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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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On the Incredible Significance of the word Hallelujah
- Hallelujah: meaning and etymology -
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Hallelujah  — Alleluia 
The familiar word Hallelujah looks exactly like a Biblical name (verb + name of God), and it's a bit of a miracle that it was never applied as one (as far as we know). And even though in our modern languages, it exists as a verbal orphan, like a little linguistic island in a familiar textual ocean, in Hebrew it's part of a vast cluster of frequently occurring names, words and phrases. Where in our experience, Hallelujah means something like YOOHOO!, in Hebrew the word Hallelujah was recognized as proper language, and perfectly understood.
The word Hallelujah consists of two elements. It starts with an imperative form (that means it's a command) of the root  (halal) and it ends with  , Jah, which in turn is an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
The root (halal) covers quite an array of meanings. The renowned Scripture theorist and father of modern Hebrew philology Wilhelm Gesenius squeezed all various meanings and nuances of halal into the central charge of splenduit. But almost a hundred years later, the authoritative dictionary of Brown, Driver and Briggs, listed two separate roots halal, each with their own group of meanings. Three quarters of a century later, Harris, Archer and Waltke published their lexicon, and split the second root of Brown, Driver and Briggs in two, forming three distinct roots halal:
— halal I
The verb (halal) denotes what lamps and celestial bodies do: shine; emit light. This verb occurs a mere five or six times in the Bible (Job 31:26, Isaiah 13:10), but it exists in cognate languages with similar meanings. In Job 41:10 this verb is employed to state how the sneezes of Leviathan "flash forth light." Equally enigmatic is a statement made by the prophet Isaiah, "How you have fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of dawn" (14:12). The noun translated with "shining one" is  (helel) and was derived from our root halal. BDB lists this word as an appellation, an epithet, but HAW interprets it as the proper name Helel.
— halal II
The identical verb (halal II) means to be boastful or to praise. It shows up all over the Bible, from praising God in a liturgical setting to letting it rip in an informal bout of worship. It's even used to convey praise for commendable people (Proverbs 31:30). This verb yields three derivations:
• The masculine noun  (hillul), meaning praise or a rejoicing. It occurs only in plural:  (hillulim), literally meaning congratulations or rejoicings (Judges 9:27, Levitucus 19:24);
• The masculine noun  (mahalel), again meaning praise but literally a "container" for praise. It occurs only in Proverbs 27:21 where silver and gold are tested in a crucible and a furnace, and a man in his "container for" praise.
• The feminine noun  (tehilla), meaning praise, song of praise or thanksgiving or adoration, or it denotes praiseworthy deeds. This noun occurs all over the Bible. HAW condenses the meaning of this beautiful noun as, "the results of halal as well as the divine acts which merit that activity."
— halal III
The troublesome verb (halal III) means to be insane, or rather irrational. Without designating a separate root, BDB carefully acknowledges a mere few occasions in which derivations of the halal stem may denote a kind of madness: Ecclesiastes 1:17 (cf. 2:12, 7:25), where the feminine noun
 (holela) seems grouped together with folly, and both contrast wisdom (see Hochma). The other instance of halal-madness that BDB is willing to concede occurs in the same book: Ecclesiastes 10:13 (cf. 9:3), where the feminine noun  (holelut) is modified by the word  (ra'a), the common Hebrew word for evil, and both reflect the result of a process that starts with speaking nonsense.
The younger lexicon of HAW, however, counts sixteen instances of this meaning of madness; enough to recognize a whole separate root (1 Samuel 21:13, Psalm 102:9, Jeremiah 25:16).
Here at Abarim Publications we are not at all convinced that these three seemingly different groups of meanings are so dissimilar that the existence of three separate verbs is the only logical conclusion. Even after a century of quantum mechanics, many people still have the tendency to lean towards determinism; the erroneous idea that one thing invariably leads to another and every situational mode can be classified in its rigorous category. But black-and-white thinking is old, and in the Biblical arena it never even existed. Sure, good opposes evil but not the way that wisdom opposes folly. And halal can not be radically nested under the wings of either wisdom or folly, but is rather a third modus. In Ecclesiastes 2:12, Solomon resolves to look at (1) wisdom, (2) holela, and (3) folly, and not (a) wisdom and (b) holela-and-folly.
