DUBIOUS HYMN LYRICS

In many of these posts I have critically considered comments from Bible scholars. However, for this one offering, I would like to turn attention to hymn lyrics instead. And it really isn't that great a stretch since many of them are filled with theological statements and biblical references. We old-timers are often known for criticizing for several reasons modern songs sung in church, and I must admit that I still think the droning tunes and repeated lyrics are more appropriate to Hindu chanting than Christian worship. However, I can't really criticize the words to most of them since they are often filled with rich theological statements. Therefore I am going to turn my attention instead to the good old-fashioned hymns written from the 1700's to the 1940's.

In an earlier post (“Revelation 10:6”) I picked on James Black's popular 1893 song “Roll Call” and its reliance on the faulty King James translation of Revelation 10:6. So while I am at it, I might as well take some additional minor issue with the lyric “When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.” The biblical reference is to the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:12; 21:27) in which the names of the saved are entered. If the roll call is made based on that book, however, it is clear that we will not be “up yonder” at the time the names are read. Instead, we will be on a transfigured earth.

Robert Lowry's great Easter hymn “Low in the grave he lay” also contains the questionable assertion that Jesus was lying in the grave “waiting the coming day.” We are not privy to exactly what happened to Jesus during the time between his death and resurrection, but he wasn't exactly inactive. For one thing, he promised the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in paradise that very day. And also the tantalizing hints in I Peter 3:18-20; 4:6 indicate that Jesus was perhaps active in the underworld during the same time period.

Two standard invitation hymns of the past were certainly not my favorites while growing up, but the reason had little to do with whether or not they expressed biblical sentiments. One was “All to Jesus I Surrender,” and I will admit that some of my problem with it arose from guilt on my part due to the fact that I had not yet surrendered to Jesus. The other reason I disliked the song was the strange minor key that it was written in; it always gave me the creeps, and still does to some extent.

The other hymn was “Almost Persuaded,” and my major objection was to the negative note with which it ends: “almost, but lost.” It seemed designed to put a guilt trip on those in the congregation who had not come forward at the altar call, and even cause those believers present to doubt their own salvation. Now that I realize that the words were directly inspired by the encounter of Paul with King Agrippa recorded in Acts 26, I am much more comfortable with the hymn.

Then there were the more obscure Bible references found in the lyrics of two hymns in particular. “Sweet Hour of Prayer” contains the line: “Till, from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, I view my home and take my flight.” The New Bible Dictionary actually explains that there is no such one location called Pisgah, much less Mount Pisgah. The word is really a general description for any high ground having a good view of the surrounding countryside, and several pisgahs are mentioned in the OT. However, the most prominent one is that in Deuteronomy 3:27 on which Moses stood in order to view the Promised Land. So the lyricist is using metaphorical language to compare Christians on the brink of death being within sight of their future destination. But this is a very flawed analogy since Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land but barred from entering it, unlike our own situation. Just my nitpicking comment.

A second hymn which I always had my doubts about was “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” It contains the obscure line: “here I raise my Ebenezer, by Thy help I'm come.” I was never sure what my Ebenezer consisted of and whether I would be comfortable raising it. But now I have looked into it and found the following, in case you happen to be curious. The word appears only three times in the Bible (in I Samuel 4-7) and the Hebrew literally translates as “stone of the help.” It was erected by Samuel to commemorate a victory over the Philistines. Because it is such an obscure reference, modern hymn versions have changed the words to “here I raise my sign of victory” instead. Probably a well needed change in my mind.

However, the hymn that I have definitely been the most reluctant to sing over the years is the ever popular “In the Garden” by C. Austin Miles. I had always assumed that C. Austin Miles was a female since the hymn is filled with almost embarrassingly sentimental and personal images of romantic love between a man and woman. I figured that it might make sense for a woman to express such feelings toward Jesus, but was highly inappropriate for a man to sing them. And I still feel that way despite the fact that I just found out that Ms. Miles was really Mr. Miles instead. The back story on this hymn is that he wrote it after meditating on the story of Mary in the garden while alone outside the empty tomb, and I must admit that the lyricist seems to have gotten into the feminine mind successfully even though he has no doubt greatly overly-romanticized the nature of Mary's feelings toward Jesus.

