The Joyful Shout

“Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound.

They shall walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance.”

Psalm 89:15

The “joyful sound” mentioned in the verse above is actually a joyful shout.  Scholars define the Hebrew word used here as “a shout (of joy) with religious impulse”.  That’s a rather dry way of describing how a soul feels when he is so blessed and excited about the things of God that a loud, joyful shout bursts from his lips.  This “joyful shout” is not a silent, inner feeling.  It is public, and it is loud.  The same Hebrew word is used in other places, such as when the ark of the covenant was brought into the camp of Israel as they were about to enter into battle with the Philistines: “And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great [“shout of joy with religious impulse”], so that the earth rang again” (1Sam. 4:5).

Here are a some others:

2Samuel 6

14. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

15. And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with [“a shout of joy with religious impulse”], and the sound of the trumpet.

2Chronicles 15

12. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD  the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. . . .  

. . . 

14. And they swore to the LORD with a loud voice, and with [“a shout of joy with religious impulse”], and with clarions, and with trumpets.

Ezra 3

11b. And all the people shouted with [“a shout of joy with religious impulse]” when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

Psalm 33

3. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with [“a shout of joy with religious impulse”].

Finally, it should be noted that sometimes, God feels so wonderful that He Himself shouts “a shout of joy with religious impulse”]!

Psalm 47

5. God has ascended with [“a shout of joy with religious impulse”]; the LORD  with the sound of a trumpet.

Now, if God does it, it cannot be a bad thing.  So, come on, everybody!  Let God’s “oil of gladness” flow down on you so that you make some holy noise for Jesus.  Be filled with the Spirit until you become so much like the Father, and His Son, and His saints, that from your lips, too, comes forth “a shout of joy with religious impulse”!