mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 114.xml
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<div2 id="Ps.cxv" n="cxv" next="Ps.cxvi" prev="Ps.cxiv" progress="61.30%" title="Chapter CXIV">
<h2 id="Ps.cxv-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cxv-p0.2">PSALM CXIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxv-p1">The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt gave birth
to their church and nation, which were then founded, then formed;
that work of wonder ought therefore to be had in everlasting
remembrance. God gloried in it, in the preface to the ten
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.
1</scripRef>, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." In this psalm it
is celebrated in lively strains of praise; it was fitly therefore
made a part of the great Hallelujah, or song of praise, which the
Jews were wont to sing at the close of the passover-supper. It must
never be forgotten, I. That they were brought out of slavery,
<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
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.
2</scripRef>. III. That the sea and Jordan were divided before
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
the earth shook at the giving of the law, when God came down on
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,
7</scripRef>. V. That God gave them water out of the rock,
<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
psalm we must acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did
for Israel, applying it to the much greater work of wonder, our
redemption by Christ, and encouraging ourselves and others to trust
in God in the greatest straits.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114" parsed="|Ps|114|0|0|0" passage="Ps 114" type="Commentary"/>
<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">
<h4 id="Ps.cxv-p1.9">The Deliverance of Israel
Celebrated.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxv-p2">1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of
Jacob from a people of strange language;   2 Judah was his
sanctuary, <i>and</i> Israel his dominion.   3 The sea saw
<i>it,</i> and fled: Jordan was driven back.   4 The mountains
skipped like rams, <i>and</i> the little hills like lambs.   5
What <i>ailed</i> thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou
Jordan, <i>that</i> thou wast driven back?   6 Ye mountains,
<i>that</i> ye skipped like rams; <i>and</i> ye little hills, like
lambs?   7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob;   8 Which turned the rock
<i>into</i> a standing water, the flint into a fountain of
waters.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p3">The psalmist is here remembering <i>the
days of old, the years of the right hand of the Most High,</i> and
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
out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out the sense of mercy.
Let it never be forgotten,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p4">I. That God brought Israel out of the house
of bondage with a high hand and a stretched-out arm: <i>Israel went
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>
1</scripRef>. They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they
driven out, but fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of
honour; they went out from a barbarous people, that had used them
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
seems, preserved their own language pure among them, and cared not
for learning the language of their oppressors. By this distinction
from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p5">II. That he himself framed their civil and
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>
2</scripRef>): <i>Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his
dominion.</i> When he delivered them out of the hand of their
oppressors it was <i>that they might serve him</i> both <i>in
holiness and in righteousness,</i> in the duties of religious
worship and in obedience to the moral law, in their whole
conversation. <i>Let my people go, that they may serve me.</i> In
order to this, 1. He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he
gave them the special tokens of his presence with them and promised
to receive their homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have
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>),
much more those that, like Judah here, are his <i>sanctuaries,</i>
his living temples, on whom <i>Holiness to the Lord</i> is written.
2. He set up his dominion among them, was himself their lawgiver
and their judge, and their government was a theocracy: <i>The Lord
was their King.</i> All the world is God's dominion, but Israel was
so in a peculiar manner. What is God's sanctuary must be his
dominion. Those only have the privileges of his house that submit
to the laws of it; and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he
might bring us into God's service and engage us for ever in it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p6">III. That the Red Sea was divided before
them at their coming out of Egypt, both for their rescue and the
ruin of their enemies; and the river Jordan, when they entered into
Canaan, for their honour, and the confusion and terror of their
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>):
<i>The sea saw it,</i> saw there that <i>Judah was God's sanctuary,
and Israel his dominion, and</i> therefore <i>fled;</i> for nothing
could be more awful. It was this that <i>drove Jordan back,</i> and
was an invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that
people, and therefore they must give way to them, must make room
for them, they must retire, contrary to their nature, when God
speaks the word. To illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a
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>
5</scripRef>), <i>What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou
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
presence of the Lord.</i> This is designed to express, 1. The
reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature, or
from any natural cause, but it was <i>at the presence of the
Lord,</i> who gave the word. 2. The mercy of the miracle: <i>What
ailed thee?</i> Was it in a frolic? Was it only to amuse men? No;
it was <i>at the presence of the God of Jacob;</i> it was in
kindness to the Israel of God, <i>for the salvation</i> of that
chosen people, that God was thus <i>displeased against the
rivers,</i> and his <i>wrath was against the sea,</i> as the
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.
iii. 8-13; Isa. li. 10; lxvi. 11</scripRef>, &amp;c. 3. The wonder
and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of such a
thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its fundamental
laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God's Israel? Well may the
<i>dukes of Edom be amazed</i> and the <i>mighty men of Moab
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>.
4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph
over the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. Note,
There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God's time
shall come for the redemption of his people, it shall be divided
and driven back if it stand in their way. Apply this, (1.) To the
planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and
the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as they
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
the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb, struck
dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they died
away before the gospel, and melted like snow before the sun? What
ailed the persecutors and opposers of the gospel, that they gave up
their cause, hid their guilty heads, and called to rocks and
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.
15</scripRef>. It was <i>at the presence of the Lord,</i> and that
power which went along with the gospel. (2.) To the work of grace
in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What ails
the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back, that the prejudices
are removed and the whole man has become new? It is at the presence
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>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p7">IV. That the earth shook and trembled when
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
rams, and</i> then <i>the little hills</i> might well be excused if
they skipped <i>like lambs,</i> either when they are frightened or
when they sport themselves. The same power that fixed the fluid
waters and made them stand still shook the stable mountains and
made them tremble for all the powers of nature are under the check
of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before God, but like
rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as
manageable by him as <i>they</i> are by the shepherd. The trembling
of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and
obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the
discoveries of his glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills
what ailed them to skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the
seas, it was <i>at the presence of the Lord,</i> before whom, not
only those mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble
(<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
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
that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he
pleases, dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his
enemies and make them tremble.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxv-p8">V. That God supplied them with water out of
the rock, which followed them through the dry and sandy deserts.
Well may the earth and all its inhabitants tremble before that God
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
who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a
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.
xiv. 22</scripRef>) turned the rock into waters to be a well to
Israel: as they were protected, so they were provided for, by
miracles, standing miracles; for such was the standing water, that
fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was
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
waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.</p>
</div></div2>