Psalm 148

 We do not know who wrote Psalm 148. And we do not know when they wrote it. Many Bible students think that the psalmist wrote it to use in the new temple in Jerusalem. The psalmist was the person that wrote the psalm. The temple was God’s house in Jerusalem. The army of Babylon destroyed it but 70 years later the Jews built it again.

Psalm 148 is the third Hallelujah Psalm. "Hallelujah" means "praise the LORD". "Praise" means "tell someone that he is very great". "LORD" is another name for God. It is the covenant name. A covenant is when two people, or groups of people, agree. Here, God agrees to love and send help to his people when they need it. His people agree to love and obey God.

Later, someone else wrote this psalm in a new way. They made it longer. It is in the book called the Jewish Apocrypha. The Apocrypha tells the story of the Jews between the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. We call the new song The Benedicite. Some Christians still sing it in their churches.

What Psalm 148 means
The psalm has three parts:

     ·    verses 1 - 6: the psalmist tells everything in the sky to praise the LORD;
     ·    verses 7 - 10: the psalmist tells everything on the earth to praise the LORD (but not people);
     ·    verses 11 - 14: the psalmist tells people to praise the LORD.

Verses 1 – 6: "From the heavens" means "everything that is above the earth". In the Bible, heaven or the heavens means two things. It can mean the sky, where we can see the sun, moon and stars (verse 3). Also, it can mean the home of God, where his angels also live (verse 2). Jews believed that there were waters above the sky (verse 4). God created  all this by his word of command.

Verses 7 – 10: Everything on the earth must also praise the LORD. We do not know how animals, birds, reptiles, snow, clouds, winds, storms, trees, hills and mountains all praise the LORD. But God knows, and accepts their praise.

Verses 11 – 14: The psalm ends by telling people to praise the LORD. Everybody is here. The leaders of people and people themselves are here, young and old, male and female. [This information is from Wycliffe Associates (UK).]

Something to do
When you see something that God has made, praise him for it! Because even when we don't praise God, nature will. In the above paragraph the writer says that s/he does not know how nature praises God. Well, we know how birds may praise God with their songs, how animals may exude their  strength, their gentleness, their beauty, and we know how snow adorns mountains and creates awesome scenes for us to enjoy. But God does not need our praise because his own creation does that nonstop. The Psalm however tells people to praise him as well. We must never forget that.

For a unique take on how the heavens praise God take a look at this clip by Loiue Giglio who shows just how this could happpen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWKm-LZWm4