The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
This is part of a historical psalm that recounts God's leading of Israel out of Egypt and delivering His people. When Israel came out, the mountains and little hills are pictured skipping like rams and lambs, showing the opposing powers of creation giving way before the Lord. The second line restates the first in different words, emphasizing the same image in parallel poetic form. It proclaims God's power used for the good of His people, set against the powerlessness of false gods. That leaping of mountains and hills foreshadows the final great earthquake when the earth's mountains will move at God's mighty voice, while the foundation laid for salvation in Christ will remain sure so that those who cling to Christ and His cross will not be moved.
Setting and Poetic Form
Psalm 114 is a historical psalm, one of the class that recounts the ancient history of the Hebrew people in detail. It recounts events from Israel's history, especially God's leading the people out of Egypt and delivering them, and the leaping of mountains and hills belongs to that account of the Exodus. It is also counted among the group of psalms associated with the Jews' return from Babylonian captivity. That group recounts the mixed emotions of the returning exiles and refers to the building and dedication of the second temple and the triumphs connected with it.
The skipping of mountains like rams and of hills like lambs took place when Israel came out of Egypt. The mountains and hills are described as skipping like animals, like young sheep. In this the opposing elements of creation are shown giving way before the Lord as He delivered His people.
The two halves form parallel poetic lines within a single strophe. What is stated as the mountains skipping like rams is restated as the little hills skipping like young sheep. The second line emphasizes the same image in different words.
The language is highly figurative, describing inanimate things as living and acting. The hills skipping like lambs is an example of personification of this kind. The same figure explains how the New Jerusalem, though a city, can be said to make herself ready. The highly figurative image of skipping mountains and hills in verse 4 helps show that calling Judah God's sanctuary in verse 2 is also figurative.
Power Proclaimed and Applied
The verse shows divine power set against the powerlessness of false gods, as power exercised for the good of his people in delivering Israel from Egypt. Judah is thereby connected with the location of the sanctuary rather than identified as the sanctuary itself, for Judah was the tribe chosen for the place of God's dwelling, since Jerusalem in Judah was the place of the sanctuary, so the naming of Judah as God's sanctuary does not make the whole church the sanctuary. The skipping of the mountains like rams and the hills like lambs portrays nature rejoicing and moving joyfully, showing that joyful, innocent recreation belongs in a world filled with beauty and delight.
The skipping of the little hills like lambs also expresses the joyful transformation brought by God's loving presence, paired with the wilderness blossoming like a rose. The same image of mountains skipping like rams illustrates the imagined destructive power of psychic force, in that if a medium could move a table by will the same power might move mountains, leaving nothing secure. The leaping of mountains and hills like animals foreshadows that at the final great earthquake the earth's mountains will move as God's mighty words go forth, while the foundation laid for salvation in Christ will remain sure, so that those who cling to Christ and his cross will not be moved.
The verse pictures the Lisbon earthquake in which the whole city was shaken and the hills leapt as young sheep do and moved like waves of the sea, with the street before the church rising nearly five feet. That shaking opened the sixth seal, to be followed by the darkening of the sun and moon on May 19, 1780 and the falling of the stars on November 13, 1833. That sequence warns that the generation then living will see Christ come as King of kings and Lord of lords. It points to a soon-coming greater earthquake when the cities of all nations will fall and mountains and hills will sink away and islands will not be found.
This is part of a historical psalm that recounts God's leading of Israel out of Egypt and delivering His people. When Israel came out, the mountains and little hills are pictured skipping like rams and lambs, showing the opposing powers of creation giving way before the Lord. The second line restates the first in different words, emphasizing the same image in parallel poetic form. It proclaims God's power used for the good of His people, set against the powerlessness of false gods. That leaping of mountains and hills foreshadows the final great earthquake when the earth's mountains will move at God's mighty voice, while the foundation laid for salvation in Christ will remain sure so that those who cling to Christ and His cross will not be moved.
Setting and Poetic Form
Psalm 114 is a historical psalm, one of the class that recounts the ancient history of the Hebrew people in detail. It recounts events from Israel's history, especially God's leading the people out of Egypt and delivering them, and the leaping of mountains and hills belongs to that account of the Exodus. It is also counted among the group of psalms associated with the Jews' return from Babylonian captivity. That group recounts the mixed emotions of the returning exiles and refers to the building and dedication of the second temple and the triumphs connected with it.
The skipping of mountains like rams and of hills like lambs took place when Israel came out of Egypt. The mountains and hills are described as skipping like animals, like young sheep. In this the opposing elements of creation are shown giving way before the Lord as He delivered His people.
The two halves form parallel poetic lines within a single strophe. What is stated as the mountains skipping like rams is restated as the little hills skipping like young sheep. The second line emphasizes the same image in different words.
The language is highly figurative, describing inanimate things as living and acting. The hills skipping like lambs is an example of personification of this kind. The same figure explains how the New Jerusalem, though a city, can be said to make herself ready. The highly figurative image of skipping mountains and hills in verse 4 helps show that calling Judah God's sanctuary in verse 2 is also figurative.
Power Proclaimed and Applied
The verse shows divine power set against the powerlessness of false gods, as power exercised for the good of his people in delivering Israel from Egypt. Judah is thereby connected with the location of the sanctuary rather than identified as the sanctuary itself, for Judah was the tribe chosen for the place of God's dwelling, since Jerusalem in Judah was the place of the sanctuary, so the naming of Judah as God's sanctuary does not make the whole church the sanctuary. The skipping of the mountains like rams and the hills like lambs portrays nature rejoicing and moving joyfully, showing that joyful, innocent recreation belongs in a world filled with beauty and delight.
The skipping of the little hills like lambs also expresses the joyful transformation brought by God's loving presence, paired with the wilderness blossoming like a rose. The same image of mountains skipping like rams illustrates the imagined destructive power of psychic force, in that if a medium could move a table by will the same power might move mountains, leaving nothing secure. The leaping of mountains and hills like animals foreshadows that at the final great earthquake the earth's mountains will move as God's mighty words go forth, while the foundation laid for salvation in Christ will remain sure, so that those who cling to Christ and his cross will not be moved.
The verse pictures the Lisbon earthquake in which the whole city was shaken and the hills leapt as young sheep do and moved like waves of the sea, with the street before the church rising nearly five feet. That shaking opened the sixth seal, to be followed by the darkening of the sun and moon on May 19, 1780 and the falling of the stars on November 13, 1833. That sequence warns that the generation then living will see Christ come as King of kings and Lord of lords. It points to a soon-coming greater earthquake when the cities of all nations will fall and mountains and hills will sink away and islands will not be found.