‘Hark, a voice from yonder manger,
-----Soft and sweet,
-----Doth entreat
---“Flee from woe and danger;
Come, O come; from all that grieve you
-----You are freed,
-----All you need
---I will surely give you.”’
Well, yesterday we had the silliness of a silent Baby Jesus, and today we have the equal silliness of this child talking to us. Ironic. Or is it? I’m never quite sure… But semantics aside, this conceit that Jesus could speak from the manger is not supposed to be taken seriously. Although it does present a pleasing symmetry: Christ speaking to us from both cradle and grave…
How much attention do you pay to punctuation in carols? If you’re singing with a particularly uppity choir, then you may well be sticking to only breathing at commas and semicolons. Bear in mind that in this carol you would have to glue two instances of the word ‘you’ together (line 5-6), so that might sound odd. The important punctuation here is the speech marks. I’ve been putting single inverted commas around all the carols so far so I’ve stuck to that above, but notice the double ones from ‘flee’ to the end. This is the ‘voice from yonder manger’, i.e. Jesus’ voice.
As I’ve said, I don’t think that the carol-writer means for us to take this literally. Perhaps instead it can be a poetic way of saying that these words are what’s implied by the birth and very presence of Jesus. Rather than physically speaking these words, Christ means them by his coming.
The best part for me is line 5. Cast your minds back to the very first of Barabbas’ Carols, number 85; O Come, O Come Immanuel. The lyrics to this song entreat Jesus to come down and ransom Israel and ourselves. How glorious then is the verse given above, when He is entreating us right back! Even the words ‘Come, O Come’ are used – after we have invited Him down to earth, Jesus invites us back with Him, beyond the bonds of earthly grief.
As a direct response to our cry for help, Christ offers us refuge, freedom, and provision for our needs. Thanks be to God!
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