This beautiful word 1st comes to us from the writings of David in the Psalms. It is actually two ancient words: Hallelu Yah, meaning, and also often translated as praise The Lord, praise Jehovah or praise Yahweh.
In this song, written by Leonard Cohen, and sung by K.D. Lang, there are biblical stories mentioned. One is the story of David and Bathsheba, when King David's humanity is truly revealed. He sees Bathsheba bathing on a rooftop and he wants her. He calls for her, knowing that she is married to Uriah, one of his own generals, who is gone to battle. Yet, here the story usually told makes David and Bathsheba to be adulterers, which is not really the case. From a technical point of view Bathsheba was not a married woman since David's troops always gave their wives what were known as conditional divorces, just in case a soldier went missing in action he left his wife unable to marry again..The Bible does state clearly that David acted improperly, and although the Scholars and Wise Ones explain that even though David did not commit adultery in the literal sense, he totally violated the spirit of the law.
David sleeps with Bathsheba and she becomes pregnant. When David learned of the pregnancy he sent Uriah into the battlefront which resulted in Uriah's death. David marries Bathsheba and thinks all is fine, until the prophet Nathan is sent by God to rebuke David. When David is confronted with Nathan's words, he immediately is humbled and confesses. David was not a man afraid of admitting his wrongdoings. Yet, when the baby is born and dies, David knows that this was the outcome prophesied by Nathan. Can you imagine the heartache and despair he must have felt?
When David writes the poems and songs which make up a lot of the Psalms, he writes from the heart of his humanity. David is much like you and I in this way. He wore his humanity, his greatness, his weakness, his love of God very openly for all to see. There were times when he shouted Praise Yah, hallelujah, as he danced and played music to the Lord. Yet I think there is more to the depth of David's hallelujah, which went with him through the cold and broken times in his life. Broken times when he was in a forced to hide in a cave, trying to stay one step ahead of King Saul, because the old king wanted to kill David. He wrote some very gut wrenching psalms as he hid in those caves.
When I listened to this song, I was drawn to the power of the cold and broken hallelujah. When we, like David, are broken, when we are taken through times of despair, times of repentance, times of not knowing what will become of us. In the times we may feel crushed and as if our heart has been broken with pain of grief, our body ravaged with disease or the crippling of our mind from depression, anxiety or other mental anguish. We become like David hiding in a cave for protection when all the world seems to be crashing in on us.
I have experienced many times when I have cried out a cold and broken hallelujah to the Lord. I am sure there have been times when you also have experienced this human condition. Yet, what brings us through these times of devastation? Our faith? Our hope in the Lord? Our being able to trust in God's divine plan for our lives, no matter what the circumstances? Is it our ability to cry out, as David did, "I praise you Lord, especially in my brokenness."
The words reach to heaven, and God hears our cry. The Spirit of comfort, of peace, comes to us in our darkest hour enveloping us with unconditional love. We are bathed in the Light of Christ, and are reminded that we are not alone, no matter how alone we feel in this world. Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to comfort us. Especially in the pain. Especially in the pain.
If you are at a time where you feel lost, alone, cold and broken...I challenge you to begin to sing hallelujah. Praise God. Praise Yah.
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