From the Organist & Choirmaster

This Sunday’s closing hymn in procession is one of my favorite hymns, both the text and the tune. “The God of Abraham praise” to Leoni. It is one of the first hymns I remember hearing in the Episcopal Church I began attending in middle school and I remember thinking how incredible it was, though mostly the tune then as I didn’t appreciate the theology of hymnody at the time.

The text:

The words to the text are by Thomas Olivers, an 18th century Methodist preacher and hymn-writer from Montgomeryshire in Wales. He was convinced of Methodism after hearing George Whitfield preach on Zechariah 3:2 , “is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” after which he joined a Methodist society and met John Wesley. Olivers was stationed in Cornwall to preach, later preaching all around Great Britain and Ireland. He had good relations with Great Britian’s Jewish community and became friends with Rabbi Myer Lyon, who will become important later. “The God of Abraham praise” is a Christian adaptation of the Jewish hymn “Yigdal.” Yigdal means “be exalted” and the hymn is based on the 13 principles (or Creeds) of faith formulated by the Maimonides. It details the nature of God, the prophecies, Moses, the giving of the Law, ending with the resurrection of the dead. Here’s an example of the first couple of lines:

”Exalted be the Living God and praised, He exists - unbounded by time is His existence. He is One - and there is no unity like His Oneness - Inscrutable and infinite is His Oneness.

You can see how similar the Christian adaptation is, here’s the first verse:

“The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above; Ancient of everlasting days, and God of love; the Lord, the great I AM, by earth and heaven confessed: we bow and bless the sacred Name for ever blest.”

The Tune:

“The God of Abraham praise” was first published as a leaflet in 1772 set to the tune Leoni. Remember our Rabbi friend, Myer Lyon, Thomas Olivers was inspired to write the hymn after hearing Rabbi Lyon cantor “Yigdal” at the Great Synagogue in London. He asked Rabbi Lyon if he could use the Jewish melody for this new hymn, which he agreed to. The tune is the traditional Ashkenazic tune, which commences the morning prayer, and in some communities the close of evening on Sabbaths and festivals. Though originally a Methodist text, it was added to Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1875 and remains there, unaltered , just as it appears in our own Hymnal 1982!