Hallelujah! Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his strength. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to the abundance of his greatness. Praise him with the blast of the trumpet. Praise him with the lute and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with strings and flutes. Praise him with sounding cymbals. Praise him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise Yah. Hallelujah!
The last psalm makes a fitting close to the psalter as a whole, the book of praises, and also to the five psalms of praise at its end. It is an exuberant call to praise addressed to everything that has breath, and it uses the word praise 13 times, if you count the hallelujahs at the beginning and end.
The psalm answers four questions. Where should we praise him (v. 1)? For what should we praise him (v. 2)Praise him for what? (v.2)? With what should we praise him? (vv. 3–5), Who should praise him (v. 6)?
Where should we praise him?
The psalm names two places where we should praise God: his sanctuary and his firmament.
The sanctuary is simply a name for the tabernacle or temple, the house of God which was made holy by his presence there. This is a call to praise God in his temple.
But the temple is a type of the church. The New Testament application of the psalm makes it a call to praise him in the gatherings of the people of God for worship.
The earthly sanctuary was also a type of the heavenly sanctuary, the place where Yahweh and his Anointed dwell (Ps. 102:19). The psalm is a call to praise God in heaven. The saints on earth join the saints and angels in heaven when they praise God (Heb. 12:22–24). We all belong to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem.
The firmament is that work of God by which he divided the waters beneath from the waters above, which he called heaven (Gen 1:6–8, Isa 42:5, 44:24) or the skies (Job 37:18). The word means something beaten out or hammered out, like a plate of silver (Jer 10:9). In it he set the sun, moon and stars (Gen 1:14–18). The birds fly across the face of it (Gen 1:20). It’s a synonym for the heavens (Ps 19:1). God’s throne is above it (Ezek. 1:22–26), and it reveals his power. It is the firmament of his strength.
Together the two terms call for the praise of God in all creation, on earth and in the heavens, in his church and everywhere else. The psalm cannot be used to justify the use in worship of all the instruments of praise listed in verses 3-5. The psalm lists them without making distinctions as to where and when it is appropriate to use them.
For what should we praise him?
Verse 2 tells us for what he is to be praised: his mighty acts and the abundance of his greatness.
All the acts of God are mighty, but this word seems to refer especially to the extraordinary works of God, those that stand out from the works he does every day. They call attention to themselves because they remind us, in our normally inattentive state, that there is an omnipotent God who does great things. Some of these mighty acts are for salvation (the incarnation and resurrection of our Lord are the greatest of them), some for judgment (like his destruction of Sodom and of Jerusalem) and some simply for the display of his strength (like a great storm at sea, Ps. 29). He should be praised for all these works.
The first line is about the greatness of his works, the second line about the greatness of his being. Excellent greatness, or more literally the abundance of his greatness, refers to that greatness that is inherent in him. We are to ascribe it to him (Dt 32:3) by praising him for it. We should praise God not only for what he has done but also for what he is in himself and regardless of what he may be doing.
To praise him “according to” his greatness means that we should praise him with praises that are appropriate to his greatness. This is impossible, but we are to strive for it anyway. The psalms come the closest of all praises to this high ideal, but even they must acknowledge that his greatness exceeds the capacity of words to describe it; “His greatness is unsearchable” (Ps. 145:3). The best way to praise his greatness is to acknowledge that it is immeasurable and then to fear him and humble ourselves before him.
With what should we praise him?
Verses 3–5 give us a whole series of instruments of praise.
The first is the trumpet. Israel had two kinds of trumpets, the shofar (ram’s horn) and the silver trumpets. It was the sound of the shofar that Israel heard at Mt. Sinai (Exod. 19:16, 19, 20:18). They sounded it on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9) and of the New Moon (Ps. 81:3) and used seven of them in their march around Jericho (Josh. 6). On many other occasions it summoned the people to war (Judg. 3:27, 6:34, 1 Sam. 13:3), or from war (2 Sam. 2:28, 18:16, 20:22). Absalom used it to announce his coronation (2 Sam. 15:10), and Zadok and Nathan to announce the coronation of Solomon (1 Kgs. 1:34, 39, 41). Sheba blew it to summon Israel away from the house of David (2 Sam. 20:1), and Asa to celebrate the taking of an oath to serve the Lord (2 Chron. 15:14). The Lord ascended with the sound of it (Ps. 47:5). Ps 98:6 calls for its use in the praise of the Lord. In Isaiah 27:13, the Lord summoned his people from Assyria and Egypt for worship. The proclamation of the gospel is like it (Isa. 58:1).