Knowing the biblical reference behind that hymn just prompts me to make one more comment regarding the lyrics. They say that “He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe.” This implies that Jesus was extremely reluctant to part with her. However, the biblical account makes it clear that he spoke with no voice of woe, but probably with a voice of command instead. And certainly, after His death and resurrection, it would be hard to detect any woe at all in his subsequent encounters with other followers.

Lastly, I would like to discuss some examples of historic hymns whose lyrics have been altered in recent versions found in many hymnals. Some of these are probably needed changes, some just silly, and some appear to go in the wrong direction.

The lyrics to “How Great Thou Art” were first written in Swedish by Carl Boberg with the most popular English translation by Stuart Hine. One of the familiar lines reads: “When I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hands have made.” But in the 1950's, Manna Music acquired the rights to the hymn, and the editors altered the words to read “all the worlds thy hands have made.” I can only guess that they were not wanting to offend any evangelicals who treated “works” as a dirty word. One unintended result of that change is that the hymn has now been adopted by the Mormons, who of course believe that they will eventually colonize other planets and reign there as gods.

An even older hymn has similarly run afoul of more recent editors. Thus, Isaac Watts' “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed (for such a worm as I)” has now become “for such a one as I.” This is in spite of the fact that Job 25:6 states, “Mortals are maggots, worms in God's sight,” even granted that these are the words of Bildad. David, speaking the part of Jesus in his Psalm 22:6 prophecy of His death, calls Him a worm. And God calls the people of Israel worms and insects (Isaiah 41:14). So my own conclusion is that this particular change, to remove a term that some people might feel is offensive to them, is an attempt to make people feel better about themselves than they really should. But there is one minor word in this hymn that I would be tempted to alter. The chorus ends with the words: “and now I am happy all the day.” But happiness on earth is not really what we are promised even though we should now have reason to be joyful whatever the circumstances.

I noticed two other recent changes in lyrics that involved removing OT references. I hope it was due to concerns that a biblically-illiterate congregation might not understand them since the only other possible explanation I could think of is a decidedly anti-Semitic one. In either case, the changes were hardly justified. The first instance concerns “All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name” with lyrics by Edward Perronet. The words in question are “Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,” referring of course to Jesus and his Jewish lineage traced back to King David. I guess that wasn't inclusive enough for the new publishers, so they changed it to “chosen seed of Adam's race.” The other example is from “Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty.” Instead of “Now to His temple draw near” it reads “Brothers and sisters, draw near” as a bow to gender inclusiveness and erasure of an OT reference. Actually, the original lyrics were filled with both OT and NT allusions. Numbers 4:17-26 and Leviticus 21 go to great pains outlining the very few people who were allowed to even approach the sanctuary. By stark contrast, Hebrews 10:11-22 explains that we as believers are now all able to approach God's throne since we have been cleansed by our High Priest, Jesus Christ. These rich biblical allusions are lost entirely with the revised words.

There is one definitely needed revision that has been made in some later versions of a hymn. That is in “My Jesus, I Love Thee” by William Featherston. The phrase “in mansions of glory” is a reference to the King James Version of John 14:2, where Jesus says, “In my Father's house are many mansions.” Modern translations, however, render it more accurately as “abodes” or “dwelling places.” Thus, some hymnals now read “in dwellings of glory” instead.

My personal vote for the silliest revision involves the most loved hymn of all time – “Amazing Grace.” Some hymnals have actually changed the last verse from “When we've been there 10,000 years” to “When we've been there 10,000,000 years.” I understand the concept of inflation, but this is ridiculous!

Even “A Mighty Fortress” has come to the attention of recent editors who have changed the reference to “Lord Saboath” in verse 2 to “Lord of hosts,” which is a needed change since it accurately translates the Hebrew word and makes it more understandable to those in congregations who sing the words just assuming that it is a strangely spelled reference to Christ as the Lord of the Sabbath. Verse 3 is, at least in my mind, a little dated also since it may reflect Luther's own personal battles with demonic forces more than any biblical references. That verse mentions the fact that the world is filled with devils/demons. But actually, there are only nine post-resurrection mentions of plural devils/demons in the NT, and four of them clearly refer to Roman idols that are worshiped.

Finally, we come to one of our favorite Christmas carols “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” by Charles Wesley. Some recent editions of this hymn have been subtly altered in several places so that they would fit in better with Christmas programs at church. One example is the change from “Glory to the King of kings” to “Glory to the newborn King,” thus weakening the correspondence between God the Father and God the Son.