Psalm 114 – Testimony of Presence & Deliverance
Posted By admin on June 30, 2010
Right in the mix of the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118), preceding the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and separated only by the ‘theological monster’ (Psalm 119), comes this one which reaches right back to the holy nation’s Exodus from Egypt and the journey to the Promised Land.
Universally a hymn,[1] this psalm is quite unlike the vast majority of psalms which speak about personal or communal lament, grief, joy, thanksgiving and praise. But it is incredibly fluent and graphically resplendent in situating for today’s reader the glorious works of the LORD God in history.
The final six of the eight verses read almost straight out of something like the latter part of Job where Elihu has his point of view, followed by God’s direct charge to Job. These verses speak so much about the visible earth-shaking miracles that must’ve simply awed the people of God, at least at that time, into an unshakable knowledge of the Most High.
The event that is the Exodus cannot ever be underestimated in its power and significance for the Jewish people. It’s every bit as significant as the forging of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ for the Christian. It speaks deliverance, and of God’s enduring loving faithfulness.
The Christian is doubly blessed to have linked into the Jewish tradition via the Exodus–the prelude to the Old Covenant and New, both of which are equally relevant to us, and likewise so, the story of the entry into the Promised Land.
Getting back to Psalm 114, it speaks of God’s inimitable Presence. As the mountains leapt and the sea fled at the pure touch of God’s hand, his breath breathing over the earth, the people must’ve been totally and irrevocably aghast.
As they saw and later recalled Moses commanding water from the rock with two strikes of his staff via verse 8 (and Numbers 20:1-11), again they saw and remember God, not Moses’ ‘magic.’[2] It’s God’s Presence manifest in deliverance for the people, today as yesterday.
Psalm 114, sung or chanted in the Hallel sequence, is fundamentally about “connecting place and people with meaning and hope.”[3] The connection of history, deliverance, and the Presence of God is fused in this seldomly acclaimed (at least in our culture) psalm.
any yea�l ic��uЗvccurrence, I pray that he will come to know you in the deepest, most intimate way. And I pray that he, too, would discover the joy of forgiving and blessing those who have trespassed against him. I pray these things and I thank you for the release that this moment has given me, in the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!”
How many people did I do this with? Over 300. I listed them and faithfully prayed for each and every one of them. Some of these sins were greater than others and brought great shame and humiliation to me on a very grand scale. “Grand” in my mind, at least. In those instances, I made an even larger “Monument” by doing something that I felt would help me to remember – should the enemy ever try and REMIND me of my past – the very instant that I forgave and released and blessed that individual. For example, I’d write the situation or person’s name on a slip of paper and pray over it and bury it, burn it or flush it down the commode.
I remember teaching this from the pulpit of a Baptist Church when, after the sermon, a young lady sat staring at me with a confused look upon her face. Her friend, a young lady I had known several years, introduced us. We’ll call her “Christa.” With tears in her eyes, “Christa” told me, “For starters, I’m NOT a Christian. But how can we be expected to forgive somebody who has REALLY hurt us bad? How can I forgive my brother? He doesn’t deserve it!” She went on to describe the details of the terrible sins of her younger brother.
I reminded her of the extreme purity of God and how ANY sin – from a bad thought to brutal murder – separates us from Him. I explained that God chose to send Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and that the shedding of His blood paid the price for ALL of our sins. All we had to do was believe. “None of us,” I told her “deserves the forgiveness of God.” In a few minutes, she began sobbing and fell into my arms as her girl friends laid hands upon her and silently prayed. In time, Christa DID become a Christian, attending my Coffee House Bible studies regularly and, more importantly, exhibiting the fruit of a lover of Jesus throughout her daily life at the nearby college. The forgiveness she found in Christ she began, with difficulty, to express to her family. In time, however, several key members also turned to Christ to do what they alone could not do; forgive a young man who didn’t know what he was doing and how badly it hurt those who loved him most.
HOW SCRIPTURAL IS THIS “MONUMENT” STUFF?
It’s wise to ask how Scriptural it is whenever a seemingly new concept is being taught. But the Building of a Monument to the Moment is really not new at all.
The Old Testament refers to at least two types of monuments: an altar of sacrifice and a monument of remembrance. The altar of sacrifice was established by God’s command when Abraham was told by God to worship Him by the sacrifice of the promised child, Isaac.
The other type of monument was a monument of remembrance.
This monument was built as a reminder of God’s goodness and providence. Jacob’s altar at Bethel was a monument of remembrance of the vision he had of the ladder between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending. In the morning Jacob took his stone pillow and used it as a pillar, a reminder that God had met with him. God said to Jacob, “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me” (Genesis 28:11-22; 31:13).
The Israelites built a monument of remembrance after they crossed the Jordan into the promised land of Canaan. The Lord told Joshua to have twelve men take twelve stones from the Jordan, where the priests were standing upon dry ground, and to make a monument with those stones from the middle of the riverbed. Joshua took these stones and pitched them in Gilgal. He then spoke to the children of Israel and told them, “When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever,” (Joshua 4:21-23).
Another monument of remembrance was erected on the opposite side of the Jordan. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh were the only people not to possess the Promised Land but instead they took the land on the opposite side of the Jordan by Moses’ blessings. Upon their return to the opposite side of the Jordan, the two and one-half tribes built an altar so that they might say to their future generations, “Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it [this altar] is a witness between us and you,” (Joshua 22:28).
The last monument of remembrance was not one built upon a commandment of God or built out of a desire to remember the goodness of God. No, this monument was used to strike fear into the heart of Israel. This monument was first used to detain Israel and limit them from advancing into the land of the Philistines. This monument was that of a tool of execution. You might ask, “What is this monument?” The answer is simple: “It is the sword of Goliath.”
You can read about this in 2 Samuel 21:1, 3-4, 6, 8-9: “Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest [saying] Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread. So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread. And David said unto Ahimelech, and is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, there is none like that; give it me.”
When David was running for his life as King Saul tracked him down, David ran to the only place he could find refreshment, help, and solice, the Tabernacle of the Lord, located in a place called Nob. David knew he could find nourishment at the Tabernacle, for the priesthood operated under the Mosaic law of charity: love thy neighbour as thyself (Leviticus 19:18).
It was at Nob, on the morning of the Sabbath, when David arrived – unarmed, weary, and faint with hunger – before Ahimelech the priest. David needed two things: food and a sword. He asked Ahimelech for five loaves of bread. The priest sorrowfully had no bread to except the hallowed shewbread – the bread, which sat upon the golden table in the sanctuary used as sustenance for the priests and their families. Though it was unlawful for David to eat this bread, Ahimelech gave David five loaves anyway.
The people of Israel did not wear swords constantly, unlike today where a soldier carries a firearm. The priests had no swords, but in the Tabernacle was the sword of Goliath, which was kept behind the ephod wrapped in a cloth. This sword was kept as a monument of the glorious victory David had achieved in the defeat of Goliath. This sword was given to David, and was a reminder to him and Israel of the miraculous victory won by him and the people of Israel through God’s divine intervention. Just seeing the sword must have taken him back to that glorious day when he said to the giant, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD” (I Samuel 17:45).
Tags: God, Holy, Jesus, Praise
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