The word praise can be traced back to Genesis 29:35 when Leah bore Jacob's
son and said, "Now I will praise the Lord." The Hebrew translation
of the word she uses, yadah means
"to give thanks, laud or praise." From there we begin to see
the use of the word halal for praise. Halah
means to thank, rejoice, boast about someone. David told us many times
throughout Psalm to praise or halah the Lord.
"Let them praise (halal) the name of the
Lord, for His name alone is exalted."(Ps. 148:13a) "Praise God
in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!" (Ps 150:1)
In fact, the rest of Psalm 150 shows us that praising God is not just
done by word, but also through instruments: "Praise Him for His mighty
acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with
the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him
with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything
that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!"
A couple other words used quite frequently for the word praise are shabach
meaning to commend, to adore, to glory in something in a loud tone and
tehillah meaning a celebration or a lauding
of someone praiseworthy. We see an example of shabach
in Psalm 117 when David said to "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!".
He is saying to shout your praise one to another "For His merciful
kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever."
In Psalm 22:22 David said "I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise (tehillah)
You."
In Ezra 3:10-11 we read
"When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,
the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the
sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise (halal)
the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they
sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then the people shouted with
a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the
house of the Lord was laid."
In the New Testament we see examples of the Greek word epainos
such as when Jesus healed the blind man in Luke 18 and in verse 43 "all
the people, when they saw it, gave praise (epainos)
to God." They applauded God for this mighty act. In Luke 19:37 as
Jesus was ascending from the Mount of Olives, "the whole multitude
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise (epainos)
God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen." In
other words, they were looking at one another and proclaiming what an
awesome God for He did marvelous things.
We can approach praise from 2 different angles. On one hand when we praise
God we are saying that we are grateful for the mighty things He has done
on our behalf. We are looking up at Him and expressing how thankful we
are. Another aspect of praise that is sometimes overlooked is that praise
is also intended for us. It encourages us and strengthens our faith. As
in the case of Psalm 150, we are instructed to boast about God one to
another in words, by shouthing, in song and through the instruments. We
are telling with excitement to all who can hear how thankful we are to
God and how awesome He is.
Praise is horizontal - going from one person to another. It speaks of
the works of God: what He has done, what He is doing , and what He will
do - from a basis of fellowship with Him and with each other. Let's take a look at some examples of songs we sing
today that would fall in the category of Praise:
“Forever God is faithful. Forever God is strong. Forever God is
with us. Forever and ever.” Forever
By: Chris Tomlin
“Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from Heaven above with
wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God.” Awesome God
By: Rich Mullins
“Did you feel the mountains tremble. Did you hear the oceans
roar. When the people rose to sing of Jesus Christ the risen One.”
Did You Hear The Mountains Tremble
By: Martin Smith Through praise we do 3 things.
We tell each other what an awesome God we have.
We reaffirm to each other his faithfulness.
We rejoice in the knowledge that He is our King and our Savior.
