1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise
Him in the heights!
2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!
3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of
light!
4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above
the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded
and they were created.
6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a
decree which shall not pass away.
Psalm 148 is pure praise. It contains not a single prayer,
plea, or petition, only praise. I found it interesting to note that in all the
commentaries that I read about this psalm, not one of them speculated as to who
was the psalmist and when it was written. I can only guess that the reason for
this is that God wanted us to focus on praising and worshiping Him. Psalm 148
is right in the middle of the five “Hallelujah Psalms” that conclude the Book
of Psalms. It is the mountain peak of delightful and joyful praise.
If I had to guess when it was written, I would probably say
Psalm 148 is connected to Psalm 147 and was written by an unknown psalmist at
the same time, which was after the captivity and the temple had been rebuilt
and the walls of Jerusalem had been restored in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.
But whoever and whenever is quickly set aside and it is obvious that this psalm
calls all those in highest glory to praise the LORD. It calls on everyone and everything
on earth to praise Him.
The word "praise" is used thirteen times in these
fourteen verses. The psalm begins in the highest heavens and ends with the
little nation of Israel. If any psalm reveals the glory and grandeur of the
worship of the LORD, it is this one, for it is cosmic in its dimensions and yet
very personal in its intentions. How anyone could trivialize the privilege and
responsibility of worship after pondering this psalm is difficult to
understand.
Verses 1-6 begins with calling on the heavens to praise the
LORD. We do not praise a god who was manufactured on earth; we praise the one
true and living God who reigns from the highest heavens, the God who created
all things. Solomon was right when he said, "Behold, heaven and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain You" (1 Kings 8:27; Deut. 10:14; Neh. 9:6; 2
Cor. 12:2). The "hosts of heaven" include the angels (Psalm 103:20-21)
and the stars and planets (Deut. 4:19), all of which praise the Lord.
Scripture gives us a few descriptions of worship in heaven
(Isa. 6; Dan. 7:9-10; Rev. 5:11-14), and we are cautioned not to worship the
angels (Col. 2:18; Rev. 22:8-9). The sun, moon, and stars also praise God
simply by doing what they were commanded to do (Psalms 8:1-3; 19:1-6; 89:36-37;
136:7-9). We cannot see the angels in heaven, but we can see the heavenly
bodies by day and night, and they tell us that there is a God and that He is
wise, powerful, and glorious (Romans 1:18-20).
The pagan nations worshiped the creation instead of the
Creator and Israel often fell into the same sin. The waters above and below
take us back to Genesis 1:6-7 and 7:11, and Psalm 104:3. Why should the hosts
of heaven praise the Lord? Simply because He made them and gave them the
privilege of serving Him and His people and bringing glory to His name.
God created us to worship and praise Him! We have so many reasons
for praising Him, and yet too often, we do not do it.
God bless!
