Page 20. Psalm c. A Psalm of Thanksgiving or perhaps (in accordance with the translation of the Targum) A Psalm for the Thank-offering. The recital of this Psalm accompanied the presentation of thank-offerings (Leviticus vii. II) in Temple times. On the days mentioned in the rubric thank-offerings were not brought. Hence the omission of the Psalm on those days.
The oldest rites do not include the hundredth Psalm in the daily service. It does not occur in the Egyptian forms, nor is it contained in the Siddur of the Gaon Amram. Maimonides also omits it. But the Yemenite Prayer Book mentions it, and in the French rite (which has strong points of similarity with the Ashcenazic) the Psalm is invariably included in the oldest manuscripts of the morning service. So popular was it in the Rhinelands that some congregations in that district sang it even on Sabbaths, omitting only the first words and beginning Shout for joy unto the Lord (Rokeah, § 319). Ibn Yarḥi of Lunel (Hamanhig I, § 21) reports that in his time (second half of the twelfth century) the Psalm was recited in Provence and Spain also on Sabbaths and festivals. The Psalm was early set to elaborate tunes, long drawn out (Col-bo and it is nowadays often sung to joyous strains at weddings (see P.B. p. 298).
The appropriateness of the Psalm for daily worship is unquestionable, and its wide universalism ("Shout for joy unto the Lord all ye lands" more literally "all the earth") has led to its general introduction into daily worship. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, and all men on all days have the occasion and must feel the call to offer joyous gratitude to God for life and all its manifold boons. The service of gratitude is eternal. As the Rabbis put it (Leviticus Rabba, § 9, etc.) though in the time to come all sacrifices will cease, the thank-offering will never cease. In the Messianic Age there will be no sin and no expiatory sin-offering; there will be no sorrow, and no supplicatory petitions. But the thank-offering will last on in eternity, thanksgiving will
