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Psalm 113

Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!

High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with the princes of his people.
To the childless wife he gives a home
and gladdens her heart with children.

Commentary

This psalm belongs to the Hallel collection of the Psalter, comprising Psalms 113-118; their authorship is unknown. They were used in the Jewish liturgy for the great feasts, like Passover and Pentecost. At the family celebration of Passover Psalms 113 and 114 were sung before the meal, while Psalms 115-118 were sung afterwards. These were, therefore, the last psalms prayed by Jesus before His Passion (see Matthew 26:26, 30; Mark 14:22, 26). This psalm is a hymn of praise to God, who is both glorious and compassionate.

Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!

High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with the princes of his people.
To the childless wife he gives a home
and gladdens her heart with children.
                                        (vv. 1-9).

This psalm opens with the liturgical shout: Halleluia! This is a command to praise the Lord, an exuberant expression of faith in God. The worshippers at the celebration are called “servants of the Lord”, which is both an apt title for them and an honour, for all the great men of old whom God used were called God’s servants; so it sets them in the royal line, from Abraham and the Patriarchs down through Moses, to those present in the Temple for this feast. This command to God’s servants to render Him praise is both a recognition of their duty to obey God’s commandments, and an expression of their joyous privilege of living in permanent relationship with Him. Praise is the loving homage of committed disciples to the One who has revealed Himself as their Lord and Father.

The worshipping congregation is aware that they are not alone, for they immediately become aware of participating in the vast paean of praise ascending to God from all creation, throughout the expanse of all time and all generations. Praise therefore lifts us out of our limited awareness of ourselves into a sense of oneness with all creation. It also lifts the heart to Heaven, making us aware of, and indeed enter into, the praise of the angelic spirits who offer their worship to God continuously (see Revelation 5:6-14).

The spiritual basis for praise is God’s transcendent glory. God is sovereign Lord of the universe, and Lord of history, and so there can be no one like Him. He is the exalted ruler of all nations and kingdoms, whose home is far above the heavens. Therefore He is wholly “other”, unique and perfect in His own being, needing neither authority nor power from His creatures on earth (see John 18:36-37). The psalmist’s statement, which re-echoes the song of Moses at the Red Sea (see Exodus 15:11), shows that God cannot be compared with anything on the earth. His glory transcends anything that can be known or understood by creatures. St Paul underlined this when he said that no eye could see, nor ear hear, nor heart understand what God has prepared , in heaven, for those who love Him, and this was merely a description of heaven, not of God Himself! He is indescribable. God cannot be grasped by the human intellect, but He can be experienced by those who love Him, so that they somehow understand experientially what
can never be understood intellectually (see Ephesians 3:14-21).

The extraordinary thing about this great transcendent God is that He does not stay aloof in heaven. Instead He stoops down to earth to bridge the gap that separates creatures from Him. He reveals Himself to us by His Word, His prophets, His covenants, and His promises through His saints. Above all he revealed Himself fully in ultimate humility and love through the incarnation of His only begotten Son, Jesus, who came to be the bridge that connected God and man, heaven and earth (see Genesis 28:10-17; John 1:51). When we praise God, we do so through Jesus, our bridge, also with Him as our brother, and in Him because of our oneness with Him. The ultimate act of graciousness on God’s part was when Jesus “stooped down” for us in his Passion and death to pay the terrible price to become the bridge of salvation for the whole world. This is the cause of our ceaseless praise and thanksgiving to God.

The greatness of God’s mercy and love are best seen against the background of our nothingness, when we realize that He stoops down to mere dust. Not only does He stoop down from His glorious throne to reach His creatures, but He longs to reach those who suffer most. He is not looking for anything from us save a response of love for love, the surrender of our heart in response to the giving of His; and this is all we have to give. He reaches down to us in order to lift us up to Him, to make us participators in the divine nature, children by adoption and co-heirs with His only-begotten Son. There is no greater way He can glorify His creature than this! (see 1 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 16:2; 1 Corinthians 1:27-31).

The poet is basing these verses on the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21). Childlessness was considered a disgrace in her day; a husband could banish a woman from the home, or could lessen her rights or privileges and make her life unbearable, whereas the mother of children was protected by the law from unfair dismissal. Thus we see that God cares for the most distressed and humiliated among His children. Hannah’s joy in experiencing God’s mercy was shared by all Israel, partly because God gave her one of Israel’s greatest prophets in her son Samuel. Her prayer had been answered out of all proportion to her request (see Ephesians 3:21). Hannah’a magnificat has been sung ever since in praise of God.

Great though it was, it cannot be compared to the joy of Mary of Nazareth, when God Himself, in the person of Jesus, stooped down from His throne of glory to take up His abode in her in the incarnation, making her not only the fulfilment of the Ark of the Covenant – although surpassing it in glory – but also the mother of God Himself. This was the ultimate act of love on God’s part to His creatures, and the most incredible election of a human being that could ever be contemplated. The Ark of the Covenant merely held a sign of God’s Word in the stone tablets, and a sign of God’s bread in the manna, and a symbol of the priesthood in Aaron’s rod; the manifestation of God’s Glory was outside it. Mary, on the other hand, held Jesus within her, He who was the Word of God, the manna, and the great high priest all in one great mystery. Mary’s joy, and Mary’s magnificat, is shared by the whole world, for it was not just a prophet who was given to her but the Messiah Himself. Each generation continues to sing her song of praise to God, even those who do not fully understand or accept the mystery she holds. She joins Hannah in telling us that God shares His greatest secrets with “little ones”, those people who are not great in their own eyes, and whose humility and purity enable them to enter very deeply into the mystery of God. To this wonderful woman God entrusted, not only Jesus His Son, but also the whole Church that she would be the spiritual mother of all His adopted children, whether they acknowledged her or not. She has been enthroned in God’s house, therefore, as queen and mother of all his children (see Luke 1:26-55; John 19:26-27).

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