Psalm 114

Commonplace –

“Tremble thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

Which turned the rock int a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters” (Psalm 114:7-8).

This is a psalm that looks back to the establishment of Israel, God’s earthly kingdom, and forward to Christ and God’s spiritual kingdom. The first two verses introduce the subject.

“When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion” (Psalm 114:1-2).

“The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt gave birth to their church and nation, which were then founded, then formed; that work of wonder ought therefore to be had in everlasting remembrance” (Henry 547).

The remainder of Psalm 114 dwells on the miracles of nature that occurred to make this happen. The waters of the Red Sea were parted, not by some act of nature, but, as the psalm tells us, by the presence of God: tremble thou earth, at the presence of the Lord. Matthew Henry’s comment regarding this is well noted:

“Note, There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God’s time shall come for the redemption of his people, it shall be divided and driven back if it stand in their way” (Henry 548).

Further on, Henry makes an interesting observation about the miraculous way God changed the nature of the water and the rock.

“That same almighty power that turned waters into rock to be a wall to Israel (Exod 14:22) turned the rock into waters to be a well to Israel: as they were protected, so they were provided for, by miracles, standing miracles; for such was the standing water, that fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was turned, and that rock was Christ, 1 Cor 10:4. For he is a fountain of living waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace” (Henry 548).

Works Cited

Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 114.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg