60. I. AS TO WORDS: "HALLELUJAH"
It is found first at the end of Ps. civ.; and, its position there leaves us in no doubt as to its true interpretation. It is associated with praise for deliverance from, and for the destruction of, enemies— "Let sinners be consumed out of the earth,
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
Hallelujah" (Ps. civ. 35).
Its first occurrence in the New Testament is in precisely the same connection (Rev. xix. 1, 3):—
"HALLELUJAH,
Salvation, and glory and honour, and power
Unto the Lord our God.
For true and righteous are His judgments:
For He hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,
And hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.
And again they said HALLELUJAH."¹
The word is thus associated with the thought of judgment: not necessarily every time; for praise must be rendered for many things: but this is its first great theme.
This thought will not be repugnant to those who "rightly divide the Word of truth," and understand such "praise." Though it is out of harmony in this Dispensation of grace, it is quite in keeping with the past Dispensation of works and the coming Dispensation of Judgment. (See pages 110, 111.) 3. "Selah."—The first occurrence of this word furnishes us with the key to its meaning.
All explanations of it which have been given, and have been derived from sources outside the Word of God, are worthless. They are only what men have thought; and have never risen above musical notation. No meaning has hitherto been suggested that is worthy of the dignity of the Inspired Word; or that is connected with the truth, teaching, or subject-matter of the Scriptures.
¹ This is the Figure Epanadiplosis. See Figures of Speech, page 245.
U 2
Some have said that it always marks the end of a Strophe; others that it marks the beginning. Both are wrong, being only a part of the truth; and, as is so often the case in other departments of Bible study, when a part is put for the whole the result is error instead of truth. The word Selah may be derived from one of two roots: either from כָּלָה (sālāh), to pause, and, though this may well apply to the pausing of the heart and mind to dwell on the words of God, yet man seems unable to rise above the thought of the musical instrument's pausing, while the voices go on. On the other hand, some derive it from כָּלָה (sālal), to lift up; but they limit this to lifting up the voices in song, and do not rise to the lifting up of the heart. The word Selah occurs seventy-four times in the Old Testament: seventy-one times in the Book of Psalms and three times in the Prophecy of Habakkuk.
Of these it occurs several times in the middle of a verse; which is a proof that it need neither commence nor end a Paragraph or Strophe.
The key will be furnished by its first occurrence, in Ps. iii., where it occurs three times—
(1) Between verses 2 and 3.
(2) Between verses 4 and 5.
(3) Between Psalms iii. and iv.
Here, it will be seen that the word is used as a connecting link, calling our attention to what has been said, and bidding us to associate it with what immediately follows.
This may be for various purposes:
(1) It may be by way of contrast.
(2) It may be by way of further explanation.
(3) It may be to mark a cause, or an effect; or,
(4) It may be at the end of a Psalm, in which case it connects the two Psalms and tells us that they relate to the same authorship, or have the same subject-matter.
In this first occurrence (Ps. iii.) we have three of these usages.