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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms CXIV].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CXIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt gave birth to their church and
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nation, which were then founded, then formed; that work of wonder ought
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therefore to be had in everlasting remembrance. God gloried in it, in
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the preface to the ten commandments, and
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+11:1">Hos. xi. 1</A>,
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"Out of Egypt have I called my son." In this psalm it is celebrated in
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lively strains of praise; it was fitly therefore made a part of the
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great Hallelujah, or song of praise, which the Jews were wont to sing
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at the close of the passover-supper. It must never be forgotten,
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I. That they were brought out of slavery,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:1">ver. 1</A>.
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II. That God set up his tabernacle among them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:2">ver. 2</A>.
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III. That the sea and Jordan were divided before them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:3,5">ver. 3, 5</A>.
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IV. That the earth shook at the giving of the law, when God came down
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on Mount Sinai,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:4,6,7">ver. 4, 6, 7</A>.
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V. That God gave them water out of the rock,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:8">ver. 8</A>.
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In singing this psalm we must acknowledge God's power and goodness in
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what he did for Israel, applying it to the much greater work of wonder,
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our 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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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps114_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps114_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Deliverance of Israel Celebrated.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a
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people of strange language;
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2 Judah was his sanctuary, <I>and</I> Israel his dominion.
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3 The sea saw <I>it,</I> and fled: Jordan was driven back.
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4 The mountains skipped like rams, <I>and</I> the little hills like
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lambs.
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5 What <I>ailed</I> thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou
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Jordan, <I>that</I> thou wast driven back?
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6 Ye mountains, <I>that</I> ye skipped like rams; <I>and</I> ye little
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hills, like lambs?
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7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the
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presence of the God of Jacob;
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8 Which turned the rock <I>into</I> a standing water, the flint into
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a fountain of waters.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The psalmist is here remembering <I>the days of old, the years of the
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right hand of the Most High,</I> and the wonders which their fathers
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told them of
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+6:13">Judg. vi. 13</A>),
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for time, as it does not wear out the guilt of sin, so it should not
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wear out the sense of mercy. Let it never be forgotten,</P>
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<P>
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I. That God brought Israel out of the house of bondage with a high hand
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and a stretched-out arm: <I>Israel went out of Egypt,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they driven out, but
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fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of honour; they went
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out from a barbarous people, that had used them barbarously, from <I>a
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people of a strange language,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:5">Ps. lxxxi. 5</A>.
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The Israelites, it seems, preserved their own language pure among them,
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and cared not for learning the language of their oppressors. By this
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distinction from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.</P>
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<P>
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II. That he himself framed their civil and sacred constitution
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his dominion.</I> When he
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delivered them out of the hand of their oppressors it was <I>that they
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might serve him</I> both <I>in holiness and in righteousness,</I> in
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the duties of religious worship and in obedience to the moral law, in
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their whole conversation. <I>Let my people go, that they may serve
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me.</I> In order to this,
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1. He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he gave them the
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special tokens of his presence with them and promised to receive their
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homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have God's sanctuary
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among them (see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+25:8,Eze+37:26">
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Exod. xxv. 8, Ezek. xxxvii. 26</A>),
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much more those that, like Judah here, are his <I>sanctuaries,</I> his
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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 and
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their judge, and their government was a theocracy: <I>The Lord was
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their King.</I> All the world is God's dominion, but Israel was so in a
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peculiar manner. What is God's sanctuary must be his dominion. Those
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only have the privileges of his house that submit to the laws of it;
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and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he might bring us into
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God's service and engage us for ever in it.</P>
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<P>
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III. That the Red Sea was divided before them at their coming out of
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Egypt, both for their rescue and the ruin of their enemies; and the
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river Jordan, when they entered into Canaan, for their honour, and the
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confusion and terror of their enemies
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The sea saw it,</I> saw there that <I>Judah was God's sanctuary, and
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Israel his dominion, and</I> therefore <I>fled;</I> for nothing could
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be more awful. It was this that <I>drove Jordan back,</I> and was an
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invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that people, and
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therefore they must give way to them, must make room for them, they
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must retire, contrary to their nature, when God speaks the word. To
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illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a poetical strain
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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<I>What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest?</I> And furnishes
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the sea with an answer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
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it was <I>at the presence of the Lord.</I> This is designed to express,
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1. The reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature,
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or from any natural cause, but it was <I>at the presence of the
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Lord,</I> who gave the word.
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2. The mercy of the miracle: <I>What ailed thee?</I> Was it in a
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frolic? Was it only to amuse men? No; it was <I>at the presence of the
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God of Jacob;</I> it was in kindness to the Israel of God, <I>for the
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salvation</I> of that chosen people, that God was thus <I>displeased
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against the rivers,</I> and his <I>wrath was against the sea,</I> as
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the prophet speaks,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:8-13,Isa+51:10,63:11">Hab. iii. 8-13;
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Isa. li. 10; lxvi. 11</A>,
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&c.
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3. The wonder and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of
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such a thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its
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fundamental laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God's Israel? Well
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may the <I>dukes of Edom be amazed</I> and the <I>mighty men of Moab
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tremble,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:15">Exod. xv. 15</A>.
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4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph over
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the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. Note, There is no
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sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God's time shall come for
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the redemption of his people, it shall be divided and driven back if it
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stand in their way. Apply this,
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(1.) To the planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed
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Satan and the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as
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they did?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+1:34">Mark i. 34</A>.
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What ailed the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb,
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struck dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they
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died 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 mountains
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for shelter?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:15">Rev. vi. 15</A>.
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It was <I>at the presence of the Lord,</I> and that power which went
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along with the gospel.
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(2.) To the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a
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regenerate soul? What ails the lusts and corruptions, that they fly
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back, that the prejudices are removed and the whole man has become new?
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It is at the presence of God's Spirit that imaginations are <I>cast
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down,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+10:5">2 Cor. x. 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. That the earth shook and trembled when God came down on Mount Sinai
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to give the law
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>The mountains skipped like rams, and</I> then <I>the little
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hills</I> might well be excused if they skipped <I>like lambs,</I>
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either when they are frightened or when they sport themselves. The same
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power that fixed the fluid waters and made them stand still shook the
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stable mountains and made them tremble for all the powers of nature are
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under the check of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before
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God, but like rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are
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as 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 obduracy
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of the children of men, who are not moved at the discoveries of his
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glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills what ailed them to
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skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the seas, it was <I>at the
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presence of the Lord,</I> before whom, not only those mountains, but
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the earth itself, may well tremble
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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since it has lain under a curse for man's sin. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:32,Isa+64:3,4">Ps. civ. 32; Isa. lxiv. 3, 4</A>.
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He that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he pleases,
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dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his enemies and
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make them tremble.</P>
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<P>
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V. That God supplied them with water out of the rock, which followed
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them through the dry and sandy deserts. Well may the earth and all its
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inhabitants tremble before that God who <I>turned the rock into a
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standing water</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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and what cannot he do who did that? The same almighty power that turned
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waters into a rock to be a wall to Israel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:22">Exod. xiv. 22</A>)
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turned the rock into waters to be a well to Israel: as they were
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protected, so they were provided for, by miracles, standing miracles;
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for such was the standing water, that fountain of waters into which the
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rock, the flinty rock, was turned, <I>and that rock was Christ,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:4">1 Cor. x. 4</A>.
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For he is a fountain of living waters to his Israel, from whom they
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receive grace for grace.</P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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