Psalm 149: The Saints
1 Praise the Lord ! Towards the end of the book of Psalms, one finds a string of Hallelujah psalms. Hallelujah as in "Praise the LORD!". Psalm 149 is one of them. Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints. Spoiler alert! This song is going to be new and different, and we shall understand why in the broader context of this Psalm. One context is that this singing comes with praise among a very select group of people: the assembly of saints. This brings us to the question: who then are the saints? Are saints canonized dead people? Perhaps not. An old hymn I used to sing as a child, reminded me that the psalmist does not urge us to sing among such dead saints, but in the assembly of "living" saints. To understand who these saints "are", let us listen to the hymn: "They lived not only ages past but are hundreds and thousands still. The world is bright with joyous saints, who love to do Jesus' will". The simpl