Fausset Bible Dictionary: Alleluia

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Fausset Bible Dictionary: Alleluia


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("Praise ye Jehovah".) Never found in the palms of David and his singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun: but in later psalms, namely, those of the captivity and the return, the Fifth Book. So "Selah" is restricted to his and their psalms. Used in the temple liturgy; at the beginning, close, or both, of Psalm 106; 111; 113; 117; 135. So in the heavenly perfect liturgy (; -4; ), the triumphant shout of the great multitude, the 24 elders, and four living creatures at the judgment on the whore.

The Hebrew form may imply the special interest of the Jews in the destruction of antichrist (-9). Psalm 113-118 were called by the Jews the Hallel: sung on the first of the month, at the Feast of Dedication, that of Tabernacles, that of Weeks, and that of Passover. They sang Psalm 142 and Psalm 114 before the supper (according to Hillel's school, or only Psalm 113 according to Shammai's school), the rest after the last cup. This was the hymn sting by Christ and His disciples (). As the full choir of Levites in the temple service took up the Alleluia, so in heaven the multitude in mighty chorus respond Alleluia to the voice from the throne, "Praise our God, all ye His servants," etc. (-6.)