THE FIRST HALLEL

Psalm 113: 1-9

A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe

Our psalm today is the first of a special collection in the Psalter. This is the first of the Hallel Psalms. These psalms were sung at the great feasts of Israel: Passover, Pentecost and The Feast of Tabernacles. This Psalm was especially suited for the Passover since it not only records the goodness of God towards Israel but especially His divine attention to them and His lifting them up out of the bondage of Egypt.

We may divide this psalm into three strophes and two parts. The first three verses constitute part one and they summons Israel to Praise Jehovah. Part two includes two strophes. The first in verses four to six magnifies God's greatness and the second in verses seven to nine gives Him adoration for lifting us up. These two strophes go together since we must appreciate both ideas in order to understand the magnificent gift of Grace which has been given to us through the Divine attention.

One thing that we do not see in our translation is a fact brought out in a Children's Song which is based upon this Psalm. This fact is that the Hebrew word for praise is Hallelu. Perhaps you remember the lines:

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah

Praise ye the Lord

Then there was the Psalm like responses which followed dwelling upon the alternation of English and Hebrew praises for our God and King. While the ancient Hebrews did not alternate between languages, it seems very evident from sources that the repetition and alternation between Levites and people was just as joyous as this traditional children's verse. It is this Childlike joy that we would be well to relearn because this is the joyous sense in which the Israelites sang upon their deliverance from bondage. It is the same sense in which the Negro spirituals looked forward to their freedom in the Ante Belleum Days.

"Praise the Lord" our psalmist exhorts us. And who is to praise him, in the second line it is clear. It is we who are His own servants, we are to Praise Him! In verse two the Psalmist looks forward to our time and even to eternity for the continuation of God's praise. In the same words we can also join in the everlasting song as we continue to Praise Him forever and ever. We should note in this verse that it is not only God Himself who should be praised but even His Name and attributes as well. In all ways in all revelations of the Divine perfections we are to Praise Him.

We are not to quarrel with His justice but to Praise Him.

We are not to despise His severity but to Praise Him.

We are not to dread His power, but to Praise Him.

We dare not fashion an image of God that pleases us, but to accept Him as He reveals Himself to us in Scripture. Everytime we think of Him we should praise His blessed and Holy Name above all else. The psalmist here becomes prophetic in His vision of the wideness of the praises to be offered to our God and King. From the East where the Israelites lived to the West where the worship of the true God has migrated in the divine wisdom. And from the West around the world to the East again as the missionaries take the Gospel to every tribe and peoples who dwell in God's wide wide world.

In those plases His Name is being exalted above every other name and nation. The ancient Greeks sang about the fair face of Helen, Helen of Troy. According to their songs her beauty was great enough to launch a thousand ships to accomplish her rescue. Greater than Helen of Troy is our God. Greater indeed than all the so called gods and goddesses of every land. So great is He that He is above the highest heavens. Of the last comparison our Psalmist had only the hints of the stars that could be seen by the naked eye alone. If our psalmist could see what we could see in the light of the greatest telescopes on land and in space, how much greater would His vision of God be. If our Psalmist could only live in our time and know of the coming of that greatest light: Jesus Christ, how much greater would His vision be indeed!

And yet, with His limited sight He calls us who know so much more to the same praise of our Lord God Almighty. Our psalmist asks, who is like the Lord our God? He is indeed above the highest heavens but as our psalmist notes in verse six He stoops down to look. Have you ever seen little children or people with child like wonder explore the wonders of nature? Little Children do not hesitate to stoop down and appreciate what might get only a glance from us who consider ourselves more important!

How often do we fail to consider the little delights that catch a child's eye? Do we not consider God to be like ourselves? In our grown up frame of mind, we who would not stoop to certain things little consider that God, the great God of the heavens would stoop down to consider us and our condition! And yet our psalmist senses that God is so high, so great, that just to look at heaven and earth he must stoop down just as a little child might to look at a Dandylion or shiney pebble. And yet, He looks even closer than that. He sees you and me and every atom of our structure. Even the hairs of our head are numbered as the Gospels record!

Even though our God is so High and so Mighty, He considers us and our needs. In these last three verses our psalmist shows God's care and concern for you and me. In the Hebrew mind there were two examples of the lowest levels of human existence. For men, there was the extremes of poverty. That was the greatest disgrace, to be so poor and in need that common men consign them to the manure pile!

For women, there was the lowest extreme in the Hebrew mind of being unable to have a child. The Hebrew woman of old did not have a proper home until the first child arrived. Just as the poorest of men were looked down upon, so were the barren women of Israel. And yet just as Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth and others miraculously conceived through the power of God so too the Psalmist assures us that God can and will lift us up from our spiritual destitution.

He saw us there on Satan's manure pile and lifted us up in our need and sat us with princes. He even sees His Church barren of spirituality and will lift it up and makes it fruitful once again. What can we say for all the great things our God has done and is doing? What can we say about God's willingness to consider us in our sin and provide a way out through Jesus Christ? What can we say about that Name above all Names, that God above all Gods. It is there at the end as well as at the beginning of this Psalm: "Praise The Lord". Amen.

	Resources Used:
MacLaren, Alexander.	The Expositer's Bible: The Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H.	The Treasury of David.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society (1973, 1978, 1984)
Psm 113a	03 September 89 & 05 October 97

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