Adolphe Adam – O Holy Night

Traditionally, radio stations start to play Christmas music after we celebrate Thanksgiving.  In this vein, I will take time away from modern Christian music and focus on Christmas music throughout the month of December.  Particularly, songs in the public domain.  I will kick things off with O Holy Night.

French composer Adolphe Adam wrote Minuit Chretiens! ( or Cantique de Noël) based on Placide Cappeau’s French poem Minuit, chrétiens. Cappeau was a wine attendant, asked by his local Priest to write a poem for Christmas mass in 1847.  Bewildered, he used Luke’s Gospel as his entry point to put his thoughts to paper.  Thinking that his poem could be much more than that (and not musically talented), he asked Adolphe Adam to craft a song based on his poetic work, thus, the origins of O Holy Night was born.  The English translation we all know and love was translated by writer John Sullivan Dwight.  The lyrics posted in section 2 (as well as this review) will be based on Dwight’s version.

More information on this incredible story, about how O Holy Night found its way into several French Catholic churches, Cappeau’s walk away from the Church and time with Socialist ideology, O Holy Night’s banning in France, and how Dwight brought it to America can be found here.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Dwight’s translation of Adam’s song based on Cappeau’s poem captures the essence of Luke’s version of Christ’s birth and prophecies events that will take place after Christ’s birth, including chain breaking, His teachings of love and compassion, and entering God’s kingdom post-judgment day.  It acknowledges the broken state of our world and calls us to praise God with thanksgiving, gratitude, and reverence, offering Christ as the solution to our ills.  It does contain one line that is biblically problematic (see section 2); However, it detracts little from the overall message.

While many of the remakes and derivatives contain some level of repetition, the original has none.  It operates on the same level as Hillsong’s So Will I in that there is no repeated verse or Chorus.  I’m certainly not revealing my favorite style of liturgy.  Nope, not at all!

Score: 9/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

While most of it is highly scriptural, there exists one line that is erroneous.  Though the original song did not have verses, modern versions contain them.  Therefore, I added them here.

This song is public domain.

[Verse 1]

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.

This sets up the context by which the rest of the song will follow.  It is called “Holy” (or set apart) because Christ will be born on it.  Historically, we are not sure how brightly the stars were shining; However, the Magi (as I will discuss later) followed a star to Bethlehem.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.

Though the earth was sinful and prone to error (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3 Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10-12, and Romans 8:22), Christ has a profound impact on us.  While some feel like John the Baptist: unworthy to tie His shoes (see Mark 1:7, Luke 3:16, and John 1:27), others are threatened, like King Herod in Matthew 2:1-22.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

The long-awaited Messiah was born!  The prophecied child in Isaiah 9:6 had finally come, stirring the tides of humanity.  The heavenly angelic hosts rejoiced (Luke 2:13-14).

[Chorus 1]

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Indeed, the night was divine.  I mentioned the angelic hosts in Verse 1, lines 5 and 6.  If we examine the context, in Luke 2:1-20, Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem due to Agustus’ census decree.  While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus while some shepherds were keeping their flocks by night.  It is in this context that the angels appeared, prompting the shepherds to find out what it was all about.  That is why they went to Bethlehem and found Jesus.  They told others about it, giving glory to God for what they had seen.  Yet, there is no mention that they fell on their knees.  For that, we must return again to Matthew’s Gospel.

If we read Matthew 2:1-22 again, we find that the Magi journeyed from the East, inquiring of King Herod about the new KIng that is born.  They followed a star and quoted from Micah 5:2, a prophecy concerning Jesus’ birth.  It is verse 11 that tells us they worshipped Jesus!

[Verse 2]

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from the Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

This is the first time in my life I have seen this entire verse, as well as Chorus 2, below.  I suspect most of you hadn’t either.  We’re charting new territory here!

