Catholic Commentary on Psalm 114

"Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob." (Psalm 114:7)

The Exodus as Poem

Psalm 114 is perhaps the most artistically perfect of all the psalms, a miniature masterpiece in eight verses that condenses the entire Exodus event into lyrical poetry. When Israel came out of Egypt, the sea fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs. Then the rhetorical question: what ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? And the answer: Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, the hard rock into springs of water.

The poem personifies the elements of creation as witnesses who react to the presence of God with the appropriate response: trembling. The Church reads this psalm at Easter Vigil as a celebration of Baptism: the waters that fled before Israel are the waters of the Red Sea crossing, which is the type of Baptism. The rock that poured water is the type of Christ, from whose side water and blood flowed at the Cross. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:4 identifies the rock explicitly: they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the God who parted the Red Sea and made water spring from rock is the same God who acts in the sacraments of the Church. He has not retired his power. Every Baptism is a Red Sea crossing. Every Eucharist is water from the rock. Do not live as though the God of Psalm 114 is only a historical memory.

Prayer

Lord God, at your presence the sea fled and the mountains skipped. You turned rock into springs of water. Do it again in us: turn the hard rock of our resistance into springs of living water, and let all creation tremble and rejoice at your presence. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

114
A Psalm of Exodus
1 When Israel departed from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
and Israel His dominion.
 
3 The sea observed and fled;
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams,
O hills, like lambs?
 
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the flint into a fountain of water!

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