Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 114:3

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 114:3. The sea saw it, and fled — Mr. Addison has properly observed (see Spect. No. 461) that the author of this Psalm designedly works for effect, in pointing out the miraculous driving back the Red Sea and the river Jordan, and the commotion of the hills and mountains, without mentioning any agent. At last, when the reader sees the sea rapidly retiring from the shore, Jordan retreating to its source, and the mountains and hills running away like a flock of affrighted sheep, that the passage of the Israelites might be every where uninterrupted; then the cause of all is suddenly introduced, and the presence of God in his grandeur solves every difficulty.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 113-114 When hope seems gone

Psalms 113:0 to 118 form a collection called the Hallel. Israelites sang the Hallel at various annual festivals, the most important of which was the Passover. They sang Psalms 113:0 and 114 before eating the meal, and Psalms 115:0 to 118 after (cf. Matthew 26:30).

From east to west, now and for ever, God is worthy to be worshipped by those who serve him (113:1-4). Although he is enthroned in the highest place, he is concerned about his creatures on earth (5-6). He helps those who are downtrodden and gives new life and purpose to those who have given up all hope (7-9).
The merciful salvation of God was seen in the events of the exodus. God released his people from the humiliating slavery of Egypt and gave them new life by dwelling among them (114:1-2). In the course of doing this, he divided the Red Sea, stopped the flow of the Jordan River and sent an earthquake on Mount Sinai (3-4). All was the work of God alone. Not only did he rescue them from their hopeless situation in Egypt, but he also looked after them throughout their journey to Canaan (5-8).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“When Israel went forth out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea saw it and fled; The Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs. What ailest thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest? Thou Jordan that thou turnest back? Ye mountains that ye skip like rams; Ye little hills like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob, Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters.”

“Israel went forth out of Egypt… Jacob from a people of strange language” Note here that the name “Jacob” here is used as the name of all of Israel.

“Judah… Israel” “Judah and Israel here do not refer to the two parts of the divided kingdom; after the return, Judah was regarded as the outstanding tribe; and Israel was still the common name for the whole nation.”Ibid.

“Judah became his sanctuary… Israel his dominion” It is incorrect to make the word “when” in Psalms 114:1 mean that the nation of Israel became God’s sanctuary and dominion at a point in time, “when” they came out of Egypt. Some have made that very mistake. The chosen people, as God’s sanctuary and dominion, date back to the patriarchs, as the very names “Judah,” and “Israel” most certainly indicate.

“The sea saw it and fled, the Jordan was driven back” These are obvious references to the Red Sea crossing and to the crossing of the Jordan river on dry land at the very time when the Jordan was at flood stage! No greater wonders ever occurred in the history of God’s dealings with Israel.

It is not necessary to comment upon those marvelous events here, because we devoted many pages to full discussions of both events in Vol. 2 of my Commentaries on the Pentateuch (exodus), pp. 190-198, and in the commentary on Joshua, pp. 31-34.

“The mountains skipped like rams; the little hills like lambs” This is a metaphorical reference to the wonders that occurred at Sinai where God delivered to Israel the Decalogue, ratified with them the covenant, and gave instructions for the construction of the tabernacle.

“What ailest thee, O thou sea?… thou Jordan?… ye mountains?… ye little hills?” Here, in a figure of speech called `apostrophe,’ the psalmist addresses the sea, the Jordan, the mountains and hills, “Inquiring of them for what reason they had forsaken their nature and had done such strange things.”The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8-C, p. 56.

“Thou fleest… thou turnest back… ye skip like rams, etc.” The use of the present tense throughout this passage suggests that the psalmist is addressing the sea, the Jordan, the mountains and the hills as if they were present, and as if he could actually see them doing such amazing things contrary to nature.

The answer to the question, “What ailest thee?” is not stated as bluntly as the question; but it is here, nevertheless. That answer, stated in the Psalms 114:7, is, “All those mighty wonders are due to the presence of God.”

“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” Here indeed is the answer as to why the mountains skipped, the little hills frolicked like lambs, the Red Sea fled before Israel, and why the Jordan river at flood stage suddenly presented Israel with a dry-land crossing. It was all due to the presence of God. All nature obeys His voice. He spoke, and great wonders ensued.