One special occasion should be noted. When David made the first attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem he did not follow the proper order and Uzziah died. In that attempt the ark was carried on a new cart and there was music with singing by David and all Israel on harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, cymbals and silver trumpets (1 Chron. 13:8). In the second attempt, the priests and Levites carried the ark, there was music with singing by the Levites on stringed instruments, harps and cymbals (1 Chron. 15:16), and some of the priests blew the silver trumpets and the shofar (1 Chron. 15:24, 28). Even the arrangements for music were different. Apparently David had also failed to do this according to the proper order. That should warn us that not all the music we would like to offer to God is acceptable to him.
The other kind of trumpet was the silver trumpet used by the priests. God commanded the use of these by the priests in Numbers 10:1f. They were for calling the congregation, for directing the movement of the camps, and for sounding an alarm when an enemy attacked. They were sounded at the feasts, the beginnings of months, and were a memorial. The people sounded them at Joash’s anointing (2 Kgs. 11:14).
Neither of these trumpets was capable of playing different notes. Therefore, they were not used to accompany song but to make signals of various kinds. It’s the ram’s horn that is in view here, and its purpose is probably to summon for worship in the same way that churches used to use bells.
The lute and harp were stringed instruments used to accompany singing of the psalms in the temple, as well as singing in less formal circumstances (see 1 Chron. 13:8, 15:16, 20, 28, 16:5). They were instruments of prophecy (1 Chron. 25:1) for the Levites.
We should say a few words about dancing. First, there is no example in Scripture of dancing in worship at the tabernacle or temple. Secondly, there are no examples of partnership dancing, except perhaps one and that is negative (Judg. 21:21, 23). Thirdly, there is another negative example of dancing in Exodus 32:19. Obviously, dancing can be abused. Fourthly, there are examples of dancing when joy in the Lord is overwhelming. Miriam and the women of Israel danced at the Red Sea (Exod. 15:20). Jephthah’s daughter met him with dancing when he returned from the victory over the Ammonites (Judg. 11:34). The women of Israel danced when they met Saul and David after their victory over Goliath and the Philistines (1 Sam. 18:6). David danced before the ark of the covenant as the people were bringing it to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:14, 16).
The people used the timbrel (or tambourine) to establish the rhythms for their dancing (Exod. 15:20, Judg. 11:34, probably 1 Sam. 10:5, 1 Sam. 18:6). Psalms 81:2 and 149:3 come the closest to suggesting that it had a place in worship, but that the regulations for the Levitical music (1 Chron. 25) do not mention it militates against it.
Strings and flutes are next. The word for strings is unique and seems to refer simply to the strings of a harp, rather than the whole instrument, in the same way that we talk about strings as a section of the orchestra. The flute is a wind instrument, but its type is unknown. Perhaps something like a pipe, recorder or flute. The following passages mention it: Gen 4:21, Job 21:12, 30:31.
Finally, cymbals. David and Israel used these cymbals in the first moving of the ark (2 Sam 6:5). The two adjectives may designate two different sizes or types of cymbals. The references to cymbals in 1 Chronicles 13:8, 15:16, 19, 28 use a different word. There are various references in 1 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah.
We see a whole range of musical instruments here, some clearly for accompaniment of song, others for dance, and some for summons and sounding alarms. All of them together, as one commentator points out, evoke Israel’s history, celebrations and worship. The psalm is a summons to praise in all areas of life, not just worship, and with all legitimate means.
The number and variety of the Instruments also indicate how great the joy of this praise of this praise should be. God’s mighty works and abundant greatness should give rise to abundant praise.
Who should praise him?
Those whom the psalm calls to praise are everything that has breath.
The word for breath is not the usual word. It’s found in about two dozen passages, including Genesis 2:7, 26:4, 27:3, 32:8, 33:4, 34:14, 37:10. It’s used only of God (Job 4:9, Ps. 18:15) and people, not of animals. So the psalm here calls on all men to praise. Psalm 148 was universal, calling all creatures, even inanimate ones, to praise. Psalm 149 is specific, calling the saints to praise. This psalm is for all men, but no other creatures are mentioned.
This is the basic summons of the gospel. In the gospel God calls on men to believe and obey so that they may praise him, and in singing this psalm believers call all men everywhere to praise the Lord at all times and in all places. The praise of the Lord is the primary purpose of life and breath.