Message Notes

SSS 4
Book 5
Psalms 107-150
14 July 2024

Psalm 114

1When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

2 Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.

3 The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.

4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.

5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?

6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.

Psalm 114:1-8

A REFLECTIVE PSALM

1. Selective reflection

2. The first two verses

a) Historical reference

b) Significant events were remembered

3. The last six verses

a) Meditative

b) Poetic

c) Spiritually uplifting

HISTORICAL REFERENCE # 1

When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language

Psalm 114:1

1. The Exodus from Egypt

2. This was a major historical event

a) Israel was called “the house of Jacob”

b) The Egyptian tongue was called “a strange language”

HISTORICAL REFERENCE # 2

Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.

Psalm 114:2

1. The children of Israel had entered into Canaan

2. Judah became His sanctuary

a) This is a reference to Jerusalem

b) God had chosen the temple to be built in Jerusalem

3. Israel His dominion

a) Israel as a dominion

b) God reigns as the King

MEDITATIVE ASPECT # 1

The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.

Psalm 114:3

1. The sea

a) Reference to the Red Sea

b) Crossing of the Red Sea

c) Moses caused the Sea to part so that the children of Israel could cross safely

d) Beautifully described

e) The Sea fled

f) Exodus 14-15

2. The River Jordan

a) Crossing of the River Jordan

b) Joshua led the children of Israel over the River Jordan dry-shod

c) Joshua 3

MEDITATIVE ASPECT # 2

4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.

5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?

6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?

Psalm 114:4-6

1. Rhetorical questions

a) Effectively used

b) The mountains and hills skipping

2. Metaphorical usage

a) Mountains and hills personified

b) The sea personified

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.

Psalm 114:7-8

1. The greatness of the LORD

2. His presence affects everything

3. A historical reference to God giving Israel water from a rock Exodus 17|

4. References to the Presence of the LORD

a) Psalm 16:11

b) Psalm 67:2, 8

c) Psalm 76:7

d) Psalm 139:7