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In the Old Testament, God had demonstrated His “strength” to Israel. The language
of God’s “strength” is highly metaphorical. God’s right hand gloriously manifests His
“power” (Exod. 15:6). His voice is loud: “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of
the Lord is full of majesty” (Ps. 29:4). In His “power,” He delivered Israel from Egypt
(Exod. 32:11) and brought them through the Red Sea (Exod. 15:6; cf. Num. 14:13). Even
as He advances the rights of the poor and needy (Isa. 50:2), He brought the Israelites as a
needy people into the Promised Land with His “power”: “He hath showed his people the
power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen” (Ps. 111:6). He
delights in helping His people; however, the Lord does not tolerate self-sufficiency on
man’s part. Isaiah rebuked the king of Assyria for his arrogance in claiming to have been
successful in his conquests (10:12-14), and he remarked that the axe (Assyria) should not
boast over the one who chops (God) with it (v. 15). Likewise God had warned His people
against pride in taking the land of Canaan: “And thou say in thine heart, My power
[
] and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember
the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power [
] to get wealth, that he may
establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deut. 8:17-18).
The believer must learn to depend upon God and trust in Him: “This is the word of the
Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).
The Septuagint gives the following translations:
$
(“strength; power; might”)
and
$
(“power; might; strength; force; ability; capability”).
TO PRAISE
A. Verbs.
(
, 1984), “to praise, celebrate, glory, sing (praise), boast.” The meaning “to
praise” is actually the meaning of the intensive form of the Hebrew verb
, which in
its simple active form means “to boast.” In this latter sense
is found in its cognate
forms in ancient Akkadian, of which Babylonian and Assyrian are dialects. The word is
found in Ugaritic in the sense of “shouting,” and perhaps “jubilation.” Found more than
160 times in the Old Testament,
is used for the first time in Gen. 12:15, where it is
noted that because of Sarah’s great beauty, the princes of Pharaoh “praised” (
KJV
,
“commended”) her to Pharaoh.
While
is often used simply to indicate “praise” of people, including the king (2
Chron. 23:12) or the beauty of Absalom (2 Sam. 14:25), the word is usually used in
reference to the “praise” of God. Indeed, not only all living things but all created things,
including the sun and moon, are called upon “to praise” God (Ps. 148:2-5, 13; 150:1).
Typically, such “praise” is called for and expressed in the sanctuary, especially in times
of special festivals (Isa. 62:9).
The Hebrew name for the Book of Psalms is simply the equivalent for the word
“praises” and is a bit more appropriate than “Psalms,” which comes from the Greek and
has to do with the accompaniment of singing with a stringed instrument of some sort. It is
little wonder that the Book of Psalms contains more than half the occurrences of
in
its various forms. Psalms 113-118 are traditionally referred to as the “Hallel Psalms,”