Rabbenu
A Discussion of Messianic Judaism, the Emerging Messianic Jewish Paradigm, and Related Leadership Issues from the Preoccupied Mind of Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, PhD.
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Sunday, June 18, 2006
A Liturgical Offering and New Hymn for the Messianic Movement
(The following is a new hymn, copyrighted, thank you, which I have written for the Messianic Jewish Movement. Hopefully, some day all of you will sing it. For you Scripture mavens out there, see how many passage sof Scripture are alluded to here. I will say one thing: The entire hymn grows out of themes and concepts found in 1 Kings 8, the Dedication of Solomon's Temple and his prayer on that occasion. If it is a good hymn, then it is deeply theological, not trite, and, please God, not blemished with forced rhymes. Of course, I am still tweaking this a bit, but here it is, subtantially as it will be, b'ezrat Hashem. Tentative title, "Solomon's Prayer").
FIRST STANZA
O Lord God, there is none in heav’n like you, nor your like on earth below
Israel’s King
O Lord God, keeping faith with those you claim
Walking in your holy name our off’rings we bring
Neither heav’n nor earth constrain you
Nor can Temple walls contain you
For your glory fills the earth,
The sky and the sea
Bringing prayer and supplication
We, your chosen seed and nation
Now return our adoration
Offering praise, all of our days
Honoring you in every way
For you are our King
Please listen to our cry and hear us Adonai
Your people day and night are turned toward your throne
Forgive us when we sin, drive famine from our land
Enable us to stand, don’t leave us alone
Lord from your dwelling place turn now your holy Face,
Hear us now as we pray
For you are our Lord
SECOND STANZA
O Lord God, with your hand you now have kept
The great promise that you made to David the King
O Lord God, our Messiah now has come,
He is David’s Greater Son, Yeshua is He
Here we stand a royal priesthood through the one who stood where we stood
Bearing shame and condemnation, and death on the Tree
He is building now a Temple, not of stones but made of people
Lauding Him who has no equal, we offer our praise, to Him who was raised
Honoring Him in every way, for He is our King
By very nature God, He did not think it odd
To come to us, a baby formed in a womb
And fashioned as a man, fulfilling Heaven’s plan
He lived, he died, and then was laid in tomb
He suffered for all our sins,
The Father exalted Him,
Now we confess him Lord, and bow to his Name
THIRD STANZA
O Lord God, like the tables in the ark
Your Torah is in our hearts, eternal and true
O Lord God, like the cherubim we stand
Reaching out with holy hands uplifted toward you
As your Shekhinah filled the Temple, rest upon your holy people
May your Ruach breathe new life into us again
Causing flesh, and bone and sinew by your Spirit to made new
May we be raised in these last days
That we might obey in every way our Sovereign and King
Descend upon us now and fill us with your power
Then send us forth to keep your holy commands
In blood, and fire, and smoke fulfill what sages spoke
Make prophets of your women, children and men
Then will the Piercéd One be honored as David’s Son
And Israel be reborn
And everyone, home
posted by Stuart Dauermann @ 6:53 AM
20 comments
Very nice!
Where did the title come from?
The title, which is still in flux, and is for the time being "Solomon's Prayer" comes from 1 Kings 8, which describes the dedication of the Temple, and includes Solomon's Prayer.
Are you saying that Solomon is looking to the construction of the 3rd temple from completion of the 1st temple? And those who compared temples would see the 3rd temple as better as you describe?
No.
Then why would Solomon be credited with a prayer he could not write?
Please read the paragraph introducing the stanzas wherein I state that all of the verses grow out of ideas found in the prayer. For example, Solomon speaks of God's promises to David that there would be a line of Davidic kings. We, from our later vangage point in the canonical process realize that that promise is fulfilled in Yeshua our Messiah. This is a matter of canonical process. I may change the title; as I said, it is in flux. However, I expect that most people would recognize the midrashic process employed in writing these stanzas, involving creatively interacting with seeds found in ! Kings 8.
Do you also credit Abraham for the work Moses did? Isn’t it Amish thought, and not Jewish thought, to put new wine in Solomon’s skin?
Let's not build straw men, please. No one is crediting anyone for the work that someone else did.
What we are speaking of here is organic growth of theological thought down through the ages, and of the canonical theologizing process, how later developments are regarded as being and can shown to be the flowering of seeds sown earlier. As for the connection between Abraham and Moses, remember (1) we learn of Abraham through the first of the five books of *Moses"; (2) The Mosaic rendition of Abraham's story is theologically shaped by Mosaic, and most would say, exilic editorial/theological considerations; the shape of the story, what is left out, what is included, how it is told, is theologically driven; (3) The organicity between later Mosaic Law and the life of Abraham is clearly demonstrable in Genesis 18:18-19; 26:1-5, among other passages. In other words, the story of Abraham, as well as that of Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons and daughter, is told from the perspective of later Mosaic legislation.
