Inarticulate Praise

Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! Psalm 148:3 NASB

Sun and moon – Imagine you live in the ancient world of the Near East. What does the sun mean to you? First, the obvious. The sun designates direction. Oh, were you going to say time? The rising of the sun is East, the setting West, and these two directions play a very important role in religious mythology of the ancient world. Next is time, the beginning of the day, the end of the day. And in case you didn’t realize it, no day is actually 24 hours exactly. The 24 hour day is a human convention forced upon an astronomical reality. Every day in any location is either just a bit longer or shorter than the 24 hour arbitrary ideal. That should cause you to rethink Genesis 1, maybe. Third, in the ancient world anything done in the light of day was considered deliberate. Thus, breaking a law or a taboo in the daytime meant automatic guilt, while at night things were not so clear (pun intended). Then there’s the phrase, “under the sun,” a reminder of the routine plodding of life, the endless fight against primal chaos in a world without YHVH. Finally, ancient religion believed that the sun had spiritual power for both blessing and punishment. That is why the ancients worshipped the sun. In Egypt, the sun god Re was the supreme god. The ninth plague is a direct assault on his power. Worship of the sun (and the moon) plagued Israel even after the demonstration in Egypt. In fact, it remains a significant influence in today’s religious world. Sun-day is no accident, and it has nothing to do with the resurrection on the “first” day of the week (which by Jewish reckoning would be anytime after sunset on Saturday).

Now perhaps we can grasp the significance of David’s exhortation to the sun and the moon to praise YHVH. It’s not just some part of the creation that must praise the Creator. It’s precisely those elements that carry the maximum religious pagan significance, that render men’s action culpable, that set the direction and the time for men, that signify power in pagan thought. The sun and the moon are not simply celestial bodies, created on the fourth day according to the Genesis account. They are the epitome of everything that idolatrous man feared, worshipped and used for guidance. David “converts” these idolatrous symbols into instruments of praise and in doing so he smashes any hint that the sun and the moon retain any inherent power. The praise of YHVH ensures that no religious symbolism remains in these two ancient objects of worship.

Of course, it is also important to recognize that David intends inanimate objects of creation to usher forth inarticulate praise. This thought is Hebraic. Often objects of creation, in fact even ideas, are personified or given human-action attributes. Consider the trees that clap, the stars that shout or Wisdom calling to men. The sun and the moon are no more or less God’s creation and as such, they too must shout His praise. In fact, the only thing God created that does not automatically offer Him praise and worship is us. We are the oddities of the created world. We choose how and whom we will praise. Perhaps we need to take a lesson from the sun and the moon, those pagan powers that now bow before the majesty of YHVH. Perhaps our complacency, our arrogance, our pride is really the only flaw in the creation. Time to get in line with the sun. Time to follow the song of the moon. He alone is worthy. Praise Him!

Topical Index: sun, moon, praise, Psalm 148:3

 

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Rick Blankenship

As I read this section: “Consider the trees that clap, the stars that shout…” it reminded me of this video by Louis Giglio about the stars singing praise to YHVH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB835wkz1Tc

Michael Stanley

WOW! Thanks for sharing this link Rick. Multiple that chorus times the trillions of stars and add to it the songs of the birds, the chirping of the crickets, the blasts of the elephants, the roars of the lions, the laughter of the children, the voices of the multitudes, the choir of angelic hosts, the sweet giggles of my wife and my loud snoring and what a symphony of worship YHWH must enjoy. Hallelujah. Michael

Thomas Elsinger

Michael, the very humor in your comment is a hallelujah as well. Thanks for the laughter!

Rick Blankenship

Michael,

Here are some stats for you. The last “official” count (read: guess) of the number of stars in the galaxy is 64 sextillion! Here are some more amazing stats to help us put these numbers in some sort of perspective…
1 million seconds equals approximately 11 days;
1 billion seconds equals approximately 11,000 days — or 32 years;
1 trillion seconds equals approximately 32,000 years;
1 quadrillion seconds equals approximately 32,000,000 (million) years;
1 quintillion seconds equals approximately 32,000,000,000 (billion) years;
1 sextillion seconds equals approximately 32,000,000,000,000 (trillion) years;
64 x 32 sextillion = 2,048,000,000,000,000 (quintillion) years!

And to think all of these stars are praising YHVH, PLUS all the angels. We can’t even begin to understand the concept of praise, and yet, that is the reason we were created!

Rick Blankenship

Ooopppss…

the last number is actually (quadrillion), not (quintillion). I got a little lost in the numbers! 😎

Michael Stanley

Guess we will need ” no less days to sing His praise!” Thanks for the math.

Thomas Elsinger

Thank you, Rick, for telling the rest of us about this. As a former songleader, I couldn’t help but feel passionate about this brief lecture.

As an aside, the hallelujahs we hear are many and great and vast. But as my hearing-impaired wife points out, there are visual hallelujahs as well. If all our sense were heightened so that we were aware of the glory being given, well, we would probably be overwhelmed!

Esther Whitaker

Wow! I just now got around to watching this video. As soon as he added “How great is our God” tears flowed. Truly amazing!

Inetta

Thank you Rick! It was really cool!!!
Shalom!

carl roberts

Time to get in line (rightly-related) with the Son, – the Light of the world.

Rich Pease

How humbly we have to admit to Skip’s observation:
“We are the oddities of the created world.”
While the entire universe is in a symphony of praise,
we have to think about it!

Marsha

YES!!!!! Let’s take a minute……let’s leave all the confusion we live in behind…nothing exists for a minute. Okay….God/Love IS….and into the void He speaks the sun to give light to the day and the moon for the night. They worship Him! They are not inarticulate OR inanimate! I’ve not checked out the link Rick gave just yet but I’m betting it’s one I’ve seen and heard – the sounds of the solar system – AWESOME! YES! They worship Him! Not only the solar system worships Him-all creation worships Him. Science has proven and recorded the sound vibrations that are emitted from vegetables, flowers, plants of all kinds. I was a little girl when I saw a scientist on Johnny Carson who brought this experiment to the show. He had a small potted plant and a special microphone that picked up those sound vibrations. As he placed the microphone next to the plant one could easily hear a gentle, deliberate cadence…not unlike our heart beat. Then he struck a match – the closer he put the fire to the plant the faster and harder the sound vibration became – just exactly as our own heartbeat would at approaching danger. He blew it out and gradually the plant’s “heartbeat” became normal once again. We live in a world CREATED by our Loving Father – that world, in it’s created state – loves Him and praises His greatness! Our advantage and our disadvantage is that we have been given a free will to choose who we will serve….creation, bless its heart – lives under our choices. Yes Skip, let’s drop the….can I say crap?! It’s our enemy that brings the confusion of doubt and rebellion into our lives. Let’s drop it and leave it under our feet and worship our Loving Heavenly Father – Creator, Sustainer and Savior of all things!!!!!

carl roberts

“We are the oddities of the created world?” Oh? Aren’t we all were created in His image? ~ When God created mankind, (both male and female) – He made them in the likeness of God ~

laurita hayes

Knees were created to bow, and one day every one of them will. Blessed be those who are bowing now. He WILL be praised! Amen. Even so, come, Lord Yeshua, King of the universe.

Michael C

“Knees were created to bow . . .”
And for walking righteously. 😉

laurita hayes

OH, yeah. And if they walk righteously, then they will not bow against their will, and therefore in vain. He accepts only willing service.