John Calvin Commentary Psalms 114:5

"What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest? Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back?" — Psalms 114:5 (ASV)

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.