Devotional Short Note on Psalm 114: Ever heard of an unfinished symphony? This may be called the “unfinished psalm”. The psalmist was still talking and suddenly the microphone stopped. In a British comedy called “Hancock’s Half-hour” (Anthony Hancock), “The Last Page” the problem was the missing last page of a favorite detective story he was reading. He went on an exploration trip with his friend to find the last page. The author died before the last page. This psalm seems to lack the last part?

The content matter is dealing with the presence of the Lord and what happens when God is near (114:7a-b) “tremble earth from the presence of the Lord, from the presence of the God of Jacob”. It is the key theme that the psalmist wants to give example about from the date that March in 1450, when the Napoleon of Egypt, the great Thutmosis III lost his life in the Red Sea due to his typical general pride, just like he did at Megiddo-battle years before in the pass at the eastern side of Megiddo, to walk first before his army since they were hesitant. That day the outcome was glorious as the Karnak Inscriptions are telling, but this day at the Exodus was not. Everyone in the Levant heard about his Megiddo bravery, but everyone also heard about his fall.

“In the leaving of Israel from Egypt” (114:1a). That day was March 1450. The news spread from country to country just like modern news do. The whole world feared the God of the Israelites and the Israelites they respected. All suffered oppression for so long, 400 years of slavery. The Egyptians had colonies of nearly all nations that had to pay oppressive taxes to their appointed governors in various areas around the Levant. The Amarna texts, the early corpus, texts EA 51-290 which are the “asking for troops” texts, due to the entry of the Israelites in Canaan between 1410-1405 BCE in the Egyptian colony. Amarna was the capital of a hippie pharaoh who ruled Egypt at the beginning of the period of the Judges, after the entry into Canaan and the wars related to it between 1410-1405 BCE and echoed in Amarna texts EA 51-290 mentioned above, during the time of the grandfather of the hippie Ikhnaton. He had the mentality of “liberty, peace and love, love, love”. The bubblegum, baby-pink and heaven blue 1960’s of our era had a precursor. That is for sure.

“The house of Egypt from a people to --------“. That right. No-one really knows what this word means since it is a one-timer in the Bible. The person who really used one-timers a lot in his writing was Moses. Is this Psalm an unfinished symphony of Joshua because it was after the entry and Moses died before the entry?

Now let us attempt to find a solution to the meaning of the word. Arabic and Mishnaic Hebrew cannot help us solve the problem but they suggested it means “strange language”. They are too late languages to be considered for finding out the true meaning. Akkadian would do and also Ugaritic but there are also problems. The Hebrew word is l`z. There is an Akkadian word that is le’u meaning “violent”. However, the vowel in the middle is different from the Hebrew although it may sound phonologically the same. At Ugarit was also this Akkadian form l’y meaning “violent”. A catholic Ugaritic scholar who wrote the Anchor Bible commentary, M. Dahood, suggested that it is the Ugaritic word “violent” here. The other major problem with all these suggestion are: what about the /z/ at the end? All these theories have to be thrown off the table.

There is an Akkadian word ezzu or ezêzu meaning “furious/fierce” and the Hebrew word in the Old Testament used for it is “mighty” or “strong” or “fierce”. The /l/ in the front was a preposition meaning “belonging to might”. “From a people belonging to might”. That is where they escaped from. Might or power belonged to Egypt for 400 years since Sesostris III took the throne around 1878 which is the year that Joseph died, namely 430 years before the Exodus (Galatians 3:17). After his military campaigns, the last one in 1857 (his 19^th year) he became negative and a hater of the foreigners in his country. He suffered from heterophobia. One can see it on his face in the British Museum. Of course, Sesostris III was the icon of Thutmosis III, the last pharaoh of the enslavement and oppression policies of Egypt.

Entering Canaan in 1410 BCE, “Judah became unto His sanctuary” (114:2a). “Israel of His rulership”. The monarchy system was tolerated since the theocracy was set up here. With such a powerful God, who needs a king?

The Red Sea “saw and fled” in 1450 BCE (114:3a). “The Jordan turned around to the back” (114:3b). There were much more water in the Jordan than currently the case. There are indications in the Bible that the Jordan was a strong flowing river, much more than today. Those waters turned back when Israel entered in 1410 BCE after the death of Moses and translation to heaven from Mount Nebo.

Thinking of the Exodus out of Egypt wandering through the wilderness experience as a whole, the psalmist says, thinking of the Mount Sinai theophany or revelation of God, “The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep” in 1448 when the Law was given there (114:4).

The psalmist then rehearsed just what he said, but cast it in a question form: “What is it to you that you flee, o sea?” (114:5a). “[What is it to you] the Jordan that you turned around to the back?” (114:5b). “[What is it to you] mountains that you skip like rams?” (114:6). “[What is it to you] hills [that you skip] like young sheep?” (114:6b).

The rhetorical questioning is to create an anticipation for an answer focusing on the presence of the Lord as the key factor. All questions leads to God as the answer. That is the principle here.

There should be trembling from the presence of the Lord (adon = master), the God of Jacob. The disciples used this word when they talked to Jesus as “Master….”

Why?

Because of the water miracle: “Who turned the rock into a pool of waters, the flint into His fountain of waters” (114:8). The background is Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11; Deuteronomy 8:15 and Deuteronomy 32:13. Suddenly the psalmist drops the harp since he has said enough. God is involved with humans and everything else is secondary.  

Alexander Maclaren in the Expository Bible said: “He has said enough to breed faith and hearten courage, and he drops his harp without a formal close” (see http://www.ccel.org/ccel/maclaren/expositorpsalms3.xxvi.html). Some scholars said that the text is defective. Defective? Ever heard a sermon by Charles Brooks or Benjamin Reeves? The last words is spoken and while you wait for the next sentence, the Bible is closed, placed on the breast of the speaker and honorably he walks away. Silence drags thoughts out of the expectancy! Why not in Psalm 114?