Awe inspiring lyrics! Can't wait to hear the melody.. Have you or will you be adding a refrain or chorus in Hebrew?
Chayamindle: Thank you for your kind words. It would be nice to do as you suggest, and it is possible that I will add a coda of sorts--at the very end of the piece [where codas go, of course!], either from the Hashivenu text used when we place the Torah in the ark, or from Alenu. Whatever I used, it will have to be familiar and evocative, as the anthem/hymn as it is is very "texty" and has a sharp learning curve. To then add Hebrew will further tax people, unless the Hebrew and, hopefully, its associated melody, is familiar. Thanks for asking.
it is is very "texty" and has a sharp learning curve
Your congregation or visitors?
"41 "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name- 42 for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name." Fourth Verse?
Yes, it is quite "texty" and has a sharp learning curve. The general advice I get lately from people is to have songs with few words. However, my philosophy has always been that the people of God need psalms [a.k.a. Scripture Songs], hymns {good theology set to good poetry set to good music], and spiritual songs [more subjective songs]. This one is a hymn, and is really sung liturgy.
I don't quite understand question about "Your congregation or visitors?" so cannot answer that one.
Ciao-lom
Yes, it is possible to do a verse on "the foreigner" as mentioned above. For the time being, I am focusing this song upon God's calling upon the Remnant of Israel, a vision that is not well in focus amongst most Yeshua believers, who pay lipservice to the idea, but have not thought deeply about related matters. That the God of Israel has called people from other nations into His presence is a well-accepted idea. That the end of history will involve a revival of Jewish communal covenant faithfulness through Yeshua the Messiah and in the power of the Holy Spirit, as explored elsewhere on this blog, has not yet been explored and accepted.
This song is especially for the Remnant of Israel.
"I am focusing this song upon God's calling upon the Remnant of Israel, a vision that is not well in focus amongst most Yeshua believers, who pay lipservice to the idea, but have not thought deeply about related matters."
Isn't: "most Yeshua believers don't think deeply about their calling" another way of saying that they are distracted from doing that which God made them to do? ...their purpose in life?
Thank you for your comment.
However, I don't think we see eye to eye on certain matters. You said, "Isn't: 'most Yeshua believers don't think deeply about their calling' another way of saying that they are distracted from doing that which God made them to do? ...their purpose in life?," implying that the statement in single quotes was my statement. Not exactly,
I don't believe it is the task of all believers to attain clarity concerning and advance the cause of the Remnant of Israel, although I wish they would, adn someday everyone will "get it." . It IS however, especially the calling of Messianic Jews and of those involved in the Messianic Jewish Movement to attain such clarity and advance such a purpose.
I don't think that most Messianic Jews are "distracted from what God made them to do," as much as being untaught and not on board. This is a task for the Spirit of God.
And again, I have chosen to make this song especially about the identity and calling of the Remnant of Israel, not out of any disrespect to the Church, but because to make the song overly broad would be to blunt its strategic value.
"And again, I have chosen to make this song especially about the identity and calling of the Remnant of Israel, not out of any disrespect to the Church, but because to make the song overly broad would be to blunt its strategic value."
What part of the song excludes Gentiles?
No part of the song was written to explicitly exclude Gentiles. Rather the song was written expicitly to the Remnant of Israel. As I explained earlier, and as you quoted me, "I have chosen to make this song especially about the identity and calling of the Remnant of Israel, not out of any disrespect to the Church, but because to make the song overly broad would be to blunt its strategic value."
In making that statement, I was responding to a comment that quoted a part of the 1 Kings 8 text wherein Solomon explicitly refers to Gentiles, a section of the 1 Kings text which I elected to NOT include in my song. The person was suggesting that I write a 4th verse on that part of the text. I declined to do so to maintain my particular focus.
Here I am not focusing on individuals [Jewish or Gentiles], but on God's differing purposes for Israel and the nations [the Gentiles], such as Paul will later allude to in Romans 11 where he differentiates the fullness of Israel and the fullness of the Gentiles [the non-Israel people groups].
Stuart:
I love the words of this hymn. I sent it by email to my congregation. When can we hear the music?
Derek Leman
Derek, My Friend,
I introduced this at the final luncheon of the Union Conference held in Portsmouth, VA. I must assume you went home before that final luncheon!
I am waiting for finances to come in from a donor friend. I would love to record and distribute this song . . .but it is not yet possible.
Thanks for your inquiry. You remain a good friend.
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