Friday, July 4, 2008

Love of God~


Fred­er­ick M. Leh­man; he wrote this song in 1917 in Pas­a­de­na, Cal­i­fornia, and it was pub­lished in Songs That Are Dif­fer­ent, Vol­ume 2, 1919. The lyr­ics are based on the Jew­ish poem Had­da­mut, writ­ten in Ara­ma­ic in 1050 by Meir Ben Isaac Ne­hor­ai, a can­tor in Worms, Ger­ma­ny; they have been trans­lat­ed in­to at least 18 lang­uages.

One day, dur­ing short in­ter­vals of in­at­ten­tion to our work, we picked up a scrap of pa­per and, seat­ed up­on an emp­ty le­mon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pen­cil, add­ed the (first) two stan­zas and chor­us of the song…Since the lines (3rd stan­za from the Jew­ish po­em) had been found pen­ciled on the wall of a pa­tient’s room in an in­sane asy­lum af­ter he had been car­ried to his grave, the gen­er­al opin­ion was that this in­mate had writ­ten the epic in mo­ments of san­ity.

Frederick M. Lehman, “History of the Song, The Love of God,” 1948


The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

I thought this was an interesting story and I love this song. Have a great Saturday.



5 comments:

Tammy said...

Lisa, this was so fascinating...I know that song, and also remember singing this last chorus with my parents in churches when I was little...it is so beautiful.
Hope you had a happy 4th...
Blessings,
~Tammy

Kristi said...

I love that song. Right after my brother died, Missy Lail sang this in church the Wed night after his funeral. Everytime I hear it I think of how GREAT God is to get us THROUGH those times in our lives.

~Kristi

MRS.PALM PRETTY said...

hey sugar, thanks for commenting to me. you are so sweet.i love this post. it is great info about this song!!love and hugs!!!

Nanny said...

Hello Lisa & family,
So glad that you guys had a good 4th.
That song is sooooo beautiful and the words are wonderful to just read and let your mind meditate on.
The Love of God is far better than words could ever tell.
Love the pic of you guys.
In Christ,
Maw Maw Birt

Nonnas News said...

That really is a beautiful song. I hope you and your family had a wonderful 4th!