Holy Days

The apocalyptic vision pauses for a scene of adoration. It is the last liturgical scene of the Apocalypse.

For the first time, the book does not mention the temple and its objects. All of the atoning rites of the temple have been accomplished, and the temple has no more raison d'être. The judgment continues now outside its walls.

The Kippur ritual set a ram apart (for Azazel), not to be sacrificed but to be chased into the desert, bearing the sins of Israel (Lev. 16:10, 20–26). After Yom Kippur, the people were delivered from their sins. From a prophetic perspective, the lesson is laden with hope. God is not content merely to forgive us of our sins. He also wants to deliver us from them. The devil, embodied by the ram in the ritual of Azazel, gets chased from the camp to its death.

From now on, all becomes praise. According to Jewish tradition, the days following Kippur are joyous ones. The festival after Kippur, Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), is also called zeman simhatenou, "time of our joy." People must not fast on the days devoted to the building of the huts (Sukkot).

We find our passage permeated with the joy that celebrates the destruction of evil and anticipates a new life with God. Babylon has fallen, and the New Jerusalem awaits. The prostitute is dead, and the bride is carried in triumph through the streets. The heavens burst into five resounding "hallelujahs" (Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 5, 6).¹

The English word "hallelujah" is a rough transliteration of the Hebrew expression halelu Yah, meaning "praise Yah" (Yah being an abbreviation of the name of God, YHWH). The expression dates back to the psalms, which, in Hebrew, are called tehilim (psalms, using the same root as halelu). The significance of hallelujah is implied in the words associated with the verb hillel, from which halelu derives:

"Sing" (Ps. 146:2; 149:1).

"Declare'' (Ps. 22:22)

"Give... thanks" (Ps. 35:18)

"Revere'' (Ps. 22:23)

"Extol" (Ps. 109:30; 115:18; 145:2)

"Joy" (Jer. 31:7)

The word hillel implies all of this. Hallelujah is both a spontaneous shout of joy and a reflective meditation of the mind. This word of praise now resonates from the past into the future. We praise not only God the Creator (Ps. 104) or God the Savior (Ps. 105; 106; 135), but also the God whose "love endures forever" (Ps. 106:l; 107:1; 118:1, 2, 3, 4, etc.).

It is interesting to note with the ancient rabbis that the expression halelu Yah doesn't appear until the closing verses of Psalm 104, in which it immediately follows the extermination of the wicked: "But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord, my soul. Praise the Lord" (Ps. 104:35).

It is no coincidence that the hallel (Psalms 113–118) is the principal text of the liturgy of Sukkot. Jews traditionally recite the psalms during the eight days of the festival.² The way people employ them varies from tradition to tradition. Some communities sing them antiphonally. Others, such as the Yemenites, have the congregation interject hallelujahs between each verse. It is how we are to hear the hallelujahs sung in the Apocalypse—like the singing of the responsory by the temple choirs.³ Hallelujah was thus the congregation's response to the soloist. The very syntax of the expression presupposes a liturgical genre. Halelu is a plural imperative that incites the multitudes to praise God.

A number of voices sing the hallelujahs of Revelation 19. First, we hear the sound of "a great multitude'' (Rev. 19:1, 6), previously identified as the 144,000 (Rev. 7:4, 9). Second, we listen to the 24 elders and the four living creatures (Rev. 19:4), representing the whole of creation. Finally, an anonymous voice issues from the throne of God (verse 5). The first two hallelujahs, pronounced by the crowd, have to do with events of the past. The first hallelujah celebrates the death of the prostitute (verse 2). The second hallelujah rejoices over the fact that the "smoke from her goes up for ever and ever" (verse 3), a sign of her final destruction.⁴ This vision anticipates the final destruction of evil and death. The expression "for ever and ever" to indicate eternity in Revelation 20:10 later applies to Satan's death, represented by the ritual of Azazel (Lev. 16:10, 21, 26).

Heavenly beings (the 24 elders and the four living creatures) pronounce the next two hallelujahs and direct them to God Himself. The third hallelujah expresses adoration of the "God, who was seated on the throne'' (Rev. 19:4), the God who reigns and judges. The fourth hallelujah communicates the fear of God (verse 5) that characterizes "his servants" (c£ Rev. 1:1).

The fifth and last hallelujah is the loudest. The prophet hears what seems like "the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder" (Rev. 19:6). This hallelujah looks to the future and anticipates God's total reign. "For our Lord, God Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice, be glad, and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready" (verses 6, 7).

 

*Excerpted from Secrets of Revelation: The Apocalypse Through Hebrew Eyes, ©2002, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Hagerstown, MD. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.

1. The Greek expression for"praise God" (Rev.19:5) means essentially the same thing as hallelujah.
2. The Babylonian Talmud dates this tradition as far back as Moses (Pesahim 117a); see also Matt. 26:30.
3. See Ps.135:19-21; c£ 1 Chron.16:25, 36.
4. It would be an error to deduce from this expression the existence of an eternal hell, as taught later by the church and imagined by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. The Bible commonly uses the expression to indicate total annihilation. Scripture employed it with the city of Babylon (Rev. 14: 11) and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7; c£ 2 Peter 2-6).