Who, where, why and how?
PSALM 150:1
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
הַלְלוּ־אֵל בְּקָדְשׁוֹ הַלְלוּהוּ בִּרְקִיעַ עֻזּוֹ
150 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Who is it we praise? Hallelujah means “Praise the Lord,” but its also a special kind of command, were we invite everyone around us to praise the Lord, too. And notice that in this part of God’s Word, we say “Praise the Lord” or Hallelujah three times. We can’t help but be reminded that the God we praise, the only true God, is the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Where do we praise him? It’s not just here on earth, but also in heaven. That reminds us that when we praise God we aren’t alone. The angels in heaven praise God, and we know that sometimes God sends angels on special missions here on earth too, and they are still praising God even though we can’t see or hear them. And we also know that the souls that are in heaven already are praising God. So even when you’re all alone, by yourself, and sitting down to eat your lunch, you can still pray “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest,” because you aren’t the only person who believes in Jesus. God blesses all people, whether they are on earth or in heaven, and we could thank God for our gifts even if someday you personally were the only person left who believes in God. And God promises to bless us and be with us always – and that’s definitely something to thank God for.
PSALM 150:2
הַלְלוּהוּ בִגְבוּרֹתָיו הַלְלוּהוּ כְּרֹב גֻּדְלוֹ
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Why do we praise him? The Bible verse says Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. We thank and praise God for what he has done, too. And as we get into the rest of the verses of this Psalm, and look at some of the different music we praise God with, those different musical instruments are going to remind of different things God has done for us.
PSALM 150:3
הַלְלוּהוּ בְּתֵקַע שׁוֹפָר הַלְלוּהוּ בְּנֵבֶל וְכִנּוֹר
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
How do we praise God? Any way we can. Some for worship, some not – nothing is prescribed. We just praise.
שׁוֹפָר (Trumpet) – The shophar was used at the festival of the Jubilee. That was a special day that happened once every fifty years – about once every adult’s life – when all the debts would be cancelled, all of the land and houses that had changed hands would go back to the original owner, people who had become slaves would be released and set free, and in general, God’s people would be restored to the way they had been before. The Year of Jubilee isn’t mentioned in the New Testament, but it certainly reminds us of the kind of restoration we have in Jesus. Because the forgiveness of sins we have isn’t just pushing reset on a game, or a “do over.” It’s a permanent, forever fix God has made for us. As one prophet in the Bible said, “I will rebuild David’s fallen tent, and build it as it used to be.” Our relationship with God has been fixed by Jesus, who died to pay for our sins, and who wiped clean our debt to God. And so we sing: “Praise God. Praise God.”
נֵבֶל וְכִנּוֹר (Harp and lyre) – The harp was David’s solo instrument. (we combine these two in our look at the instruments). We remember that David’s Psalms and the rest of God’s Word give us good examples of how we can praise God, with what we say, and how we say it. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”
PSALM 150:4
הַלְלוּהוּ בְּתֹף וּמָחוֹל הַלְלוּהוּ בְּמִנִּים וְעֻגָב
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
תֹף - The timbrel (or tambourine) is often pictured in the Bible as being what the women would play after a victory. We all praise God, men and women, adults and children, each according to our gifts and each in our own special ways.
מָחוֹל (dancing) – We praise him even in ways that maybe I can’t. Probably mentioned here because the women’s instrument (tambourine) was just talked about, but also notice that it’s halfway through the musical instruments, just like a dancer surrounded by musicians. We praise God each in our own way – some with music, some with dance, and other in other ways. Praise him all creatures here below!
מִנִּים (strings) – something that isn’t mentioned with worship in the Bible, except in the celebration (we would say the reception part) of a wedding (Ps. 45:8). God invites us to bring all kinds of music into his praise, traditional or non-traditional. What counts is that we give him our best, and that what we give to him comes from the heart.
עֻגָב (flute) – Just like the strings are the instruments at weddings, the flutes were the instruments used at funerals. We also praise God when we suffer a loss, remembering that the soul that has gone to heaven is also praising God now, except that person is face-to-face with God, where we still have to wait. But we will all praise God together one day, and then forever and ever. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts.
PSALM 150:5
הַלְלוּהוּ בְצִלְצְלֵי־שָׁמַע הַלְלוּהוּ בְּצִלְצְלֵי תְרוּעָה
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
בְצִלְצְלֵי־שָׁמַע (clashing cymbals) / בְּצִלְצְלֵי תְרוּעָה (smashing cymbals) – These cymbals are mentioned only one other time, when David led a big procession when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem after some of God’s enemies had stolen it. Remember how we began with David’s “solo” instrument, the harp? Now at the end we find King David’s “group” instrument, the cymbals.
PSALM 150:6
כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD. (NIV)
However we are able, we praise the Lord. But we don’t, do we? We don’t really always praise our God with everything we do. More often, we praise ourselves. Hey—look what I can do! We’re like the Cat in the Hat: “Look at me, look at me, look at me now!” That Word Hallelujah reminds us, though, that we should praise God, and not me, not ourselves. And so we think about those times we have been selfish, and broken the first commandment by not giving God the credit in our lives, and we lay all those sins down as we think about the cross, and think about Jesus, and we leave them there at the cross, because Jesus paid for all those sins. Every single sin you have committed. Every single sin I have committed, Jesus paid for. And that’s something to dance about. That’s something to sing about. That’s something to pick a musical instrument we’ve never played and learn how to play it, so we can praise God in every way we can think of – and most all, so that we can praise God with everything that we do:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him all creatures here below.
Praise him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
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