Referring to the star that guided the Magi (Matthew 2:2 and Matthew 2:9-10), Adam reminds us that we shall remain firm in our faith that brought us to Jesus as the Magi did in the star that led them to Jesus.  He will later be called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

The last line is highly problematic given Romans 5:6-8 and Philippians 2:5-8.  He wasn’t born to be our friend.  He was born because we are His enemy and needed rescue.  His sacrifice made it possible for us to have a relationship with God, under a new covenant system.  A more accurate rendering would have been “IN all our trials born to be our savior”.  Now that I think about it, this might be a good reason why I never heard of this verse.

[Chorus 2]

He knows our need, to our weaknesses no stranger,

Given that Jesus is God, this makes sense (see 1 Kings 8:39, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Psalm 44:21, Psalm 139:4, Psalm 147:4-5, Isaiah 40:28, Matthew 10:30, John 16:30, John 21:17, Acts 1:24, Hebrews 4:13, and 1 John 3:20).  See Philippians 4:19 for an explicit reference to God knowing and supplying our needs.

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

As mentioned in Chorus 1 the Magi bowed before Jesus open their visitation.  We too must bend the knee before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

[Verse 3]

Truly He taught us to love one another;

Indeed, Jesus led by example in far more examples than I can list.  He gives a new commandment in John 13:34 and John 15:12 that we are to love one another as He has loved us.  It is through this that the world will know we are His disciples (John 13:35).

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

According to Jesus, the greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Through these two hangs the entire law and the prophets (Matthew 22:36-40,  Mark 12:28-31, and Luke 10:25-28).  Though it is a curse (Deuteronomy 27:26 and Galatians 3:10), that is due to lawbreaking and not the law itself.  The law itself is perfect (Psalm 19:7).

Though Jesus did not come to bring peace on earth (Matthew 10:34), the Gospel message brings internal peace to those who receive it.  Interesting, the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6 includes footwear that represents the Gospel of peace (see Ephesians 6:15).

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

Dwight was especially moved by this line given the veracity of black slavery that occurred during this time period.  Matthew 11:28-30 is an especially moving passage, given that the “yoke” Jesus refers to can be seen as either physical or spiritual slavery, that is, a slave to sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:20-22, and 1 Corinthians 6:12).  Jesus came is to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), which would naturally include both types of slavery.

Let the reader understand that slavery in Israel under the Old Covenant system was much different than how we view it today.

Finally, the book of Philemon has a great account of a runaway slave to whom the Apostle Paul, in Philemon 16, implores his master to receive him as a brother since the slave follows Jesus like he does.

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

This will occur after judgment day when all the saints will enter into God’s heavenly kingdom, where no mourning, weeping, or pain will exist (see Revelation 21:4).

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Beautifully crafted poetic language describing a call to action: praising God with an attitude of gratitude.  See notes in Chorus, lines 2 and 3.  Also, see Colossians 3:16 for a possible explicit reference of praising His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

A worthy crescendo to finalize this song: with more praise and glory given to God!

Score: 8/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Given its 100+ year tradition, at this point, most unbelievers know this to be a song about Jesus.  Of course, this becomes more pronounced with further research (as we have seen in section 2); However, the linguistic usage that Dwight chose makes it all the more clear.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

The final lines of the song sum it up quite nicely.  I’ll post it again for emphasis:

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

This song is slightly veiled only by errors described previously.

Score: 9/10

Closing Comments

We’re off to a great start!  Adolphe Adam’s O Holy Night is a classic.  While the modern version that does not contain Verse 2 and Chorus 2 would have received a perfect score, I as an originalist must rate the earliest form.  While it does contain an unfortunate misstep, it is otherwise highly Biblical, presents a progressive, praiseworthy message, recognizable internationally as a classic Christian tune, all of which brings glory to God.

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: O Holy Night (Josh Groban’s version is my favorite. Listen to it or purchase it here)

Artist: Adolphe Adam

Album: N/A

Genre: Christmas, Hymn

Release Year: 1847

Duration: N/A

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

11/24/2020 – Slightly downgraded section 4 since this song contained errors; However, this did not impact my overall score.