THANKSGIVING IN THE BIBLE

I may be a little late for Thanksgiving Day with a post on this subject, but any time of year is a good one for remembering what God has done in our lives and turn to him with thankful hearts. As is usual in doing any word study in the Bible, we need to deal with a situation in which both Hebrew and Greek terminology is present. And even within either of those two languages, there is likely to be more than one word related to the concept, with each synonym conjuring up a slightly different nuance to the subject.

With that in mind, here are some of the main biblical words conveying the idea of thanks or thankfulness, beginning with those in Hebrew:

halal = praise, exult

“The root meaning..is connected with making a noise.” (Wallace) The word is perhaps best known as part of hallelujah [“praise Yahweh]. Allen notes, “How to praise God adequately was a challenge that was met in a number of ways. First, a promise of endless adoration was added to present praise...(Ps 146:2)...Second, musical instruments and dancing could reinforce vocal praise (149:3; cf. 150:3-5). Third, a rhetorical call to praise could be issued to the rest of the world...(117:1).” This call was even extended to all the created entities of earth and heaven in Psalm 148.

yadah = confess, thank, praise, stretch out the hand, acknowledge

This word “was originally associated with the bodily actions and gestures which accompany praising,” according to Wallace. But Allen states, “The vb. primarily refers to an acknowledgment...the praise may be of a general type, but it tends to be specific, the giving of thanks for resolution of a recent crisis. This occurs mainly in the Psalms...” The word huyyedot, meaning songs of praise or a choir of singing, is derived from the verb yadah.

todah = confession, thanksgiving, choir, thank offering

“A temple ritual gave structure to such giving of thanks...It is mentioned in contexts of thanksgiving at Ps 107:22; 116:17...Israel misconstrued the other sacrifices as gifts to God that made him obliged to them, whereas the thank offering was always given out of a sense of divine grace.” (Allen) I wonder how many Christians today misconstrue the often-used phrase “tithes and offerings” in a similar manner, giving the former out of a sense of duty and the latter as a result of the praiseworthy goodness of our heart.

ramam = exalt, lift up, raise up

“People are to exalt (lift up) the name of God for all his wondrous deeds and worship him as king (Exod 15:2; 99:5,9; Isa 25:1).” (Smith and Hamilton) But that does not mean that God Himself needs lifting up, since He is already as high and exalted as possible (see Psalm 61:2; Isaiah 6:1; Job 22:12).

shabach = praise, glorify, commend, honor

“In hymns it introduces a section of praise at Ps 147:12, and a rhetorical call to the nations to praise God at 117:1. In a solo hymn it appears in an exhortation that praise of God be transmitted from each generation to the next, for his work in creation and in redemptive history (145:4). In a psalm of confidence God is praised for his (covenant) love, which is rated as a greater boon than life itself (63:3-4). In a communal lament a petition for deliverance looks forward to consequent praise of God, once it is answered (106:47 = I Chron 16:35).” (Allen)

When we move on to the world of the New Testament, we can often use the Septuagint of the OT to see which Greek words were considered by the translators at the time to be approximate counterparts of the Hebrew originals.

aineo = praise

This word is often used in the OT Septuagint to render the Hebrew halal, and occasionally it even substitutes for yadah and shabach. When it comes to NT usage, aineo is only found eight times. Schultz explains, “This word group is preferred...where it is a question of the formal praise of God in thanksgivings, prayers and hymns...This praise is given in the present, but reaches its full development in the new creation (Phil. 1:11; Rev. 19:5).”

charis = grace, favor, thanks, joy

One of the lesser known uses of this word occurs when Paul employs it at crucial points in his letters to praise God for his many gracious acts. See the exclamation: “but thanks be to God” in passages such as Romans 6:17; 7:25; I Corinthians 15:57; and II Corinthians 2:14; 8:16; 9:15. (Esser)

eucharistia = thank, be thankful, give freely

Here we have a compound word derived from eu (well, rightly, properly, very) and charis (see above, especially with the meaning of 'joy'). It is from this word that we get the term “Eucharist” for the communion service.

“In the New Testament, eucharistein (lit. 'to give thanks') is the favorite word, implying on the part of the person who praises the attitude of one more intimate with the person praised than in the more formal eulogein, 'to bless'.” (Wallace)

Esser says that its use in classical Greek referred to both a thankful attitude and its expression by showing gratitude. Eucharisteo appears throughout the Gospels and Epistles in a variety of settings. In all but three cases, it applies to thanks to God rather than to human beings.

Here are some of the main points made by Esser in his detailed study of this word group:

“These words are very common in the introductions to the Pauline letters. Whatever detailed admonition and criticism may follow, the apostle frequently writes in his introductory greeting of his thankfulness to God for those to whom he is writing.”

“When Paul summoned his readers to thanksgiving amidst his exhortations he normally used the noun. The term is always used absolutely; this marks out thanksgiving and the showing of gratitude as basic and lasting elements of the Christian life...No petition and intercession can be made without simultaneous thanksgiving.”

“Paul frequently mentions praise for general and specific gifts of grace, for increasing grace (2 Cor. 4:15), for a share 'in the inheritance of the saints in light' (Col. 1:12), for the reception of the word preached by man as the word of God (I Thess. 2:13), for the gift of tongues (I Cor. 14:18).”

“1 Thess. 3:9f. shows Paul planning to put thanksgiving into practice...The failure of any such activity shows the inadequate knowledge of God among the heathen (Rom. 1:21).”

exomologeomai = profess, confess, give glory, acknowledge in the honor of

This word can be used either to confess sins on in the honor of a person. Thus, the latter “is the significance in the Lord's address to the Father, 'I thank (Thee),' in Matt. 11:25 and Luke 10:21, the meaning being 'I make thankful confession' or 'I make acknowledgment with praise.'” (Vine)

anthomologeomai = confess correspondingly, acknowledge fully

This word appears in Luke 2:38 to define Anna's praise with thanksgiving at hearing the news of Jesus' birth. The root word homologeomai is found in Hebrews 13:15, which reads, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” In this same verse, aineo appears in the phrase “sacrifice of praise.” Thus, we see two references back to the OT use of todah as both thanks and thank offering. Only in this case, as Schultz notes, “the Christian's sacrifice is contrasted with Jewish sacrifices (cf. 7:12f with Heb. 13:10ff).”

There are two take-away lessons I derive from this brief canvassing of the subject: (1) The hard-and-fast distinction in prayer between praise (for who God is is) and thanksgiving (for what He has done) should probably be erased since the two are closely entwined, and (2) Thanksgiving to God does not involve mere lip service, but actions as well. And even our prayers should be considered as a sacrifice to Him.