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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 Ho 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, Ps 114:1. II. That God set up his tabernacle among them, Ps 114:2. III. That the sea and Jordan were divided before them, Ps 114:3,5. IV. That the earth shook at the giving of the law, when God came down on Mount Sinai, Ps 114:4,6,7. V. That God gave them water out of the rock, Ps 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.
1-8
The Deliverance of Israel Celebrated
繁體中文
頌讚以色列的蒙救
¹ 以色列出了埃及，雅各家離開說異言之民； ² 那時，猶大為主的聖所，以色列為他所治理的國度。 ³ 滄海看見就奔逃，約但河也倒流。 ⁴ 大山踴躍如公羊，小山跳舞如羊羔。 ⁵ 滄海啊，你為何奔逃？約但哪，你為何倒流？ ⁶ 你們大山，為何踴躍如公羊？你們小山，為何跳舞如羊羔？ ⁷ 大地啊，你因見主的面，就是雅各神的面，便要震動。 ⁸ 他叫磐石變為水池，叫堅石變為泉源。
詩人在此記念古時之日，至高者右手之年份，並他們列祖所告訴他們的奇事（士六13）；因為時間既不當磨滅罪咎，也不當磨滅對恩典的感念。以下的事永不可忘記：
一、神以高舉的手、伸出來的膀臂，將以色列從為奴之家領出來：以色列出了埃及（詩一一四1）。他們不是暗暗偷著出來，也不是被趕出來的，乃是光明正大地出來，帶著一切尊榮的記號行軍而出；他們從一個野蠻的民中出來——那民曾野蠻地苦待他們——從說異言之民中出來（詩八十一5）。看來以色列人在他們中間保守了自己言語的純正，無意學習那些壓迫他們之人的言語。藉著這與他們有別的記號，他們持守了蒙拯救的憑據。
二、他親自為他們設立了公民與神聖的體制（詩一一四2）：猶大與以色列成了他的聖所、他所治理的國度。他將他們從壓迫者手中拯救出來，為要使他們事奉他——既在聖潔中、又在公義中，既盡宗教敬拜的本分、又順服道德律，並在他們全人的生活言行中如此行。容我的百姓去，好事奉我。為此，1. 他在他們中間設立了他的聖所，在其中賜給他們他同在的特殊記號，並應允悅納他們的敬拜與貢物。有神的聖所在他們中間的百姓是有福的（見出二十五8，結三十七26），那些如這裏的猶大一般成為他的聖所——他的活殿、其上寫著歸耶和華為聖——的人，更是有福。2. 他在他們中間設立了他的治理，親自作他們的賜律者與審判官，他們的政權乃是神治：*耶和華是他們的王。*全世界都是神的國度，但以色列是以特殊的方式如此。神的聖所必是神的國度。惟獨那些順服其律法的人，才享有他宅邸的特權；基督救贖我們，正是為此——要把我們帶進神的事奉中，使我們永遠在其中。
三、紅海在他們出埃及時為他們分開，既為他們施行拯救，又使仇敵滅亡；約但河在他們進迦南時分開，為使他們得尊榮，並使仇敵混亂驚恐（詩一一四3）：滄海看見就奔逃——看見了猶大是神的聖所、以色列是他所治理的國度，因此便奔逃；因為再沒有比這更可畏的了。正是這事使約但河倒流，成了他眾水無法抵擋的堤壩；神在那百姓的前頭，所以它們必須讓路給他們、為他們騰出空間——當神發言之時，它們必逆著本性而退。詩人為描繪此事，以詩意的筆觸發問（詩一一四5）：滄海啊，你為何奔逃？又替滄海作答（詩一一四7）：是因見主的面。這是要表明：1. 這神蹟的真實——它並非出於任何自然的能力或原因，而是因見主的面，是他發了命令。2. 這神蹟的恩慈：你為何奔逃？是因嬉戲嗎？只是為消遣人嗎？不是；是因見雅各神的面；是出於對以色列神的恩慈，為要拯救那選民，神才如此向江河發怒，他的烈怒向滄海發作，正如先知所言（哈三8-13；賽五十一10，六十三11等）。3. 這神蹟的奇妙與驚人。誰曾想到這樣的事呢？自然的常軌竟被更改，基本的定律竟被擱置，為要服事神的以色列！難怪以東的族長驚惶，摩押的勇士戰兢（出十五15）。4. 以色列因此所得的尊榮——他們受教勝過滄海與約但河，視其在他們面前無法站立。當注意：不論滄海或約但河，多深多廣，當神拯救他百姓的時候一到，它若擋在路上，必被分開、被擊退。這可應用於：（1）基督教會在世上的建立。魔鬼與黑暗的權勢為何戰兢、屈服，如同他們所作的那樣（可一34）？外邦的神諭為何被止息、被打啞、被擊殺？他們的偶像與邪術為何在福音面前消散，如雪在日頭之前融化？福音的逼迫者與反對者為何放棄他們的事業、藏起他們有罪的頭、向山嶺和巖石呼求庇護（啟六15）？都是因見主的面，並那與福音同去的權能。（2）恩典在人心中之工。在重生的靈魂裏，是甚麼使那水流轉向？那些私慾與敗壞為何退卻？偏見為何被除去，全人為何變成新的？是因神之靈的同在，使一切計謀都被攻破（林後十5）。
四、當神降臨在西乃山頒佈律法之時，大地震動戰兢（詩一一四4）：大山踴躍如公羊，那時小山跳躍如羊羔也不足為奇——無論是因受驚，還是因嬉戲。那使流動的水固定、使其站住的同樣權能，也使穩固的山嶺震動、使其戰兢；因為自然的一切能力都在自然之神的管束之下。山嶺與小山在神面前，不過如公羊與羊羔；即使最龐大、最堅固的，在他手中也如牧人手中的羊羔一般易於管理。山嶺在主面前的戰兢，可以使世人的遲鈍與頑梗蒙羞——他們在神榮耀的彰顯之下竟不為所動。詩人問山嶺與小山為何如此踴躍，並替它們回答，如同替眾水回答一樣：是因見主的面——不僅那些山嶺，連大地本身在他面前都當戰兢（詩一一四7），因它已因人的罪而伏在咒詛之下。見詩一〇四32；賽六十四3、4。那使山嶺如此踴躍的神，也能在他認為美的時候，驅散他最驕傲仇敵的力量與精神，使他們戰兢。
五、神從磐石中為他們供水，那水跟隨他們經過乾旱的沙漠。那叫磐石變為水池的神（詩一一四8），全地與其上一切居民都當在他面前戰兢——行了這事的神，還有甚麼不能作的呢？那使水變成磐石作以色列牆垣的同樣全能（出十四22），也使磐石變成水作以色列的井：他們受保護如何藉著神蹟，得供應也如何藉著神蹟——是常存的神蹟；那水池、那磐石——那堅硬的磐石——所變成的泉水，就是如此；那磐石就是基督（林前十4）。因為他是他以色列子民活水的泉源，他們從他領受恩上加恩。
