Luke 17:18

Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

From Background Notes [BN] for November 17^th & 18^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

How do we coordinate the meanings of thanksgiving and praise? Jesus understood the tenth leper’s act of gratitude from the vantage point of the Hebrew Bible.

 
A few comments about this would be helpful. In his book Praise and Lament in the Psalms, Old Testament scholar Claus Westermann makes the following startling observation:

The fact that there is no word for “to thank” in Hebrew has never been properly evaluated. The ignoring of this fact can be explained only in that we live so unquestioningly in the rhythm between the poles of thanks and request, of “please!” and “thank you!”, and the thought does not occur to anyone that these concepts are not common to all mankind, have not always been present as a matter of course, and do not belong to the presuppositions of human intercourse nor to those of the contrast of God and man. We are compelled to imagine a world in which petition plays a thoroughly essential and noteworthy role, but where the opposite role of petition is not primarily thanks but praise. And this praise is a stronger, more lively, broader concept which includes our “thanks” in it. Thanking is here included entirely within praise…  [BN, 9]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am