“Who turned the rock into a pool of water” This, of course, is a remembrance of the waters of Meribah. This is discussed fully in my commentary on Exodus, pp. 230-233. Twice at Meribah and once at Marah, the water problem was solved for Israel by three of God’s most marvelous miracles.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The sea saw it - The word it is supplied, not very properly, by our translators. It would be more expressive to say, “The sea saw:” that is, The sea - (the Red Sea) - saw the mighty movement - the marshalled hosts - the moving masses - the cattle - the pursuing enemies - the commotion - the agitation - on its usually quiet shores. We are to conceive of the usual calmness of the desert - the waste and lonely solitudes on the banks of the Red Sea - and then all this suddenly broken in upon by vast hosts of men, women, children, and cattle, fleeing in consternation, followed by the embattled strength of Egypt - all rolling on tumultuously to the shore. No wonder that the sea is represented as astonished at this unusual spectacle, and as fleeing in dismay.

And fled - As if affrighted at the approach of such an host, coming so suddenly upon its shores.

Jordan was driven back - Referring to the dividing of the waters of the Jordan when the children of Israel passed over to the promised land. Joshua 3:13-17. They also seemed astonished at the approach of the Hebrews, and retired to make a way for them to pass over.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

3The sea saw, and fled He does not enumerate in succession all the miracles which were wrought at that time, but briefly alludes to the sea, which, though a lifeless and senseless element, is yet struck with terror at the power of God. Jordan did the same, and the very mountains shook. It is in a poetical strain that the Psalmist describes the receding of the sea and of the Jordan. The description, however, does not exceed the facts of the case. The sea, in rendering such obedience to its Creator, sanctified his name; and Jordan, by its submission, put honor upon his power; and the mountains, by their quaking, proclaimed how they were overawed at the presence of his dreadful majesty. By these examples it is not meant to celebrate God’s power more than the fatherly care and desire which he manifests for the preservation of the Church; and, accordingly, Israel is very properly distinguished from the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains — there being a very marked difference between the chosen people and the insensate elements.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 114:1-8

Now Psalms 114:1-8 is a little psalm that calls the deliverance of the... recalls the deliverance of the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt.

When Israel went out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from the people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled ( Psalms 114:1-3 ):

That is, the Red Sea, which parted for them.

Jordan was driven back ( Psalms 114:3 ).

The waters of Jordan were stopped that they might come in the land.

The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs ( Psalms 114:4 ).

There were earthquakes, actually. The walls of Jericho destroyed by earthquakes and so forth. "The mountains skipping like rams, the little hills like lambs." And then the psalmist now recalling the sea and the Jordan, the mountains, he said,

What ailed you, O thou sea, that you fled? thou Jordan, that you were driven back? Ye mountains, that you skipped like rams; and you little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into the fountain of waters ( Psalms 114:5-8 ).

A reference to the flinty rock that Moses struck from which God gave them water in the wilderness. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He dwelt among them and ruled over them. The names Judah and Israel are in poetic parallelism here and refer to the same group, namely, the nation of Israel. Judah was its leading tribe.

The writer personified the Red Sea as seeing the Israelites coming and fleeing from them by parting its waters. Later when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the Jordan River backed up as far as the town of Adam, farther north in the Jordan Valley, to let them cross. The mountains around Sinai quaked when God came down on Mt. Horeb to meet with His people.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. God’s deliverance at the Exodus 114:1-6

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 114

As mentioned previously, the Israelites sang this song at Passover. This was appropriate since it describes God delivering the nation in the Exodus, which event has cosmic implications. It is another psalm of descriptive praise.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The sea saw it, and fled,.... When the Word of the Lord appeared at it, as the Targum in the king's Bible; the Red sea, to which the Israelites came when they went out of Egypt; this saw that Judah was the Lord's holy and peculiar people, and that Israel were the subjects of his kingdom; it saw the presence of the Lord among them; it saw him in the glory of his perfections, and felt his power; see

Psalms 77:16, at which its waters fled and parted, and stood up as a wall to make way for Israel to pass through as on dry land,

Exodus 14:21. This was typical of the nations of the Gentile world, comparable to the sea, Daniel 7:2, who saw the work of God going on among them under the ministry of the Gospel in the first times of it, whereby multitudes were turned from idols to serve the living God; this they saw and trembled at, and they and their kings fled for fear; see

Isaiah 41:5, and of the stop put to the ocean of sin in a man's heart, and to the torrent of wickedness that breaks out from thence, by powerful and efficacious grace, much more abounding where sin has abounded.

