Psalm 117 Part 2

This doxology was often sung after other psalms and at various Jewish events. It contains two words for praise. Hallel, the first and last word of the anthem, meant originally ‘to shine’ ‘to make clear and bright’. It came to mean ‘to glorify’ or ‘to praise,’ as our English translates it. The second word (line2) is ‘shabach’ which means to ‘loudly adore’. The NASB has ‘laud, NKJV, RSV & NIV have ‘extol’. The NLT just leaves it as praise. Together the two words mean that in worshiping the Lord (publicly or privately) we should magnify and exalt His name. (C.F.Ps34:3.) This is not a call but a command. This is the obligation of praise and the object of praise. Paul’s quotation of v1 in Rom 15:11 reiterates that this was a call to all nations. The word for ‘peoples’ suggests all the tribes of the earth.

In thinking of reasons to praise God, the psalmist first lists, ‘because of His great chesed (lovingkindness).’ The Hebrew actually has His chesed chesed, with the idea of God’s loyal, covenant love repeated twice for emphasis. It is great towards us because it is powerful; ‘Gabar,’ (Heb) is strong: it is not only great in bulk or number, but it is powerful; it prevails over sin, Satan, death, and the grave. It is ‘toward us’ because, in the Messiah, we are all the children of Abraham, who were to be incorporated together, and made one body and one-fold by and under the Christ, (John 10:16 Eph 2:14.) The ‘us’ of v2 has already found room for the ‘you’ implied in v1, by seeing Israelites and Gentiles as one people under God. 

It is the shortest psalm, yet three times Yahweh is affirmed as the one supreme object of worship! We can all unite on this and should seek to do so now. Prayer is good, but praise is better still, it blesses others. He has not merely kindness, but loving-kindness. Not love without truth, nor truth without love. Alone, neither would have saved us. But together they constitute the salvation of God. They who know this will praise the Lord.