Psalm 117 – Another
wonderful Hallel Psalm
André H. Roosma 4 May 2012
Psalm 117 is one of the Hallel Psalms. In a brief study on Psalm 118 I already mentioned
that in the Jewish tradition these Psalms (Psalms 113
to 118 and/or Psalm 136) were and are usually sung or spoken
during the Pesach-festival.
Here I want to pay attention to the shortest Psalm from the Hallel: Psalm 117.
It is the shortest of these Psalms, but no less significant than the
others.
1 | Praise YaHUaH, all ye nations,
Glorify Him, all ye peoples. |
הַלְלוְּ
אֶת־יְהוָה
כָּל־גֹּויִם
שַׁבְּחוְּהוְּ
כָּל־הָאֻמִּים |
2 | For his lovingkindness is powerful over
us; And the truth/faithfulness of YaHUaH [endureth] for ever.
Hallelu-YaH. |
כִּי גָבַר
עָלֵינוְּ
חַסְדֹּו
וֶאֱמֶת־ יְהוָה
לְעֹולָם
הַלְלוְּ־ יָהּ |
Psalm 117
Just as in Psalm 118
it stands out how often the glorious Name of God: YaHUaH appears in it: 3 times in 2 verses (of which 1 time in the shortened form YaH).1 That glorious Name YaHUaH
brings to mind that God wants to be close; with His people, and that
He is the One Who gives life – full life in joyful wonder and adoration
towards our Creator and in attachment with Him and each other.
In this Psalm all peoples and nations are called to praise and exalt God
YaHUaH. This stands perpendicular to the
exclusivity thinking in rabbinic Jewish thought, which says that the heathen
peoples have no part in this. As the entire Bible teaches, all people on
this globe are invited to join in the big chorus to the honor of YaHUaH. He is worthy of all honor! In fact this is the most powerful reason to make the Gospel known to all
peoples: in order that YaHUaH receives
honor and praise from all. In that context Paul also cites this Psalm
in his letter to the Christians in Rome (15: 11;
cf. also Exodus 9: 15-16 and Romans 9: 17; 2 Samuel 22: 50; 1 Kings
8: 43; Psalm 86: 9; 105: 1; Zephaniah 3: 9; and Malachi 1: 11). That begins and ends the Psalm: praise YaHUaH! Yes, the first word of the Psalm – translated as
‘Praise... ye’ – is also ‘Hallelu’, just as what is used at the end.
So, we could translate the beginning of verse 1 just as well by: ‘Hallelu-YaHUaH’, or the end by:
‘Praise (ye) YaH’.
Between ‘Hallelu’ and YaHUaH in the beginning is still another small
word: אֶת - et. It
contains only two letters: aleph and tav: the beginning and the
end. So we are called to praise God YaHUaH
from beginning to end. Yes, we need all peoples for that!
Verse 2 gives the reason of this call to praise. God YaHUaH is connected there with two Hebrew words: חסד - chesed, and אֱמֶת - ’emet. Both words characterize God YaHUaH, as
we already saw in the study: What God YaHUaH says about
Himself. This Psalm cannot be viewed separate from that Self-revelation
of God YaHUaH.
The word chesed I recently discussed more extensively.
It describes a characteristic aspect of God’s Character, strongly
connected to Pesach: His grace and
‘loving-kindness’, which is ‘powerful
over us’ is. Whow! Awesome! Not His punishment or His anger
over sin, or His criticism, but His grace is mighty over us! ’Emet describes another aspect of God’s Character,
connected to Pesach as well: His truth and
faithfulness. Those are ‘for ever’ or
‘till in eternity’ – they know
no end. His faithfulness is never finished. He is truthful. His faithfulness
is not feigned at all, but stems from Who He really is.
And He does not change!
Remarkable is that in this last characteristic of God YaHUaH, in the word אֱמֶת - ’emet, truth and
faithfulness are united. How different this is with God, from what it often
is with us, humans. With us often in name of the naked truth, the pure
teaching or the cool facts, faithfulness is sacrificed for convenience sake.
However, in the Biblical, godly thinking and in the character of YaHUaH truth and faithfulness are fundamentally
one. Everything is focussed on relationship.
Those two characteristics this Psalm speaks about – chesed
and ’emet – are inseparably present in YaHUaH. Here, too, not an or/or as in the human world. We see this very clearly embodied in Immanuel
– Jesus / Yeshu‘ah, Who, according to Yahu-chanan (John
1: 14) was ‘full of grace and truth’, so, full of chesed and ’emet. As an
example: His grace and faithfulness gave another chance, another life to the
adulteress who had been brought to Him for execution, and His truth and
faithfulness said to her ‘sin no more’.
So, indirectly even this short Psalm points forward to Immanuel. I cannot do anything else than to close like the Psalmist:
Hallelu YaH !
Notes
1 |
The glorious Name of God I presented here - as well as
I could - from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand
personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’.
For more background information on this see: André H. Roosma, ‘Life, security and belonging in joyful adoration,
from the hand of God’ , brief Hallelu-YaH article about the Biblical Name of God in the earliest
Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011. André H. Roosma, ‘The Shema‘ – the First Testament declaration of faith (1)’, Hallelu-YaH! web article, February 2012. André H. Roosma, ‘The wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was
there, Who is there, and Who will be there’ , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study,
July 2009. |
See also the study about this Psalm of Hebrew for
Christians.
Previous articles: Tsitsit – A sign of
flourishing, to remember the blessing and reigning hand of YaHUaH,
and: Psalm 118 – A wonderful, prophetic-Messianic Hallel Psalm
around Pesach.
The next article is: The Light of the
World.
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