Psalms 114:1-8 - The Mighty God Uplifteth The Lowly
We detect the song of Samuel's mother in the first of these psalms. She sang the Old Testament "Magnificat" and it was embalmed by the psalmist here. Thus it passed into the psalter of the Church. Note the universality of this ascription of praise. For all time, Psalms 113:2; through all the earth, Psalms 113:3; and above all heavens, Psalms 113:4. What a wonderful God is ours! Heaven cannot contain Him, but He lifts the poor and needy out of the dust. Largeness is not greatness, and the babe in the cot is more important than the palace.
In Psalms 114:1-8 Egypt represents the tyranny of sin; but we have been redeemed. Like Israel we have gone forth. We belong no more to the present world with its strange tongue. Ours is the language of Canaan, our home. This exodus of ours has made us the temple and sanctuary of God. If once the Church realized that she is God-possessed, she would become irresistible. Seas would divide, rivers would start back, mountains would cleave, and the hills would remove. "Impossible" would be blotted from our vocabulary. The power that made Sinai tremble gave earth water-springs. When the soul finds its all in God, the world ceases to affright or attract it, and the rocks yield refreshing streams. [source]
Chapter Summary: Psalms 114
1The miracles wrought by God, when he brought his people out of Egypt, 7are a just ground of fearing him
What do the individual words in Psalms 114:5 mean?
What [ails]youseathatyou fledJordan[that] you turnedback
Parse: Article, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: יַרְדֵּן
Sense: the river of Palestine running from the roots of Anti-Lebanon to the Dead Sea a distance of approx 200 miles (320 km).
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: סָבַב
Sense: to turn, turn about or around or aside or back or towards, go about or arou nd, surround, encircle, change direction.