Psalm 136:13














Divided the sea in sunder. The peculiarity of the account given us of this miracle wrought for the deliverance of Israel is that it gives so distinctly the natural agencies by which it was wrought. A certain natural obstacle had to be overcome, and it was overcome by such forces as man would have used if he had had the nature-forces in his control. We can distinctly recognize the suitability of the agencies. But here the true miracle comes in. There was no manufacture of new forces; there was absolute control of existing forces. There was no accident of wind and tide; there was the Divine using of wind and tide. When God made natural forces he did not loosen them from his control. He is always controlling them, and we are made to feel sure that he is, by some such extraordinary cases of controlling as we have in this crossing of the sea. Geikie says, "Ebb and flood tide, in the narrow northern ford especially, are greatly affected by the wind prevailing at any given time A violent north-east gale blew all night, and drove the waters before it, at ebb-tide, into the south-west ford, till the sandy ridge of the ford was laid bare, the shore-waters thus becoming a wall or protection to the Hebrews on the right, and those of the open sea on the left hand. The storm prolonging the ebb, delayed the flow of the tide, and thus before morning the whole of the Hebrews were able to reach the east shore."

I. NATURAL OBSTACLES STILL HINDER GOD'S PEOPLE. Such natural obstacles as are related to the circumstances of God's people nowadays. They often appear as bodily frailty, or as sickness of those to whom we are bound in duty, or in limitation of means, or insufficiency of premises for Christian work, or hindering distances from fields of labor, or strange enmities that seem to check us in every enterprise. And it is not altogether easy to associate God with such material things, and to realize that he is actually working for us in the control or removal of them. And yet just that is the lesson for the ages to be learned from God's removal of the hindering Red Sea.

II. NATURAL OBSTACLES DO BUT REPRESENT THE SPIRITUAL OBSTACLES OF GOD'S PEOPLE. "We wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers." The spiritual weaknesses of ourselves, the spiritual forces of evil. Of our spiritual enemy we may say, "We are not ignorant of his devices." Nor is God. Nor does he fail to master these obstacles or to counteract his devices. - R.T.

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He.
: —

I. God ACTS. He is the great worker, — never resting, never failing, never wearying, — the worker of all workers, the motor in all motions.

II. God acts EVERYWHERE. In the heavens He rolls the massive orbs of space; on the earth He maketh the grass to grow and clotheth the earth with verdure.

III. God acts FROM and FOR HIMSELF.

1. From Himself. Our activity is often excited and controlled by something external to ourselves. His never. Nothing is extra. No ruling principles or persons, not all the hierarchies of intelligences, nor the rushing forces and forms of universal matter can excite Him. His action is that of absolute spontaneity. He is responsible to no one.

2. For Himself. There is no other reason for His activity but what pleases Him. The chief measure of any moral intelligence is the gratification of His predominant disposition. In God this is love. Hence His pleasure in creating the universe and sustaining it is the diffusion of His own happiness. His pleasure is the pleasure of His creatures; His happiness and theirs are identical.

(David Thomas, D. D.)

People
Amorites, Egyptians, Og, Pharaoh, Psalmist, Sihon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Age, Apart, Asunder, Cutting, Divided, Endures, Endureth, Everlasting, Forever, Kindness, Love, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Mercy, Red, Steadfast, Sunder, Suph, Unchanging
Outline
1. An exhortation to give thanks to God for particular mercies.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 136:1-20

     1035   God, faithfulness

Psalm 136:1-26

     1085   God, love of
     8352   thankfulness

Psalm 136:13-16

     7223   exodus, significance

Library
Pilgrim Song
Gerhard Ter Steegen Ps. cxxxvi. 16 Come, children, on and forward! With us the Father goes; He leads us, and He guards us Through thousands of our foes: The sweetness and the glory, The sunlight of His eyes, Make all the desert places To glow as paradise. Lo! through the pathless midnight The fiery pillar leads, And onward goes the Shepherd Before the flock He feeds; Unquestioning, unfearing, The lambs may follow on, In quietness and confidence, Their eyes on Him alone. Come, children, on and
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Last Discourses of Christ - the Prayer of Consecration.
THE new Institution of the Lord's Supper did not finally close what passed at that Paschal Table. According to the Jewish Ritual, the Cup is filled a fourth time, and the remaining part of the Hallel [5717] repeated. Then follow, besides Ps. cxxxvi., a number of prayers and hymns, of which the comparatively late origin is not doubtful. The same remark applies even more strongly to what follows after the fourth Cup. But, so far as we can judge, the Institution of the Holy Supper was followed by the
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Minstrel
ELISHA needed that the Holy Spirit should come upon him to inspire him with prophetic utterances. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." We need that the hand of the Lord should be laid upon us, for we can never open our mouths in wisdom except we are under the divine touch. Now, the Spirit of God works according to his own will. "The wind bloweth where it listeth," and the Spirit of God operates as he chooseth. Elisha could not prophesy just when he liked; he must wait until
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881

Gethsemane
We turn once more to follow the steps of Christ, now among the last He trod upon earth. The hymn,' with which the Paschal Supper ended, had been sung. Probably we are to understand this of the second portion of the Hallel, [5818] sung some time after the third Cup, or else of Psalm cxxxvi., which, in the present Ritual, stands near the end of the service. The last Discourses had been spoken, the last Prayer, that of Consecration, had been offered, and Jesus prepared to go forth out of the City, to
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Psalm 136:13 NIV
Psalm 136:13 NLT
Psalm 136:13 ESV
Psalm 136:13 NASB
Psalm 136:13 KJV

Psalm 136:13 Bible Apps
Psalm 136:13 Parallel
Psalm 136:13 Biblia Paralela
Psalm 136:13 Chinese Bible
Psalm 136:13 French Bible
Psalm 136:13 German Bible

Psalm 136:13 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Psalm 136:12
Top of Page
Top of Page