Psalms 114:1 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist is looking back to the old days, to the years of the right hand of the Most High, and to the wonders their fathers told them about (Judges 6:13). Time does not wear out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out our sense of mercy. God’s people should never forget what he has done for them.

First, God brought Israel out of slavery with power and honor. Israel went out of Egypt (Psalm 114:1). They did not sneak away, and they were not forced out in shame. They marched out openly, with the signs of dignity, leaving a cruel people who had treated them badly, a people of a strange language (Psalm 81:5). It seems the Israelites kept their own language pure and did not care to learn the language of their oppressors. That difference from Egypt was a sign and promise of their coming freedom.

Second, God shaped their civil and sacred life. Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, and he ruled over them (Psalm 114:2). When he rescued them from their oppressors, it was so they could serve him in holiness and right living, in worship and in obedience to his moral law, in all they did. “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” To that end, he placed his sanctuary among them, giving them special signs of his presence and accepting their worship and gifts. Happy are the people who have God’s sanctuary among them (Exodus 25:8; Ezekiel 37:26), and even happier are those like Judah here, who are themselves his sanctuaries, his living temples, marked as holy to the Lord. He also set up his rule among them, so that he was their lawgiver and judge, and their government was a theocracy, meaning God himself was their king. The Lord was their King. The whole world belongs to God, but Israel belonged to him in a special way. Those who belong to God’s house must also live under its laws. Christ has redeemed us for this very purpose, to bring us into God’s service and keep us there.

Third, God divided the Red Sea for them when they came out of Egypt, saving them and destroying their enemies. He also held back the Jordan when they entered Canaan, giving them honor and striking fear into their enemies (Psalm 114:3). The sea “saw” that Judah was God’s sanctuary and Israel his dominion, and it fled, because nothing could be more awe-inspiring. In the same way, Jordan turned back, as if an unstoppable dam had been placed against its flow. When God speaks, rivers must make way for his people and move against their own nature. The psalmist then asks, in poetic language, “What was the matter with you, O sea, that you fled?” (Psalm 114:5) And he gives the sea its answer, “It was because of the presence of the Lord” (Psalm 114:7). This shows the miracle was real, not caused by nature, but by the presence of the Lord who gave the command. It also shows the mercy of the miracle. It was not a trick to amuse people. It was for the salvation of God’s chosen people, and in their favor God acted against the sea and the rivers, as other prophets say (Habakkuk 3:8-13; Isaiah 51:10; Isaiah 63:11). It also shows the wonder of it. Who would have expected such a thing, that the laws of nature would be set aside to help God’s Israel? No wonder the leaders of Edom were amazed and the mighty men of Moab trembled (Exodus 15:15). And it gives honor to Israel, who are taught to triumph over sea and Jordan as if these great barriers could not stand before them. There is no sea and no Jordan too deep or too wide, but when God’s time comes to rescue his people, it will be divided and pushed back if it stands in their way.

This also points to the planting of the Christian church in the world. What was it that made Satan and the powers of darkness tremble and give way as they did (Mark 1:34)? What made the pagan oracles fall silent, as if struck dead? What made idol worship and witchcraft fade before the gospel, melting away like snow before the sun? What made persecutors and enemies of the gospel give up their cause, hide in shame, and call on rocks and mountains to cover them (Revelation 6:15)? It was the presence of the Lord, and the power that went with the gospel. The same thought applies to the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a changed soul? What makes lusts and corrupt desires run back, removes prejudice, and makes the whole person new? It is the presence of God’s Spirit, when every proud thought is brought down (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Fourth, the earth shook and trembled when God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (Psalm 114:4). The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs, either from fear or from glad movement. The same power that held the waters still also shook the mountains, because all the powers of nature are under the control of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before God, like rams and lambs, and even the biggest, rockiest heights are as easy for him to manage as sheep are for a shepherd. Their trembling before the Lord should shame the hard hearts of people who are not moved by the sight of his glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills what was wrong with them to make them skip, and he answers for them, as he did for the sea, that it was at the presence of the Lord (Psalm 114:7). Not only mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble before him, since it lies under a curse because of human sin (Psalm 104:32; Isaiah 64:3-4). The One who made the hills skip can also, when he chooses, break the strength and spirit of his proudest enemies and make them tremble.

Fifth, God gave them water from the rock, and it followed them through the dry, sandy desert. The earth and everyone on it should tremble before the God who turned the rock into a pool of water (Psalm 114:8). What cannot he do who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a wall for Israel (Exodus 14:22) turned the rock into water for Israel’s drink. As they were protected, so they were provided for, by miracles that lasted. That standing water was a fountain from the flinty rock, and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). He is the living fountain for his Israel, from whom they receive grace upon grace.