1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language;
2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5 What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back?
6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams; you little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.
Free Grace note
A rescue no one earned Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters. The whole psalm celebrates the exodus, and the exodus is the Old Testament's great picture of grace. Israel did not free themselves by good behavior; they were slaves, and God reached down and brought them out by His own power. The sea fled, the river turned back, the rock poured out water, all at the presence of the Lord. The New Testament calls Christ our greater exodus, leading us out of a deeper bondage than Egypt, the slavery of sin and death (Luke 9:31 uses the word departure, literally exodus, for His work at Jerusalem). A common assumption is that the older covenant was about earning while the newer is about grace, but the exodus shows grace was always the pattern. God rescues, then the rescued respond. Eternal life is likewise His gift, received by faith and held by His power, not our striving.
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