Psalms 114:7

Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; TREMBLE, THOU EARTH, AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. The Psalmist hereby answers his own question (: cf. Psalms 97:4)....

7_At the presence of the Lord _Having aroused the senses of men by interrogations, he now furnishes a reply, which many understand to be a personification of the earth; because they take י, _yod, _to be the affix of the verb חולי _, chuli; _and they represent the earth as saying, It is my duty to tremble at the presence of the Lord. This fanciful interpretation is untenable; for the term, _earth, _is immediately subjoined. Others, with more propriety, considering the י, _yod, _in this, as in many other passages, to be redundant, adopt this interpretation: It is reasonable and becoming that the earth should tremble in the presence of the Lord. Again, the term חולי, _chuli, _is by many rendered in the imperative mood; which interpretation I readily adopt, as it is most probable that

TREMBLE, THOU EARTH, AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD ... - This is at the same time an explanation of the facts referred to in the previous verses, and the statement of an important truth in regard to the power of God. The true explanation - as here implied - of what occurred to the sea, to the Jordan, to the mountains, and to the hills, was the fact that God was there; the inference from that, or the truth which followed from that, was, that before that God in whose presence the very mountains shook, and from whom the waters of the sea fled in alarm the whole earth should tremble....

EXPOSITION A PSALM of reminiscence, designed to encourage the exiles on their return from Babylon, during their "day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10; comp. Ezra 3:12). If God had done so much for them when he brought them out of Egypt, if such glorious prodigies had marked that epoch, might they not be sure that his hand would be stretched out for them now? Formally, the psalm is more like a modern poem than most. It divides into four stanzas of four lines each, very evenly balanced, and perfect in its metrical arrangement. "The psalm is evidently by a skilled artist" (Cheyne). PSALMS 114:1 WHEN ISRAEL WENT OUT OF EGYPT; literally, at the going

TREMBLE, THOU EARTH, AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD,.... Or, "the earth has trembled at the presence of the Lord"; so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; the imperative is sometimes put for the preterite or past tense, see Psalms 22:9, likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions thus render it, "the earth is moved at the presence of the Lord"; and then the sense is by a prosopopoeia. Is it to be wondered at, that we, the sea, the river of Jordan, the mountains and hills, have fled, or have been driven back, or have skipped like rams and lambs, when the whole earth, of which we are a part, has trembled at the presence of God? who, when he does but look, the earth trembles; and when he touches the hills, they smoke, Psalms 104:32. It is at the same presence of God we have been thus moved, the power

Psalms 114:1. _When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye 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 a fountain of waters._ I did not interrupt the reading of the Psalm by any exposition. It is a perfect whole, and could not well be divided without spoiling it. We may admire the poetry as well as the inspiration of this Psalm. It begins with rugged abruptness: «When Israel went out of Egypt.» It only gives jus

PSALM 114-117 Psalms 114 Retrospect As in the book of Deuteronomy God's ways with His people are reviewed so we find in some of these Psalms the reminders of God's dealing with Israel in the past. Here it is first of all the deliverance out of Egypt and what happened then, the type of the greater deliverance effected by the power of God. (See Jeremiah 16:14 .)...

CXIV. The marvels on the way from Egypt to Zion, the future sanctuary of Yahweh, and to Canaan as Israel's possession. A Passover hymn....

THE LORD. Hebrew Adon. App-4. GOD. Hebrew Eloah. App-4....

TREMBLE, THOU EARTH— The LXX read, _The earth did tremble,_ in a more easy meaning, as being an answer to the foregoing question; but perhaps not so well suited to the Psalmist's design, which is to let the world know, that as it was from the presence of God among his people heretofore that _the sea fled,_ &c. so now there was the same reason for the earth to tremble; as he was still present among them. The answer is elegantly understood, and turned into a command. _A standing water_ in the next verse, is rendered by some _a river._ We would just observe, that the _hallelujah,_ or, _praise ye the Lord,_ at the end of the last psalm, is placed by the LXX, and with much seeming propriety, at the beginning of this. REFLECTIONS.—The wonders of former days deserve to be kept in everlasting remembrance, both that God may be glorified for them, and we take encouragement from thence to hope sti...