made is Jacob holyness his;
Israel andweald (government) his.
Ps 114:3. Sea saw, and flew!
Jordan turned underback!
Ps 114:4. Mounts they fain (rejoiced) so (as) rams,
And burghs (hillocks) so (as) lamb-sheep.
Ps 114:5. What is the sea, that thou flew?
And thou river for that thou turned is underback?
Ps 114:6. Mounts ye fained (rejoiced) so so rams;
And hills so so lambs-sheep.
Ps 114:7. From sight Lord’s stirred is earth;
From sight God of Jacob.
Ps 114:8. Who turned stone in mere waters;
And cliffs in wells waters.
I have retained some words above in nearly their Saxon form, because they still exist in our old writers; or, with little variation, in those of the present day: –
Ps 114:2. Andweald, government. Hence weal and wealth, commonweal or wealth; the general government, that which produces the welfare of the country.
Ps 114:4. Faegnodon, fained – desired fervently, felt delight in expectation.
Ps 114:4. Burgh, a hill – a mound or heap of earth, such as was raised up over the dead. Hence a barrow; and hence the word bury, to inhume the dead.
Ps 114:8. Mere, or meer, a large pool of water, a lake, a lough, still in use in the north of England. Gentlemen’s ponds, or large sheets of water so called; and hence Winander-mere. a large lake in Westmoreland. Mere also signifies limit or boundary; hence the Mersey, the river which divides Lancashire from Cheshire, and serves as a boundary to both counties. The mere that spreads itself out to the sea.
Instead of cludas, which signifies rocks, one MS. has [Anglo-Saxon] clyf, which signifies a craggy mountain or broken rock.
The reader will see from this specimen how much of our ancient language still remains in the present; and perhaps also how much, in his opinion, we have amplified and improved our mother tongue.
ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH PSALM
David in this Psalm chants forth the wonderful works and miracles that God wrought, when he brought forth Israel out of Egypt.
This Psalm has two parts: –
I. A narration of Israel’s deliverance, amplified by the state they were in, Ps 114:1; the state to which they were brought, Ps 114:2; the miracles then done, Ps 114:3; and the law given, Ps 114:4.
II. A prosopopoeia set down by way of dialogue: 1. The prophet asks the sea and Jordan why they fled, Ps 114:5-6. 2. To which the answer is, that “the earth trembled,” c., Ps 114:7-8.
I. In the narration, Israel’s condition is set down by way of comparison, in order that their deliverance might make the deeper impression. We must recollect that Jacob and Judah in this place signify the whole nation of the Israelites that descended out of Jacob’s loins but of the house of Jacob there is made particular mention, because with him they came into Egypt; and of Judah, because from him they were called Jews. This being premised. 1. We are presented with the condition of the Jews before their deliverance; before they were formed into a state or Church; they were among “a people of a strange language.”
2. The condition of the Jews after their deliverance: “When Israel went out of Egypt,” c., then “Judah was his sanctuary,” c. 1. “His sanctuary: ” A people sanctified and adopted by him, consecrated to his worship as holy temples and sanctuaries, and having a holy priest to govern them in points of piety. 2. “His dominion:” In which he reigned as King by his laws and Spirit, and appointed godly magistrates to rule them in matters of policy for the government was a theocracy, till they cast it off by choosing a king.
The prophet explains the manner of their deliverance, which was by miracles and signs and gives us these instances: –
1. “The sea saw it, and fled,” as the people advanced to it. “At the presence of the Lord it turned back all night,” Ex 14:21. In a poetical strain he attributes this to the sense of the sea. “The sea saw,” c.
2. “Jordan was driven back,” &c. Forty years after, when they were entering the promised land, then Jordan suffered a long reflux, Jos 3:15-17.
3. At Sinai, when the law was given, then the mountains and hills quaked: “The mountains skipped like rams,” &c.
II. This Psalm abounds with poetical imagery and having related the wonderful deliverances wrought for God’s people, the psalmist expostulates with the sea and mountains, and interrogates them as to what so strangely altered their course. “What ailed thee, O thou sea, c. ?. – Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams,” &c.
To which, in the person of the earth speaking to herself, the prophet answers thus making both a prosopopoeia and an apostrophe.
1. “Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,” c. As if it had been said, Would you know the reason why we fly? The cause is, the Lord has appeared and showed his force and power, and laid his commands upon us and therefore, not abiding his presence, the mountains are moved, &c.
2. Of his power this miracle is sufficient for an instance: “Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.” Causing not only waters to flow from thence, but turning the very substance of a flint, which is apter to yield fire than water, into that fluid element, Nu 20:11. See Clarke on Ps 114:8.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
5-8. The questions place theimplied answers in a more striking form.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Which turned the rock into a standing water,…. Both at Rephidim and at Kadesh; which being smitten, streams of water flowed out like rivers, as if the rock itself was changed into water; and which came a constant and continual supply for the Israelites, for it is said to follow them; see Ex 17:6.
The flint into a fountain of waters; referring to the same thing, the rocks were flinty ones. This was a type of Christ the Rock; who has an abiding fulness of grace in him; is the fountain of it, from whence it flows in great abundance for the supply of his people’s wants, while passing through this wilderness to Canaan’s land.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. The flint into a fountain “Flint” is parallel to rock in the preceding line, and means no more than hard rock, as Deu 8:15; Deu 32:13. The Septuagint has it sharp rock, as if it were a crag.
Fountain of waters Corresponds to standing water, both indicating a permanent and abundant supply. It refers, probably, to the rock Horeb, where the miraculous supply of water continued nearly a year. See notes on Psa 78:15-16.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
READER, let you and I ponder over the solemn, though delightful reflections, suggested by this psalm. Behold in it the state of the church, and of every individual of that church, as they are, in a state of unregenerated nature, before the Lord brings them out of the Egypt of sin and corruption. We were by nature (saith the Apostle) children of wrath, even as others. Behold the distinguishing grace of God in Christ, which makes all the difference between a people of strange language, and those who can sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb. Behold the power and sovereignty of almighty grace! Who shall detain the Lord’s Israel, when he brings them forth! What chains of sin or Satan shall bind such as the Lord makes free? Neither mountains of sin, nor seas of unbelief, shall be able to stand against Jesus and his army. Who art thou, O great mountain, may the believer say, before our glorious Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain. He it is who shall bring forth the head-stone thereof, with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. And, oh! thou blessed, all-conquering Lord! thou who subduest the enemy before thy people, thou also wilt subdue the enmity in thy people. Yes, almighty Jesus! thou art exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And, therefore, thou wilt turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. Thou wilt regenerate our nature, and make all things new, by thy sovereign all-creating power. Every eye shall be filled with the tear of love and repentance; every knee shall bow before thee; every tongue proclaim thy praise. The universal song of all thy ransomed children shall be, Salvation to God and the Lamb!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 114:8 Which turned the rock [into] a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
Ver. 8. Which turned the rock into a standing water ] Set the rock of Rephidim abroach, and made it not only a standing water ( stagnum , as here), but a running river; for the rock followed them: and that rock was Christ, 1Co 10:4 , with Joh 4:14 ; Joh 7:38 .
The flint into a fountain of waters
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
turned = changed.
standing = pool.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 78:15, Psa 78:16, Psa 105:41, Psa 107:35, Exo 17:6, Num 20:11, Deu 8:15, Neh 9:15, 1Co 10:4
Reciprocal: Num 20:8 – bring forth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
114:8 Which {e} turned the rock [into] a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
(e) That is, miraculously caused water to come out of the rock in great abundance, Exo 17:6.