Thursday, July 9th

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Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
    praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore! 

From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!

- Psalm 113:1-3

Psalm 113 is the first in a series of 6 Psalms (113-118) known as the “Hallels”, meaning “Praises”.  These Psalms were sung in the Temple and in Jewish homes at the great feast days of Judaism, they held an especially important place in Passover.  In fact, when Matthew records that Jesus and His disciples sung a hymn together before they went out to the Mt. of Olives (Matt. 26:30), it is almost certain that the hymn the disciples sang together with Jesus after the Last Supper was one of these Psalms.  

The Hebrew word hallel, while most often translated as “praise”, can also be accurately translated as “boast”.  It may not seem appropriate to many of us to associate worship with boasting, but that is actually what we are doing when we praise God - we are boasting in the greatness and the goodness of our God.  In fact, the simple three word phrase, “Praise the LORD”, which appears so frequently in the Psalms, is actually a single Hebrew word which we have transliterated as hallelujah.  This is a compound word made up of the two words; Hallel = praise/boast, and Yah = LORD.  Hallelujah is actually a call, or a command for God’s people to make their boast in Yah, in the LORD.  

Imagine two children on a school playground boasting about their fathers...”my dad is bigger than your dad...oh yeah, well my dad is stronger than your dad.”  As God’s children, we are called to make the boast of our hearts in the fact that God alone is worthy of our praise!  When we come together to hallelujah, to sing the praises of our God, we are actually reminding ourselves and each other of how great and good our God truly is.

One of the places in the Old Testament where this idea of boasting in the LORD is most clearly stated is the words of the prophet Jeremiah...

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”  - Jeremiah 9:23-24

Every human being is boasting in something, that is every person is placing their hopes, their significance, their ultimate value in someone or something.  As David puts in Psalm 20:7, Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God!

Hallelujah!  Praise the LORD!  Hallelujah!

Jeff Frazier