Context No. 2902 of 4322 · Psalms
Context · Reflection
Psalms 114:1-8: in context
1When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language, 2Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 3The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back. 4The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs. 5What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back? 6You mountains, that you skipped like rams? You little hills, like lambs? 7Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.
This short psalm bursts with images of creation reacting to God. When Israel came out of Egypt, the sea saw it and fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs. Then the poet playfully asks: what happened, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you turned back? Mountains, that you skipped?
The answer is the command to the whole earth: tremble at the presence of the Lord, the God of Jacob. The psalm's way of saying it is that when the God of Israel acts, the entire created order responds; even sea and stone cannot stand still before him. And the closing image, rock turned into a pool of water, flint into a spring, recalls how God gave water in the desert, drawing provision from an unlikely source. The same God who makes the sea flee also makes flint gush water for his thirsty people, strong to both deliver and provide.
Do I picture the God I pray to as this God, before whom seas flee and rocks become springs, strong to both deliver and provide?
Sources
- Psalm 114:7: "Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob."
- Exodus 17:6: "You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink."
- Psalm 114:8: "Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters."