162 lines
12 KiB
XML
162 lines
12 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Ps.cxv" n="cxv" next="Ps.cxvi" prev="Ps.cxiv" progress="61.30%" title="Chapter CXIV">
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<h2 id="Ps.cxv-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
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<h3 id="Ps.cxv-p0.2">PSALM CXIV.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxv-p1">The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt gave birth
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to their church and nation, which were then founded, then formed;
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that work of wonder ought therefore to be had in everlasting
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remembrance. God gloried in it, in the preface to the ten
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commandments, and <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.1" parsed="|Hos|11|1|0|0" passage="Ho 11:1">Hos. xi.
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1</scripRef>, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." In this psalm it
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is celebrated in lively strains of praise; it was fitly therefore
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made a part of the great Hallelujah, or song of praise, which the
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Jews were wont to sing at the close of the passover-supper. It must
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never be forgotten, I. That they were brought out of slavery,
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<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.1" parsed="|Ps|114|1|0|0" passage="Ps 114:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. That God set up
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his tabernacle among them, <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.2" parsed="|Ps|114|2|0|0" passage="Ps 114:2">ver.
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2</scripRef>. III. That the sea and Jordan were divided before
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them, <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.3 Bible:Ps.114.5" parsed="|Ps|114|3|0|0;|Ps|114|5|0|0" passage="Ps 114:3,5">ver. 3, 5</scripRef>. IV. That
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the earth shook at the giving of the law, when God came down on
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Mount Sinai, <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4 Bible:Ps.114.6 Bible:Ps.114.7" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0;|Ps|114|6|0|0;|Ps|114|7|0|0" passage="Ps 114:4,6,7">ver. 4, 6,
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7</scripRef>. V. That God gave them water out of the rock,
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<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.8" parsed="|Ps|114|8|0|0" passage="Ps 114:8">ver. 8</scripRef>. In singing this
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psalm we must acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did
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for Israel, applying it to the much greater work of wonder, our
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redemption by Christ, and encouraging ourselves and others to trust
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in God in the greatest straits.</p>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cxv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114" parsed="|Ps|114|0|0|0" passage="Ps 114" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cxv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.1-Ps.114.8" parsed="|Ps|114|1|114|8" passage="Ps 114:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.114.1-Ps.114.8">
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<h4 id="Ps.cxv-p1.9">The Deliverance of Israel
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Celebrated.</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxv-p2">1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of
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Jacob from a people of strange language; 2 Judah was his
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sanctuary, <i>and</i> Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw
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<i>it,</i> and fled: Jordan was driven back. 4 The mountains
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skipped like rams, <i>and</i> the little hills like lambs. 5
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What <i>ailed</i> thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou
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Jordan, <i>that</i> thou wast driven back? 6 Ye mountains,
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<i>that</i> ye skipped like rams; <i>and</i> ye little hills, like
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lambs? 7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
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at the presence of the God of Jacob; 8 Which turned the rock
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<i>into</i> a standing water, the flint into a fountain of
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waters.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p3">The psalmist is here remembering <i>the
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days of old, the years of the right hand of the Most High,</i> and
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the wonders which their fathers told them of (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.13" parsed="|Judg|6|13|0|0" passage="Jdg 6:13">Judg. vi. 13</scripRef>), for time, as it does not wear
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out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out the sense of mercy.
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Let it never be forgotten,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p4">I. That God brought Israel out of the house
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of bondage with a high hand and a stretched-out arm: <i>Israel went
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out of Egypt,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.1" parsed="|Ps|114|1|0|0" passage="Ps 114:1"><i>v.</i>
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1</scripRef>. They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they
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driven out, but fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of
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honour; they went out from a barbarous people, that had used them
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barbarously, from <i>a people of a strange language,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.5" parsed="|Ps|81|5|0|0" passage="Ps 81:5">Ps. lxxxi. 5</scripRef>. The Israelites, it
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seems, preserved their own language pure among them, and cared not
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for learning the language of their oppressors. By this distinction
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from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p5">II. That he himself framed their civil and
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sacred constitution (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.2" parsed="|Ps|114|2|0|0" passage="Ps 114:2"><i>v.</i>
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2</scripRef>): <i>Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his
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dominion.</i> When he delivered them out of the hand of their
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oppressors it was <i>that they might serve him</i> both <i>in
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holiness and in righteousness,</i> in the duties of religious
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worship and in obedience to the moral law, in their whole
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conversation. <i>Let my people go, that they may serve me.</i> In
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order to this, 1. He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he
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gave them the special tokens of his presence with them and promised
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to receive their homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have
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God's sanctuary among them (see <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.8 Bible:Ezek.37.26" parsed="|Exod|25|8|0|0;|Ezek|37|26|0|0" passage="Ex 25:8,Eze 37:26">Exod. xxv. 8, Ezek. xxxvii. 26</scripRef>),
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much more those that, like Judah here, are his <i>sanctuaries,</i>
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his living temples, on whom <i>Holiness to the Lord</i> is written.
