{"id":101,"date":"2022-03-21T18:07:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T18:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/?post_type=chapter&p=101"},"modified":"2022-08-16T15:39:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T15:39:23","slug":"11hymns-of-praise-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/chapter\/11hymns-of-praise-thanksgiving\/","title":{"raw":"11. Hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving","rendered":"11. Hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving"},"content":{"raw":"

<\/a>11.1. Praise and Thanksgiving in Ordinary Speech<\/h1>\r\nMost people both like and need to be appreciated. We want people to tell us that we did a good job, that we are a fine person, or that our contribution counted. While we may appreciate receiving this affirmation from others, a certain maturation comes when we no longer depend on them telling us that we have done well. We carry out our job or give ourselves to others because these things are in and of themselves good or true or beautiful, as Plato would say. Still, even though a person may not need our acknowledgment, we sometimes feel the need to acknowledge someone who has done something good or true or beautiful. Here we are not building up the person or currying favor. Rather, the quality of the person or the thing they have done demands a response from us. \u201cMonet\u2019s painting is masterful!\u201d \u201cThe touchdown pass was perfect!\u201d \u201cThe care was exquisite.\u201d Even though the person may not be there to hear it, we may feel compelled to say it out loud. The thing somehow demands our acknowledgment. Here we have pure praise, a fundamental human reaction.\r\n\r\nLinguistically, praise is a statement. If you want to praise someone, you make a statement about them. You might say to them: \u201cYou are very generous.\u201d Or you tell them that they have done something well: \u201cYou have written a fine essay.\u201d Or you praise the thing itself: \u201cThis essay has many perceptive insights.\u201d Statements are the essence of praise.\r\n\r\nIn the Scriptures, praise is a statement about God. Praise acknowledges who God is and what God has done. As such, praise implicitly acknowledges that we are creatures before our creator, that we are dependent on God in countless ways. Praise defines our relationship with God. Clearly, we do not offer praise to bolster God\u2019s ego. We sometimes praise God before making our petition, and as we shall see below, this is typical. However, this is not the heart of praise. Instead, praise acknowledges our proper relationship to God, and in these moments, we can be most truly ourselves, most fully human.\r\n\r\nThanksgiving is similar. We thank people by making statements, but here there is a personal dimension. We tell the other person what they have done for me or us, so I feel responsible for acknowledging that and letting the person know that I realize what they have done for me or us. Thanksgiving has a personal, subjective dimension, while praise is more objective. If Monet had done the painting for me, I would thank him; as it is, I praise him and the painting. Still, there is not always a clear line between praise and thanksgiving. They are related\u2014sometimes closely.\r\n\r\nGod did not make the world just for me, yet I benefit from it. Thanksgiving focuses on what God has done, especially for \u201cus\u201d or for \u201cme.\u201d It becomes the offering that we make when justice is impossible. Some try to repay every act of human kindness lest they owe anyone anything. However, this is foolishness. Sometimes we can only be thankful.\r\n\r\nBoth praise and thanksgiving point out what another has done. Praise points out the goodness, truth, and beauty of what they have done. Thanksgiving points out what they have done for us or for me.\r\n

<\/a>11.2. Hymns of Praise<\/h1>\r\nHymns of praise consist of statements about God and often begin with a call for others to praise God. Psalm 117, the shortest of all the psalms, reveals this pattern.\r\n

call:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Praise the LORD<\/span>, all you nations!\r\nExtol him, all you peoples!<\/p>\r\n

reason\/statements:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

For great is his steadfast love toward us,\r\nand the faithfulness of the LORD<\/span> endures forever.<\/p>\r\n

call:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Praise the LORD<\/span>!<\/p>\r\nThe first two lines have parallel grammar, words, and meaning, and they form an inclusio<\/em> with the last line.\r\n\r\nThe second couplet, introduced by \u2018for,\u2019 gives the reasons for praise. The Hebrew word is k\u00ee<\/em> (pronounced: \u201ckey\u201d), which can mean either \u201cfor\/because\u201d or \u201cthat\u201d or \u201cindeed.\u201d We could translate the second couplet:\r\n

Indeed! <\/strong><\/span>Great is his steadfast love toward us,\r\nand the faithfulness of the LORD<\/span> endures forever.<\/p>\r\nThis translation becomes what we say in order to praise God. The Hebrew encompasses both meanings. English translations almost always choose \u201cfor\u201d and make these statements the reasons for praise. However, the Hebrew also gives them to us as statements of praise.\r\n\r\nWe see this use of \u201cfor\u201d also in Isaiah 49:13.\r\n

call:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;\r\nbreak forth, O mountains, into singing!<\/p>\r\n

reason\/statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

For\/Indeed!<\/strong><\/span> the LORD<\/span> has comforted his people,\r\nand will have compassion on his suffering ones.<\/p>\r\nAgain, the statements introduced by \u201cfor\u201d indicate the reason to \u201csing for joy\u201d what to say.\r\n

<\/a>a. the call for others to praise: a command or an invitation<\/h2>\r\nMany hymns begin with a call for others to praise God. They use either the imperative or an invitation beginning with \u201clet.\u201d The imperative mood expresses both commands and requests depending on the relationship between the speaker and the audience. Ps 100:1-2 begins with three imperatives which add a sense of directness and insistence:\r\n

Make a joyful noise to the LORD<\/span>, all the earth.\r\nWorship the LORD<\/span> with gladness;\r\ncome into his presence with singing.<\/p>\r\nThe call can also be introduced by \u201clet,\u201d which creates a stronger sense of politeness. Ps 149 begins with two imperatives and then follows with \u201clet\u201d clauses:\r\n

Let Israel be glad in its Maker;\r\nlet the children of Zion rejoice in their King.\r\nLet them praise his name with dancing,\r\nmaking melody to him with tambourine and lyre.<\/p>\r\nBy using the \u201clet us,\u201d the speaker invites the audience to join in a corporate action, as in Ps 95:1.\r\n

O come, let us sing to the LORD<\/span>;\r\nlet us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!<\/p>\r\nThe call may go out to Israel, but it may include all the earth as in Psalm 66 or all heaven and earth as in Psalm 148. Psalm 150 contains only a series of calls to praise to which it adds who, where, why, and how God should be praised. Only an indication of \u2018when\u2019 is missing, which we find else.\r\n\r\nPs 102:1 creates an interior dialogue by calling \u201cmy soul\u201d to praise.\r\n

Bless the LORD<\/span>, O my soul,\r\nand all that is within me,\u00a0 bless his holy name.<\/p>\r\nThis contributes to the psalm\u2019s sense of intimacy.\r\n

<\/a>b. the psalmist\u2019s vow of praise<\/h2>\r\nThe Hebrew verb forms can have several possible translations because they do not indicate time and have lost earlier endings. The word \u02c0odeh<\/em> can be translated in the following ways:\r\n