Praise The Lord!

Taught by Janet R. 10/5
Notes by: Linda G.

As I was putting together the notes for today’s class I knew it was going to be a little more of a challenge than some I have done in the past few weeks. Today Janet taught on worship from Ezra 3. Some things you can learn from studying God’s word but there is something so special about worship that you only ‘get it’ from experience. Prior to Janet’s teaching this morning, Arlene opened with a song on praise followed by communion. This set the tone for the lesson that would follow.

The three themes in this chapter are remembrance, sacrifice, and praise and worship. Janet began her teaching with a short history of worship for the Jewish people. Going back to the time of Moses, worship was an integral part of their relationship with God. Many of their corporate times of worship were celebrated at appointed festivals which are still celebrated today. Some of the festivals that were celebrated are as follows: Passover – a remembrance of the Jews deliverance from slavery in the land of Egypt; Pentacost (Feast of Weeks/Shavout)- originally an agricultural festival celebrating and giving thanks for the "first fruits" of the early spring harvest , celebrated 50 days after Passover; Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) – This is the celebration of the Jewish New Year; The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur ) - was a time of fasting & searching out sins, a time to repent in order to be in correct relationship with God and fellow man.

In Chapter 3 of Ezra the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths (Succoth) is being celebrated. This feast commemorates the shelter of the Israelites during their 40 years in the wilderness. During their time of exile in Babylon, the Jews were not able to worship the Lord as He had required (see Exodus 25-27). The altar was a necessity in being able to worship as the Lord desired. “Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God “ Ezra 3:2 (NIV). The altar was a place of sacrifice and where incense would be burned continually. The altar that the former exiles built was erected on the very foundation that had been laid by King Solomon in the first temple. At this time construction on the new temple had not yet begun.

Janet then spoke of some of the Hebrew words that denote praise. She spoke of ‘Halal’. This word is the primary Hebrew word for praise. Our word "hallelujah" comes from this. It means, "to be clear, to shine, to boast, show, to rave, celebrate, to be clamorously foolish." In scripture, an example of this could be
found in Psalm 113:1 - "Praise (HALAL) ye the Lord, Praise (HALAL) O ye servants of the Lord, praise (HALAL) the name of the Lord."* Janet also spoke of ‘Yada’. This is a verb with a root meaning, "the extended hand, to throw out the hand, therefore to worship with extended hand." An example of this is found in Psalm 63:4 - "Thus I will bless Thee while I live, I will (YADAH) lift up my hands in Thy name".*

In class Janet led a discussion based on the following verse: “Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices” Ezra 3:3 (NIV). We spoke about all the different ways in which we worship the Lord – both in community and in private. Going back to “Yada’, we can worship the Lord by lifting our hands. This position of worship can flow from different longings within us. We may lift our hands to signify humility before or God or reverence of His awesomeness. It could represent surrender. (It was noted that when a side surrenders to another in battle, it is really to a place of safety.) It was also noted that our worship flows from who God created us to be – our personalities, our culture. As we worship God, it is between Him and us. There may be a time when God calls us to worship Him exuberantly but there are also times when we are called to worship Him in deep reverence and quietness. We need to keep our eyes on Who we are worshiping - not each other. We want to worship ‘in spirit and in truth’. We want to block out distractions. We want to be confident that the Lord we worship hears us and pleased with what we offer Him.

Class ended today the way it began..with a time of worship. I ask you now, my sisters, to have some time with the Lord on your own. Choose some of your favorite worship music or even delve into the Psalms and worship The One who loves you unconditionally!

*taken from: http://www.farsipraise.net/blog/2006/08/7-hebrew-words-for-praise.html