Reflection by John Rees
This wonderful carol trips off the tongue when we sing it in church or around the streets; or at least, most of it does – even if we trip over the word ‘Adonai’! But in our own enthusiastic rendering of this very joyous hymn we may not appreciate that we are singing sentences that go back over 1500 years, to a tune that may go back nearly 1,000. The version we’re used to singing was published a mere 150 or so years ago, put together by the great Victorian hymn-writer John Mason Neale. I’ve set it out in full below (slightly re-ordered to follow the ancient sequence of sentences).
But in its origin, it is a series of quotations from the Book of Isaiah, each understood by Christians as a title of Jesus, the coming Messiah foretold by the prophet. These form the basis of the monastic liturgy ‘the Great Os’, or ‘the Advent Prose’. They were sung (and still are in many Churches) at evening prayer, each ‘O’ sung on a different day, from 17 December onwards.
17 December: ‘O Wisdom…teach us the way of understanding’ – from Isa 28:29, ‘He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom’
18 December: ‘O Adonai and Ruler…’ – from Isa 33:22, ‘…the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver and king; he will save us.’
19 December: ‘O Root of Jesse…’ – from Isa 11:10, [the descendant of Jesse and King David] ‘…shall stand as an ensign to the people, and all the nations shall seek him’.
20 December: ‘O Key of David…’ – from Isa 22:22, ‘…he shall open and none shall shut; he shall shut and none shall open’.
21 December: ‘O Dayspring, come and enlighten…’ – from Isa 9:2, ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…’.
22 December: ‘O King of the nations, Desired of all, come and save humankind you formed from clay, …’ – from Isa 2:4, ‘He shall decide for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks’.
23 December: ‘O Emmanuel, the Expected of the nations and their Saviour…’ – Isa 7:14, ‘…and she shall call his name Emmanuel, that is, “God is with us”’.
The words have been traced back to a Roman philosopher and theologian in the 6th century, and the tune to a Portuguese convent in the High Middle Ages. When we sing it in Neale’s version today, we are joining generations of Christ’s followers across the centuries, and now across the world.
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things, far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Adonai, Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.