Ye Servants of God

409 Ye Servants of God

1 You servants of God, your Master proclaim,
   and publish abroad his wonderful name;
   the name all-victorious of Jesus extol;
   his kingdom is glorious and rules over all.

2 God rules in the height, almighty to save;
   though hid from our sight, his presence we have;
   the great congregation his triumph shall sing,
   ascribing salvation to Jesus our King.

3 "Salvation to God, who sits on the throne!"
   let all cry aloud, and honor the Son;
   the praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
   fall down on their faces and worship the Lamb.

4 Then let us adore and give him his right:
   all glory and power, all wisdom and might,
   all honor and blessing with angels above
   and thanks never ceasing for infinite love.
                         Charles Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
A great Wesley hymn! I recall singing this one many times growing up and I always loved it. Seems I'm not the only one, as it occurs in more than 650 hymnals.

Cyberhymnal inserts a couple of verses:

2. The waves of the sea have lift up their voice,
   Sore troubled that we in Jesus rejoice;
   The floods they are roaring, but Jesus is here;
   While we are adoring, He always is near.

3. When devils engage, the billows arise,
   And horribly rage, and threaten the skies:
   Their fury shall never our steadfastness shock,
   The weakest believer is built on a rock.

I love that third verse, "the weakest believer is built on a rock!" It's not us, but the foundation on which we stand that matters. Something to remember as we head into another tumultous four years...
</idle musing>

Quid pro quo? Not so much

In Israelite theology, Yahweh, unlike the gods of the rest of the ancient world, has no needs. The gods of the ANE created the cosmos (and eventually people) for themselves; Yahweh created for the sake of the creation, not to provide people to meet his needs. He is taking care of them, but not for the same reason that drove the Great Symbiosis. Many responses that Israel might make to Yahweh are appropriate (e.g., praise, glory, worship, order), but he does not need them, and he did not enter into the covenant relationship to get them. Likewise, Yahweh has not initiated this relationship in order to give something to Israel (e.g., blessing, enlightenment, happiness, prosperity, salvation, or morality). Yahweh is proclaiming his reputation as suzerain of Israel, his vassals. Quid pro quo is abolished.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 71–72

Heralds of Christ

406 Heralds of Christ

1 Heralds of Christ, who bear the King's commands,
   Immortal tidings in your mortal hands,
   Pass on and carry swift the news ye bring;
   Make straight, make straight the highway of the King.

2 Through desert ways, dark fen, and deep morass,
   Through jungles, sluggish seas, and mountain pass,
   Build ye the road, and falter not nor stay;
   Prepare across the earth the King's highway.

3 Lord, give us faith and strength the road to build,
   To see the promise of the day fulfilled,
   When war shall be no more and strife shall cease
   Upon the highway of the Prince of Peace.
                         Laura S. Copenhaver
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a very popular hymn, only occurring in around fifty hymnals. Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

3 Where once the crooked trail in darkness wound
   Let marching feet and joyous song resound,
   Where burn the fun'ral pyres and censers swing,
   Make straight, make straight the highways of the King.

</idle musing>

Divine favor?

In summary, divine favor was always the objective. Both justice and ritual were time-honored means for gaining that favor, and wisdom was at the foundation of both sets of practices.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 69

The Great Symbiosis

We refer to this as the Great Symbiosis because it represents the symbiotic relationship that framed the life, religious thinking, rituals, and theology of the ancient world. The gods had needs, and they wanted to be pampered in every way by the people who worshiped them. The main focus of this symbiotic relationship was the temple, the palace of a particular god, in which the god resided and from which he or she ruled, represented by his or her image, which occupied the sacred center, mediating worship, presence, and revelation. Such temples were considered the control center of the cosmos, and from there the god maintained order, sustained by the rituals of the people.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 67

Earth Has Many a Noble City

405 Earth Has Many a Noble City

1 Earth has many a noble city;
   Bethlehem, thou dost all excel:
   out of thee the Lord from heaven
   came to rule his Israel.

2 Fairer than the sun at morning
   was the star that told his birth,
   to the world its God announcing
   seen in fleshly form on earth.

3 Eastern sages at his cradle
   make oblations rich and rare;
   see them give, in deep devotion,
   gold and frankincense and myrrh.

4 Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
   incense doth their God disclose,
   gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
   myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.

