Everything That Has Breath

Across its 150 chapters of poetic declarations, Psalms comments on the praise and worship of Yahweh frequently.  The final verse of the entire book, Psalm 150:6, centers on this subject, following five verses that all begin with encouragements to praise God in various ways.  The very last verse calls for everything that breathes to praise the divine being, in one sense directly calling upon Gentiles to do exactly this, though the communities separate from national Israel did not specifically enter a covenant with Yahweh to receive prosperity and protection for doing what is righteous and disaster for doing what is wicked.  No one is an exception to what the Psalmist says, as the words emphasize the more overtly egalitarian philosophy of the Old Testament without going into specific examples of demographics:

Psalm 150:6—"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord."

The scope of everything that has breath necessarily includes Gentiles, who are no less human than Jews and bear Yahweh's image just like them (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1-2, 9:6), meaning they would have to possess the same rights and obligations.  "Everything that has breath" also encompasses men and women, the young and old, the rich and poor, and so on.  Logically, this is entailed by the concept the wording points to without the verse saying it quite so specifically.  But another portion of Psalms does offer a more exhaustive description of what the idea behind Psalm 150:6 would already require.

A mere two chapters prior, Psalm 148 is incredibly explicit about how it is fitting for everything in the natural world to praise Yahweh, from seemingly inanimate physical substances like snow and clouds to every human inhabiting the world, regardless of ancestry, gender, or age.  That the text specifies "all nations" and "all rulers on earth" directly puts forth the universality of this when it comes to geography, nationality, and race.  Of course, if praising Yahweh is a human duty, it is also obligatory for women, not only for men; this form of egalitarian consistency is likewise celebrated in Psalm 148.  It would already be entailed by the very nature of Yahweh (as the one deity according to the Old Testament) and moral obligation that praising the divine being would be everyone's ethical responsibility.

Psalm 148:7-12—"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children."

Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rulers and the governed, and the old and young are all in view by explicit acknowledgment.  Other subcategories of humanity like the rich and the poor or the sick and the healthy also have to be equally relevant, although not every single subcategory is directly specified.  Collective humanity can literally do what the probably unconscious structures like mountains, hills, and trees cannot do: verbalize their respect and adoration for the supreme being, without whom they would not exist as contingent entities.

To many Christian readers (real or alleged Christians), it might not be surprising to see affirmation of all people worshiping God, at the very least by praising him in a manner unfitting for any other being.  Even those who pretend like the Bible teaches a kind of moral relativism between Jews and Gentiles or men and women would probably accept this easily.  However, it likely would shock or puzzle many in the American church when Psalms insists that only the living have the capacity to praise God.  The dead do not and cannot praise God because they perceive and do nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, etc.).  Psalms addresses this throughout its many chapters, as in Psalm 6:5 and 115:17-18.  The ESV includes the Hebrew word Sheol in its English translation of Psalm 6:5, Sheol being the "realm" or state of the unconscious dead, so that version is displayed below (all other verses shown here are from the NIV).

Psalm 6:5 (ESV)—"For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?"

Psalm 115:17-18—"It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore.  Praise the Lord."

Everything that has breath can and, as far as humans are concerned, should praise God to some extent.  Yet when the dead breathe no more, their ability to reflect on and favorably acknowledge God comes to an end.  According to the Old Testament, there is no afterlife where the righteous or repentant go after their bodies die so that their spirits praise God.  As their conscious thoughts cease, so does their praise.  This is echoed by King Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 (verses 18-19) after he recovers from an illness that was set to bring about his death.  Only the living have the power to think and act.

An eventual resurrection to eternal life solely for the righteous (eternal life is solely for the righteous, not a future resurrection) means that they at some can point praise God further (Daniel 12:2), but death Biblically deprives everyone of the ability to direct attention to God.  Worship in all of its forms is within the grasp of none but the living.  While the opportunity remains, while we still breathe, let us praise God.