Q: In Psalms, we frequently encounter the word,
Selah. What does it mean?
A: Selah means to lift
up, or exalt. The word selah is from two roots: s_lah,
to praise; and s_lal, to lift up. It is commonly assumed that
this can also refer to a technical musical term showing accentuation, pause, or
interruption, as the Psalms were, indeed, the hymnbook of Israel.1
Selah does connect the end of one strophe with the beginning of the
next; and, in four cases it connects the end of one Psalm with the beginning of
the next, thus uniting the two Psalms (Ps 3 with 4; 9 with 10; 24 with 25; and
46 with 47). Selah is, thus, a connector: it connects the two
passages between which it is placed. However, it appears that selah is
to connect with subject matter, not with music; with truth, not tunes. It
is a "thought-link" which bids us to look back at what has been said and to mark
its connection with what is to follow, or to some additional consequent
teaching.2 It is neither the pausing on one subject nor the
passing on from one subject to another, but it is the connecting of the
two subjects together. Sometimes it is the structures that are
connected. Sometimes it is synthetic, and adds a development of thought by
connecting a prayer with that which forms the basis for it. Sometimes it
is antithetic, and adds a contrast. And sometimes it connects a cause with
an effect, or an effect with a cause.
Thus, if it be derived from salah, "to pause," it is not the
instruments of music which are to pause while voices continue to sing; but it is
our hearts which are to pause and to note the connection of precious truths. If
it is derived from salal, "to lift up," then it is not the instruments
which are to lift up their sound in louder degree, but our hearts which are to
be lifted up to consider more solemnly the two truths which are thus
connected.