Jordan was driven back; this was done not at the time of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, but just before their entrance into the land of Canaan, and in order to it; and being an event similar to the former is here mentioned, and done by the power and presence of God; for as soon as the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Presence, were dipped in the brim of the waters, the waters below were cut off from those above, and stood up on an heap, and all the Israelites passed through on dry ground, Joshua 3:13, this was an emblem of death, through which the saints pass to glory, which is abolished by Christ, its sting and curse taken away; which when the saints come to, they find it like Jordan driven back, and have an easy and abundant passage through it; and when on the brink of it, and even in the midst of it, sing, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;   2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.   3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.   4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.   5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?   6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?   7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;   8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

      The psalmist is here remembering the days of old, the years of the right hand of the Most High, and the wonders which their fathers told them of (Judges 6:13), for time, as it does not wear out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out the sense of mercy. Let it never be forgotten,

      I. That God brought Israel out of the house of bondage with a high hand and a stretched-out arm: Israel went out of Egypt,Psalms 114:1; Psalms 114:1. They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they driven out, but fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of honour; they went out from a barbarous people, that had used them barbarously, from a people of a strange language,Psalms 81:5. The Israelites, it seems, preserved their own language pure among them, and cared not for learning the language of their oppressors. By this distinction from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.

      II. That he himself framed their civil and sacred constitution (Psalms 114:2; Psalms 114:2): Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his dominion. When he delivered them out of the hand of their oppressors it was that they might serve him both in holiness and in righteousness, in the duties of religious worship and in obedience to the moral law, in their whole conversation. Let my people go, that they may serve me. In order to this, 1. He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he gave them the special tokens of his presence with them and promised to receive their homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have God's sanctuary among them (see Exodus 25:8; Ezekiel 37:26), much more those that, like Judah here, are his sanctuaries, his living temples, on whom Holiness to the Lord is written. 2. He set up his dominion among them, was himself their lawgiver and their judge, and their government was a theocracy: The Lord was their King. All the world is God's dominion, but Israel was so in a peculiar manner. What is God's sanctuary must be his dominion. Those only have the privileges of his house that submit to the laws of it; and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he might bring us into God's service and engage us for ever in it.

      III. That the Red Sea was divided before them at their coming out of Egypt, both for their rescue and the ruin of their enemies; and the river Jordan, when they entered into Canaan, for their honour, and the confusion and terror of their enemies (Psalms 114:3; Psalms 114:3): The sea saw it, saw there that Judah was God's sanctuary, and Israel his dominion, and therefore fled; for nothing could be more awful. It was this that drove Jordan back, and was an invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that people, and therefore they must give way to them, must make room for them, they must retire, contrary to their nature, when God speaks the word. To illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a poetical strain (Psalms 114:5; Psalms 114:5), What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest? And furnishes the sea with an answer (Psalms 114:7; Psalms 114:7); it was at the presence of the Lord. This is designed to express, 1. The reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature, or from any natural cause, but it was at the presence of the Lord, who gave the word. 2. The mercy of the miracle: What ailed thee? Was it in a frolic? Was it only to amuse men? No; it was at the presence of the God of Jacob; it was in kindness to the Israel of God, for the salvation of that chosen people, that God was thus displeased against the rivers, and his wrath was against the sea, as the prophet speaks, Habakkuk 3:8-13; Isaiah 51:10; Isaiah 63:11, c. 3. The wonder and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of such a thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its fundamental laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God's Israel? Well may the dukes of Edom be amazed and the mighty men of Moab tremble,Exodus 15:15. 4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph over the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. 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. Apply this, (1.) To the planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as they did? Mark 1:34. What ailed the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb, struck dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they died away before the gospel, and melted like snow before the sun? What ailed the persecutors and opposers of the gospel, that they gave up their cause, hid their guilty heads, and called to rocks and mountains for shelter? Revelation 6:15. It was at the presence of the Lord, and that power which went along with the gospel. (2.) To the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What ails the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back, that the prejudices are removed and the whole man has become new? It is at the presence of God's Spirit that imaginations are cast down,2 Corinthians 10:5.

      IV. That the earth shook and trembled when God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (Psalms 114:4; Psalms 114:4): The mountains skipped like rams, and then the little hills might well be excused if they skipped like lambs, either when they are frightened or when they sport themselves. The same power that fixed the fluid waters and made them stand still shook the stable mountains and made them tremble for all the powers of nature are under the check of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before God, but like rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as manageable by him as they are by the shepherd. The trembling of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the discoveries of his glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills what ailed them to skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the seas, it was at the presence of the Lord, before whom, not only those mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble (Psalms 114:7; Psalms 114:7), since it has lain under a curse for man's sin. See Psalms 104:32; Isaiah 64:3; Isaiah 64:4. He that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he pleases, dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his enemies and make them tremble.

      V. That God supplied them with water out of the rock, which followed them through the dry and sandy deserts. Well may the earth and all its inhabitants tremble before that God who turned the rock into a standing water (Psalms 114:8; Psalms 114:8), and what cannot he do who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a rock to be a wall to Israel (Exodus 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 Corinthians 10:4. For he is a fountain of living waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.