One Mysterious Word (Selah)

Whodunnit?? Long before the 2013 TV show of the same name, this was a popular term referring to murder mysteries. I whiled away many an hour as a youngster reading Hound of the Baskervilles and other Sherlock Holmes stories, and I have also thoroughly enjoyed recent American and British TV interpretations of the character as well. Sherlock has a knack for making keen observations and stringing together tiny, seemingly insignificant details to solve the most puzzling of cases.

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If only he were a real person, we might call upon Holmes’ services to uncover the truth of one the most mysterious words found in the Bible: selah. As it stands, Bible scholars today still do not know for certain what this word means, though we certainly have several ideas about it.

The Homan Illustrated Bible Dictionary has this to say about selah: “Term of unknown meaning… Scholars have advanced various unprovable theories: a pause either for silence or musical interlude; a signal for the congregation to sing, recite, or fall prostrate on the ground; a cue for the cymbals to crash; a word to be shouted by the congregation; or a sign to the choir to sing a higher pitch or louder.”

Not much help there.

Psalms as Prayers (Psalms part 9)

Awkward silence.

We all hate it. You’re with another person, and for whatever reason, you find that neither of you have anything to say. This is not the comfortable silence of close friends who simply enjoy each other’s presence. Oh no - it’s the dreaded awkward silence: an uncomfortable lull in the conversation. Why does it happen?

Sometimes it is the result of not really knowing the other person all that well. Or maybe the subject matter is simply too intimate to be comfortable speaking of it with this particular person, even if you’ve known them for a long time. And there may even be times when you can’t connect with a person because you “aren’t speaking the same language.” It’s an odd metaphor, but it neatly sums up those situations where thoughts, ideas, or concepts aren’t crossing the divide between two minds. It can go way beyond awkwardness, all the way to frustration.

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Encountering difficulty while speaking to another human can be uncomfortable, but what do you do if you’re having trouble communicating with God? There you are, in the presence of the Almighty, at the feet of the Great I AM, the Creator of all space and time… One might be understandably overwhelmed, especially one who is new to the faith – one who doesn’t know God all that well just yet. Perhaps you are afraid to admit some difficult truth about yourself to God, or even to yourself. And let’s be honest – even the most mature and devout Christians encounter disconcerting periods of “silence.”

So what do you do?

Modern Psalms (Psalms part 8)

I have a confession to make: I did not grow up in a churchgoing family, nor did I become grounded and well-versed in scripture until over a decade after I was saved. It was at this time, about 2010, that I finally began to listen to contemporary Christian music - bands like Third Day, Tenth Avenue North, The Newsboys, and others.

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I was surprised to catch phrases from hymns found in the Baptist Hymnal peppered through many of the songs I would hear on Christian radio (I had, by that time, spent a good number of years attending a small country church and singing exclusively from the Baptist Hymnal during services). It wasn’t until I began really immersing myself in scripture that I discovered the link between these two vastly different styles of music was actually (drum roll….) the Bible. It seems terribly obvious now, but at the time, it was a revelation which really helped me connect to what I was reading in God’s word.

Psalms, Songs, and Smarts (Psalms part 7)

You might think it painfully obvious that singing the psalms would be a very natural, logical, and worshipful thing to do, and you would be right. Many people do so regularly, and I would definitely not be the first writer to tackle the subject. So rather than hitching another chorus of “Row, Row” to other writers’ “Boats,” let’s navigate this topic along a different tack.

I am writing this post with a very specific point in mind. We know that music alone has a special power to touch our hearts. We also know that when music is combined with words, the emotional impact can be multiplied greatly. What many people probably know, but rarely take time to think about, is that songs are also extremely powerful memory tools.

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When I was in elementary school (not too many thousands of years ago), one of my favorite classes was math. Yes, I was one of the nerdy kids. One of my favorite things about math class was when the teacher pulled out the record player (again, thousands of years ago, right?) and played little songs that helped us to memorize things like our multiplication tables.

Using the Psalms (Psalms part 6)

My pastor has a saying which goes something like this: “You can have a whole stack of Bibles at home, but they don’t do you any good if they’re never open.” His words ring true, no doubt about it. If you’re not reading your Bible, it serves as little more than a decoration in your home.

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But let’s take this concept a step further. Let’s assume that you are opening up your Bible and reading from it regularly. Are you just reading, or are you really trying to learn something?

I’m of the opinion that, while knowing information is a good thing, information which is not put into practice is essentially useless. It is important to connect the facts we learn to practical ways that they can be applied in our everyday lives. The key to successfully using Biblical knowledge lies in letting God shape us through His Word. That’s the only way it works. Too often, we try to wrap God and His words around our own desires, but we must always remember that He is the potter, and we are only the clay.

