SELAH The word Selah, which occurs so often in some of the Psalms, and in the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, which may itself be called a Psalm, has been variously interpreted by the learned, and it is probable that in our ignorance of ancient forms of music, we have no means of coming to a certainty as to its meaning. But what cannot be explained in words may be understood by the heart. There are “songs without words,” which reveal themselves to the sympathetic mind without need of comment, and thus the Selah, —the holy pause of the Psalmist, coming after some great truth, or some fresh discovery, requires nothing more.
The voice rests; perhaps the harp or the psaltery goes on to repeat in a solemn symphony the latest measure sung to its accompaniment, and our hearts, responding with an inward assent to the truth of God, feel that Selah is our “Amen. So let it be.” There are three Selah pauses in the third Psalm. Let us examine them as the examples of the times when such notes occur. In the second verse:— “Many there be which say of my soul. There is no help for him in God. Selah.” This is the Selah of wonder.
The child of God starts in amazement at the bare thought of such blasphemy against his God and his father. No help for him in God! His tongue is hushed, his harp is silent with astonishment. He pauses awhile in horror. Then, gathering up his strength, he breaks forth into a burst of holy confidence. “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head;”—a truth to which his own experience bears witness. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.” This is the Selah of praise.
Again the voice of the Psalmist in his song pauses, and we seem to see the eye of the singer raised in mute adoration. From his own experience he is lead to a grand general truth, and in the last verse he cries, “salvation belongeth unto the Lord; thy blessing is upon they people. Selah.” This is the Selah of triumph. He began with complaint, but ends with victory.” (From the Gospel Standard, reprinted in Zion’s Advocate Sept. 1898)