สดุดี 114:3 วิจารณ์

The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt gave birth to their church and nation, which were then founded, then formed; that work of wonder ought therefore to be had in everlasting remembrance. God gloried in it, in the preface to the ten commandments, and Hos 11:1, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." In this psalm it is celebrated in lively strains of praise; it was fitly therefore made a part of the great Hallelujah, or song of praise, which the Jews were wont to sing at the close of the passover-supper. It must never be forgotten, I. That they were brought out of slavery (Psa 114:1). II. That God set up his tabernacle among them (Psa 114:2). III. That the sea and Jordan were divided before them (Psa 114:3, Psa 114:5). IV. That the earth shook at the giving of the law, when God came down on Mount Sinai (Psa 114:4, Psa 114:6, Psa 114:7). V. That God gave them water out of the rock (Psa 114:8). In singing this psalm we must acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did for Israel, applying it to the much greater work of wonder, our redemption by Christ, and encouraging ourselves and others to trust in God in the greatest straits.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 114 The title of this psalm in the Arabic version is "hallelujah", as in some preceding ones; it is part of the great "Hallel" sung at the passover, and with great propriety; since the subject matter of it is the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, typical of our spiritual redemption by Christ; and of the effectual calling of God's elect out of a state of nature into a state of grace; and particularly of the conversion of the Gentiles, and the bringing of them from Paganism to Christianity: the inscription of the Syriac version is, "a psalm without a name, out of the ancient writing; concerning Moses, who sung praise at the sea; but unto us the calling of the Gospel, by which we become a new people; spiritual to God, who is incarnate; to Jesus Christ, who redeemed us by his blood from the curse of the Scripture (the law), and hath cleansed us from sin by his Spirit.''.

The sea saw it, and fled,.... When the Word of the Lord appeared at it, as the Targum in the king's Bible; the Red sea, to which the Israelites came when they went out of Egypt; this saw that Judah was the Lord's holy and peculiar people, and that Israel were the subjects of his kingdom; it saw the presence of the Lord among them; it saw him in the glory of his perfections, and felt his power; see Psa 77:16, at which its waters fled and parted, and stood up as a wall to make way for Israel to pass through as on dry land, Exo 14:21. This was typical of the nations of the Gentile world, comparable to the sea, Dan 7:2, who saw the work of God going on among them under the ministry of the Gospel in the first times of it, whereby multitudes were turned from idols to serve the living God; this they saw and trembled at, and they and their kings fled for fear; see Isa 41:5, and of the stop put to the ocean of sin in a man's heart, and to the torrent of wickedness that breaks out from thence, by powerful and efficacious grace, much more abounding where sin has abounded. Jordan was driven back; this was done not at the time of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, but just before their entrance into the land of Canaan, and in order to it; and being an event similar to the former is here mentioned, and done by the power and presence of God; for as soon as the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Presence, were dipped in the brim of the waters, the waters below were cut off from those above, and stood up on an heap, and all the Israelites passed through on dry ground, Jos 3:13, this was an emblem of death, through which the saints pass to glory, which is abolished by Christ, its sting and curse taken away; which when the saints come to, they find it like Jordan driven back, and have an easy and abundant passage through it; and when on the brink of it, and even in the midst of it, sing, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Co1 15:55.

Nor ought it to appear at all improbable that at the command of God the bones were fitted again to their joints, since we have numberless instances in which nature has obeyed the commands of heaven; as the earth was commanded to produce the green herb3 and did produce it; as the rock at the touch of the rod produced water for the thirsting people; and the hard stone poured forth streams by the mercy of God for those parched with heat. What else did the rod changed into a serpent5 signify than that at the will of God living things can be produced from those that are without life? Do you think it more incredible that bones should come together when commanded than that streams should be turned back or the sea flee? For thus does the prophet testify: “The sea saw it and fled; Jordan was driven back.” Nor can there be any doubt about this fact, which was proved by the rescue of one and the destruction of the other of two peoples, that the waves of the sea stood restrained and at the same time surrounded one people and poured back on the other for their death, that they might overwhelm the one but preserve the other. And what do we find in the Gospel itself? Did not the Lord himself prove there that the sea grew calm at a word, the clouds were driven away, the blasts of the winds yielded, and that on the quieted shores the dumb elements obeyed God?

"When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from among the strange people" [Psalm 114:1], "Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion" [Psalm 114:2]; "the sea saw that and fled, Jordan was driven back" [Psalm 114:3]. Think not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather that the future is predicted; since, while those miracles also were going on in that people, things present indeed were happening, but not without an intimation of things future....Some things he has related differently to what we have learned and read there: that he might not truly be thought to be repeating past acts rather than to be prophesying future things. For in the first place, we read not that the Jordan was driven back, but that it stood still on the side nearest the source of its streams, while the people were passing through; next, we read not of the mountains and hills skipping: all which he has added, and repeated. For after saying, "The sea saw that, and fled; Jordan was driven back:" he added, "The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like young sheep" [Psalm 114:4]: and then asks, "What ails you, O thou sea, that you fled, and thou, Jordan, that you were driven back?" [Psalm 114:5]. "You mountains, that you skipped like rams; and you little hills, like young sheep?" [Psalm 114:6].

But, again, listen to another excellent steward of God, whom I reverence as a father, for in Christ Jesus he begat me through the gospel, and from this servant of Christ I received the laver of regeneration. I speak of the blessed Ambrose, whose grace, constancy, labors, dangers, whether in works or in speech, for the catholic faith, I myself have experienced, and together with me the Roman world does not hesitate to proclaim them. When this man was explaining the Gospel according to Luke, he said, “The Jordan turned backwards” signified the future mysteries of the laver of salvation, through which infants who are baptized at the beginning of their natural life are reformed from badness.

The water was cleansed, which was enriched with the warmth of the Lord’s blessing, although it was common and cold. Consequently, what previously had scarcely washed away worldly stains on objects now purifies the spiritual stains on souls. And do not marvel at the fact that we say that water, that is, a bodily substance comes to have the power to purify a soul. It clearly comes to have that power; it penetrates all the recesses of the conscience. For although water itself is delicate and fine, nonetheless by Christ’s blessing it was made even more delicate and entered through the hidden conditions of life into the secret places of the soul with its spiritual dew. For the course of blessings is more delicate than the pathways of water. Thus we also say that the blessing in our Savior’s baptism, which flowed down like a spiritual river, dyed the courses of all eddies and the water-courses of all fonts. When Christ entered the Jordan, the rivers of waters streamed in a marvelous manner, but the floods of blessings also ran. From the one side the eddy of the riverbed was carried along more boisterously; from the other side the most pure font of the Savior was trickling down; and in some bewildering manner the consecration of baptism was going upstream to the source of the Jordan, and the river of blessings was being borne contrary to the direction the waters were flowing. This is why (or so I think) holy David said, “The Jordan turned back.” For in the baptism of Christ the Jordan did not turn back in its own waters but in the sacraments, and it traced its source in the blessing of its nature rather than in its substance. For while the grace of consecration is spread abroad on all fonts through him, it seems that its own course has gone back to the origin of its channels.

The writer celebrates the deliverance from extreme perils by which he was favored, and pledges grateful and pious public acknowledgments. (Psa. 116:1-19) A truly grateful love will be evinced by acts of worship, which calling on God expresses (Psa 116:13; Psa 55:16; Psa 86:7; compare Psa 17:6; Psa 31:2).