TAM Initiative

May God be praised! We say this one way or another, whether in church, in small groups, in private conversations, in our prayers, and in our songs. As I suggested previously, praise and worship, together with the vehicle of music, form an almost inseparable trinity. But “praise” is not equal to singing songs. Psalm 148, for example, calls even the stars to praise the Lord — obviously without music as we know it. But why do we also praise through songs? And what does the word “praise” really mean?

Similar to the Latin term (laudare), the verb to praise and its noun praise indicate the act of commending or extolling someone. This can refer either to a human being or to God. But since God’s revelation came primarily through Hebrew and Greek, I believe it is important to understand the dimension of the term in these languages. Hebrew primarily uses four words that reflect the various aspects of our word to praise. They are: Halal (think of “hallelujah” — Praise God), indicating a presentation of God or a celebration of His existence or character; Yadah (derived from the Hebrew word meaning “hand”), which indicates a posture of raised hands giving thanks; Barak, which indicates kneeling, conveying the sense of saluting and blessing; and also Zamar (e.g., Psalm 68:4 — “. . . sing praises to His name”), which in a single word indicates a song played (instrumentally) accompanied by singing. Greek uses a smaller number of words that have been translated as “praise.” Almost exclusively used are the verbs αἰνῶ (aino) and ἐπαινῶ (epaino) — the difference between them being the prefix epi.[1] Similarly to the word praise in English, these verbs indicate the act of commending someone for a deed or for their character. Also found in the New Testament is the word ὑμνέω (hymneo), which likewise translates as to sing praises — yes, this is the root word of the term “hymn.”

Now, what should we do with these concepts? What happens is that when we say we are praising God, we are actually combining several ideas: we are commending our God, extolling Him, celebrating what He has done (and also does and will do), saluting and blessing His person. And, interestingly, we do this not exclusively alone with the Lord, but purposefully also in the presence of others. The praise of God is not meant to be done only in private, but preferably publicly. That is why, when we praise, we address God, extolling Him, and, almost without exception, we also turn to the audience listening to us to speak of the wonders of our God. Even the word “hallelujah,” a globally used term, is actually also a call made to those who hear us, inviting them to join us in praising God.[2]

Music is perfectly suited for this conversation we call praise. It is a unifying vehicle that connects the singer and/or instrumentalist with God, speaking the language of their hearts, while at the same time communicating the Lord’s glory to the listeners in an attractive way, exalting the beauty of the One we are praising. Several biblical texts show us that we can carry on this conversation (praise) through music. For this reason, we want to go deeper into the meaning and the potential of this art that God has given us, so that through it we may recommend the Almighty Lord to those around us, presenting who He is, blessing His name, and calling them to join His people in giving glory to God. May God be praised! Hallelujah!![3]

[1] The definitions of biblical words in this paragraph come from James Strong’s Hebrew and Greek dictionaries. See: James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, derived from the Exhaustive Concordance by the same author, 1890.

[2] Psalms 104, 106, 111, 112, 113, 115, 116, 135, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150.

[3] Praise God!