Isaiah is sometimes called “The Fifth Gospel.” That’s because of the gospel details revealed to Isaiah by the Holy Spirit and recorded in those 66 chapters. We turn to that book during Advent and Christmas time as well as during Passion Week. Here in Isaiah we find the famous texts that we read on Christmas Eve (the virgin who would give birth to Emmanuel, who would be the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace) and also those texts that we read on Good Friday (the Suffering Servant who would be smitten by the Father as our substitute as our iniquities were laid in Him, and who would die with the wicked and be laid in the grave with a rich man).
Among Isaiah’s prophecies is this one in the opening verse of chapter 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. This led to the imagery in the 16th century song, “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” It is also connected to the Song of Solomon 2:1, I am a roseof Sharon, a lily of the valleys. There was a fascinating historical transformation of the focus of the text from what was originally a Roman Catholic hymn about Mary (she was understood to be the “rose” in the 1582 text of 19 stanzas, later expanded to 23 stanzas) to become the hymn we know today as a Christmas carol that sees those prophecies fulfilled in Jesus as that “rose,” that “shoot from the stump of Jesse.”
The hymn is believed to have originated in Trier, Germany, and one source states that on one Christmas Eve, a monk in Trier found a blooming rose while walking in the woods. He placed the rose in a vase, and placed it before the altar to the Virgin Mary. Some sources indicate the hymn might date back into the 14th Century. That means this hymn was in use during Martin Luther’s lifetime at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. By 1609, however, Protestants had adopted the hymn, and changed its focus from Mary to Jesus.
The author of the German text of “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”is unknown. Its earliest source is in a manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of St. Alban at Trier now preserved in the Trier City Library. The hymn first appeared in print in the late 16th century in the “Speyer Hymnboook” in 1599. Since then, there have been numerous versions of the hymn, with varying texts and lengths. In 1844, the German hymnologist Fruedrich Layriz added three more stanzas. In 1896, Johannes Brahms used the hymn’s tune as the basis for a chorale prelude for organ, one of his “Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122,” and is often performed by organists today as a concert piece. It was later transcribed for orchestra by Erich Leinsdorf. During the Nazi era, many German Christmas carols were rewritten to promote National Socialist ideology and to excise references to the Jewish origins of Jesus. During Christmas in Nazi Germany, “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” was rewritten as “Uns ist ein Licht erstanden/in einer dunklen Winternacht” (“A light has arisen for us/on a dark winter night”), with a secularized text evoking sunlight falling on the Fatherland and extolling the virtues of motherhood.
We sing the words today with a beautiful musical setting by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), a fine church musician and son of a Lutheran pastor in the early years of the Protestant Reformation. The melody probably already existed, and so it is the harmonization that he wrote which has now been almost universally associated with the lyrics. Among the many English adaptations, perhaps the best known is by Theodore Baker (1851-1934). He was born in New York City, NY, studied music in Germany, and later worked as literary editor for the G. Schirmer Music Company from 1892 to 1926, compiling the “Biographical Dictionary of Musicians” (1900) prior to his death in Dresden, Germany. Even outside worship settings, the song was heard as recently as in the 1971 Academy Award winning movie, “Love Story.”
Michael Praetorius’ was born in Kruezberg, which means “city of the cross,” in Thuringia, in the eastern part of Germany, near Dresden. His last name was Schultheiss (perhaps another version of the name Schulze). As anyone who has ever traveled in Germany knows, that name will be familiar, since it’s on every bistro. That’s one of the principal beers of Germany, virtually the Budweiser of that country! It has been said that he was a polymath. He knew three or four languages. He knew theology. He certainly knew music, and philosophy as well..
He was educated at the university in Frankfort where he studied divinity and philosophy before serving as organist and music director in the court of Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick. During his long career, his church music grew to over one thousand titles, including the sixteen volume “Musae Sionae” which contains many Lutheran hymns in a variety of musical settings. His “Syntagma Musicum” (1614-1619) is a veritable encyclopedia of music and includes valuable information about the musical instruments of his time. Praetorius had a special fondness for adapting music of the Roman Catholic church and shaping it into something more suitable for Protestant use. Most of his musical compositions are based on Lutheran hymn tunes.
He was perhaps Germany’s most famous musician at the time and his writings about music were undoubtedly the best known to other musicians. His harmonization of “Es ist ein Ros”is the one still in common use today. It essentially flows in the style of a Renaissance Madrigal from the Middle Ages, the syncopated rhythms being text-based and not so much concerned with standard meters. We need to remember that the bar line in musical notation is a modern invention, making the math of the measure readily evident visually.
