Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas hymns

In the Christmas hymn "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing", there is this verse:

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Ris'n with healings in His wings.

The Hebrew word for “wings” is very interesting. It is the word kanaph. What is interesting is that we find this word in another place where it means “corners.” Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners [kanaph] of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners [kanaph]" (Numbers 15:37-38). This is the garment that came to be known as the tallit, a prayer shawl. It was a rectangle of cloth with tassels at each corner (kanaph). Each tassel contained a ribbon of blue (a color symbolic of heaven). It was a symbol of the covenant, a reminder of the commandments of God. In Hebrew, it is called a tzitzit and refers to a fringe, a tassel, a lock (such as a lock of hair)—a wing-like projection.

Malachi 4:2 says, "For you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings (kanaph)". Amazingly, more than 400 years after this was written the prophecy was fulfilled. Matthew 9:20-21: "And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem on His garment. For she said to herself, 'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well'." She touched Yeshua's garment tassels, the kanaph or wings, where healing radiated out to her.


Look at the names of Yeshua in another Christmas hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel":

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee, O Israel.