John Calvin Commentary Psalms 114

When Israel went out from Egypt—that exodus, being a remarkable pledge and symbol of God’s love for the children of Abraham, it is not surprising that it should be so frequently recalled. In the beginning of the psalm, the prophet informs us that the people whom God purchased at so great a price are no longer their own.

The opinion of certain expositors, that at that time the tribe of Judah was consecrated to the service of God, according to what is said in Exodus 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:9, appears to me foreign to the prophet’s design. All doubt about the matter is removed by what is added immediately after: God’s taking Israel under His rule, which is simply a repetition of the same sentiment in other words.

Judah, being the most powerful and numerous of all the tribes and occupying the chief place among them, here takes precedence over the rest of the people. At the same time, it is very evident that the honor which is specifically ascribed to them belongs equally to the whole body of the people. When God is said to be sanctified, it must be understood that the prophet is speaking after the manner of men, because, in Himself, God is incapable of increase or diminution. Judah is called his holiness, and Israel his dominion, because His holy majesty, which previously had been little known, secured the veneration of all who had witnessed the displays of His incredible power. In delivering His people, God erected a kingdom for Himself and obtained respect for His sacred name; if then they do not constantly reflect upon such a remarkable instance of His kindness, their insensibility is totally inexcusable.

The sea saw, and fled: He does not recount in order all the miracles that were performed at that time, but briefly alludes to the sea, which, though a lifeless and senseless element, is still struck with terror by the power of God. Jordan did the same, and the very mountains shook.

It is in a poetical style 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, by rendering such obedience to its Creator, sanctified his name; and Jordan, by its submission, honored his power; and the mountains, by their quaking, proclaimed how they were overawed by the presence of his dreadful majesty.

By these examples, it is not intended to celebrate God’s power more than the fatherly care and desire which he shows for the preservation of the Church; and accordingly, Israel is quite properly distinguished from the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains—as there is a very marked difference between the chosen people and the insensate elements.

What ailed thee, O sea! The prophet interrogates the sea, Jordan, and the mountains in a familiar and poetic style, as he recently ascribed to them a sense and reverence for God’s power. And, by these analogies, he very sharply rebukes the insensitivity of those people who do not use the intelligence which God has given them in the contemplation of His works.

The appearance which he tells us the sea assumed is more than sufficient to condemn their blindness. It could not be dried up, and the river Jordan could not roll back its waters, had God not, by His invisible agency, constrained them to render obedience to His command. The words are indeed directed to the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains, but they are more immediately addressed to us, so that each of us, on self-reflection, may carefully and attentively weigh this matter.

And, therefore, whenever we encounter these words, let each of us reiterate the sentiment — “Such a change cannot be attributed to nature and to subordinate causes, but the hand of God is manifest here.” The figure drawn from the lambs and rams would appear to be inferior to the magnitude of the subject. But it was the prophet’s intention to express in the simplest way the incredible manner in which God, on these occasions, displayed His power. The stability of the earth being, as it were, founded on the mountains, what connection can they have with rams and lambs, that they should be agitated, skipping here and there? In speaking in this simple style, he does not mean to detract from the greatness of the miracle, but to engrave these extraordinary tokens of God’s power more forcibly on the unlearned.

At the presence of the Lord — Having aroused people's senses with questions, he now provides an answer, which many understand to be a personification of the earth. They interpret it this way 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 added. Others, more appropriately, considering the י (yod) in this, as in many other passages, to be redundant, adopt this interpretation: "It is reasonable and fitting that the earth should tremble in the presence of the Lord." Again, the term חולי (chuli) is rendered by many in the imperative mood. I readily adopt this interpretation, as it is most probable that the prophet again appeals to the earth, so that people's hearts may be more deeply moved.

The meaning is the same: the earth must quake at the presence of her King. This view is confirmed by the use of the term אדון (adon), which signifies a lord or a master. He then immediately introduces the name of the God of Jacob to banish all notions of false gods from people's minds.

Since their minds are prone to deceit, they are always in great danger of allowing idols to usurp the place of the true God. Another miracle is mentioned in which God, after the people passed through the Red Sea, gave an additional splendid manifestation of His power in the wilderness.

The glory of God, as he informs us, did not appear for only one day when the people departed; it constantly shone in His other works, such as when a stream suddenly issued from the dry rock (Exodus 17:6). Waters may be found trickling from among rocks and stony places, but for them to flow from a dry rock was unquestionably beyond the ordinary course of nature, or miraculous.

I have no intention of entering into any ingenious discussion about how the stone was converted into water; all that the prophet means amounts simply to this: water flowed in places formerly dry and hard. How absurd, then, is it for the sophists to pretend that transubstantiation takes place in every case in which Scripture affirms that a change has occurred? The substance of the stone was not converted into water; instead, God miraculously created the water, which gushed from the dry rock.