mountains and hills

[BarbaraW]

In the lesson Mrs. Eddy quotes from Psalms, “What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 114)
Does someone know if the Psalmist’s references to mountains and hills refer to a Biblically recorded event or events as the references to the sea and the Jordan do?

[JoanneF]

Dummelow states: ” This (Ps.114) has been called ‘one of the finest lyrics in literature.’ Probably it is a post-exilic psalm wherein, under the figure of the old exodus from Egypt, the Psalmist chants the return from Babylon. In all ages of the Church it has been used to celebrate the release from the bondage of sin. Hence it is a hymn for Easter night. (Ps.114:3) “the presence of God.” The allusion is to the dividing of the Red Sea and of Jordan, the opening and closing events of the deliverance from Egypt. ‘Skipped,’ i.e. trembled. ‘What ailed?’ The answer is, the presence of God.”

Hope this helps.

[JPalmer]

Matthew Henry wrote the following:

Mountains and hills are, before God, but like rams and lambs; even the bulkiest and the most rocky are as manageable by him as they are by the shepherd. The trembling of the mountains before the Lord may shame the stupidity and obduracy of the children of men, who are not moved at the discoveries of his glory.

From the 1828 Webster’s:

Obduracy
Invincible hardness of heart; impenitence that cannot be subdued; inflexible persistency in sin; obstinacy in wickedness.

Christ Jesus from Mark 11:23:

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

I feel all this points to the reminder that God’s creation – the only creation – is spiritual, and not material. There is no one-hundred-million-ton, eight-thousand-foot-tall obstacle between me and the path God set before me, whether it is a mountain or my own issues I have struggled with. Christian Science provides the God-given means forward. With all I have been learning here, and practitioner support, I’ve already been proving that to myself with a few “hills” in my consciousness, so the larger mountains of my former obduracy are feeling more movable each day.

Thank you!

[BarbaraW]

Thanks to both of you for your responses. Both are helpful.

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