Halal denotes an exuberance, for whatever reason. It takes no great poetic leap to see symmetry between the shining of a star and the praising of a worshiper, certainly also because in the Bible true believers are compared to stars (Daniel 12:3). Halal denotes a letting go of restraints and inhibitions, and, entirely depending on the heart behind it, can result in either a complete surrender to God's control, or a detrimental flight without anyone at the helm. Halal can turn to either a most holy expression of devotion or else a blasphemous display of derangement.
And whether the act of halal is reckoned positive or negative also depends much on the heart of the spectator. The apostle Paul warns his followers to ease up on a typical halal-expression (speaking in tongues) when guests are in the congregation, lest they think the congregants are insane (1 Corinthians 14:23). And when David transports the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem, he shows such a gladness that he surely acted out the verb halal II. When his wife Michal sees him, she insults him by readily applying verb halal III. David's response seems somewhat cool, but of Michael it was said that she remained childless until her death. Tradition has her struck with infertility but it may very well be that David stopped seeing her all together.
A similar confusion occurs when spectators who have never personally experienced spiritual rapture see someone at it. Bernini's sculpture called the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa marvelously captures this rapture, but critics (and pop writers) recognize sexual euphoria. The usual battles ensued and raged, until a group of scientists took brain scans of people who were having sex and compared them to brain scans of people worshipping. Lo and behold, the exact same brain regions were activated in both groups. The Bible frequently equates the relationship of God with His people to that of a husband with his wife, and now we know that this is more than a metaphor. In fact, it seems reasonable to conclude that a frequent bout of worship is an indispensable element of a healthy sex life.
Likewise halal. It seems that we are designed to let go every now and then. When we let go in the presence of God, we'll be worshipping. When we let go but don't focus on God, we'll be doing lots of other things, most of which will cause grave trouble. It's no coincidence that in our times we see a decrease in divine experience, but an increase in what MTV calls partying. Lacking proper temples, our kids go loose in rave caves and surrender to nothingness. A pressing task of the church today is to reinstate the old Hallelujah tradition, the letting go in surrender to God.
Hallelujah
Although Hallelujah consists of two distinct verbal entities (a verb and a name), it's consistently written as one word. In the Old Testament, it occurs only in the Psalms, and often at the beginning. Psalm 135:1 shows the ubiquity of the verb halal:
(The word for servant is obed - see the name Obed - and the word for name is shem - see the name Shem).
Hallelujah seems to fulfill the function of a mere liturgical term; a call to praise, like "here we go!" But under scrutiny a second meaning emerges, or perhaps the primary meaning that had slipped under the popular or liturgical one.
It seems that the word Hallelujah tends to show up in the vicinity of contemplations on death, which is after all the final moment of letting go every living creature has to deal with. The Bible sometimes calls death the "way of all the earth" (Joshua 23:14, 1 Kings 2:2) and the Psalmist distinctively admonishes not only his soul to perform Hallelujah (146:1), but also everything that has breath (150:6). It's a common misconception to believe that only humans have souls. In Genesis 1:20, God creates "swarmers that swarm" and gives them the soul of life. A verse later He creates the creepers and sea beasts, also endowes with the soul of life. In verse 24 He commands, "Let the earth bring forth the soul of life, according to its kind..."
In Romans 8, Paul says it clearly. Not only humans are waiting anxiously for the fulfillment; all of creation has fallen and all of creation longs for the end, the freedom and the glory of the children of God (8:18-22). Or as the Psalmist puts it: "Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah!" (104:35)
"Blessed be YHWH, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. And let all the people say Amen. Hallelujah!" (Psalm 106:48).
"We will bless Yah, from this time forth and evermore. Hallelujah!" (Psalm 115:18)
"The Truth of YHWH endures forever. Hallelujah!" (Psalm 117:2)
"After these things I hears, as if it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Because His judgments are true and rightious; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her."
And a second time they said "Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!"
And a voice came from the throne saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great."
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns." " (Revelation 19:1-6)
Hallelujah is not a mere liturgic command, like a prelude to something exuberant. It is a crucial exercise that teaches us not only how to live but also how to die. Blessed is the one who is able to die in the spirit of Hallelujah, who can render the soul without hesitation or trepidation.
Hallelujah seems a good skill to have when the moment of the final letting go is at hand.
Names that are derived from the verb halal are
Jehallelel,
Helel,
Hillel and
Mahalalel.
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