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2. He set up his dominion among them, was himself their lawgiver
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and their judge, and their government was a theocracy: <i>The Lord
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was their King.</i> All the world is God's dominion, but Israel was
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so in a peculiar manner. What is God's sanctuary must be his
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dominion. Those only have the privileges of his house that submit
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to the laws of it; and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he
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might bring us into God's service and engage us for ever in it.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p6">III. That the Red Sea was divided before
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them at their coming out of Egypt, both for their rescue and the
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ruin of their enemies; and the river Jordan, when they entered into
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Canaan, for their honour, and the confusion and terror of their
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enemies (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.3" parsed="|Ps|114|3|0|0" passage="Ps 114:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
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<i>The sea saw it,</i> saw there that <i>Judah was God's sanctuary,
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and Israel his dominion, and</i> therefore <i>fled;</i> for nothing
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could be more awful. It was this that <i>drove Jordan back,</i> and
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was an invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that
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people, and therefore they must give way to them, must make room
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for them, they must retire, contrary to their nature, when God
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speaks the word. To illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a
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poetical strain (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.5" parsed="|Ps|114|5|0|0" passage="Ps 114:5"><i>v.</i>
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5</scripRef>), <i>What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou
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fleddest?</i> And furnishes the sea with an answer (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.7" parsed="|Ps|114|7|0|0" passage="Ps 114:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); it was <i>at the
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presence of the Lord.</i> This is designed to express, 1. The
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reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature, or
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from any natural cause, but it was <i>at the presence of the
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Lord,</i> who gave the word. 2. The mercy of the miracle: <i>What
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ailed thee?</i> Was it in a frolic? Was it only to amuse men? No;
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it was <i>at the presence of the God of Jacob;</i> it was in
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kindness to the Israel of God, <i>for the salvation</i> of that
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chosen people, that God was thus <i>displeased against the
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rivers,</i> and his <i>wrath was against the sea,</i> as the
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prophet speaks, <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.8-Hab.3.13 Bible:Isa.51.10 Bible:Isa.63.11" parsed="|Hab|3|8|3|13;|Isa|51|10|0|0;|Isa|63|11|0|0" passage="Hab 3:8-13,Isa 51:10,63:11">Hab.
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iii. 8-13; Isa. li. 10; lxvi. 11</scripRef>, &c. 3. The wonder
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and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of such a
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thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its fundamental
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laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God's Israel? Well may the
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<i>dukes of Edom be amazed</i> and the <i>mighty men of Moab
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tremble,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.15" parsed="|Exod|15|15|0|0" passage="Ex 15:15">Exod. xv. 15</scripRef>.
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4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph
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over the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. Note,
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There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God's time
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shall come for the redemption of his people, it shall be divided
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and driven back if it stand in their way. Apply this, (1.) To the
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planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and
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the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as they
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did? <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Mark.1.34" parsed="|Mark|1|34|0|0" passage="Mk 1:34">Mark i. 34</scripRef>. What ailed
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the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb, struck
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dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they died
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away before the gospel, and melted like snow before the sun? What
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ailed the persecutors and opposers of the gospel, that they gave up
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their cause, hid their guilty heads, and called to rocks and
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mountains for shelter? <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.15" parsed="|Rev|6|15|0|0" passage="Re 6:15">Rev. vi.
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15</scripRef>. It was <i>at the presence of the Lord,</i> and that
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power which went along with the gospel. (2.) To the work of grace
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in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What ails
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the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back, that the prejudices
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are removed and the whole man has become new? It is at the presence
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of God's Spirit that imaginations are <i>cast down,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.10.5" parsed="|2Cor|10|5|0|0" passage="2Co 10:5">2 Cor. x. 5</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p7">IV. That the earth shook and trembled when
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God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0" passage="Ps 114:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>The mountains skipped like
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rams, and</i> then <i>the little hills</i> might well be excused if
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they skipped <i>like lambs,</i> either when they are frightened or
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when they sport themselves. The same power that fixed the fluid
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waters and made them stand still shook the stable mountains and
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made them tremble for all the powers of nature are under the check
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of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before God, but like
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rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as
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manageable by him as <i>they</i> are by the shepherd. The trembling
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of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and
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obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the
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discoveries of his glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills
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what ailed them to skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the
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seas, it was <i>at the presence of the Lord,</i> before whom, not
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only those mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.7" parsed="|Ps|114|7|0|0" passage="Ps 114:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), since it has
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lain under a curse for man's sin. See <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.32 Bible:Isa.64.3-Isa.64.4" parsed="|Ps|104|32|0|0;|Isa|64|3|64|4" passage="Ps 104:32,Isa 64:3,4">Ps. civ. 32; Isa. lxiv. 3, 4</scripRef>. He
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that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he
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pleases, dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his
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enemies and make them tremble.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p8">V. That God supplied them with water out of
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the rock, which followed them through the dry and sandy deserts.
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Well may the earth and all its inhabitants tremble before that God
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who <i>turned the rock into a standing water</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.8" parsed="|Ps|114|8|0|0" passage="Ps 114:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and what cannot he do
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who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a
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rock to be a wall to Israel (<scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.22" parsed="|Exod|14|22|0|0" passage="Ex 14:22">Exod.
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xiv. 22</scripRef>) turned the rock into waters to be a well to
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Israel: as they were protected, so they were provided for, by
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miracles, standing miracles; for such was the standing water, that
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fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was
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turned, <i>and that rock was Christ,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.4" parsed="|1Cor|10|4|0|0" passage="1Co 10:4">1 Cor. x. 4</scripRef>. For he is a fountain of living
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waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.</p>
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</div></div2>
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