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"Hallelujah! But what does Hallelujah mean? It is a command, an imperative, made up of three parts:
The verb hālal means "praise." "This root connotes being sincerely and deeply thankful for and/or satisfied in lauding a superior quality(ies) or great, great act(s) of the object." It can mean, "to brag," and be used to praise a man or woman. But its primary use in the Old Testament is directed toward God.1 In this lesson we're going to begin to examine the psalms of high praise to God, psalms of joy and celebration. This belongs at the end of the Psalter as the high point of the Hallel psalms. These belong to genre of Hebrew poetry known as "hymns," though they aren't like the traditional hymns you'll find in your hymnal. They tend to be exuberant rather than staid, emotional rather than restrained. Psalm 150 -- Let Everything that Has Breath Praise the Lord!The Psalter concludes with this short psalm, beginning and ending with "Hallelujah," wrapping the psalm fore and aft with praise. Read it out loud right now in your favorite translation: "1Praise the LORD. But the psalm doesn't just begin and end with praise. It has praise through and through, using the verb hālal a full thirteen times. There are many ways to look at this short psalm. One approach is to see it as answering various questions about praise:
I doubt, however, that it is composed for us to analyze. Rather it is designed to catch us up in its all-out emotion of praise. Instruments of PraiseWe can't be exhaustive about this psalm, of course. But let's describe the instruments, most of which have a modern-day equivalent. "Trumpet" (shôpār) was originally the ram's horn.3 A metal trumpet (ḥaṣōṣerā) is also mentioned in the Old Testament. This trumpet was made of beaten silver (Numbers 10:2). Josephus describes it as "in length a little short of a cubit, it is a narrow tube, slightly thicker than a flute."4
"Harp" (NIV, NJB), "psaltery" (KJV), "lute" (NRSV), nēbel, is an instrument of 12 strings, plucked with the fingers.5,6 It was larger than the kinnôr or "lyre," with a deeper tone. This lyre had two arms with a box-shaped body (a Canaanite version). David played such an instrument and it was the main instrument in the second temple orchestra.7 Psalm 98 declares:
"Make music to the LORD with the harp,
"Tambourine" (NIV, NRSV, NJB), "timbrel"(KJV), tōp, is a general term for tambourines and small drums (the most common instruments of percussion in ancient times).8 This was a hand drum, without the jingly metal plates we associate with a tambourine. "Strings" (NIV, NRSV) or "stringed instruments" (KJV), mēn, is probably a collective term for stringed instruments.9 "Flute" (NIV), "organs" (KJV), pipes (NRSV, NJB), 'ûgāb, " is probably an end-blown, vertical flute, a reed-pipe."10 "Cymbals" (ṣelṣelîm) that have been found in various Near Eastern sites from the 14th to the 8th centuries BC are generally bronze round flat plates, 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm.) in diameter, with central bowl-like depressions and fitted with iron finger rings. Verse 5 seems to describe two ways of playing the cymbals:
Everyone that Has Breath (150:6a)The psalmist has encompassed all kinds of instrumentalists, all places, all reasons. Now he extends it the final step to "everyone who has breath." That's you and me. We are to praise Yahweh. We are! Praise ye the Lord!
Psalm 95 - Come, Let Us Worship and Bow DownIt's difficult to narrow down these high praise songs to just a few -- there are so many wonderful psalms of this type! Psalm 95 is both a call to praise and thanksgiving. It is also a exhortation to obedience and faith. Structure of Psalm 95Look briefly at the structure:
Names and Titles of GodThere are six names or metaphors for God in this psalm:
Expressions of Worship"1Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; When I consider Psalm 95, I see several expressions of worship (in addition to hālal, "praise," which we examined above in Psalm 150). Since one of our purposes in the Psalms is to learn better to worship, let's examine the underlying Hebrew words:
In verse 6 we see a particular kind of worship -- kneeling, prostration, before the King. "Come, let us bow down in worship, In this one verse are three words which indicate prostrating oneself, kneeling. Prostration was quite common as an act of self-abasement or submission performed before relatives, strangers, superiors, and especially before royalty. The Muslims practice it today in prayer, in which the forehead must touch the ground.17 God our Shepherd (95:7)The next verse is a beautiful image of a flock of sheep in deep grass. "... For he is our God We worship, we bow down, because we recognize both God's ownership of us and his responsibility to care for us. As Jesus put it, he is not a hireling, but the owner of the sheep. Therefore, he is willing to lay down his life for the sheep -- and did! He is the Shepherd, we are the sheep, the flock. He cares for us. Obedience Must Follow Worship (95:7d-11)The final verses of Psalm 95 seem different from the rest of the Psalm. But they follow on the theme of worship. Worship, exhorts this prophetic voice, requires a tender heart of obedience toward God, not the stubbornness shown by the Israelites in the wilderness. "7dToday, if you hear his voice, The psalmist recounts the sad story of Israel's 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. Under Moses they had been brought out of Egypt and seen the Egyptian army destroyed by God's mighty hand. But then the complaints began. No food. God provided manna. No water. God directed Moses to strike a rock and water gushed forth at Massah and Meribah (Exodus 17:7). The crucial test, however, took place on the brink of entering the Promised Land (Numbers 13-14). Twelve spies had been sent north from the Israelite camp at Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land of Canaan prior to the conquest. When they returned, ten