Psalms 34:3: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”

Let us exalt His name together.  I hear this verse quoted all the time in worship services, on the radio and television.  The meaning is obvious, we can exalt the Lord alone and we can and should do it with other people.  I don’t doubt this nor question it.  I am just curious as to what it means to exalt the Lord and what is the significance of doing it together.   One thought is that the spirit world knows no time nor distance. If I have a Christian friend that I share the Lord with we could be exalting God together even when we are not physically together?  In fact could it be we are exalting the Lord with millions of other believers at the same time in the spirit world?  Something to ponder, but that still does not answer what this exalting business is all about.

What does it mean to exalt the Lord?  The word in Hebrew for exalt is neromemah which comes from the root word rum which means to be high (no I’m serious it is pronounced rum like in room not the beverage).  It also means to be exalted. From this we can assume to exalt the Lord is to give Him a high rank or position. But doesn’t He have that already? We can’t give it to Him we can only acknowledge what is a fact.  But consider this, if I am exalting the Lord alone that means that he holds the highest position in my life over anyone or anything else. If I were married I would hold the Lord in a higher position than my wife, which may be the reason I am not married.  That poor wife would play second fiddle to God. Which isn’t bad, there are some women out there who would relish that idea. I think, if so I would like to hear from you.

Now if I had a spouse who also exalted the Lord and I with her, then that would  level the playing field and we would both be playing second fiddle to each other.  Maybe this is what David means when he says, exalt the Lord together.  David was a king in an exalted position but he is inviting those around him, peasants, servants etc. to join him in worship and exalting God and in doing that his subjects are declaring that there is someone even higher than their King David which seems to be fine and dandy with David.

Perhaps pastors should take note.  Many pastors enjoy an exalted position but when they invite their congregation to join them in exalting the Lord they are stepping off that platform and becoming one of the gang, not the gang leader.  He is declaring that there is a new sheriff in town and it is not him.

The word neromemah highest exaltation is in a Pilel form which is an intensive form just like the Piel but with a different pattern. On top of that it has a paragogic Hei.  So this is not only exalting but exalting to the highest possible level.  In other words, no one but no one can achieve a higher position in your life. I mean just meditate on that for a minute.  No one, not your spouse, boss, or governmental official has a higher rank than the one you neromenah.

But I think David had even something more in mind when he used the word rum (exalt). It is curious that the word is actually a loan word from the Middle Egyptain used for worms that are breeding.  What does breeding worms have to do with exaltation?   Worms in ancient times were not prized as they are today for the environmental contributions.  The words referenced in rum were little creatures called guinea worms found in the Nile river.  That got into your drinking water or entered your feet and legs  as you waded through the irrigation ditches of the Nile.  They would crawl through the skin and into your blood system laying is eggs.  In other words they would breed in your body, they were parasites. These guinea worms would cause a lot of damage to your internal organs, even blindness. They caused illness and sometimes even death.  Many Egyptians wore eye paint not for makeup purposes but because they believed it would ward off the infection or blindness that these guinea worms would cause in the body.

This is the origin of the word rum exalt.  What does a parasite have to do with exalting God.  I believe David is using this word rum which has it origins in these guinea worms because they infiltrate one’s body.  So when David is saying let us exalt the Lord together, he is saying like the guinea worm let’s infiltrate the Lord and breed in Him.  As the guinea worms found nourishment and strength in the host’s body so too we find nourishment and strength when we enter the presence of God.

Note we are not just a bunch of worms getting together to invade the presence of the Lord, but we do so with the intention of using the presence of the Lord to breed, joy, peace, loving kindness and yes, evangelism.  This verse is a very evangelistic verse, but it is telling us that when we share the Gospel of Jesus we don’t go out and pigeon hole someone and get him to cough up a sinner’s prayer.  We go to others inhabiting the presence of God and drawing others into the presence of God to invade His presence. Unlike the poor Egyptian whose body was invaded by the worms and he got sick, God invites this invasion.  The ancient Egyptians picked up these worms while wading through the irrigations ditches of the Nile River.

In a sense God is wading through this world and we are entering into his presence where we can exalt Him in other words inhabit Him, be nourished by Him and breed joy, peace and love in Him

So let us exalt the Lord together.  In other words He is wading through this earth and all we need to do is enter into Him and we will find a fertile place to prosper and grow.