THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

CXIV: Praising God For His Physical Deliverances In The Exodus

(Psalm 114:1-8)

I. Introduction

A. Sometimes it is wholesome just to recall the simple but profound ways God's exhibits His great power to perform physical wonders for His people, wonders that even little children can understand and appreciate.

B. Psalm 114 recalls God's power in His physical deliverances in the Exodus, and we view it for our edification:

II. Praising God For His Physical Deliverances In The Exodus, Psalm 114:1-8.

A. The verse numbering system in the Hebrew text matches that of the English Bible (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1076), so we stay with the English Bible's numbering system for this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 114:1-8 (as follows):

1. "When Israel came up out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of a foreign tongue," (Psalm 114:1)

2. "Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion," Psalm 114:2.

3. "The sea looked on and fled, the Jordan turned back;" (Psalm 114:3)

4. "The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs," Psalm 114:4.

5. "Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back," (Psalm 114:5)

6. "you mountains, that you skipped (or, "quaked," cf. Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 876) like rams, you hills, like lambs?" (Psalm 114:6)

7. "Tremble, O earth, at the presence of Adon(ai), at the presence of the Elohim of Jacob," (Psalm 114:7)

8. "Who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water." (Psalm 114:8)

C. We consider significant observations regarding this psalm (as follows):

1. God's physical miracles of great power exhibited in the Exodus mentioned in this psalm are (a) the parting of the Red Sea (v. 3a, 5a), (b) the parting of the Jordan River (v. 3b, 5b), (c) the earthquake that rocked Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law (v. 4, 6) and (d) God's provision of water out of the rock (v. 8).

2. Considering each miracle causes us to appreciate the sheer, raw divine power that was expressed:

a. The Red Sea parted into two towering walls of water with the seabed becoming dry ground (Ex. 14:22) until all Israel had crossed over (Ex. 14:29-30a) before God caused the pursuing Egyptian chariots' wheels to swerve or get bogged down, terrifying the Egyptians before God brought the great walls of water crashing down upon them, destroying Israel's enemies, Ex. 14:23-30.

b. The Jordan River was parted even at flood stage when the water overflowed its banks, and the river was backed up to the city of Adam 15 miles upstream in a huge heap, Jos. 3:15-16; Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Jos. 3:16. With the flooded river backed up, its riverbed dried up for crossing (Jos. 3:17), Joshua still had time to have 12 men each take a stone out of the riverbed and place it on the shore as a testimony to future generations, Jos. 4:1-8. Joshua also took 12 stones from the shore to put in the riverbed in worship to the Lord, Jos. 4:9. Only when the priests bearing the ark had stepped up onto the shoreline did the waters that were stacked up 15 miles away return to overflow the banks as before, Jos. 4:11-18.

c. When God appeared in a fiery cloud on Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law, the whole mount, a group of "red granite and pink gneiss rocks," hard rocks, quaked greatly in a demonstration of raw divine power, Exodus 19:18. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1929, v. IV, p. 2802)

d. First in Exodus 17:1-7 and then again in Numbers 20:1-13, God's transformations of rocks in the wilderness into a fountain of water to give drink to 2 million people and their animals demonstrated the great versatility and sheer might of God's power.

3. Thus, the psalmist called the earth to tremble at the presence of His Master, the Creator God of Jacob, implying that God's people should likewise revere the Lord as their powerful God.

Lesson: God's vast power over great quantities of water seen in the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan, His vast power in causing a granite mountain to tremble in an ongoing earthquake and the vast versatility of His power repeatedly to produce water for 2 million people and their animals out of a rock are cause to praise Him.

Application: (1) May we praise God for His great exhibitions of sheer physical power not only in delivering Israel during the Exodus, but in His deliverances of us in our lives today! (2) May we appreciate the immense versatility of God's power to stack up water, to shake granite mountains or provide fountains of water from hard rocks!