Before becoming a Christian, I’d heard the word “hallelujah” a few times. I remembered it as a song playing in the background of a few television shows that I’d watched. It pains me to admit this, but my first exposure to the word was likely on the lips of a red-faced parody of a money-grubbing preacher in the World Wrestling Federation (WWE, now). Brother Love (the name of the guy from the world of wrestling) would throw out a hallelujah here and there.
I never really sought to understand the meaning. It just sounded like one of those words that religious people throw around. Often, it seemed to fill the gaps where an expletive might have been placed previously. But what does this word mean? Where does it come from? Why do we say it?
What is the Origin of Hallelujah?
The word “hallelujah” is a combination of two Hebrew words. Hallel means “to praise” or “joyously praise.” The second word, jah/yah, is a shortened form of Yahweh (YHWH), God's sacred and personal name. Put them together, and you have the word “hallelujah,” which means “praise Yahweh.”
Interestingly, this word does not appear to be used in Hebrew vocabulary until after returning from exile. It first appears in Psalm 104:35, and from there forward, it appears some twenty-three times in the Psalter.
The word hallel might be familiar to you. It is the name given from Psalm 113-118. This pairing of psalms was chanted by observant Jews throughout holy days (even still). It was especially prominent during the Passover season. This would likely have been coupled with the “Hosanna’s,” which were joyously recited as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the young donkey.
Unlike many other Hebrew words which were Latinized or transformed into Greek, this word retained its Hebrew origins.
How is Hallelujah Used in the Bible?
In the Scriptures, "Hallelujah" is predominantly found in the Psalms, where it serves as a call to praise and a declaration of gratitude or admiration towards God. We see this usage of the word in Psalm 150. This psalm begins and ends with the Hallelujah—framing a series of exhortations to praise God with various instruments in diverse settings. It serves as a call to universal praise.
The word also appears in the New Testament but only four times in Revelation. Revelation 19:1-6 gives us a peak into the heavenly choir. This section portrays the downfall of Babylon and the triumph of God’s kingdom. This is similar to how it is used in the Psalms. The Hallel is all about God’s work of salvation in the midst of peril. Throughout Scripture, the hallelujahs celebrate God’s righteous reign and his work of bringing about righteousness to the world.
It is a proclamation that God is good and He is doing a good thing. This mention of deep praise might be begging a question—what does it mean to praise?
What Does it Mean to Praise?
If hallelujah, in its most basic form, means to “praise Yahweh,” it will be helpful to know what praise means. It’s a bit similar to using a word like “love.” We know what it means, but it is difficult to define. Praise is somewhat similar. I believe we innately know what it means to praise something, but it's difficult to exactly define what it means. Most basically, it means to ascribe worth and honor to something. It’s to fittingly approve a thing.
“Apollo Creed is the best boxer ever” to praise the boxing skills of this fictional character. What does it look like, then, to praise God? Henry Blackaby has said, “Praise is the spontaneous response of a grateful child of God in His presence.”[1] C.S. Lewis said it this way:
I think we delight in praising what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”[2]
Praise is what happens when we joyfully reflect upon who God is and what God has done. We see it especially crop up in the soil of difficulty and even despair. We praise when we understand who we are and who God is. It is a response to His graciousness towards us.
Hallelujah in Contemporary Culture
Today, you might hear a “hallelujah” in a context that has nothing to do with God. It is used in song, literature, and popular culture. It is now a simple expression of emotion that transcends religious boundaries.
The word is now almost a synonym for expressing happiness when you get what you want. Get a good parking spot for your car with that Coexist bumper sticker at the grocery store. Hallelujah! Such a one isn’t thinking about the covenant-keeping God of the Bible but rather a god of their own making. They are shouting hallelujah to the heavens—and maybe even praising “Mother Nature” or “Karma” for blessing them.
This is not a proper usage of the word. It’s not proper to shout a hallelujah without thinking about the covenant-keeping God. It’s a misuse of this call to praise. There is a specific object for our praise embedded in the word itself. You cannot say “praise YHWH” while you’re bowing a knee to a false god.
What is a Broken Hallelujah?
This phrase doesn’t exactly appear in the Bible. In fact, it’s from Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah. Other than Handel’s Messiah, this might be the most common usage of the phrase. In that song, Cohen refers to a broken hallelujah. It’s a riveting phrase.
The word itself does have connotations of joyous praise. We probably ought to picture happy, smiling, and hands-raised worship. But not entirely. It is important for us to remember the context of the Hallel in Psalms 113-118. It’s important to remember the anguish with which David Job and other authors of Scripture wrote. The hallelujah, to use Cohen's words, is a bit of a broken hallelujah. The deepest praise is often given on a heap of ashes.
There is a phrase popular in some churches when praying: “You are a God who sits high and looks low.” That comes from Psalm 113 (amongst other places). God is enthroned above all the nations, and yet, as verse 6 tells us, “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth.” That stooping happens because we are often “in the dust” and on a “heap of ash” (v7).
And it is here that God so often inhabits the praises of His people: in the brokenness, in the muck and mire of a world outside Eden. In this sense, all of our hallelujahs are broken.
And this might be the biggest misuse of the term. It’s not even so much that we’re praising an unknown God when we find a parking space. Or that we’re wrongly attributing God’s actions to an impersonal being. Yes, those are not fitting. Yes, those lean towards being blasphemous. But maybe the bigger misuse is to assume that hallelujahs are only for happy expressions.
Last year, in our local church, we lost a good man. He had an abundance of faith in the goodness of God. When cancer came his response was “hallelujah”. When he lost his arm, he had the same response. “Hallelujah.” It always seemed a little strange—maybe even at times as if it was trite. Was he really doing business with the depths of suffering? I think so. But this dear saint had learned what hallelujah really means. God is good—even in the valleys. It’s not only for the happy expressions when things go our way. But the hallelujah springs up as a testimony of God’s goodness.
Even if you’re in exile.
Even if you have cancer.
because someday, all of those will be gone, and then none of our hallelujahs will be broken.
[1] https://blackaby.org/spontaneous-praise/
[2] C.S. Lewis Reflections on the Psalms
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Merlas
Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is http://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today.