More Than a Song (Psalms part 5)

So far in our study of the book of Psalms, we have examined the purpose of praise, the might of music, and the command to create. Now let’s tie the previous articles together. There is one very important aspect of the Psalms that we have not yet touched. Let’s see what we may have missed…

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We have established that God wants us to return the love which He shows to us (He wants our praise). God gave us a very powerful tool to do just that (music). God even gives us the keys to the workshop when He tells us to “sing a new song” (to be creative).  The Psalms, as music, as poetry, as artistry unrivaled in any medium known to man, are very important for our emotional and spiritual well-being. They help us connect directly to God.

But there is yet more.

So, What is a "Psalm," Anyway? (Psalms part 4)

The answer to that question can get far more complicated than one might think. The simple definition is that a psalm is a song of praise to the Lord. Now one might ask,"Simple enough - what's complicated about that?"

Oh my, here we go...

We are about to embark on an adventure of history, music theory, theology, and etymology.

Old Notes and New Songs (Psalms part 3)

As discussed in the previous post, modern translations of the Bible preserve only the words of the book of Psalms. The inevitable question which then arises is: "If the Psalms are supposed to be music, why is there no musical notation in the Bible?" 

Good question.  Some of the answers might surprise you.

For example, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Masoretic Text actually contain symbols called "cantillation signs" which have been used since ancient times to record music in written form. Sadly, the knowledge of how to correctly read those symbols in order to know what the music sounds like has been lost. But as we know, God is an expert at finding that which was lost! Musicologist Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura (1928–2000) studied these symbols extensively and was very successful in constructing a method to once again bring the music off the page and to our ears.  In particular, Psalm 114 was reconstructed using this method.  The result was a tune recognizable as the "tonus peregrinus," used in the Gregorian Chant of the ancient church. Click HERE to listen to it in English from the King James Bible!

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"OK, that's cool, but if the music was there originally, why is it missing now?"

Another good question.  I would like to offer ONE possible answer...

We are commanded in the Bible to "sing a NEW song" to the lord.  The term "new song" appears nine times in the King James, and six of those are commands! Why is that important?

Because God is a creator. THE Creator, in fact. We know from studying the Bible that God wants us to become more like Him. "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." (Leviticus 19:2 and many other similar verses) This being true, it would logically follow that we should imitate God in all the ways we can. Thus, we should be creative, and this includes the realm of music. So when we are told to "sing a NEW song," that means that God really does want us to create new music!

"But... what's wrong with the old songs? Aren't they good enough?"

Not "Just" Poetry (Psalms part 2)

Many people already know that the book of Psalms is often called the great hymnal of the Bible, or the Bible's songbook. And yet, if you look in any modern Bible, you only see the words: no musical notation.

Why is that?

Many answers to that simple question have been suggested. Let's investigate ONE of those arguments here...

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Perhaps the Psalms were only poems, without music?

The Bible itself proves this argument to be false over and over again. 1 Chronicles 16:9 says, "Sing to Him, sing Psalms to Him..." If you're singing, that's music! A great number of the Psalms contain a line which says, "to the Chief Musician," or perhaps in more modern translations, "to the choir director." Clearly, those psalms in particular were not intended to be presented without music. Ephesians 5:12 mentions, "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart" (Colossians 3:16 contains a very similar reference).  James 5:13 says, "Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms." It seems that Psalms and singing go hand-in-hand.

All About That Praise (Psalms part 1)

What does God want?

We make that question so difficult to answer that, all too often, it goes unanswered altogether. We analyze our circumstances, our abilities, our limitations, our finances, our desires, our needs, our strengths, our weaknesses, ad nauseum (!!) until we have twisted ourselves into knots so tight and gnarly that the finest sailor could never untangle them. Our intentions are good, but our method is flawed.

So... what DOES God want?

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The answer to that question is found in one of the major themes running throughout the entire Bible: praise.  What does God want? He wants our praise, not as a vain or selfish thing, but as a reflection of the mutual love between us and Him.

When we praise something or someone, what is it that we are really expressing? According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, "praise" means:

•  to say or write good things about (someone or something) : to express approval of (someone or something)
• to express thanks to or love and respect for (God)

So, in order to truly praise someone, we have to hold them in very high regard; respect them; approve of them; admire them; thank them; and ultimately, love them.  Right there we have the crux of the matter: the entire Bible is actually the story of God's love for us and His plan to bring us into a proper relationship with Him.

How does all of this relate to the book of Psalms?