I’ve been teaching in the psalms the last month or so and as you probably know, the psalms are divided into five different sections – representing the five books of the Penteteuch written by Moses. We are currently in the fifth book that includes Psalms 107-150. The psalms in this section are full of praise for God and that theme is the one we are exploring this evening.
If you glanced at the title 0f this offering, you might notice that our title looks very similar to the word “Hallelujah.” This word is very familiar to those of us who had read portions of the Bible, have sung Christmas songs, or even listened to Handle’s Messiah. Hallelujah is a very familiar word to us, as Christians, but where does it come from and what does it mean?
Well, the origin of the word comes right out of the Hebrew language. The first section, “Hallel” means “Praise” in the Hebrew language. The second section, although shorter, is a little more cryptic. When the Hebrew scribes were referring God the Father, LORD of all, Adonai and other names that referenced the Most High God, there was a secret name that they used. It was the most secret and special name that was ever used to refer to God. In fact, the name was so special that the scribes couldn’t even write it, and even if they used the abbreviation, they had to break their pencil, never to be used again. In fact, they had to destroy whatever they wrote with…
The sacred word was Yahweh, the most reverent and special word ever used to honor God. In fact, because they couldn’t use the word, as it would have been disrespectful to ever utter it, the Hebrews came up with what was called the secret Tetragrammaton. This shortened reference to God was specially written as YHWH – four letters that formed a reference for the Most High God.
But even this reference to God was too special to be used. So an even more cryptic word was used – “Yah”… As you can imagine, it was a shortened version of Yahweh! It was even simpler than the secret YHWH… just Yah.. It’s not a leap to figure out that the word also refers to God. So… when you combine “Hallel” and “yah” you can see that the word means “Praise God!” And that is where the lengthened “Hallelujah” comes from – Praise God… or Praise the LORD!
Technically, Hallel means to praise in song and the form of the word means that it is pretty much a command. With these added elements that Hebrew scholars point out to us, an even more correct translation would be, “You must praise the LORD.”
That’s pretty special isn’t it! Whenever I recall the meaning of these words of praise, I tend to think of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah. At Christmas we sing this word of praise at the top of our lungs as we listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other groups throughout the world sing this beautiful command throughout the world.
Our verse for tonight is from the psalms, where Hallelujah appears 24 times. Remembering that the psalms were songs to be sung, and that Hallelujah is a command to “Praise the LORD,” I chose the entire 150th Psalm for our lesson.
The psalmist starts and ends this six verse psalm with praise for God. We are told through these six verses, by the anonymous author of this final psalm, “Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.” I think you can safely surmise that the psalmist is telling us that we are to praise the LORD with everything we have to offer.
What a wonderful concluding psalm for this most distinctive book. The author opens and closes with the phrase, “Praise the LORD.” In between, we are told how we are to praise him! How powerful! My encouragement this evening is that God is worthy of our praise. God is constant – yesterday, today and tomorrow. In other words, God is reliable and to be praised forever. My prayer is that we will always remember to use “Hallelujah” in our worship experiences, whether in song or even more importantly, in closing our prayers. Have a great day in the LORD, grace and peace… Hallelujah!