Psalm 114

Introduction

Paint a portrait of post-exilic Israel as an insignificant nation, despised by the mega-powers all around them. According to the standards of power and prosperity, they were pathetic.

Draw the analogy to the church today. We are often looked down upon by the world. We are ignored, scorned, disregarded, mocked, etc. The world thinks we are insignificant and irrelevant.

According to the world, religion is a crutch for the weak. It has no place in the public sphere; it should be reserved for the private sphere.

Into this context of insignificance, the psalmist writes a poem reflecting a different reality—how things look for those who can see into the unseen realm.

The Lord dwells amongst his chosen people (vv. 1–2).

Psalm 114:1–2 NIV

When Israel came out of Egypt, Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

The psalmist looks back to the days when God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt. OT Israelites looked back to the Exodus in much the same way that NT Christians look back to Calvary. It was the defining moment of their history that proved both God’s supreme power and his love for his people.

Perhaps retell the story?

The point of the strophe is that the Lord chose the Israelites as his people.

I will be your God.

You will be my people.

I will dwell among you.

Having redeemed them and made a covenant with them, the Lord committed to dwell among them and to reign among them. His pledged his presence and power to be with his people.

This stands in stark contrast to the world’s lack of esteem for them.

Nature trembles at the presence of the Lord (vv. 3–4).

Psalm 114:3–4 NIV

The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains leaped like rams, the hills like lambs.

Explain that we have returned to the events of the Exodus as Yahweh led his people out of Egypt towards the promised land. ...............

Personification etc.

Nature recognises the power of the Lord.

Psalm 114:5–6 NIV

Why was it, sea, that you fled? Why, Jordan, did you turn back? Why, mountains, did you leap like rams, you hills, like lambs?

Should I explain the poetry, figures like apostrophe and and features like parallelism? There would be instructional value for informed readers.

3. Therefore, all the earth should tremble at his presence (vv. 7–8).

What is the poet doing here?

He is repeating the same four natural phenomena that he mentioned in strophe 2.

He is asking a series of rhetorical questions, “Why?” in each case, of nature’s response to Yahweh.

The point is that nature not only recognised the presence of the Lord, but also recognised the power of the Lord. As Yahweh approached, nature recognised that he is awesome and terrifying.

Do we have any analogies in the New Testament?

Darkness when Jesus died? earthquakes at his return? The star at his birth?

The Bible often portrays man as the last to recognise the true nature of reality. Demons recognise and fear Jesus long before humans do. We can’t see the spirit-world.

Therefore, all the earth should tremble at his presence.

Psalm 114:7–8 NIV

Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

The psalm reaches its climax in verse 7. The entire psalm has built an argument towards the inferences here: Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. Then, just for good measure, he mentioned one more mighty act of God that should reinforce their awe: he is the God who can bring water out of rocks, as he twice did in the Wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

But the point of the psalm is not verse 8; it is verse 7: Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. God’s people may be weak and insignificant, by Yahweh’s presence is powerful and fearful. Anyone who can see into the spirit world should tremble in his presence.

What does “earth” refer to in v. 7?

Apostrophe and personofication … all people, esp. the nations who look down on Israel and Judah.

Should we really “tremble” in the Lord’s presence?

Discuss the word “tremble.”

Introduce a NT perspective.

Conclusion