5 Jesus, whom the Gentiles worshipped
   at thy glad epiphany,
   unto thee, with God the Father
   and the Spirit, glory be.
                         Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348– ca. 413)
                         Trans. by Edward Caswall
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I don't recall ever singing this one, or even hearing it sung. It only occurs in about 60 hymnals. You should take a look at the biography of the author. He is sometimes called the Christian Pindar, but we know almost nothing about him.
</idle musing>

Walk in the Light

403 Walk in the Light

1 Walk in the light! so shalt thou know
   That fellowship of love
   His Spirit only can bestow,
   Who reigns in light above.

2 Walk in the light! and thou shalt find
   Thy heart made truly His,
   Who dwells in cloudless light enshrined,
   In whom no darkness is.

3 Walk in the light! and thou shalt own
   Thy darkness passed away,
   Because that light hath on thee shone,
   In which is perfect day.

4 Walk in the light! and thine shall be
   A path, though thorny, bright:
   For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee,
   And God Himself is light.
                         Bernard Barton
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

Oh, those gods!

Faithfulness, order, and justice were not qualities that were normally associated with ANE gods (though they desired that sort of behavior from their worshipers) . Yahweh has effectively told the Israelites that he is a difierent kind of God than their culture would lead them to expect of a deity.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 60

Tozer for Tuesday

Has our teaching made Christ bigger, grander, sweeter and more indispensably beautiful now than He was before? If He is, you have every good reason to believe that you have been hearing from God. If He is less glorious, and you have become attached to man, then the teaching you have had is bad or at least it has been given in a bad way. Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary. He is the divine imperative. He is the one without whom we cannot live. We must have Him and we must be in Him and He in us. If it is of God, your dependence on God and your dependence on Christ will increase, and Christ will become sweeter and more wonderful all the time.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 210

Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

401 Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

1 Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
   Christ, the true, the only Light,
   Sun of Righteousness, arise,
   Triumph o’er the shades of night;
   Day-spring from on high, be near,
   Day-star, in my heart appear.

2 Dark and cheerless is the morn,
   Unaccompanied by thee;
   Joyless is the day’s return,
   Till thy mercy’s beams I see;
   Till they inward light impart,
   Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

3 Visit, then, this soul of mine;
   Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
   Fill me, Radiancy Divine!
   Scatter all my unbelief;
   More and more thyself display,
   Shining to the perfect day.
                         Charles Wesley
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

Where is your identity?

The kings of the ancient world desired to label the things that were theirs. Bricks were stamped with their names, their images were placed in conquered territories, and their treaties were inscribed and displayed prominently. A vassal was a showpiece of the suzerain’s grandeur. This labeling was a way to place one’s name on something, just as Yahweh placed his name on Israel. For a suzerain to extend his name to a vassal was construed as an act of favor. Both in international treaties and in the Torah, this was described as the suzerain’s love for his vassal. It has long been established that this love was not sentimental, emotional, or psychological. Instead, it showed that the suzerain had expressed gracious preference for the vassal by extending his identity to this vassal.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 49

Brightest and Best

400 Brightest and Best

1. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
   Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
   Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
   Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

2. Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
   Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
   Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
   Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!

3. Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
   Odors of Edom and offerings divine?
   Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
   Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?

4. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
   Vainly with gifts would His favor secure;
   Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
   Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

5. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
   Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
   Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
   Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
                         Reginald Heber
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Interstingly, the author of this hymn is also the author of Holy, Holy, Holy. Cyberhymnal adds a different fifth verse:

5. Hail the blest morn when the great mediator
   Down from the regions of glory descends.
   Shepherds, go worship the Babe in the manger;
   Lo! for His guard the bright angels attend.

</idle musing>

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

396 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

1 Infant holy, infant lowly,
   for His bed a cattle stall;
   oxen lowing, little knowing
   Christ, the babe, is Lord of all.
   Swift are winging angels singing,
   noels ringing, tidings bringing:
   Christ the babe is Lord of all!

2 Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping
   vigil till the morning new
   saw the glory, heard the story,
   tidings of the gospel true.
   Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,
   praises voicing, greet the morrow:
   Christ the babe was born for you.
                         Polish carol
                         Trans. by Edith M. G. Reed
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
This little carol only occurs in about 100 hymnals. We know nothing about the translator, except that it was done in 1921. Hymnary.org credits the hymn to a Piotrowi Skardze, about we also know nothing. Kind of fitting, isn't it, that this hymn about "little knowing" and a lowly infant has an author and translator about which we are "little knowing."
</idle musing>

They are treaty stipulations

Once we recognize the presence of a stock treaty format in the Old Testament, the literary role of Israel’s legal sayings can be identified: they comprise the stipulations of the covenant agreement. That is, the lists of legal collections familiar in the ancient world have been reused in a second genre, covenant/treaty, where they serve as stipulations. This important observation gives us further information by which to understand how to interpret the sayings (as treaty stipulation, not legislation). Most importantly, it indicates that though Yahweh is Israel’s God, the covenant features him as Israel’s suzerain king.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 48

Gentle Mary Laid Her Child

395 Gentle Mary Laid Her Child

1. Gentle Mary laid her Child
   Lowly in a manger;
   There He lay, the undefiled,
   To the world a stranger:
   Such a Babe in such a place,
   Can He be the Savior?
   Ask the saved of all the race
   Who have found His favor.

