Each year, millions of people celebrate Christmas by listening to Handel's Messiah and its iconic Hallelujah chorus. I've heard and appreciated it many times. But it has occurred to me that one element of the chorus that I may not fully appreciate is the meaning of the word "Hallelujah." We tend to use it to express joy or thanks to God, but what does the word actually mean?
A rudimentary search of the internet revealed that, translated literally, Hallelujah is an exhortation, addressed to several people, to praise God. It's not an interjection; it's a verb. When we say "Hallelujah," we are asking those who can hear us to praise God, and when we hear "Hallelujah," that's what we are being asked to do.
Of course, the same website that told me the word's literal meaning also told me that most Christians don't use it. The website states that "For most Christians, 'Hallelujah' is considered a joyful word of praise to God, rather than an injunction to praise him." And, naturally, we must take the speaker's meaning into account. If someone says "Hallelujah" at having heard some miraculously good news, we don't need to assume that they are asking us to praise God right then and there. Similarly, when we say "Hallelujah," we can can use it as an interjection or an invitation, if we have reason to believe that our listeners might recognize it as an invitation.
But now that we know that Hallelujah is sometimes use to exhort people to praise God, I hope we think of that definition as often as we hear the word. There is never a bad time to praise God, and there are few better times than at Christmastime. So, this season, when we hear the choir emphatically sing "Hallelujah" at the end of that glorious hymn, I hope we take a moment to accept that invitation.
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