Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem
The amazing songwriters of what we now call The Great American Songbook went about creating these musical gems in a number of different ways. Sometimes, one person wrote both the music and the lyrics. Cole Porter and Irving Berlin are prime examples of that approach.
Sometimes, the music was written first, and the lyricist would write to the music. Jerome Kern wrote every note of music for Showboat before Oscar Hammerstein II wrote a single lyric.
And, then came the most difficult way of writing a song (in my humble opinion). That is setting someone else's poetry to music. And, this is the way is usually is done. It has always seemed easier to write lyrics to an existing tune, which is why song parodies are so common, and often hilarious. The rhythm, cadence, pattern, and structure are already there!
This Psalm is attributed to Heman The Ezrahite. Although the composer of this Psalm is rather obscure, he did get included in "The Great Hebrew Songbook". This Psalm appears to have been written as an appeal to God from somebody who is on the brink of Death, but since we ALL die eventually, and we all have suffered loss, it is an important Psalm to consider.
What struck me is that Heman has the same intimacy with God as David and Asaph. He asks rhetorically (and a little boldly) "Can the DEAD praise You?"
And yet, Heman concludes his song with praise and trust in God.
It is a difficult and powerful Psalm, but please, don't ask me to try and set it to MUSIC!
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)
God Bless America!
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS