On Sunday, January 10, in celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord, we sang the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” — UMH 400.
*** Anybody curious who wrote this hymn?
The lyrics to this hymn were written by Robert Robinson (1735-1790). Although his pious mother had hoped her son would become a priest of the Church of England, his father died and she lacked the means to support her son to achieve this goal. Thus he wound up indentured at age 15 to a hairdresser. However, he was freed early from the indenture, due to his tendency to read books rather than dress hair. As a teenager, Robinson went to hear Whitefield preach a sermon on “the wrath to come” based on Matthew 3:7. This sermon disquieted him and led to much soul-searching. At length he found “peace by believing,” and at age 20 became a Christian, baptized by immersion. He listened to the preaching of Wesley, and answered the call to serve a Calvinist Methodist Church in 1758, the year he penned the hymn lyrics, “Come thou fount of every blessing…”. In 1759, the Baptists called Robinson to supply for a Sunday. His preaching led to them calling him to accept the pastoral charge. He made “open communion” a condition of his acceptance. In 1761, the Baptists opened their communion, and he accepted their pastoral charge. His preaching over the years became gradually more Unitarian, possibly influenced by the preaching of Priestley. By 1790, the Baptists were seeking his resignation. However, he died suddenly without resigning. Robinson remained a nonconformist. While preaching for the Baptists, he did receive a call from the Church of England, but he refused to accept it. His life of independent study and reading led him to write many scholarly works. {source: www.hymnary.org}
*** Anybody curious who or what an Ebenezer is?
The lyrics in verse two state, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy grace I’ve come; and I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.” (UMH 400, tune Nettleton.) Why would one raise an Ebenezer and who – or what – was one? Consultation of great-grandpa Samuel’s “Teacher’s Edition” Bible Dictionary (copyright 1884, Porter and Coates, p. 154) explained:
“Ebenezer (stone of help), a stone set up by Samuel after a signal defeat of the Philistines, as a memorial of the “help” received on the occasion from Jehovah.”
*** What was the “help” mentioned?
It gets to be a long story… 1 Samuel Chapter 6 reveals that the Ark of the Covenant had been at Shiloh, but the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines at Ebenezer. So the Israelites brought the Ark to Ebenezer to strengthen them for battle. But despite the Ark with them, they lost the battle, and the Philistines captured the Ark. However, the Ark struck the Philistine people dead and gave them deadly tumors afflicting old and young. Death and tumors followed the Ark wherever they took it, until none would receive it for fear of it. The Philistines decided to return the Ark to the Israelites to whom it belonged, along with the land they had won in battle, and guilt offerings for each place stricken by the dreaded tumors. A rock marked the place where the Philistines returned the Ark.
1 Samuel 6:18b — “The great stone, beside which they set down the ark of the Lord, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-she’mesh.”
70 were slain at Beth-she’mesh for looking into the ark of the Lord, so they sent it on to Kiriathjearim, where it remained some twenty years. This was probably as close as they could get it to Shiloh, where it started out, since Shiloh had been destroyed. But receiving the ark wasn’t enough.
Samuel 7:3 — “Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and Ash’taroth from among you, and direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Samuel 7:7 — “Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. The Israelites called on Samuel to pray without ceasing.
In 1 Samuel 7:10 — “Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel; but the Lord thundered with a mighty voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion; and they were routed before Israel.”
1 Samuel 7:12 — “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jesha’-nah, and called its name Ebene’zer; for he said, ‘Hitherto the Lord has helped us.’ 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel.”