Psalm 114

Psalm 114 belongs to Book Five of the Psalms (Psalms 107–150). Following Psalm 113, it is the second song of the so-called "Egyptian Hallel" (Psalms 113–118). Whereas Psalm 113 praises the God who raises up the poor, Psalm 114 celebrates what that same God did for Israel at the Exodus.

Structure

• Verses 1–2 When Israel came out of Egypt, Judah became the Lord's sanctuary and Israel his dominion.
• Verses 3–4 The sea fled and the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs.
• Verses 5–6 The psalmist asks the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains why they behaved as they did.
• Verses 7–8 The psalmist calls on the earth to tremble before the God of Jacob and celebrates how he turned the rock into a pool and the flint into a fountain.

Key Verses

• Psalm 114:1 "When Israel went out of Egypt" establishes the Exodus as the setting of the entire psalm.
• Psalm 114:3 "The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back" joins in a single verse the beginning of the Exodus and its conclusion in the entry into Canaan.
• Psalm 114:8 "Which turned the rock into a standing water" recalls how God brought forth water in the wilderness.

People and Places

• Israel / Jacob: In this psalm these names refer not to the patriarch as an individual but to the whole people descended from him.
• Judah: The tribe descended from Jacob's son Judah. Here the name represents the people among whom God dwells.
• The sea: Generally understood to refer to the crossing of the Red Sea.
• The Jordan: Refers to the time under Joshua when the river stopped flowing and the people crossed over (Joshua 3).
• The rock and the flint: The rocks from which water came forth in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.

Points for Reflection

• The name of God does not appear until verse 7. The psalm at first leaves unstated to whom "his" in verse 2 refers, and many commentators regard this as a poetic device that heightens suspense.
• Some interpreters connect the skipping mountains of verse 4 with the quaking of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18), although the text does not explicitly name that mountain.
• The Septuagint and the Vulgate count Psalms 114 and 115 as a single psalm, so older translations number the psalms differently.
• In Judaism the Hallel is sung at the Passover meal, and Psalms 113–114 are traditionally said to be sung before the meal. Many interpreters understand the hymn sung after the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30) to have been the Hallel.
• Speaking of the rock in the wilderness, Paul says, "and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). For this reason, Christian interpreters sometimes read verse 8 in connection with Christ.