The Whole Story Psalm 115

Psalms Chapter 114
א בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל, מִמִּצְרָיִם; בֵּית יַעֲקֹב, מֵעַם לֹעֵז.
1 When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
ב הָיְתָה יְהוּדָה לְקָדְשׁוֹ; יִשְׂרָאֵל, מַמְשְׁלוֹתָיו.
2 Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion.
ג הַיָּם רָאָה, וַיָּנֹס; הַיַּרְדֵּן, יִסֹּב לְאָחוֹר.
3 The sea saw it, and fled; the Jordan turned backward.
ד הֶהָרִים, רָקְדוּ כְאֵילִים; גְּבָעוֹת, כִּבְנֵי-צֹאן.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.
ה מַה-לְּךָ הַיָּם, כִּי תָנוּס; הַיַּרְדֵּן, תִּסֹּב לְאָחוֹר.
5 What is with you, O sea, that you flee? OJordan, that you turn backward?
ו הֶהָרִים, תִּרְקְדוּ כְאֵילִים; גְּבָעוֹת, כִּבְנֵי-צֹאן.
6 The mountains, skip like rams; the hills, like young sheep?
ז מִלִּפְנֵי אָדוֹן, חוּלִי אָרֶץ; מִלִּפְנֵי, אֱלוֹהַּ יַעֲקֹב.
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
ח הַהֹפְכִי הַצּוּר אֲגַם-מָיִם; חַלָּמִישׁ, לְמַעְיְנוֹ-מָיִם.
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

This well-known psalm, recited or sung during every festival and particularly during Passover, tells a story of the Passover experience--"betzeit Yisrael mi'mitzrayim"--when Israel emerged from Egypt... It describes the euphoria and the supernatural nature of this event such that not only humanbeings rejoiced but even the inanimate mountains, seas and rocks performed miraculous activities in acknolwedging and enabling the children of Israel to triumphantly depart.
The poetry is presented in typical parallelism such that a lmost every verset finds an exact parallel in its sister verset. (Yisrael and bet yaakov; Mitzrayim and am loez; Yehuda and Yisrael; harim and gevaot; eilim and benei tzon...). One verse stands out though as comprising two entirely different events but are presented as two halves of a parallel verse.

2 Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion.
ג הַיָּם רָאָה, וַיָּנֹס; הַיַּרְדֵּן, יִסֹּב לְאָחוֹר.
3 The sea saw it, and fled; the Jordan turned backward.
ד הֶהָרִים, רָקְדוּ כְאֵילִים; גְּבָעוֹת, כִּבְנֵי-צֹאן.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.
ה מַה-לְּךָ הַיָּם, כִּי תָנוּס; הַיַּרְדֵּן, תִּסֹּב לְאָחוֹר.
5 What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest? thou Jordan, that thou turnest backward?

Verses 3 and again 5 describe the sea splitting or fleeing from the awe of god and Israel. The notion of the sea fleeing הים ראה וינס is very powerful in that it personifies the great sea and turns it into yet another part of creation expressing the fear and awe of the great and powerful experince of yetziat mitzrayim. The Torah makes no mention of the sea fleeing at Moshe's command, yet the depiction creates a dramatic feeling in our minds and raises our excitment.

What is unique, however, is the fact that these two versets are seemingly not parallel at all! The sea flees at Yam Suf, but the Jordan turning back, that takes place forty years later in Canaan! We should realize that in fact these two events are parallel, in fact they complement each other. the first miracle took place in the eyes of the first generation of those who left Egypt while the second miracle patterned exactly after the first takes p lace in the eyes of the second generation of those entering Israel, God's complete two-part mission told to Moshe.
The psalm wants to reinforce the notion that without Joshua's conquest of Canaan the Passover story is not complete, but with the final miracle of the Jordan the story comes to a close and the Holiday is truly complete.

Thus, analyzing one component of psalm 114 offers insight into the entire Passover story and sheds light on the entire mission of the children of Israel, and their complete triumph so many years ago.