This is the closing Hallelujah or Doxology, which marks the conclusion of the last series or cycle (Ps. cxlvii.-cl,), of the Fifth Book (Ps. cvii.-cl.), and of the whole Psalter. In form and structure it is perfectly simple, merely reciting, in an animated manner, the place (ver. 1), the theme (ver. 2), the mode (ver. 3-5), and the extent (ver. 6) of the praise due to Jehovah.
1. Hallelujah 1 Praise God in his sanctuary I Praise him in the firmament of his power I The essential meaning of the verse is, praise him both in earth and heaven. The particulars detailed in Ps. cxlviii. are here condensed into a pregnant summary. The sanctuary is the earthly one, and as such stands opposed to the firmament or heaven, called the firmament of his power, as being one of the most glorious proofs and products of its exercise, and still the scene of its most striking exhibitions. The phrase is to be understood as comprehending the hosts of heaven, both inanimate and living, both material and spiritual. The parallelism is rendered still more perfect by the correspondence between power in the last clause and (7h}) the di^one name in the first.
2. Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his plenitude of greatness! His mighty acts, literally his mights or powers. See above, on Ps. cxlv. 4. For, literally in them, i. e. praise him as exhibited and viewed in these. The corresponding particle means like, in accordance with, in proportion to, in a manner worthy of his greatness. The last phrase in Hebrew is peculiarly expressive, consisting of the two strongest terms denoting magnitude, the abstract forms of much and great, which might be rendered, if our usage suffered it, muchness of greatness.
3. Praise him with blast of trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! Here begins an enumeration of the instruments employed in public worship, and therefore necessarily associated with the idea of divine praise. The trumpet was used to assemble the people, and would therefore excite many of the same associations with our church-bells. The other instruments were used as actual accompaniments of the psalms performed in public worship.
4. Praise him with timbrel and dance! Praise him with strings and pipe! The three great classes of instruments are here distinctly mentioned, namely, wind, stringed, and pulsatile. The last, represented by the drum or timbrel, still called by a kindred name in Arabic, is here accompanied by its inseparable adjunct dancing, which might seem misplaced in a list of instruments, and those employed in sacred music, but for the peculiar usages and notions of the ancient Hebrews, with respect to this external sign of joy. See above, on Ps. xxx. 12 (11), cxlix. 3. The common version of the last word (organ) is derived through the Vulgate from the Septuagint, where it denotes a system or combination of pipes. The Hebrew word, according to the Jewish tradition, means a simple pipe, and is so rendered in the Prayer Book version. It here represents the whole class of wind-instruments. See above, on Ps. lxviii. 26 (25), and compare 2 Sam. vi. 5.
5. Praise him with cymbals of loud sound! Praise him with cymbals of joyful noise! The dominant idea, that of audibly expressed joy, is sustained to the last, where the cymbals are mentioned in both clauses, as an instrument peculiarly appropriated to occasions of unusual rejoicing. See 2 Sam. \d. 5, Ezra iii. 10, Neh, xii, 27. The effect is still further heightened by the qualifying epithets, the first of which strictly denotes hearing or the thing heard, i. e. sound, and here by implication, loud sound. To this idea the parallel term adds that of joyful sound, to which it is constantly applied in usage. See above, on Ps. xxvii. 6, lxxxix. 16 (15), and compare Num. xxiii. 21. The distinction, here assumed by some interpreters, between cymbals of a larger and a smaller size, is wholly unnecessary.
6. Let all breath praise Jah! Hallelujah! The very ambiguity of all breath gives extraordinary richness of meaning to this closing sentence. From ■^he simple idea of wind instruments, mentioned in the context, it leads us, by a beautiful transition, to that of vocal, articulate, intelligent praise, uttered by the breath of living men, as distinguished from mere Ifeless instruments. See above, on Ps. lxviii. 26 (25). Then lastly, by a natural association, we ascend to the idea expressed in the common version, everything that hath breath, not merely all that lives, but all that has a voice to praise God. There is nothing in the Psalter more majestic or more beautiful than this brief but most significant finale, in which solemnity of tone predominates, without, however, in the least disturbing the exhilaration which the close of the Psalter seems intended to produce, as if in emblematical allusion to the triumph which awaits the church and all its members, when through much tribulation they shall enter into rest.