英語原文
The Deliverance of Israel Celebrated
¹ When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
² Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
³ The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
⁴ The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
⁵ What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
⁶ Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
⁷ Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
⁸ Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
The psalmist is here remembering the days of old, the years of the right hand of the Most High, and the wonders which their fathers told them of (Jdg 6:13), for time, as it does not wear out the guilt of sin, so it should not wear out the sense of mercy. Let it never be forgotten,
I. That God brought Israel out of the house of bondage with a high hand and a stretched-out arm: Israel went out of Egypt, Ps 114:1. They did not steal out clandestinely, nor were they driven out, but fairly went out, marched out with all the marks of honour; they went out from a barbarous people, that had used them barbarously, from a people of a strange language, Ps 81:5. The Israelites, it seems, preserved their own language pure among them, and cared not for learning the language of their oppressors. By this distinction from them they kept up an earnest of their deliverance.
II. That he himself framed their civil and sacred constitution (Ps 114:2): Judah and Israel were his sanctuary, his dominion. When he delivered them out of the hand of their oppressors it was that they might serve him both in holiness and in righteousness, in the duties of religious worship and in obedience to the moral law, in their whole conversation. Let my people go, that they may serve me. In order to this, 1. He set up his sanctuary among them, in which he gave them the special tokens of his presence with them and promised to receive their homage and tribute. Happy are the people that have God's sanctuary among them (see Ex 25:8, Eze 37:26), much more those that, like Judah here, are his sanctuaries, his living temples, on whom Holiness to the Lord is written. 2. He set up his dominion among them, was himself their lawgiver and their judge, and their government was a theocracy: The Lord was their King. All the world is God's dominion, but Israel was so in a peculiar manner. What is God's sanctuary must be his dominion. Those only have the privileges of his house that submit to the laws of it; and for this end Christ has redeemed us that he might bring us into God's service and engage us for ever in it.
