Bible Question:
Where can I find info. on the different levels of praise with meanings such as the(Towdah,Tehillah,Towah,ect...) Praise and so on. Thanks |
Bible Answer: Rav T, Here is another section of exposition that mentions the "hogadah" or Passover celebration and the singing of Psalms called the "hillel" and the "great hillel" at a certain point in the Passover celebration and at the last Supper. "The Passover Celebration, the Seder Meal, has a Set Liturgical Pattern When you look carefully at the sources, scholars, historians tell us that the Passover liturgy in Jesus' time, just as it is today, is based on a four-part structure. The four parts or stages of the Passover liturgy are basically set up to revolve around four cups of wine, that are consumed by the participants. So, if you look carefully at the structure of a Passover Seder, known as the "Hogadah" the liturgy that Jesus celebrated in the Upper Room with his disciples, you see these four stages. The first part was ... the "kadush," a prayer that was spoken by the celebrant over the first cup of wine. Then a dish of green, bitter herbs was passed along with some fruit sauce and that was shared by all the participants. ... the second stage which consists of the Passover liturgy, taken from the Book of Exodus, chapter 12. ... is read and then questions are asked of the oldest member participating by the youngest one. At this point, Psalm 113, is sung. It's known as the "little Hillel." In Hebrew Hillel means praise. Hallelujah means praise Ya, praise Yahweh. The little Hillel, Psalm 113, is sung and then a second cup of wine is shared ... At this point you now proceed to the main course, the main meal. First, grace is spoken over the bread, the unleavened bread, and then the meal of roasted lamb is served up along with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. At this point in the ancient Passover liturgy, the celebrant would say a prayer. Grace was spoken over a third cup of wine. This cup of wine was known as the "cup of blessing." The cup of blessing was then passed around and shared by all the participants. At this point you have reached ... culmination of this ancient Passover liturgy would occur with the fourth cup of wine. Some scholars believe that back in the 1st Century, it was known as the "cup of consummation." It wasn't passed around immediately, though. First, all the participants would sing a song, a long hymn consisting of Psalms 114, 115, 116, 117 and 118. This was known as the "great Hillel," a very long and beautiful hymn. On the closing note of that hymn, the fourth cup was passed around and shared. This was the climax. This was the culmination. This represented the purpose, the goal, the end result of the Passover. It signaled the communion between God and his people and among the brothers and sisters who are members of God's family. Traces of the Passover Liturgy in the Gospel Narratives ...when you go back into the gospel narratives, you discover traces throughout the texts of this liturgy. Joachim Yuraneaus, a German New Testament scholar, for instance, shows us how the Passover liturgy is assumed in the gospel narratives, especially in the Synoptic Gospels and even in the writings of St. Paul. For instance, there in 1st Corinthians 10, in the passage that I read in the beginning of our time together, we have Paul referring to the "cup of blessing, which is a communion in the blood of Christ." Now where did Paul get that terminology, "the cup of blessing"? Well, that refers to the third cup which Christ blessed and prayed over which Christ then shared. There is other evidence as well. We won't go into all of the data. But at this particular point an interesting problem arises for certain scholars because in the gospel narratives you discover that after Jesus passed around the cup of blessing, the next thing is something we'd expect. We read in Mark 14:26, "and when they had sung a hymn", this all fits with the Passover. After the third cup you would sing a hymn. That would be, of course, the great Hillel. Then you would proceed to the fourth cup. But the problem which arises is that they don't proceed to drink the fourth cup. Instead, the verse continues, "and when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Now it might be difficult for us Gentile believers to understand the problem because we are not so familiar with the Hogadah, with the ancient Seder. But it is not lost to Jewish readers of the gospel, nor to students of the ancient liturgy who study the Synoptic texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because, apparently, Jesus skipped the fourth cup ..." transcripted excert from a talk by Scott Han titled The Lamb's Supper, done before the book was published. http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/lambsup.TXT Emmaus |