"A NEW SONG"

The phrase “a new song” appears seven times in the Old Testament, six times in the psalms and once at Isaiah 42:9-10 right after the description of the coming Messiah who will be a light to the nations and make all things new. Beale and McDonough explain, “A new song is a technical term for the song of thanksgiving in response to some particular action of God.” Jacobson echoes this definition exactly and points to Psalm 40 as an example.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery states that a new song is “an implied contrast to 'old' songs; it is an image of the transformed life of faith, the dynamic, ever-changing nature of a life lived in fellowship with God, and the perpetual renewal of God's mercy in the life of a believer.” One can derive even more working definitions from some of the comments below on specific examples of this phrase in the Bible.

Psalm 33:3

Jacobson points out that “Zenger has argued that here the term does not imply a brand new composition, but implies a renewed witness in response to God's constantly renewed turning in mercy toward Israel and the world...the gracious action of God to which this psalm was composed to give testimony is the constantly renewing creative activity of God – and thus the new song is the constantly new and renewed sung testimony of God's people.”

Psalm 40:3

“David claims that it is God who 'puts a new song in my mouth' (RSV). Alongside the image of God as lawgiver, therefore, we should place the image of God as musical composer (Deut 31:19).” (DBI)

Psalm 96:1

Allen says, “The excited call goes out with repetitive insistence: sing the praises of Yahweh, Israel's God. It is to be a new song. Just as His care is new every morning (Lam. 3:23), so His praise must be ever new.”

Psalm 98:1

“The prayer opens with a call to sing a new song, and the reason is the salvation of the Lord. Certainly, one can see the exodus story here as one possible backdrop...but this is by no means the only possible reference. Each time God has offered salvation both to the individual and the community is a possible referent here, leaving the past open to be read through the eyes of the reader of the prayer for herself.” (Tanner) In that manner, Psalm 98 constantly becomes a “new song” for the reader.

Psalm 144:9

“The phrase new song occurs elsewhere in the Psalter in the enthronement psalms 96:1 and 98:1, psalms whose theme is the sovereignty of God over Israel and all creation.” (deClaisse-Walford)

Anderson even suggests that it “may be an imitation of 33:2f.”

Psalm 149:1

“Psalm 148:14, with its joy of deliverance and its sense of vocation, may possibly have been the seed from which this psalm developed...A new song suggests a new situation, and this has all the marks of victory...The scale of it is world-wide (7ff), and we are evidently singing of no less an event than God's advent, as in Psalms 93, 96-99...” (Kidner)

Isaiah 42:10

“Here not only nature but the nations break out into singing for joy at the liberation just recounted.” (Kidner)

Oswalt points out: “It is particularly noteworthy that the entire earth with all its inhabitants is enjoined to give this praise in a new song. It is surely prompted by what immediately precedes it, the announcement of the Servant who will bring God's justice to the earth (42:1-3)...a new song must correspond to the new work that God is about to do. At the least, this phrase refers to the promised return from exile...But surely more than merely return from exile is on view here. That return is significant because it heralds a deliverance whose ultimate implications are worldwide (42:4).”

Moving to the NT, the Greek word used in Revelation is not neos (recurrence of something old), but kainos (entirely new). Scholars express this same distinction in various ways. For example, Vine says that “kainos denotes new...not new in time, recent, but new as to form or quality, of different nature from what is contrasted as old.”

Revelation 5:9

The new song they sing is also found in 14:3 in another vision of heaven. There only those who had been redeemed could learn the song. A new song is needed since Christ's redeeming mankind to bring about God's purposes is a brand new event which ushers in a new age.

“The idea of a new song grows out of the use of the expression in the Psalms...Every new act of mercy calls forth a new song of gratitude and praise...The song to the Lamb is a new song because the covenant established through his death is a new covenant. It is not simply new in point of time, but more important, it is new and distinctive in quality.” (Mounce)

Bruce calls it “new in comparison with the ancient song of creation in 4:11 (cf. Job 38:7).”

Revelation 14:3

Mounce: “As in so many of the 'new songs' spoken of in the Psalms..., the theme is deliverance. Only those who have paid the full price of endurance in the faith are equipped by experience to give voice to the subsequent anthem of victory.”

Bruce: “The sound which John hears is the new song of redemption, accompanied by the music of heaven. It is not a different song from the 'new song' of 5:9f., except that new it is sung in the first person as only those can sing it who have themselves been redeemed from the earth.”

Conclusion

There is an applicable message here for hymns and praise songs today; newness should not only reflect changing musical tastes of the congregation, but the fresh things for which we can praise God. The Jews in Exile according to Psalm 137 cried that they couldn't sing the LORD's song (one of their old songs of Zion) in a foreign land (i.e. they didn't see any victories). We need a perspective that sees victory even in times of distress and apparent failure.