III. That the Red Sea was divided before them at their coming out of Egypt, both for their rescue and the ruin of their enemies; and the river Jordan, when they entered into Canaan, for their honour, and the confusion and terror of their enemies (Ps 114:3): The sea saw it, saw there that Judah was God's sanctuary, and Israel his dominion, and therefore fled; for nothing could be more awful. It was this that drove Jordan back, and was an invincible dam to his streams; God was at the head of that people, and therefore they must give way to them, must make room for them, they must retire, contrary to their nature, when God speaks the word. To illustrate this the psalmist asks, in a poetical strain (Ps 114:5), What ailed thee, O thou sea! that thou fleddest? And furnishes the sea with an answer (Ps 114:7); it was at the presence of the Lord. This is designed to express, 1. The reality of the miracle, that it was not by any power of nature, or from any natural cause, but it was at the presence of the Lord, who gave the word. 2. The mercy of the miracle: What ailed thee? Was it in a frolic? Was it only to amuse men? No; it was at the presence of the God of Jacob; it was in kindness to the Israel of God, for the salvation of that chosen people, that God was thus displeased against the rivers, and his wrath was against the sea, as the prophet speaks, Hab 3:8-13, Isa 51:10,63:11, etc. 3. The wonder and surprise of the miracle. Who would have thought of such a thing? Shall the course of nature be changed, and its fundamental laws dispensed with, to serve a turn for God's Israel? Well may the dukes of Edom be amazed and the mighty men of Moab tremble, Ex 15:15. 4. The honour hereby put upon Israel, who are taught to triumph over the sea, and Jordan, as unable to stand before them. Note, There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God's time shall come for the redemption of his people, it shall be divided and driven back if it stand in their way. Apply this, (1.) To the planting of the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and the powers of darkness, that they trembled and truckled as they did? Mk 1:34. What ailed the heathen oracles, that they were silenced, struck dumb, struck dead? What ailed their idolatries and witchcrafts, that they died away before the gospel, and melted like snow before the sun? What ailed the persecutors and opposers of the gospel, that they gave up their cause, hid their guilty heads, and called to rocks and mountains for shelter? Re 6:15. It was at the presence of the Lord, and that power which went along with the gospel. (2.) To the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What ails the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back, that the prejudices are removed and the whole man has become new? It is at the presence of God's Spirit that imaginations are cast down, 2Co 10:5.
IV. That the earth shook and trembled when God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (Ps 114:4): The mountains skipped like rams, and then the little hills might well be excused if they skipped like lambs, either when they are frightened or when they sport themselves. The same power that fixed the fluid waters and made them stand still shook the stable mountains and made them tremble for all the powers of nature are under the check of the God of nature. Mountains and hills are, before God, but like rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as manageable by him as they are by the shepherd. The trembling of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the discoveries of his glory. The psalmist asks the mountains and hills what ailed them to skip thus; and he answers for them, as for the seas, it was at the presence of the Lord, before whom, not only those mountains, but the earth itself, may well tremble (Ps 114:7), since it has lain under a curse for man's sin. See Ps 104:32, Isa 64:3,4. He that made the hills and mountains to skip thus can, when he pleases, dissipate the strength and spirit of the proudest of his enemies and make them tremble.
V. That God supplied them with water out of the rock, which followed them through the dry and sandy deserts. Well may the earth and all its inhabitants tremble before that God who turned the rock into a standing water (Ps 114:8), and what cannot he do who did that? The same almighty power that turned waters into a rock to be a wall to Israel (Ex 14:22) turned the rock into waters to be a well to Israel: as they were protected, so they were provided for, by miracles, standing miracles; for such was the standing water, that fountain of waters into which the rock, the flinty rock, was turned, and that rock was Christ, 1Co 10:4. For he is a fountain of living waters to his Israel, from whom they receive grace for grace.
以色列蒙拯救出離埃及，催生了以色列的教會與國家——他們正是在那時被建立、被塑造；因此這一奇妙作為當永遠記念。神在其中得榮耀，如十誡序言所記，又如何 11:1 所言：「我從埃及召出我的兒子來。」本詩以活潑的讚美歌頌此事，因此被恰當地收入偉大的「哈利路亞」（即讚美之詩）之中，是猶太人素來在逾越節筵席將結束時所詠唱的。我們永不可忘記：一、他們被領出奴役（詩 114:1）；二、神在他們中間設立祂的帳幕（詩 114:2）；三、滄海與約旦河在他們面前分開（詩 114:3,5）；四、頒布律法時大地震動，就是神降臨西乃山之時（詩 114:4,6,7）；五、神從磐石賜他們水喝（詩 114:8）。我們唱這詩時，當承認神為以色列所行之大事中的大能與恩慈，並將之應用於那更偉大的奇妙作為——我們藉基督所得的救贖，以此勉勵自己與他人，在最艱難的境遇中信靠神。