Psalm 114 "Tremble...at the presence of the Lord"

Psalm for Today = 114:5-8

⁵ What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
    O Jordan, that you turn back?
⁶ O mountains, that you skip like rams?
    O hills, like lambs?

⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸ who turns the rock into a pool of water,
    the flint into a spring of water.

Comments:

Just as we saw the use of the literary device of personification in Psalm 97, this here in verse 5, the psalmist uses the similar literary device of apostrophe (speaking to the inanimate, imaginary, or absent as though animate, real, and present). Yes, in my course on the psalms that is on the test!

In a very brief poetic summary he evokes the miracles of the Exodus from the Red Sea parting at the beginning to the Jordan River stopping at the end. In the middle there is the image of the earthquakes that came with the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai.

What I think is interesting today is that in verses 5-6 it seems like the psalmist not only o poetically transports himself back into the historical events of Israel’s past, but engages in what seems to be a taunt-song addressing the named elements as though they might stand for some enemy contemporary to the psalmist. Whether nature, the gentile nations, or the Israelites themselves, the call is to recognize the presence of the Lord, the Creator Himself.

Questions:

Do we tremble at the presence of the Lord? Do we recognize his life-giving and sustaining power as we walk through the wilderness moments in our lives? This psalm suggests that we should.

Here is a cool quote from a commentary written in 1867 that still speaks today:

“The causing of water to gush forth out of the flinty rock is a practical proof of unlimited omnipotence and of the grace which converts death into life. Let the earth then tremble before the Lord, the God of Jacob. It has already trembled before Him, and before Him let it tremble. For that which He has been He still ever is; and as He came once, He will come again.” (Keil & Delitzsch, Vol.5 Psalms, 209)Cross references: