Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 150:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 150:5. Loud cymbals — צלצלים tseltselim. Two hollow plates of brass, which, being struck together, produced a sharp clanging sound. This instrument is still in use. What the high-sounding cymbals meant I know not; unless those of a larger make, struck above the head, and consequently emitting a louder sound.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 147-150 Praise the Lord

God’s people should praise him constantly for his merciful and loving care: his care over them in particular (147:1-2), his care over those who sorrow (3), his care over all his creation (4), and his special care for the downtrodden (5-6). God delights to provide for the physical needs of his creatures (7-9). But of all his creatures, those he delights in most are those who humbly trust in his steadfast love (10-11). That is why he delights in Israel above other nations. He protects his people and gives them food to enjoy (12-14). By sending bitterly cold weather he toughens them to endure hardship; by sending pleasant weather he reminds them that he is still caring for them (15-18). Above all, he has given them his word. Through this word they can know him better and as a result bring him further joy (19-20).
All creation displays the wonders of God and so brings praise to him. From the angelic beings to the beasts of the earth, praise goes up to him. From the farthest regions of outer space to the depths of the sea, his name is praised (148:1-10). Human beings in particular should praise him. Without distinction of age or rank, the people of the world should exalt God. They should praise him not only because he is the sovereign Lord of the universe, but also because through Israel he has made himself known to them (11-14).
As the people of Israel gather to worship, they have special cause to praise God. Besides being the one who created them, he is the one who rules over them. He is their king (149:1-3). In addition, they are God’s representatives in promoting his rule throughout the world. Therefore, salvation from attackers and victory over enemies are a cause for praise to God and national celebration (4-5). But if God’s rule is to be established in the world, the rebels must first be punished (6-9).
The final psalm forms a climax to the whole book. Worshippers at the temple join with angels in the heavens to praise God for the greatness of his person and his deeds (150:1-2). In every way possible people everywhere should praise God (3-6).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Praise him upon the loud cymbals - literally, “the cymbals of sound” or hearing. That is, Let there be audibly expressed joy. The allusion here is to an instrument of music that was most distinctly heard in union with other instruments. The sound of the cymbal would be most clearly audible in its accompaniment of the other instruments referred to, as the sound of cymbals, or as the “triangle” would be now. The Hebrew word rendered cymbal means a tinkling, clanging, ringing, as of metal, or of arms; then, a whirring, as of wings (compare the notes at Isaiah 18:1); then, any tinkling or clanging instrument, as a fish-spear or harpoon; then, cymbals, instruments of music. The cymbal, as now used, is an instrument of brass, in a circular form, like a dish, producing, when two are struck gether, a sharp, ringing sound - Webster. An instrument of this kind is evidently referred to here. The word occurs in the Bible in the following places only: Deuteronomy 28:42, rendered locust; 2 Samuel 6:5, rendered, as here, cymbal; Job 41:7, rendered fish-spears; and Isaiah 18:1, rendered shadowing with.

Praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals - The cymbals of joyful voice. On the word teruah, rendered high, see the notes at Psalms 89:16. A loud, lofty sound or shout, as on the reception of a conqueror, is the idea here; and the sense is, that the praise of God was to be celebrated with that which would in the highest sense express joy and triumph.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 150:1-6

Now, again, the final psalm is an exhortation of praise and to praise the Lord in unusual ways, as far as we firstly perhaps are concerned.

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. [And then] Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and the dance: praise him with the stringed instruments and the organs. Praise him on the loud cymbals: praise him on the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD ( Psalms 150:1-6 ).

I love these young men, uninhibited, as they are who have gone out from Calvary and established many different related works around the area. I love the beautiful simplicity of their heart towards God. They're not all complex and bound up in a lot of theology that has had an effect of stultifying our worship in many cases. I'm thinking of Mike Macintosh, who pastors the Calvary Chapel in San Diego. And he said, "Now on Wednesday night we're just going to have a praise night. And if any of you play any instruments, bring your instruments. Everybody bring your instruments. Whatever it is that you might play. And we're just going to worship the Lord. If your thing is cymbals, or your thing is drums, or if your thing's a harmonica, whatever, you know, just bring it and we're just going to have a praise service on Wednesday night." And they had quite a praise service with everybody just bringing whatever they could play or tambourines or whatever, bells, cymbals, triangles, whatever. And just had a time of sort of uninhibited kind of praising of the Lord. I love that... for them.

I think I would love it for us as long as we understood, hey, we're just going to praise the Lord and that's the purpose. So just come and worship the Lord with your little finger cymbals or whatever it is that you're adept at. Just bring it and just have a time of praising the Lord. And I think that we need to become a little freer in our praise of the Lord. Not quite as inhibited as we usually are. We even, if we lift our hands to praise the Lord, begin to feel awkward and think, you know. And we are so inhibited in our expressions unto the Lord. And I think that we could be less inhibited and find a great blessing. And yet, "Let all things be done decently and in order" ( 1 Corinthians 14:40 ). And so as I say, there's a balance. I'm sure there is, and I recognize where I am, and the Lord is dealing with me. You just keep praying.

Father, we do offer our praise unto You. How grateful we are, Lord, for Your Word. How sad it is that we have to be exhorted to praise Thee, that which should just be spontaneous from our heart as we think of Thy goodness and Thy mercy which endures forever. Thy mercy that we have received, Lord, daily. Oh, how we praise and give thanks unto You for all of Your blessings and all of Your benefits that You have given unto us, especially Father, for sending Your only begotten Son, that through Him we might have life and that more abundantly. Now Lord, just bless Your people. May they go forth with praises upon their hearts and upon their lips. We thank You that we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, and that we, Lord, have been called to serve You. Guide us, Lord, in that which You would have us to do as servants of the King. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 150

The inspired poet called on every person to praise Yahweh for His powerful deeds and supreme greatness (10 times out of the 13 uses of "praise" in this psalm). This psalm serves as a final doxology, bringing the collection of psalms to a solemn and joyful conclusion.

"The conclusion of the Psalter is this extravagant summons to praise, which seeks to mobilize all creation with a spontaneous and unreserved act of adoration, praise, gratitude, and awe. There are no ’bases’ given; no reason needs to be given." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 167.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. The celebration 150:3-5

These verses cite a few examples of the accompaniments to Israel’s verbal worship that were appropriate in her culture. They included wind, stringed, and percussion instruments, as well as joyful dancing. [Note: See VanGemeren, pp. 879-80, for an excursus on musical instruments used in Israel’s worship in the Old Testament.] This would have been a noisy celebration.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Praise him upon the loud cymbals,.... Or "cymbals of hearing" x; that were heard with pleasure and delight, and afar off: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "well sounding cymbals", which give a grateful sound to the ear; these were made of brass, 1 Chronicles 15:19; to which the apostle alludes, 1 Corinthians 13:1;

praise him upon the high sounding, cymbals; or "cymbals of shouting" y, ovation or triumph; which were used on joyful occasions, as victories, deliverances, and the like; and were used also in the temple service, see 1 Chronicles 16:5; according to the Targum and Septuagint version, these were three stringed instruments; for so they render the word them in 1 Samuel 18:6. Now these several instruments of music are named, not as to be used in Gospel times; but, being expressive of the highest praise and joy shown in former times, are mentioned to set forth the highest strains and notes of praise in New Testament saints; as well as to denote their heartiness, agreement, and unanimity in this service, Romans 15:6.

x בצלצלי שמע "in cymbalis auditus", Montanus, Vatablus. y בצלצלי חרועה "in cymbalis jubilationis", V. L. Musculus, Cocceius; "in cymbalis ovationis", Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.   2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.   3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.   4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.   5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.   6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

      We are here, with the greatest earnestness imaginable, excited to praise God; if, as some suppose, this psalm was primarily intended for the Levites, to stir them up to do their office in the house of the Lord, as singers and players on instruments, yet we must take it as speaking to us, who are made to our God spiritual priests. And the repeated inculcating of the call thus intimates that it is a great and necessary duty, a duty which we should be much employed and much enlarged in, but which we are naturally backward to and cold in, and therefore need to be brought to, and held to, by precept upon precept, and line upon line. Observe here,

      I. Whence this tribute of praise arises, and out of what part of his dominion it especially issues. It comes, 1. From his sanctuary; praise him there. Let his priests, let his people, that attend there, attend him with their praises. Where should he be praised, but there where he does, in a special manner, both manifest his glory and communicate his grace? Praise God upon the account of his sanctuary, and the privileges which we enjoy by having that among us, Ezekiel 37:26. Praise God in his holy ones (so some read it); we must take notice of the image of God as it appears on those that are sanctified, and love them for the sake of that image; and when we praise them we must praise God in them. 2. From the firmament of his power. Praise him because of his power and glory which appear in the firmament, its vastness, its brightness, and its splendid furniture; and because of the powerful influences it has upon this earth. Let those that have their dwelling in the firmament of his power, even the holy angels, lead in this good work. Some, by the sanctuary, as well as by the firmament of his power, understand the highest heavens, the residence of his glory; that is indeed his sanctuary, his holy temple, and there he is praised continually, in a far better manner than we can praise him. And it is a comfort to us, when we find we do it so poorly, that it is so well done there.

      II. Upon what account this tribute of praise is due, upon many accounts, particularly, 1. The works of his power (Psalms 150:2; Psalms 150:2): Praise him for his mighty acts; for his mightinesses (so the word is), for all the instances of his might, the power of his providence, the power of his grace, what he has done in the creation, government, and redemption of the world, for the children of men in general, for his own church and children in particular. 2. The glory and majesty of his being: Praise him according to his excellent greatness, according to the multitude of his magnificence (so Dr. Hammond reads it); not that our praises can bear any proportion to God's greatness, for it is infinite, but, since he is greater than we can express or conceive, we must raise our conceptions and expressions to the highest degree we can attain to. Be not afraid of saying too much in the praises of God, as we often do in praising even great and good men. Deus non patitur hyperbolum--We cannot speak hyperbolically of God; all the danger is of saying too little and therefore, when we have done our utmost, we must own that though we have praised him in consideration of, yet not in proportion to, his excellent greatness.

      III. In what manner this tribute must be paid, with all the kinds of musical instruments that were then used in the temple-service, Psalms 150:3-5; Psalms 150:3-5. It is well that we are not concerned to enquire what sort of instruments these were; it is enough that they were well known then. Our concern is to know, 1. That hereby is intimated how full the psalmist's heart was of the praises of God and how desirous he was that this good work might go on. 2. That in serving God we should spare no cost nor pains. 3. That the best music in God's ears is devout and pious affections, non musica chordula, sed cor--not a melodious string, but a melodious heart. Praise God with a strong faith; praise him with holy love and delight; praise him with an entire confidence in Christ; praise him with a believing triumph over the powers of darkness; praise him with an earnest desire towards him and a full satisfaction in him; praise him by a universal respect to all his commands; praise him by a cheerful submission to all his disposals; praise him by rejoicing in his love and solacing yourselves in his great goodness; praise him by promoting the interests of the kingdom of his grace; praise him by a lively hope and expectation of the kingdom of his glory. 4. That, various instruments being used in praising God, it should yet be done with an exact and perfect harmony; they must not hinder, but help one another. The New-Testament concert, instead of this, is with one mind and one mouth to glorify God,Romans 15:6.

      IV. Who must pay this tribute (Psalms 150:6; Psalms 150:6): Let every thing that has breath praise the Lord. He began with a call to those that had a place in his sanctuary and were employed in the temple-service; but he concludes with a call to all the children of men, in prospect of the time when the Gentiles should be taken into the church, and in every place, as acceptably as at Jerusalem, this incense should be offered,Malachi 1:11. Some think that in every thing that has breath here we must include the inferior creatures (as Genesis 7:22), all in whose nostrils was the breath of life. They praise God according to their capacity. The singing of birds is a sort of praising God. The brutes do in effect say to man, "We would praise God if we could; do you do it for us." John in vision heard a song of praise from every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,Revelation 5:13. Others think that only the children of men are meant; for into them God has in a more peculiar manner breathed the breath of life, and they have become living souls,Genesis 2:7. Now that the gospel is ordered to be preached to every creature, to every human creature, it is required that every human creature praise the Lord. What have we our breath, our spirit, for, but to spend it in praising God; and how can we spend it better? Prayers are called our breathings,Lamentations 3:56. Let every one that breathes towards God in prayer, finding the benefit of that, breathe forth his praises too. Having breath, let the praises of God perfume our breath; let us be in this work as in our element; let it be to us as the air we breathe in, which we could not live without. Having our breath in our nostrils, let us consider that it is still going forth, and will shortly go and not return. Since therefore we must shortly breathe our last, while we have breath let us praise the Lord, and then we shall breathe our last with comfort, and, when death runs us out of breath, we shall remove to a better state to breathe God's praises in a freer better air.

      The first three of the five books of psalms (according to the Hebrew division) concluded with Amen and Amen, the fourth with Amen, Hallelujah, but the last, and in it the whole book, concludes with only Hallelujah, because the last six psalms are wholly taken up in praising God and there is not a word of complaint or petition in them. The nearer good Christians come to their end the fuller they should be of the praises of God. Some think that this last psalm is designed to represent to us the work of glorified saints in heaven, who are there continually praising God, and that the musical instruments here said to be used are no more to be understood literally than the gold, and pearls, and precious stones, which are said to adorn the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:18; Revelation 21:19. But, as those intimate that the glories of heaven are the most excellent glories, so these intimate that the praises the saints offer there are the most excellent praises. Prayers will there be swallowed up in everlasting praises; there will be no intermission in praising God, and yet no weariness--hallelujahs for ever repeated, and yet still new songs. Let us often take a pleasure in thinking what glorified saints are doing in heaven, what those are doing whom we have been acquainted with on earth, but who have gone before us thither; and let it not only make us long to be among them, but quicken us to do this part of the will of God on earth as those do it that are in heaven. And let us spend as much of our time as may be in this good work because in it we hope to spend a joyful eternity. Hallelujah is the word there (Revelation 19:1; Revelation 19:3); let us echo to it now, as those that hope to join in it shortly. Hallelujah, praise you the Lord.