Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

“The water of the Jordan River turned away.” (3)

The passing through the Jordan River was equally as miraculous as the parting of the Red Sea and validated Joshua’s position as the new spiritual leader of the nation; “Today I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all the Israelites. Now they will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses…Today you will know that the living God is among you.” (Josh. 3:7, 10) It was the rainy season in Israel and the Jordan’s water filled the valley with boiling rapids. “But as soon as the feet of the priests who were car- rying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, the water began piling up at a town upstream called Adam…”(Josh. 3:15, 16) In a masterful act of poetry, the psalmist describes this event by ascribing life and action to an inanimate object; the river ‘changes course’ as a person is startled and driven back in fear. The crossing of the Jordan River is significant of the New Testament rite of baptism where the be- liever passes through the water and identifies with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and a new life in the Spirit. Our human nature is rolled back to its beginnings in Adam and only our new na- ture in Christ, symbolized by the Ark, is allowed to cross over into the promise land. Peter preached the first Christian sermon and ended it with this appeal: “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) Jesus himself went through the waters of baptism in the Jordan River under the ministry of his cousin, John the Baptist. It was not for repentance like we must experi- ence, as he had never sinned; it was the baptism of empowerment by the Holy Spirit and the love of God: “…Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. And a voice from heaven said, ‘You are my beloved son, and I am full pleased with you.’” (Lk. 3:21, 22) We must die to sin in the waters of baptism and be joined with our new ‘Joshua’ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

“The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs!” (4)

This verse is traditionally thought of as referring to the appearance of God on Mount Sinai where he gave Moses the Ten Commandments: “All Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake.” (Exodus 19:18) Rams have a ‘darting’ manner when they run whereas lambs seem to bounce; this earthquake shook the spiritual fault-lines of the world and caused the mighty mountains of Sinai to frailly skip and dance.

II

WHAT HAPPENED, O JORDAN ? (5, 6)

“What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way?” What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away? Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, little hills, like lambs? (5, 6)

In these verses the Psalmist reaches a high level of poetry by using a technique known as ‘apos- trophe.’ This is when inanimate objects (sea, river, mountains) are addressed as though they were peo- ple. In the natural, earthly realm there is nothing more powerful or majestic than the seas, rivers and mountains and the description of them running away like frightened flocks of sheep is an image seldom equaled in literature. The questions are meant to mock their frailty in comparison with the power of “the presence of the Lord.” The ram is not easily scared and will stand its ground against predators but in this case it runs with the tender lambs in total fear from God’s presence. In the New Covenant of Grace, the flock runs ‘to’ the presence of God rather than running ‘from’ him.

III

WATER FROM THE ROCK - 7, 8

“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” (7)

Scroggie observes of this psalm’s writer: “…though speaking of God, he does not name him until he comes to the end of the ode 4 .” We finally are introduced to the motivating factor of this entire psalm; the presence of ‘Adon Eloah’, the mighty Lord. To tremble is ‘to be pained as a woman in travail,’ labor

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