“To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 136:13 Mean?
The psalmist recounts the Red Sea crossing within the refrain-psalm: "To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever." The dividing of the sea is attributed to God's enduring mercy. The military miracle and the covenant attribute are connected: the sea parted because of chesed. The power that split the water was motivated by the love that never ends.
The word "divided" (gazar — to cut, to divide, to separate into parts) describes the sea-parting as a surgical act: God cut the sea into parts the way a surgeon cuts tissue — deliberately, precisely, creating a separation where solid mass previously existed. The sea didn't open gradually. It was cut.
The refrain "for his mercy endureth for ever" (ki le-olam chasdo) is Psalm 136's chorus — repeated twenty-six times, once after every line. The repetition isn't redundancy. It's liturgical: every act of God described in the psalm is accompanied by the congregational response: his mercy endures forever. The sea-dividing and the mercy are linked in perpetuity.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does the refrain (repeated 26 times) embed the truth of God's enduring mercy into the worshipper's consciousness?
- 2.What does the surgical vocabulary ('cut' the sea) add to the image of how God's power operates?
- 3.How does connecting every divine act to mercy change your interpretation of even the violent acts described in Psalm 136?
- 4.What act of God in your life needs the 'his mercy endures forever' refrain attached to it?
Devotional
He cut the Red Sea into parts. His mercy endures forever. The miracle and the attribute are connected by the refrain: the power that divided the sea was mercy-powered. The military deliverance was a love act.
The word 'divided' (gazar — to cut) is surgical: the sea was cut open the way a surgeon opens flesh — precisely, deliberately, with the skill of someone who knows exactly where the incision goes. The sea didn't casually part. It was cut into parts by the God whose hands are as precise as a surgeon's and as powerful as a planet's.
The refrain — 'for his mercy endureth for ever' — appears after every single line in Psalm 136. Twenty-six times. The congregation responds to each divine act with the same words: his mercy endures. The repetition is the liturgy: the leader sings the act (he divided the sea). The congregation sings the character (his mercy endures forever). Every miracle is immediately attributed to the same source: enduring mercy.
The connection between the miracle and the mercy is the psalm's theological thesis: everything God does is mercy. The creation (verses 5-9): mercy. The Exodus (verses 10-16): mercy. The conquest (verses 17-22): mercy. The ongoing provision (verses 23-25): mercy. Every act of God, when properly understood, is an expression of the same inexhaustible chesed.
The twenty-six repetitions are designed to embed this truth in the worshipper's consciousness: his mercy endures. His mercy endures. His mercy endures. By the time the psalm ends, you've said it twenty-six times. The repetition isn't for God's benefit (he knows his mercy endures). It's for yours. You need to say it twenty-six times because you'll forget it by morning.
What act of God in your life needs the refrain attached: his mercy endures forever?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
To him which divided the Red sea into parts,.... Into two parts, so that the waters of it stood as a wall on the right…
To him which divided the Red sea into parts - More literally, “Parted it into parts;” made parts of that which before…
The great things God for Israel, when he first formed them into a people, and set up his kingdom among them, are here…
O give thanks unto him that hath chosen Zion (Psa 132:13), for &c.
into parts R.V. in sunder. In two partsof P.B.V. is a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture