Embrace the Word for Wednesday, September 9, 2026
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Psalm 114 provides reasons for the LORD to be praised, even though it does not provide—like its neighboring Psalms—an explicit call to praise. Psalm 114 reaches back and revisits Israel’s Exodus from Egyptian captivity. But the intent of such historical recall is not merely informational. Great episodes in history provoke strong reactions. While the call to praise is not explicit, the pattern of what the LORD did for His people in the past provides the opportunity to realize what the LORD will do for His people once again. The Exodus—Israel’s great rescue from captivity—was not a one-time event, it serves a paradigm for how the LORD works. The first Exodus and the celebration that followed, which is described in Psalm 114, serves as the pattern for what the LORD would do in a new Exodus. Thus, another round of celebration will be in order. The special status of being the LORD’s people is meant to instill confidence as well as prompt a celebration of praise. Psalm 114 begins and ends with a word about the LORD’s power (114:1-2; 7-8). Then in between it makes an important application by mentioning the Red Sea and the Jordan River (114:3-6).
Psalm 114 opens with a limited and short summary of Israel’s history: “When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion” (114:1-2). With just one sentence, the Psalmist begins with Israel’s history starting in Egypt and sweepingly covers right through to the Davidic kingship. The subject is Israel, also described as “the house of Jacob.” It was about seventy descendants of Jacob who moved to Egypt during the time of severe famine (See Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:1-5). After the passing of hundreds of years, Jacob’s family grew and became a great multitude of people forming an entire nation. Eventually that nation of people became enslaved by the Pharaohs of Egypt. They were ruled over by “a people of strange language.” This notion of strange language would be used by Moses to warn the nation against disobedience (See Deuteronomy 28:49), but also by the prophet Jeremiah to announce their deportation to Babylon (See Jeremiah 5:15). The implication of this matter is that the God who delivered His people from the captivity of a foreign-speaking people in the past, has promised to do so again at present. While verse 1 depicts Israel’s past Exodus experience, verse 2 advances 500 years of history and moves forward to David’s time in Jerusalem. As David came to the throne in Israel, so plans were put in place for a House of worship to be built. Thus, Jerusalem became the city where the LORD ruled through His king as well as the city where the LORD received worship. With the language of “sanctuary” and “dominion,” the roles of king and priest coalesced in Jerusalem. The ultimate outcome of the first Exodus, though it unfolded through a period in the wilderness as well as a time of conquest in the Promised Land, was for God’s people to dwell in God’s place under God’s rule for the purpose of God’s praise.
If verses 1-2 summarize the start and the culmination of Israel’s history, verses 3-4 offer a quick summary of how that history happened the way it did. The imagery entails references to the Red Sea and the River Jordan: “The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs” (114:3-4). The Psalmist captures the drama of two water crossings, which bookend the Exodus and the start of the Conquest, to accentuate the LORD’s power. The Psalmist depicts the waters as opposing forces who flea in the terror of defeat. The parting of the Read Sea occurred in the context of Israel’s traumatic fear as Pharaoh changed His mind and sought to entrap and retake them at the Red Sea (See Exodus 14). With the onrushing Egyptian army behind them, the LORD parted the Red Sea insuring not only Israel’s safe passage but also the demise of Pharaoh and his army. The parting of the River Jordan occurred as the Israelites, under the direction of Joshua, embarked on their conquest of the Promised Land (See Joshua 3-4). While the Red Sea and the River Jordan were actual events of history that really did occur as the Scripture’s describe, they also become symbolic of the fact that the entire journey from Egypt through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land was powerfully accomplished by the hand of God. Nothing stood in the way of the LORD accomplishing His purposes for His people—even the mountains and the hills were moved out of the way to accomplish all that the LORD promised.
If verses 3-4 recount what the LORD did to lead His people in the past, verses 5-6 restate verses 3-4 to reinforce what the LORD will do at present: “What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?” (114:5-6). All the same characters are present: the “sea,” the “Jordan,” the “mountains,” and the “hills.” The powerful things that the LORD did with these characters are not merely past recollections, they are also present realities. Personifying these characters the Psalmist is inclined to ask by the LORD Himself, “What ails you?” There is a tone of satire and even mockery as the LORD asks the sea, and the Jordan, as well as the mountains and the hills, what is wrong—why are you unable to resist me? The impact of these inquiries should not be lost—asking the elements that seemingly pose a threat, why they are not able to pose a threat is meant to strengthen the LORD’s people. The people of the God who achieved the Exodus and the Conquest by His mighty hand has not changed. Knowing the reality of God’s power and the surety of God’s promises is meant to strengthen the steel of His people. The Apostle Paul was moved to ask with the same kind of satire and mockery: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (See 1 Corinthians 15:55).
With a gaze on the LORD and His power to accomplish His plans, it is not the LORD’s people who need to panic. The God who brings His people out of slavery and places them in His kingdom, is able to move every obstacle. No, its not the LORD’s people who need to panic; however, all who think they can stand in the way of God should reconsider their posture of confidence: “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” (114:7). It is not the LORD’s people who should tremble, but any and all who think they can oppose the LORD. The warning is reminiscent of the warning provided at the introduction to the Psalter: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled” (See Psalm 2:11-12). The Psalmist closes with one more historical reminder of the power of God: “who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water” (114:8). Pointing back to the time in the wilderness, the LORD reminds His people that He always provides. Israel’s journey through the wilderness was a season of faithful provision and protection. The LORD not only protected His people by parting the waters, He also provided water for His people when Moses simply struck the rock (See Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11). The LORD can create dry ground where there is much water or He can furnish water where there is none. What Psalm 114 does not say, but we should be thinking is: “praise the LORD!”
As we reflect on Psalm 114, we can consider the certainty that what God purposes will come to pass; but any who oppose Him will not remain. We can particularly consider this in light of the sure promises that Jesus will get each of His people safely home: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (See Romans 9:35-39). God will once again shake and move all that oppose Him, but all who belong to Him will remain: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (See Hebrews 12:28).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Wednesday, September 9, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Friday, September 11, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 115.