The spiritual exodus. I. WE MAKE OUR ESCAPE FROM A STATE OF BONDAGE — EGYPT . 1. A life of sin is a life of spiritual bondage . ( Romans 6:16 .) 2. Such a life of bondage brings us into "strange" and unnatural relations . ( Psalms 114:1 .) Egypt was not the home of the Israelites. II. THE SPIRITUAL EXODUS BRINGS US INTO OUR TRUE , OR DIVINE , RELATIONS . ( Psalms 114:2 .) 1. We become consecrated temples for the... read more
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... read more
The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs . The poet sees in the earthquake that shook Sinai ( Exodus 19:18 ) a general commotion of the entire region, in which both the greater and the lesser elevations take part (comp. Psalms 29:6 ; Psalms 68:8 , Psalms 68:16 ). read more
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... read more
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 presence—can 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 Jacob —the... read more
The mountains skipped like rams - As flocks in their gambols. They seemed to move from place to place; everything seemed to be unsettled, and acknowledged the presence of the Omnipotent One. The word rendered “skipped” means to leap for joy; to dance. See the notes at Psalms 29:6. The reference here is to the agitations and commotions of the peaks of Sinai, when God came down to deliver the law. Exodus 19:16-18.And the little hills like lambs - Hebrew, Like the sons of the flock. The reference... read more
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?... - literally, “What to thee, O sea,” etc. That is, What influenced thee - what alarmed thee - what put thee into such fear, and caused such consternation? Instead of stating the cause or reason why they were thus thrown into dismay, the psalmist uses the language of surprise, as if these inanimate objects had been smitten with sudden terror, and as if it were proper to ask an explanation from themselves in regard to conduct that seemed so... read more
Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord ... - This is at the same time an explanation of the facts referred to in the previous verses, and the statement of an important truth in regard to the power of God. The true explanation - as here implied - of what occurred to the sea, to the Jordan, to the mountains, and to the hills, was the fact that God was there; the inference from that, or the truth which followed from that, was, that before that God in whose presence the very mountains... read more
Psalms 114:3-6. The sea saw it, and fled Saw that God was present with and among them in an extraordinary manner, and therefore fled; for nothing could have been more awful. Jordan is driven back At the appearance of the divine glory which conducted them. “Although forty years intervened between the two events here mentioned, yet, as the miracles were of the same nature, they are spoken of together.” The mountains skipped like rams Horeb and Sinai, two tops of one mountain, and... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 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... read more