Hebrew Word Study – Inhabit  – Yashav   ישב  Yod Shin Beth    

God Is Your Praise

Psalms 22:3 “But thou art holy,  O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.”  KJV

I believe all of us have attended a worship service where the worship leader in his or her attempts to really motivate us to pour ourselves into that time or worship will say; “Come on church, remember God inhabits the praise of His people.”  I don’t know about you but my first thought is; “Wait a minute, does God not inhabit our bodies full  time, 24/7?  I mean that was the whole idea of getting saved.  At least that is what I was taught that we ask Jesus to cleanse us from all our sins and by doing so we invite Him to live forever in our hearts. If he is living in my heart and the heart of everyone in that congregation then He is already inhabiting His people.  So, when we worship and praise Him the habitation part is a given. 

 Does God really inhabit the praise of His people?  I do so love that expression that He inhabits the praise of His people.  I don’t know why, it just sounds so good. And it is a favorite expression among worship leaders.  However, aside from the fact that God is already inhabiting his people even before they begin to praise and I examine this in the Hebrew, I am forced to admit you do have to do a lot of stretching to get this rendering.  

If you examine many of our modern English versions of the Bible, you will find that not all agree that God inhabits the praise of His people. For one thing it is not even talking about the Gentiles as His people but about Israel.  Of course we all the time relate His church to Israel so I have no problem with saying His people.  The problem lies in the context as the reference is only to the temple worship and then linguistically to the syntax is a problem.  Young’s Literal points out this problem with the literal reading as: “And thou art holy, Sitting – the praise of Israel.”  Is God inhabiting holiness or praises? The good news, however, is that there is an even greater treasure locked up in this verse and maybe a hint as to something most of us Christians never consider in the light of worship and praise.

The word inhabit is yashav which means many things related to dwelling.  It could be sitting, remaining, staying, set in one place, an abode, or establishing.  In a modern context, this begs the question I have already presented. Are our bodies not the temple of God or the yashav of God?

God inhabits the praises of his people suggesting that when we praise God it will somehow entice Him to join our little circle. At least that is what I sense when I hear the worship leader admonish the congregation and say: “Come on folks, let’s praise God because He inhabits the praise of His people.” What I am hearing is that God is not yet in the midst of our congregation and we need to keep chanting to conjure Him up. It is almost like our praises are a fuel and as soon as God reaches a certain level of praise fuel He is off and running with the miracles.  

In reviewing various translations I seem to find the King James Version stands pretty much alone in its rendering of God inhabiting the praise of His people. There are almost as many different renderings of this as there are English versions. There appears to be quite a dispute over the proper syntax of this verse. That is not unusual for the Ancient Hebrew, in fact, some Hebrew scholars will even argue that there are no cut and dry rules for Hebrew syntax like we find in Greek or English. 

So, I ask: “Does God inhabit the praise of His people or does he inhabit His holiness? Maybe it can be read as He the praise of His people.   That one cuts deep, to the very of worship and praise. What is the praise of your church or congregation? Is it your pastor, your beautiful building, or even the number of people who attend?  Of course, no one would dare not openly admit that God is not the praise of their church and even if wasn’t, they may not realize it for the simple reason they would never consider the idea that they could be praising something else. Yet, from the way I see people worship their pastors, their denomination or even their church programs, or even their building, I really wonder what the praise of the church really is.  How about you as an individual, what is your praise? Maybe you are your own praise.  You like to lift your hands in a worship service so all can see how holy you are. You may even lift your head and eyes to heaven as if you are posing for a holy card.  You see, praise expresses what your priority really is.  

Note carefully how this verse starts:  The Lord is holy.  That word for holy is kadesh I Hebrew.  It means to be separate, and sacred.  Did you know it is also the word used for a sacred prostitute? That is one who is devoted to prostitution in honor of idols.  Rahab was such a prostitute.  She was dedicated to the idol so that men who had a sexual relationship with considering it a vicarious relationship to having a sexual experience with the goddess herself and thus they would win favor with that goddess.    Hence if we see this passage as Messianic, a reference to Jesus, we have a picture of Jesus as kadesh.  The one we are intimate with and in that intimacy we are drawn to the Father.  And when Jesus dwells within us He becomes our praise.  The word for praise here is halal which means to shine.  When we say Hallelujah we are saying: “God shines in us. Letting the world see God and not us. Sometimes I just can’t help but feel that some Christians are very interested in letting others see them and how holy they are more than really wanting them to see God. 

So if you insist on the KJV and its syntax that God inhabits the praise of His people well there is a note of redundancy as God already inhabits His people so obviously He inhabits their praise.  I like the rendering that God is our praise. If the very God of the universe dwells within you no treasure on earth can match that and you will be in such constant praise that you will not have time to praise or worship anything else. 

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