[הלל] Celebrate Jesus!

In my first blog entry, I discussed one Hebrew definition of "praise", but I deliberately held off another one until now. This one is more well-known: halal, more often recognized in the form Hallelu Yah.

To be honest, when I looked up this word, it confused me. Some things didn't add up. It is translated "foolish" and "fool" in some places in the Bible (Psalm 5:5; 73:3; 75:4 Job 12:17). Weird!!! How can this word ever be translated "praise"?

But, I looked through, and found other translations for this word: to shine, to boast, to glory, to make a fool of oneself (Brown-Driver-Brigg's Hebrew Definitions), to celebrate, to rave, to be mad (Strong's).

In my head, a strange compilation of concepts. But... as I looked more closely, I saw something. This praise is different than yahad. This is the praise that has to do with music, instruments, dance (Psalm 150). This is the praise of celebration. The expression of a joy so deep, so all-encompassing...

That we make a fool of ourselves.

I remembered instantly the dance of David. He "danced before the LORD with all his might" (2 Samuel 6:14). He danced so hard that Michal called it "vulgar" (vs 20, NIV).

That was halal. Halal is that place where all you can think is, How great! How great! How GREAT is our God! That place you reach when you don't care what the people around you think; you just want to dance, to sing, to play the strings, the percussion, to shine the grace of God. To celebrate His goodness, the victory over death and sin.

Halal is outward praise. It is dancin with and for God. It is celebrating Jesus with all your might!

Praise Him
Praise Him
Praise Him

~Ken