Before we move to the manner of public praise in worship before God, we pause to contemplate the nature of this public praise.

First of all, your thanksgiving is covenant praise for covenant grace. In their singing, David enjoined the Levites to “remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations” (1 Chron. 16:15). The words of 1 Chronicles 16:7-36 give us a sample of the praise David ordained: “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (v. 34). Lovingkindness is a word for covenant love. This refrain, “for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” epitomized the praise appointed by David (2 Chron. 7:6; see 5:13).

The sample of the praise in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36 ordained by David includes Psalm 105:1-15; 96:1-13; and 106:1, 47-48. This psalmody was later formalized. “King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer” (2 Chron. 29:30). David appointed Asaph the chief levitical singer (1 Chron. 16:5). Asaph was thus David’s servant as both an author and a singer of psalms. David, therefore, appointed both singers and songs for the covenant praise.

Also, as Moses made the tabernacle vessels, David made the instruments of song for this covenant praise. “The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with the instruments of music to the Lord, which King David had made for giving praise to the Lord” (2 Chron. 7:6). There are two connections with Moses. First, the word “instruments” may be translated “vessels” or “utensils,” as in the vessels of the tabernacle ordained through Moses (Ex. 27:19).

Second, David did not take common instruments for use in the worship of God. The word “made” in 2 Chronicles 7:6 is the same word used in Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” It is the same word God uses in a crucial command He gives to Moses in Exodus 25:8: “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Moses made the tabernacle and all its utensils for the worship of God; David also specially made the instruments for use in praise before God.

Then 2 Chronicles 7:6 indicates that “David praised by their ministry” (KJV). That is, although David was dead (1 Chron. 29:28-29), he continued to give covenant praise to God through the ministry of the Levites. This was the case because David appointed the Levites as singers. He appointed their songs, and he made and appointed the instruments of covenant praise.

What does this mean for us? David is a type of Christ. Jesus Christ makes you “new creatures” (2 Cor. 5:17). He makes you “vessels of mercy” (Rom. 9:23). He gives you the Psalms to sing. “From You comes my praise in the great assembly” (Ps. 22:25). You have become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9). Jesus Christ, the greater David, appoints you His singers. He makes you His instruments. He gives you His songs.

What, then, is the nature of covenant praise in the church? In your praise to God, Jesus Christ continues to offer His songs of covenant praise to His Father by making you both His singers and His instruments.