“Praise Lord, my soul. While I live, I will praise Lord. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist” (Psalm 146:1-2).
This psalm and each of Psalms 146-150, begins and ends with the exhortation, “Praise the Lord” (Hallelujah). Thus, these Psalms are known as the Hallelujah Psalms because they begin with the Hebrew word Hallel, from which we get the word Hallelujah.
A sub note here is that the word Hallel or Hallelujah first occurs in the Psalms in Psalm 104:35 and it only occurs 23 times in the Psalms (104:35; 105:45; 106:1, 48; 112:1; 113:1, 9; 115:18; 116:19; 117:2; 135:1, 3, 21; 146:1, 10; 147:1, 20; 148:1, 14; 149:1, 9; 150:1, 6). There is also no psalm of David that contains the word Hallelujah.
But, what does it mean to praise the Lord? I found a website that listed seven ways to praise God, all based on Hebrew words and supported by Scripture. Here they are in a nutshell: (http://www.geocities.com/ourallinall/sevenwaystopraise.htm)
• Towdah is the sacrifice of praise. It’s to look to God even when things aren’t going your way … when your world is upside down … when you don’t feel like turning to God. It’s like the little placard that says, “Praise the Lord, Anyhow!” The writer of Hebrews had the spirit of towdah in mind when he wrote, “… let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which pledge allegiance to his name” (Hebrews 13:15) .
• Then there is Yadah. Yadah is the act of lifting up your hands in devotion to God. If you do a search on images of praise, this is what you find most often–individuals with their arms lifted high to the Almighty. The writer of Lamentations expresses the spirit of yadah when he says, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens” (Lamentations 3:41).
• A third form of praise is Barouch. It means to bow or kneel. In the extreme, it means to fall prostrate before the Lord in total surrender to his majesty. Psalms 95:6 invites us, “Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker.”
• The next form of praise is Shabach. Literally, it means to shout–to lift up your voice to the Lord in gratitude for the blessings you have received. Isaiah told the people, “Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great in the midst of you!” (Isaiah 12:6).
• Then there’s Zamar. It refers to playing an instrument to glorify God. We get a big dose of this in the 150th Psalm, where it says,
“Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals!”
• Of course, there’s Hallel. It not only means praise the Lord, it refers to dancing as a particular form of praise. Psalm 30 says it best: “You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness” (Psalm 30:11).
• Last, but not least, there’s Tehillah. It’s a combination of all-of-the-above: Singing, shouting, dancing, clapping and rejoicing before the Lord. It’s hard to find one scripture to cover it all, though Psalm 47 comes close. It says, “Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph!” (Psalm 47:1).
The word Hallel should not be used or taken lightly as it is a word that describes praise to God. When used it needs to be used only as a genuine expression of praise to the Lord. How do you choose to praise Him? Next time you want to lift up praise to God – be creative… there are many ways to praise Him. However, you choose to praise, the idea is that you need to pPraise him continually throughout our life. If the psalmist, filled with the Spirit, had to preach to himself in order to sing God’s praises all of his days, then certainly we must do the same (John Calvin makes this point, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 146:1-2, p. 285). Praising God every day as long as you live won’t happen naturally or because you have a cheery disposition. It requires a Godward focus, where you see every blessing and trial coming from His loving hand.
Victory Call 