Hallelujah.
1 Praise, ye servants of Jehovah,
Praise the name of Jehovah.
2 Be the name of Jehovah blessed
From henceforth and for evermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down,
Praised be the name of Jehovah.
4 High above all nations is Jehovah,
Above the heavens His glory.
5 Who is like Jehovah our God?
Who sits enthroned on high,
6 Who looks far below
On the heavens and on the earth;
7 Who raises the helpless from the dust,
From the rubbish-heap He lifts the needy,
8 To seat him with nobles,
With the nobles of His people;
9 Who seats the barren [woman] in a house,
--A glad mother of her children.
This pure burst of praise is the first of the psalms composing
the Hallel, which was sung at the three great feasts (Passover,
Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles), as well as at the festival
of Dedication and at the new moons. "In the domestic celebration of
the Passover night 'the Hallel' is divided into two parts; the one
half, Psalms cxiii., cxiv., being sung before the repast, before
the emptying of the second festal cup, and the other half, Psalms
cxv.-cxviii., after the repast, after the filling of the fourth cup,
to which the 'having sung an hymn' in Matt. xxvi. 30, Mark xiv. 26,
... may refer" (Delitzsch, _in loc._).
Three strophes of three verses each may be recognised, of which the
first summons Israel to praise Jehovah, and reaches out through all
time and over all space, in longing that God's name may be known
and praised. The second strophe (vv. 4-6) magnifies God's exalted
greatness; while the third (vv. 7-9) adores His condescension,
manifested in His stooping to lift the lowly. The second and third
of these strophes, however, overlap in the song, as the facts which
they celebrate do. God's loftiness can never be adequately measured,
unless His condescension is taken into account; and His condescension
never sufficiently wondered at, unless His loftiness is felt.
The call to praise is addressed to Israel, whose designation "servants
of Jehovah" recalls Isaiah II.'s characteristic use of that name in
the singular number for the nation. With strong emphasis, the _name_
of Jehovah is declared as the theme of praise. God's revelation of His
character by deed and word must precede man's thanksgiving. They, to
whom that Name has been entrusted, by their reception of His mercies
are bound to ring it out to all the world. And in the Name itself,
there lies enshrined the certainty that through all ages it shall be
blessed, and in every spot lit by the sun shall shine as a brighter
light, and be hailed with praises. The psalmist has learned the
world-wide significance of Israel's position as the depository of the
Name, and the fair vision of a universal adoration of it fills his
heart. Ver. 3_b_ may be rendered "worthy to be praised is the name,"
but the context seems to suggest the rendering above.
The infinite exaltation of Jehovah above all dwellers on this
low earth and above the very heavens does not lift Him too high
for man's praise, for it is wedded to condescension as infinite.
Incomparable is He; but still adoration can reach Him, and men do
not clasp mist, but solid substance, when they grasp His Name. That
incomparable uniqueness of Jehovah is celebrated in ver. 5_a_ in
strains borrowed from Exod. xv. 11, while the striking description
of loftiness combined with condescension in vv. 5_b_ and 6 resembles
Isa. lvii. 15. The literal rendering of vv. 5_b_ and 6_a_ is, "Who
makes high to sit, Who makes low to behold," which is best understood
as above. It may be questioned whether "On the heavens and on the
earth" designates the objects on which His gaze is said to be
turned; or whether, as some understand the construction, it is to be
taken with "Who is like Jehovah our God?" the intervening clauses
being parenthetical; or whether, as others prefer, "in heaven"
points back to "enthroned on high," and "on earth" to "looks far
below." But the construction which regards the totality of created
things, represented by the familiar phrase "the heavens and the
earth," as being the objects on which Jehovah looks down from His
inconceivable loftiness, accords best with the context and yields an
altogether worthy meaning. Transcendent elevation, condescension, and
omniscience are blended in the poet's thought. So high is Jehovah
that the highest heavens are far beneath Him, and, unless His gaze
were all-discerning, would be but a dim speck. That He should enter
into relations with creatures, and that there should be creatures
for Him to enter into relations with, are due to His stooping
graciousness. These far-darting looks are looks of tenderness, and
signify care as well as knowledge. Since all things lie in His sight,
all receive from His hand.
The third strophe pursues the thought of the Divine condescension as
especially shown in stooping to the dejected and helpless and lifting
them. The effect of the descent of One so high must be to raise the
lowliness to which He bends. The words in vv. 7, 8, are quoted from
Hannah's song (1 Sam. ii. 8). Probably the singer has in his mind
Israel's restoration from exile, that great act in which Jehovah had
shown His condescending loftiness, and had lifted His helpless people
as from the ash-heap, where they lay as outcasts. The same event
seems to be referred to in ver. 9, under a metaphor suggested by the
story of Hannah, whose words have just been quoted. The "barren"
is Israel (comp. Isa. liv. 1). The expression in the original is
somewhat obscure. It stands literally "the barren of the house," and
is susceptible of different explanations; but probably the simplest
is to regard it as a contracted expression for the unfruitful wife in
a house, "a housewife, but yet not a mother. Such an one has in her
husband's house no sure position.... If God bestows children upon her,
He by that very fact makes her for the first time thoroughly at home
and rooted in her husband's house" (Delitzsch, _in loc._). The joy
of motherhood is tenderly touched in the closing line, in which the
definite article is irregularly prefixed to "sons," as if the poet
"points with his finger to the children with whom God blesses her"
(Delitzsch, _u.s._). Thus Israel, with her restored children about
her, is secure in her home. That restoration was the signal instance
of Jehovah's condescension and delight in raising the lowly. It was
therefore the great occasion for world-wide and age-long praise.
The singer did not know how far it would be transcended by a more
wonderful, more heart-touching manifestation of stooping love, when
"The Word became flesh." How much more exultant and world-filling
should be the praises from the lips of those who do know how low that
Word has stooped, how high He has risen, and how surely all who hold
His hand will be lifted from any ash-heap and set on His throne,
sharers in the royalty of Him who has been partaker of their weakness!