John Calvin Commentary Psalms 74:13

"Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters." — Psalms 74:13 (ASV)

Thou hast divided the sea by thy power. The prophet now collects together certain kinds of deliverances highly worthy of remembrance; all of them, however, belonging to the first deliverance by which God emancipated his people from the tyranny of Egypt. We will find him afterwards descending to the general commendation of the goodness of God which is diffused through the whole world.

Thus, from the special grace which God grants to his Church, he passes on to speak of the goodwill which he displays towards all mankind. In the first place, he says, Thou hast divided, or cleaved, the sea. Some think that the following clause is added as an effect of what is stated in the first clause—God, by drying up the sea, having caused the whales and other great fish to die.

I am, however, of the opinion that it is to be taken metaphorically for Pharaoh and his army; this mode of expression being very common among the prophets, especially when they speak of the Egyptians, whose country was washed by a sea abounding with fish, and divided by the Nile. Pharaoh is, therefore, not improperly termed Leviathan, on account of the advantages of the sea possessed by his country, and because, in reigning over that land with great splendor, he might be compared to a whale moving up and down at its ease in the midst of the waters of the mighty ocean.

As God put forth his power at that time for the deliverance of the people, to assure the Church that he would always be her protector and the guardian of her welfare, the encouragement provided by this example should not be limited exclusively to one age. It is, therefore, with good reason applied to the descendants of that ancient race, that they might use it as a means of confirming and establishing their faith.

The prophet does not here recount all the miracles which God had performed at the departure of the people from the land of Egypt; but in referring to some of them, he includes by the figure synecdoche, all that Moses has narrated concerning them at greater length. When he says that leviathan was given for food to the Israelites, and that even in the wilderness, there is a beautiful allusion to the destruction of Pharaoh and his army.

It is as if he had said that then a bountiful provision of food was laid up for the nourishment of the people; for when their enemies were destroyed, the quiet and security which the people consequently enjoyed served, so to speak, as food to prolong their life. By the wilderness, is not meant the countries lying on the sea coast, though they are dry and barren, but the deserts at a great distance from the sea.

The same subject is continued in the following verse, where it is declared that the fountain was cleaved or divided, that is, it was so when God caused a stream of water to gush from the rock to supply the needs of the people. Finally, it is added, that mighty rivers were dried up, an event which happened when God caused the waters of the Jordan to turn back to make a way for his people to pass over. Some would have the Hebrew word איתן, ethan, which signifies mighty, to be a proper name, as if the correct translation were rivers of Ethan; but this interpretation is altogether without foundation.