Psalms 114:1

“When Israel went out of Egypt, etc.] The people of Israel in a body, publicly, openly, and not by stealth; freely and willingly, not forced and drove out; though urged by the Egyptians to go, through the hand of God upon them; and so went out with the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord, and with great riches, and in health, not one feeble or sick among them. The house of Jacob from a people of strange language; or barbarous; as every language was reckoned by the Jews but their own; the Egyptian language they did not understand; (see <198105>Psalm 81:5 <014223>Genesis 42:23), no doubt many of them learned it during their long stay there, but in general they retained their own…”

“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).”

“When Israel went out of Egypt - literally, “In the going out of Israel from Egypt.” This is not to be confined to the exact act of the exodus, but embraces all that properly entered into that migration - the whole train of events which resuited in their being brought into the promised land. The house of Jacob - The family of Jacob - a name appropriately used here, since it was the family of Jacob that had gone down into Egypt, and that had increased to these great numbers. From a people of strange language - Speaking a foreign or a barbarian tongue. See the notes at Psalms 81:5. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Ps 114 This lyrical celebration of the Lord’s power in nature recalls Israel’s beginning as a nation at the Exodus (114:1-2) and upon their entry to the Promised Land (114:3-6). It promotes reverence for the God of Jacob (114:7-8). 114:1-2 At the time of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land, Israel was one holy kingdom (Exod 19:5-6). • The separate references to the land of Judah and Israel indicate that the psalm was composed after the kingdom was divided (1 Kgs 12:16-17; cp. 1 Sam 11:8; 1 Kgs 1:35), and probably after the Exile. The land of Judah became God’s sanctuary because the people worshiped God; his Tabernacle and later his Temple were located there.”

“(Title), This short, and apparently imperfect Psalm, for elegance and sublimity, yields to few in the whole book. The composition of it is inexpressibly beautiful, and in the highest style of poetry. Israel: Exo 12:41, Exo 12:42, Exo 13:3, Exo 20:2; Deu 16:1, Deu 26:8; Isa 11:16 a people: Psa 81:5; Gen 42:23 Psalms 114:2”

“Egypt is called עם לעז (from לעז, cogn. לעג, לעה), because the people spoke a language unintelligible to Israel ( Psa 81:6), and as it were a stammering language. The lxx, and just so the Targum, renders ἐκ λαοῦ βαρβάρου (from the Sanscrit barbaras, just as onomatopoetic as balbus, cf. Fleischer in Levy's Chaldisches Wrterbuch, i. 420). The redeemed nation is called Judah, inasmuch as God made it His sanctuary (קדשׁ) by setting up His sanctuary (מקדּשׁ, Exo 15:17) in the midst of it, for Jerusalem (el ḳuds) as Benjamitish Judaean, and from the time of David was accounted directly as Judaean. In so far, however, as He made this people His kingdom (ממשׁלותיו, an amplificative plural with…”