2. Angels sang about His birth;
   Wise men sought and found Him;
   Heaven's star shone brightly forth,
   Glory all around Him:
   Shepherds saw the wondrous sight,
   Heard the angels singing;
   All the plains were lit that night,
   All the hills were ringing.

3. Gentle Mary laid her Child
   Lowly in a manger;
   He is still the undefiled,
   But no more a stranger:
   Son of God, of humble birth,
   Beautiful the story;
   Praise His name in all the earth,
   Hail the King of glory!
                         Joseph S. Cook
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

Torah as EULA?!

In this sense we might compare the treaty stipulations with the end-user license agreement that accompanies most software purchases. Few people ever read these documents, but we know what they say (agreements not to pirate the software, releasing the company from liability, etc.). And we know more or less intuitively what the proper use of the product entails. The license can be invoked in a lawsuit against pirates— that is its purpose—but we do not have to read the document to know that we are not supposed to steal the product. Likewise, treaty documents could be invoked in a lawsuit against rebels—the ANE often considered war to be a form of legal action—but the vassals did not have to read the document to know what constituted rebellion. What the suzerain wants from the vassal is faithfulness, and he (almost always male) has both general and specific ideas concerning what that entails.—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 48

Let All Together Praise Our God

389 Let All Together Praise Our God

1 Let all together praise our God
   Upon his lofty throne,
   For he uncloses heaven today
   And gives to us his Son,
   And gives to us his Son.

2 He lays aside his majesty
   And seems as nothing worth,
   And takes on him a servant's form,
   Who made the heaven and earth,
   Who made the heaven and earth.

3 Behold the wonderful exchange
   Our Lord with us does make!
   Lo, he assumes our flesh and blood,
   And we of heaven partake,
   And we of heaven partake.

4 The glorious gates of paradise
   The angel guards no more;
   This day again those gates unfold.
   With praise our God adore,
   With praise our God adore!
                         Nicolaus Hermann
                         Trans. by Arthur Tozer Russell
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Hmmm… I don't recall ever singing this hymn, and it only occurs in about fifteen hymnals, so I probably never even heard it. The translator also wrote a goodly number of hymns, none of which became very popular. Hymnary.org says that his "translations on the whole are vigorous and strong, but somewhat ultra-faithful to the original metres, etc."
</idle musing>

A gloss does not a meaning make

Now, having arrived at a second plausible gloss, we are no closer to the meaning of the Niphal, because a workable gloss should not be confused with the meaning of the Hebrew term.—Steven W. Boyd, in "Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?" A Grammatical Tribute to Professor Stephen A. Kaufman, 122

Ought to, you should—or You will know?

Israel’s judiciary system, like that throughout the ANE, was based on the wisdom of the judges, not on legislation. It involved a dynamic integration of custom, divine revelation (including oracles), and intuition, rather than static codes. The legal collections found in the Torah and other legal collections embody that wisdom by providing an aspective mosaic of sayings that manifested the sponsor’s wisdom, instructed the judges, and helped the people to understand order in society. The people are to “heed” this wisdom and “preserve” it. In this view, the expected response to the Torah is far different from a response to legislation. Legislation carries a sense of “you ought”; instruction carries a sense of “you will know.”—Walton and Walton, The Lost World of the Torah, 44–45

Away in a Manger

384 Away in a Manger

1 Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
   the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
   the stars in the heavens looked down where He lay,
   the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

2 The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
   but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
   I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
   and stay by my side until morning is nigh.

3 Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay
   close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
   Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
   and fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there.
                         Anonymous
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I thought I had posted on this in the past, but apparently not. You can read all the history about it you want by searching on the web, but the short story is that it was long attributed to Martin Luther. But, there is no record of it anywhere before the 1800s in the United States. There is no German precursor and it certainly doesn't read like Luther! The Wiki has a good round-up of the history.
</idle musing>