PK’s Ponderings

March 10, 2006

This past Sunday, our church sang an older hymn that has recaptured my attention and a place again in my devotions.

The song was “The God of Abraham Praise”, and it is based on the Jewish Yigdal, a doxology of the thirteen articles of the Hebrew faith set to music. When Thomas Olivers heard the Yigdal sung in the Great Synagogue in London, he went to the home of the friend he was staying with and wrote this 12 stanza hymn. The tune LEONI, is named for the cantor who helped to transcribe the Hebrew tune for the hymn version.

As one source states, “This hymn, which had, in a sense, a Hebrew origin, is beautifully connected with a young Jewess, the daughter of the chief of a synagogue, who became a Christian and was baptized. Her enraged father vowed to kill her, and she took refuge in the home of the clergyman who baptized her. There, weeping, her eyes raised to heaven, she sung this hymn of praise to the God of Abraham, made manifest in Jesus Christ her Savior.”¹

I hope that the words of this song aid in your praise of our great and awe inducing God!

“The God of Abraham Praise”

The God of Abraham praise, Who reigns enthroned above;
Ancient of everlasting days, and God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM! by earth and Heav’n confessed;
I bow and bless the sacred Name forever blessed.

The God of Abraham praise, at Whose supreme command
From earth I rise—and seek the joys at His right hand;
I all on earth forsake, its wisdom, fame, and power;
And Him my only Portion make, my Shield and Tower.

The God of Abraham praise, Whose all sufficient grace
Shall guide me all my happy days, in all my ways.
He calls a worm His friend, He calls Himself my God!
And He shall save me to the end, thro’ Jesus’ blood.

He by Himself has sworn; I on His oath depend,
I shall, on eagle wings upborne, to Heav’n ascend.
I shall behold His face; I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore.

Tho’ nature’s strength decay, and earth and hell withstand,
To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way, at His command.
The wat’ry deep I pass, with Jesus in my view;
And thro’ the howling wilderness my way pursue.

The goodly land I see, with peace and plenty bless’d;
A land of sacred liberty, and endless rest.
There milk and honey flow, and oil and wine abound,
And trees of life forever grow with mercy crowned.

There dwells the Lord our King, the Lord our righteousness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin, the Prince of peace;
On Zion’s sacred height His kingdom still maintains,
And glorious with His saints in light forever reigns.

He keeps His own secure, He guards them by His side,
Arrays in garments, white and pure, His spotless bride:
With streams of sacred bliss, with groves of living joys—
With all the fruits of Paradise, He still supplies.

Before the great Three-One they all exulting stand;
And tell the wonders He hath done, through all their land:
The list’ning spheres attend, and swell the growing fame;
And sing, in songs which never end, the wondrous Name.

The God Who reigns on high the great archangels sing,
And “Holy, holy, holy!” cry, “Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same, and evermore shall be:
Jehovah—Father—great I AM, we worship Thee!”

Before the Savior’s face the ransomed nations bow;
O’erwhelmed at His almighty grace, forever new:
He shows His prints of love—they kindle to a flame!
And sound thro’ all the worlds above the slaughtered Lamb.

The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high;
“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” they ever cry.
Hail, Abraham’s God, and mine! (I join the heav’nly lays,)
All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.

1 From A Treasury of Hymn Stories, by Amos R. Wells, 1045, published by Baker Books, pages 193-194.