reported that they would not be able to defeat the walled cities and giants in the land. Only two -- Caleb and Joshua -- reported that through trust in God: "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." (Numbers 13:30). At that point the people of Israel rebelled. They were filled with fear from the negative report of the ten spies. There was talk of selecting another leader to take them back to Egypt. This wasn't just resistance against the authority of Moses, whom God had appointed, but unbelief of God himself. It was ugly! It constituted treason against both Moses and God. God's response was anger at the unbelief of the entire generation. His oath in this passage begins "as surely as...." He responded: "As surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times -- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it." (Numbers 14:21-23) None of the men and women 20 years old and older would enter the Promised Land and rest from their sojourn. They would die in the desert; only their children would enter the land. The writer of Hebrews discusses this passage extensively in Hebrews 3 and 4 as a warning against unbelief and apostasy. Why did the psalmist insert this warning right after high praise and prostrate submission in Psalm 95? The topic of the psalm is worship. His point is that worship not only consists of praise, thanksgiving, and outward submission, but also submissive hearts before the Lord. This is not an outward worship, but inward. Too often our worship is empty words, rather than a submissive spirit full of faith in God and a readiness to obey him. The Apostle Paul reminds us: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1) The way we live our lives comprises our worship of God, not just what we say with our mouths on "worship days."
Psalm 98 - Sing to the Lord a New SongPsalm 98 is typical of many of the praise psalms. The unidentified writer has no complaint to bring before the Lord. Rather he pens a love-song to God meant to be sung and accompanied by instruments, termed "a psalm" (mizmôr), from zāmar, "to sing, play an instrument."18 The structure of the psalm is fairly free flowing:
Sing a New Song (98:1-3)"Sing to the LORD a new song...." (98:1a) The psalm begins with a command to sing. Kidner comments, "The 'new song' is not simply a piece newly composed, though it naturally includes such, but a response that will match the freshness of His mercies, which are 'new every morning.'"19 Yahweh's Salvation for Israel (98:1b-3)Now the psalmist gives the reasons that Yahweh is worthy of this song of praise. The words "salvation" (yeshû‘â) and "save, deliver" (yāsha‘) occur three times in this section. In the New Testament, the idea of salvation focuses primarily on the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from its power, and the defeat of Satan. But in the Old Testament, salvation is usually in terms of how the Lord has delivered Israel from tangible enemies.20 As I read verses 1b-3 I think especially of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and carving out for them a new homeland in Canaan. "1Sing to the LORD a new song, The imagery here is of Yahweh as a warrior who wields a sword with his right hand and "holy arm" on behalf of Israel. Yahweh the Warrior is a common image in the Psalms. Notice how through his salvation of Israel from captivity to their home in the Promised Land that God "made his salvation known" and revealed his righteousness to the unbelieving nations around. Because they told the story of what God had done, God's reputation for helping Israel was well known. People learn about God's salvation in our lives by what we share. Part of our praise towards God is furthering his reputation by our testimony of how he has saved and delivered us. Instrumental Worship (98:4-6)As we saw in Psalm 150, all the voices and instruments join in worship: "4Shout for joy22 to the LORD, all the earth All Nature Praises Yahweh (98:7-9a)Now the psalmist commands all creation to praise the Lord:"7Let the sea resound, and everything in it, The psalmist calls upon the sea and the earth and all their inhabitants to praise. Let the sea "roar." The word literally means "to thunder." If you've visited the coast, you know the roar of the breakers and the wind.24 The rivers are to "clap25 their hands," the mountains are to "sing." I once met a Bible school graduate (who should have known better) who claimed that mountains must clap their hands. "If the Bible says they do, then they must do it!" he responded with some passion. This is not a question of inerrancy, but of the poetic use of language. The psalmist is obviously using figurative language. Hebrew poetry -- and the Book of Revelation, for that matter -- is full of figurative language. We must try to understand the words as the author intended them -- in this case figuratively. When you read this section, you hear the exuberance of praise, the joy of praise, the fullness of praise that we are to bring to God. The Reason for Praise: The Judge Is Coming with Righteousness (98:9b-d)"... For he comes to judge the earth. You might think that "Here comes the judge!" would be a fearful message, not one that would inspire praise. But if you've been living in a society where the poor are oppressed, where laws are not enforced equally and justly, where the wicked have free rein, you would look at the coming of righteousness and justice with excitement and anticipation.
Righteousness is coming -- at last! Hallelujah! For the righteous it is a joy, a hope, an expectation. For the wicked, however, the coming of the Righteous Judge is a fearsome message. Praise the Lord!
PrayerFather, what a privilege it is to praise you, to bring joyous happy praises to you with my whole heart. Through praising you, you've filled my life with joy. May my whole life -- not just my lips -- be a praise to your name. In Jesus' wonderful name, I pray. Amen. Songs
References
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