Hallelujah! The Hymn of Easter--Psalm 114

 

"When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.  

The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  

What ails you, O sea, that you flee? 

O Jordan, that you turn back?

O mountains, that you skip like rams? 

O hills, like lambs? 

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. "

Psalm 114 is the second "verse" in the pre-Passover Seder call to worship.  The psalmist is rehearsing the history of God's relationship with the people of Israel.  It's said that the first Hallel, the first praise song, was sung when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after being delivered from the slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 15--Beautiful!!)  Israel was their kingdom, their promised land, but Judah was their home--the place where the ones who wholeheartedly desired to serve God landed.  When God promised to deliver His people from slavery and into a promised land, even the land and sea got in on the action.  Creation responds to the voice of its Creator, the One whose presence causes all of creation to tremble.  I love the word "skip", which means to bound, frolic, dance, leap.  This exact word is used in verses 4 and 6, and again in Ecclesiastes 3:4- "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Like any other Jewish person celebrating the Passover, Jesus would have been thankful for the deliverance of His own ancestors from slavery in Egypt.  But as He sang of the times the earth reacted powerfully so the Israelites could be delivered from slavery, He would know that the earth would soon react violently to His crucifixion, the One who delivers us from a greater slavery--sin.   Christ Jesus, in a matter of hours, would reach beyond the boundaries of the house of Israel, and offer Himself as a sanctuary--a home-- in a New Promise.  A promise that includes us! Just as creation reacts to the power of God, so will I.   Hallelujah!  Praise God!