Israel Crosses the Sea Between Walls of Waterby CBPepper
114:5Psalms 114:5
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
Psalm 114 belongs among the post-Davidic psalms connected with the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity under Cyrus, expressing the mixed joy, sorrow and anxiety of the returning exiles over the building and dedication of the second temple and the triumphs connected with it. It is a historical psalm that recounts the ancient history of the Hebrew people in detail, including the Exodus and the passage of the Red Sea, as part of the biblical record of God leading and delivering His people. It is one of Psalms 113-118, the Hallel, a song of praise sung at Passover and other Hebrew feasts, sung as the great Hallelujah at Passover after the story of deliverance from Egypt had been retold.
The verse repeats the account in the preceding lines as a poetic antistrophe, asking the sea and the Jordan why they fled and turned back in order to emphasize Israel's deliverance from Egypt and the wonders accompanying God's presence. It does so by personification, giving life and action to inanimate objects. It asks what caused the sea to flee and the Jordan to be driven back, referring to their miraculous parting and retreat when Israel came out of Egypt and crossed the Jordan into the promised land.
The psalm celebrates God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and shows His power exercised for the good of His people. The fleeing of the sea and the driving back of the Jordan show that every opposing power yielded before the Lord, teaching that God makes a way for His people when they come out of bondage. The later words of the psalm are connected with Christ's second coming. The lofty poetic imagery, picturing mountains and hills leaping like flock animals, describes God's ordinary workings in providence, which are equal in grandeur to the fire and glory of His revelation in vengeance, and it portrays His vindicating justice in recompensing tribulation on persecutors and giving rest to troubled Christians at death when they enter heavenly rest, so such language does not require a final great display.
Psalm 114 belongs among the post-Davidic psalms connected with the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity under Cyrus, expressing the mixed joy, sorrow and anxiety of the returning exiles over the building and dedication of the second temple and the triumphs connected with it. It is a historical psalm that recounts the ancient history of the Hebrew people in detail, including the Exodus and the passage of the Red Sea, as part of the biblical record of God leading and delivering His people. It is one of Psalms 113-118, the Hallel, a song of praise sung at Passover and other Hebrew feasts, sung as the great Hallelujah at Passover after the story of deliverance from Egypt had been retold.
The verse repeats the account in the preceding lines as a poetic antistrophe, asking the sea and the Jordan why they fled and turned back in order to emphasize Israel's deliverance from Egypt and the wonders accompanying God's presence. It does so by personification, giving life and action to inanimate objects. It asks what caused the sea to flee and the Jordan to be driven back, referring to their miraculous parting and retreat when Israel came out of Egypt and crossed the Jordan into the promised land.
The psalm celebrates God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and shows His power exercised for the good of His people. The fleeing of the sea and the driving back of the Jordan show that every opposing power yielded before the Lord, teaching that God makes a way for His people when they come out of bondage. The later words of the psalm are connected with Christ's second coming. The lofty poetic imagery, picturing mountains and hills leaping like flock animals, describes God's ordinary workings in providence, which are equal in grandeur to the fire and glory of His revelation in vengeance, and it portrays His vindicating justice in recompensing tribulation on persecutors and giving rest to troubled Christians at death when they enter heavenly rest, so such language does not require a final great display.