Why do we sing "Hosanna"?

“Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Why do we sing “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday?  What does "Hosanna" mean?

We usually think of “Hosanna” as a shout of praise to God.  It didn’t start out that way, though.  It was originally a cry to God for help: “Save us! Please!” 

The shout “Hosanna” was used by the people of Israel at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).  For the first six days of the festival, the priests would circle the altar once each day, waving palm, willow and myrtle branches weaved together (lulavim), while they and the people recited the hosannas from Psalm 118:25:  “Save us, we beseech You, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech You, give us success!" 

On the seventh day (known as Hoshana Rabbah, “Great Hosanna,” or “Great Salvation”), the priests would circle the altar again—this time seven times.  Together with the people, they would wave their branches and repeat the prayer from Psalm 118.

It's interesting that the desperate cry for help in Psalm 118:25 is immediately followed by the confident exclamation in verse 26: “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!”  It’s as if the psalmist knows that the people's prayers have already been answered. 

John Piper suggests that over the centuries “hosanna” stopped being a desperate cry for help and gradually became a shout of hope and praise. He writes:

“It used to mean, "Save, please!" But gradually it came to mean, "Salvation! Salvation! Salvation has come!" It used to be what you would say when you fell off the diving board. But it came to be what you would say when you see the lifeguard coming to save you! It is the bubbling over of a heart that sees hope and joy and salvation on the way and can't keep it in.”

So the shout “Hosanna – Save us, Lord!” is not a cry of despair.  It’s a shout that acknowledges God as the source of our salvation.  When we sing or shout it together, we’re reminded both of our deep need of God, and the extraordinary mercy God has shown toward us.