1 Hallelujah!
Praise God in His sanctuary,
Praise Him in the firmament of His strength.
2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds,
Praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness.
3 Praise Him with blast of horn,
Praise Him with psaltery and harp,
4 Praise Him with timbrel and dance,
Praise Him with strings and pipe.
5 Praise Him with clear-sounding cymbals,
Praise Him with deep-toned cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise Jah.
Hallelujah!
This noble close of the Psalter rings out one clear note of
praise, as the end of all the many moods and experiences recorded
in its wonderful sighs and songs. Tears, groans, wailings for sin,
meditations on the dark depths of Providence, fainting faith and
foiled aspirations, all lead up to this. The psalm is more than an
artistic close of the Psalter; it is a prophecy of the last result
of the devout life, and, in its unclouded sunniness, as well as in
its universality, it proclaims the certain end of the weary years
for the individual and for the world. "Everything that hath breath"
shall yet praise Jehovah. The psalm is evidently meant for liturgic
use, and one may imagine that each instrument began to take part in
the concert as it was named, till at last all blended in a mighty
torrent of praiseful sound, to which the whirling dancers kept time.
A strange contrast to modern notions of sobriety in worship!
The tenfold "Praise Him" has been often noticed as symbolic of
completeness, but has probably no special significance.
In ver. 1 the psalmist calls on earth and heaven to praise. The
"sanctuary" may, indeed, be either the Temple or the heavenly palace
of Jehovah, but it is more probable that the invocation, like so many
others of a similar kind, is addressed to men and angels, than that
the latter only are meant. They who stand in the earthly courts and
they who circle the throne that is reared above the visible firmament
are parts of a great whole, an antiphonal chorus. It becomes them to
praise, for they each dwell in God's sanctuary.
The theme of praise is next touched in ver. 2. "His mighty deeds"
might be rendered "His heroic [or, valiant] acts." The reference is
to His deliverance of His people as a signal manifestation of prowess
or conquering might. The tenderness which moved the power is not here
in question, but the power cannot be worthily praised or understood,
unless that Divine pity and graciousness of which it is the
instrument are apprehended. Mighty acts, unsoftened by loving impulse
and gracious purpose, would evoke awe, but not thanks. No praise is
adequate to the abundance of His greatness, but yet He accepts such
adoration as men can render.
The instruments named in vv. 3-5 were not all used, so far as we know,
in the Temple service. There is possibly an intention to go beyond
those recognised as sacred, in order to emphasise the universality of
praise. The horn was the curved "Shophar," blown by the priests; "harp
and psaltery were played by the Levites, timbrels were struck by women;
and dancing, playing on stringed instruments and pipes and cymbals,
were not reserved for the Levites. Consequently the summons to praise
God is addressed to priests, Levites, and people" (Baethgen). In ver.
4_b_ "strings" means stringed instruments, and "pipe" is probably that
used by shepherds, neither of which kinds of instrument elsewhere
appears as employed in worship.
Too little is known of Jewish music to enable us to determine whether
the epithets applied to cymbals refer to two different kinds. Probably
they do; the first being small and high-pitched, the second larger,
like the similar instrument used in military music, and of a deep tone.
But the singer would fain hear a volume of sound which should
drown all that sweet tumult which he has evoked; and therefore he
calls on "everything that has breath" to use it in sending forth
a thunder-chorus of praise to Jehovah. The invocation bears the
prophecy of its own fulfilment. These last strains of the long series
of psalmists are as if that band of singers of Israel turned to the
listening world, and gave into its keeping the harps which, under
their own hands, had yielded such immortal music.
Few voices have obeyed the summons, and the vision of a world
melodious with the praise of Jehovah and of Him alone appears to us,
in our despondent moments, almost as far off as it was when the last
psalmist ceased to sing. But his call is our confidence; and we know
that the end of history shall be that to Him whose work is mightier
than all the other mighty acts of Jehovah, "Every knee shall bow, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father."