Children find a special kind of joy in the church seasons that are closely connected to the historical events of Jesus’ life and ministry. When we list those seasons, we can all very quickly think of hymns we learned as children, from Christmas time through Passion week. For many of us who grew up in churches, when we recall Palm Sunday, we can remember festive processions into the sanctuary on Sunday morning, carrying palm branches … especially those of us who grew up in parts of the country where palm trees grew in our yards!
Think about how much of the Bible is the record of stories, from Old through New Testaments. This is significant now only in the fact that the gospel is rooted in actual history. It is also a beneficial thing for our learning and remembering Bible truths as they are so vividly connected with stories, from the Garden of Eden to Noah’s flood, Moses and the Red Sea, Daniel in the lion’s den, and also Jesus in the manger, at the wedding in Cana, feeding the multitude, instituting the Lord’s Supper in the Upper Room, at the cross on Calvary, the open tomb, and the mount of ascension.
Our hymn heritage gives us a large supply of selections that reflect Bible history, especially of the life of Jesus. Palm Sunday is no exception. What a wonderful event that was, prophesied centuries before in Zechariah 9:9 …
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is He,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey,
… and alluded to in Psalm 24:7-8 …
Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
That event was historically important as fulfillment of prophecy. It was also theologically important as a public declaration of Jesus’ royal identity as King. It has come to be known traditionally, and very appropriately, as Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. This King entered His city, not on a white horse but on a donkey, not surrounded by soldiers and politicians but by common folk with (presumably) their children, not to the waving of flags but of palm branches, not on a route paved with fancy bricks but with worshipers’ coats, and not to the sound of a professional military band but to the singing of a hymn .
This all points us ahead to the joy for us as we respond to that same Jesus as the King who has conquered our rebellious hearts and has entered our hearts as our Redeemer. That dimension of Palm Sunday is most important as we remember that within days this King would be nailed to a tree as the substitute for our iniquities (Isaiah 53), taking on Himself the curse of Deuteronomy 21:22 and Galatians 3:13, “cursed is the one who hangs on a tree.” One clear evidence of the importance of this event is the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired all four Gospel writers to include it in their record.
The Westminster catechisms, following the pattern in Philippians 2, define Christ’s work as a prophet, priest, and king as the Redeemer of God’s elect, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation. This is a similar pattern for us, currently in our state of humiliation dealing with sin, looking forward to the state of exaltation when we shall be free from sin with the Lord in glory. With Jesus, His earthly life from birth to death and burial was one of humiliation. The exaltation came from the point of His resurrection. It’s interesting to note that on Palm Sunday, even as the depth of His humiliation drew so near, that there was a hint of exaltation in His triumphal entry, however brief.
One of the less-familiar Palm Sunday songs is “When His Salvation Bringing,” written in 1830 by John King (1789-1858). It was written for “The Psalmist, A Selection of Psalm and Hymns,” a publication by Reverends Henry and John Gwyther. Little is recorded about King, other than that he graduated from Queen’s College in Cambridge in 1814 and became incumbent of Christ Church, Hull, England in 1822. In English ecclesiastical law, the term incumbent refers to the holder of a Church of England parochial charge or benefice. The term “benefice” originally denoted a grant of land for life in return for services. And so someone like John King would likely have been appointed by a bishop as a favor, perhaps, to some wealthy lord. The title is no longer used in the Anglican world, in favor of more common terms like rector, pastor, or vicar. King published several sermons and other works, including one psalm and four hymns.
In stanza 1, we find that King’s hymn doesn’t re-tell the story as much as it exercises poetic license in one’s imagination to visualize children in that large crowd on that day, considering what this meant from their perspective and for their benefit. The text speaks of Jesus’ attitude toward the children in a way that is consistent with what we read in the Gospels about Jesus commending little children and welcoming them to come near to Him (Matthew 19:14).
When His salvation bringing,
to Zion Jesus came,
the children all stood singing
hosannas to His name:
nor did their zeal offend him,
but as He rode along,
He let them still attend Him,
and smiled to hear their song.
In stanza 2, we move our focus from 2000 years ago in Jerusalem to that future time when we will gather around Jesus’ heavenly throne. He is reigning now from that lofty place of royal glory, but the day is approaching when we will be there along with those children who once praised His coming on Palm Sunday. King sweetly notes that Jesus still loves those children. We will sing with them, “Hosanna to David’s royal Son!”
And since the Lord retaineth
His love for children still,
though now as King He reigneth
on Zion’s heav’nly hill,
we’ll flock around His banner
who sits upon His throne,
and cry aloud, “Hosanna
to David’s royal Son!”
In stanza 3, we speak as if a preacher were exhorting us to make sure that we give to the Lord Jesus right now the praise that He deserves. King returns to Scripture to allude to Jesus’ own words. When Jewish leaders complained about the praise of the crowd on Palm Sunday, He reprimanded them by saying that if they forced the people to be silent, then the very rocks would cry out! And the stanza challenges us that it’s not enough that we merely “render the tribute of our words.” No, we need to give our hearts to Him in profound adoration.
For should we fail proclaiming
our great Redeemer’s praise,
the stones, our silence shaming,
would their hosannas raise.
But shall we only render
the tribute of our words?
No, while our hearts are tender,
they too shall be the Lord’s.
The text has been set to a number of different tunes, some old and some new. A traditional tune we find for this hymn, TOURS, was written in 1872 by Berthold Tours (1838-1897) a Dutch-born violinist, composer, and music editor. His first music teacher was his father, Barthelemy Tours (1797-1864), who was organist of the Groote or St Laurens Kerk in Rotterdam for thirty years, a conductor, and a violinist of European-wide reputation, while he studied composition with Johannes Verhulst. Later, he studied composition with François-Joseph Fétis at the conservatory in Brussels and then continued his studies in Leipzig.
In Leipzig, Tours received an invitation from Prince George Galitzin, a fellow student, to go to Russia as second violinist in a string quartet that would be engaged by the tsar. The quartet performed in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and in neighboring palaces. Tours then became the assistant director of the chorus in the Imperial Opera and went with Galitzin to Covent Garden, London in 1861, as a score-reader. He was organist at St Helen’s, Bishopsgate from 1864 to 1865, at St Peter’s, Stepney from 1865 to 1867, and finally at the Swiss Church, Holborn from 1867 to 1879.
After Galitzin’s death, Tours became an editor for Novello & Company in 1872, and chief editor in 1878 in succession to Sir John Stainer. The works he edited included Wagner’s“Lohengrin” by Wagner and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” numerous piano albums, and many others. He also arranged scores of two Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas. A violin primer with thirty melodies that he published was used in Britain and the United States and sold almost a hundred-thousand copies. He also composed works for organ including “Fantasia in C,” “Allegretto Grazioso,” “Menuetto and Postlude.”
Tours’ son and pupil Frank Tours (1877-1963) became a noted theatrical conductor, composer, and arranger in London and New York, and eventually became a studio musical director in Hollywood. He did most of the orchestrations for Irving Berlin’s score for “The Cocoanuts” (1925) starring the Marx Brothers, and was musical director for the 1929 screen version of the play. Another former pupil was the composer and author “Arthur Hervey.”
Here is a link to this Palm Sunday hymn with the tune TOURS as played on piano.