September
5th
Psalm 149
149
A Hymn of Praise
150
Praise the Lord again
1:
Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in
the congregation of saints. 2:
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be
joyful in their King. 3:
Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him
with the timbrel and harp. 4:
For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek
with salvation. 5:
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their
beds. 6:
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword
in their hand; 7:
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the
people; 8:
To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of
iron; 9:
To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his
saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 150
1:
Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the
firmament of his power. 2:
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent
greatness. 3:
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the
psaltery and harp. 4:
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed
instruments and organs. 5:
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding
cymbals. 6:
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Before I began these
Bible readings in the Psalms I was quite daunted, however now I have
come to the end I will be sad to leave them. They have been a great
blessing to me and I have learnt of the importance in my life of
Praise and Thanksgiving. Today we are reading the last two Psalms No
149 & 150. Both of these Psalms are Hallelujah Psalms. Psalm 149
has an interesting structure…
A.
Hallelujah
B.
Saints to praise
C.
Israel to rejoice in the LORD
D.
Let them praise his name
E.
With the dance
E.
With music
D.
Let them sing praises unto him1
C.
the Lord takes pleasure in Israel.
B.
Saints are to praise
A.
Hallelujah
The
Psalmist begins and ends with Praise to the Lord and calls on all the
saints to join him in singing praises to the Lord. Israel is
encouraged to rejoice in the Lord and at the end the Lord will
respond in delight in the joy and praise of his people. But we might
ask, how? How are we to rejoice in the LORD? And the plan is simple –
it’s in dancing and singing and in music with a number of
instruments. The Lord looks down and has joy in his heart and he is
delighted in the joy of his people. Worship is to be carried on in
singing dancing and musical accompaniment and the Lord will make
those who are meek beautiful by delivering them in their day of
troubles. And so let the saints be gloriously joyful and may this joy
go with them to their beds, even there their hearts will sing out
loud to the Lord. They will sing the high praises of the Lord and
they will rise up with a double edged sword to fight for the Lord,
against the heathen and to punish peoples. They will capture kings
and chain them and the nobles will be put in handcuffs. And the Lords
people will bring the judgment of God which is written, this will be
their great honour. Praise the Lord. We see a great contrast here
between Israel and the Church. Israel were the sword of the Lord.
They were used by the Lord as a means of bringing justice and
judgment on a wicked world. But that’s not the same as the Church.
The church never takes up arms against the nations. They are made up
of the nations. The church is not a nation. The church is made up of
individual sinners of every nation. And we christians do not go to
war against an enemy, Christ said LOVE your enemies and do go those
who would harm you. Psalm 150 is a little Psalm and again it’s a
Psalm that closes the whole book of the Psalms full of Praise. Again
he begins with Praise and ends with Praise.
A.
Hallelujah
B.
The Sanctuary
C.
Praise of the LORD’s power
C.
Praise of the LORD’s might
B.
The instruments of the Sanctuary
A.
Hallelujah
What
follows is ten exhortations to praise the Lord. The first two tell us
where to praise the Lord – in the temple and in his kingdom. The
next two tell us what to praise the Lord about – His might acts and
excellent greatness. The next six phrases tell us how and with what
instruments we can praise him - the trumpet, the psaltery and harp,
the timbrel and dance, the stringed instruments and organs, the loud
cymbals, the high sounding cymbals. Then to close the Psalmist calls
on everyone and every creature that has breath to praise the Lord.
Can you imagine the cacophony of sound and joy that it expresses?
1
This
is taken from the Hebrew text rather from the Authorised Version
text.
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