SUMMARY
God’s steadfast loveThe steadfast love (hesed) of God is the assurance of God's loving kindness, faithfulness, and mercy. This assurance rings throughout the Old Testament, and is affirmed more than 120 times in the Psalms. In some hymns of praise the response of the people was likely... engenders thanks and praise in every generation.
ANALYSIS
This psalmA psalm is a song of praise. In the Old Testament 150 psalms comprise the psalter, although some of the psalms are laments and thanksgivings. In the New Testament early Christians gathered to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. is known in Jewish worship as the Great HallelTo sing hallelujah is to express praise to God. "Hallel" means praise, while "jah" is a shortened form for Jahweh. Anyone who has read the Psalms or heard the great chorus from Handel's Messiah will be familiar with hallelujah. (or great hymn of praise). It is used in the Seder, the order for the Jewish observance of PassoverPassover commemorates the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt as described in the book of Exodus. It is celebrated with worship and a meal on the fourteenth day of the month called Nisan, which is the first month of the Jewish year. The time.... The structure suggests that the second half of each verse (“for his steadfast love endures forever”) was said or sung as a refrain by the worshiping community in response to the recitation of God’s saving acts throughout history.
The psalm recounts God’s work of creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... (vv. 4-9) and highlights the exodus and the gift of the land to God’s people (vv. 10-22). These are the fundamental works of God for Israel (exodus and land) and for all (creation). Thus, Israel and all subsequent readers of the psalm can be assured of God’s ongoing providence (v. 22) and join in the praise and thanks of all previous generations.