He lived in that period when in order to make a living a musician had to be in the service of one of the princes of Germany. There were literally hundreds of small courts in Germany at that time and he served two principal courts during the time that he was there. Back in those days the church was deeply indebted to these princes for supporting church music. Bach was another who was supported in that way for a long time. We owe a great deal to them. It wasn’t the government who did it; it was just these private families and individuals who took care of musicians. Praetorius was a very prolific composer who was privileged to die rich! He left directions that most of his money be donated to the poor.
Not only does this carol remind us that our best Christian songs have lyrics that are very closely connected to the text of Scripture. It is also a reminder that in a real sense, all our best hymns are confessions of faith, corporate statements of what we believe. We not only have the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the Westminster and Augsburg confessions of faith. We also have hymns like “Lo, How a Rose” as part of our creedal heritage. Remember that one of the earliest and most dangerous heresies that arose in the early centuries was the Arian heresy, the teaching that Jesus was less than divine but more than human, that He was a created being. One of the Ecumenical Councils that church historians regard as formative for Christian doctrine was the Council of Chalcedon that met in 451 A.D. Compare this phrase in the Creed of Chalcedon (our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man) with this phrase from stanza 4 in “Lo, How a Rose” (True man, yet very God).
Among the many translations and revisions over the centuries, here are the five English stanzas most often sung today.
Stanza 1 points to the record of Jesus’ lineage. Jesus is the Son of David, many generations removed. And David was the son of Jesse. The imagery of a rose blooming in the desolation of the desert is a beautiful portrait of the Savior from heaven coming into the spiritual deadness of this world. It is based on this prophecy in Isaiah 35:1, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing.” And while it may not have literally been in the cold of winter in Bethlehem, it certainly was the cold of the spiritual winter into which sin has plunged creation.
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung,
of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a flow’ret bright, amid the cold of winter,
when half spent was the night.
Stanza 2 points to prophecies about Jesus, especially in Isaiah. There are many of them, as we’ve already noted. But in this stanza, it is especially the prophecies in 11:1 that a Rod would come forth from the stem of Jesse, and in 7:14 that the Savior would be born of a virgin. And what shall we make of the phrase “when half spent was the night” that is at the end of both stanzas one and two? It could mean literally the middle of the night, or it could mean the middle of the time of spiritual darkness, as Galatians refers to “the fullness of time.”
Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
with Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
when half spent was the night.
Stanza 3 points to the role of the shepherds and angels in the birth of Jesus. Not only were those shepherds privileged to hear the angelic host. Apart from Mary and Joseph, they were likely the first human eyewitnesses of the incarnation as the Word became flesh. It’s tempting to wish we could have been there that night to share the experience with the shepherds. But we need to remind ourselves that we will experience something far greater than that. In our eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth, we will have the never-ending joy, not the momentary pleasure, of actually singing with the angelic host, “Worthy is the Lamb,” and doing so in His presence.
The shepherds heard the story, proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory, was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found Him,
As angel heralds said.
Stanza 4 points to the divine nature of Jesus. Referring again to Jesus as that flower in the desert, that rose, we sing about the qualities they share, qualities of sweet and tender fragrance, and also of a brightness that shines with “glorious splendor” to dispel “the darkness everywhere.” This brings to mind the loveliness of the candlelight services on Christmas Eve when the golden glow of hundreds of candles illuminate the sanctuary. How much ore so te glow of Christ’s presence in hearts of His people. And here is where we have that direct connection to the Creed of Chalcedon, of a Savior who is “True man, yet very God,” and who therefore is able to save us “from sin and death” and “lighten ev’ry load.”
This flow’r, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
dispels with glorious splendor the darkness ev’rywhere.
True man, yet very God; from sin and death He saves us
and lightens ev’ry load.
Stanza 5 points to the human nature of Jesus. He had to be truly human in order to die, as He bore the guilt of our sins on the cross in His “passive obedience.” But even before the cross, His human nature was an essential part of our salvation. Here was His “active obedience,” during the 33 years in which He walked sinlessly, experiencing all the weakness common to fallen human beings and being tempted in all things like His brethren (Hebrews 4:14-16). And why did He do all of this? Because of His great love for us to bring us “to the bright courts of heaven and to the endless day”
O Savior, child of Mary, who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know,
bring us at length, we pray, to the bright courts of heaven
and to the endless day.
Here is a recording of the carol as sung by alumni of the Harvard Men’s Glee Club in 2014.