Draw Near / WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS

WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks had a radical and controversial background. While hymns are commonly sung now in churches, it wasn't always so. From the late 1500's to the early 1700's, hymn-singing as we know it did not exist. Rather, congregations sang from the Psalter, a collection of the book of Psalms put to music and published in 1562. Though the idea of singing the songs from the Bible is noble, the songs were often clumsy in their lyrics and tunes. They often lacked the poetry and grace that characterize modern hymns. 

In 1696, two young Irishmen, Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, decided to upgrade the musical styles and lyrics of the Psalter to reflect the popular music of their day. They published the New Version, with more popular, singable tunes. While they tried to remain faithful to the message of Scripture, they put the biblical truths in the common language and poetic sentence structure. However, their work was considered blasphemous and sacrilegious. People intensely criticized them because the new music had taken the Lord away. Critics charged that the songs were no longer the Psalms of Jesus Christ. Fortunately, King William III endorsed the new hymnbook and decreed its use throughout the Church of England. The American Episcopal Church adopted the new hymnbook in 1789.

One of the songs in the New Version was While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, written by Nahum Tate. The music is attributed to George Frederick Handel, composer of The Messiah. Actually the tune comes from bits and pieces of Handel's music. It's hard to believe that this carol, one of the most difficult to sing because of the great jumps in the melody line and awkward words, was considered too radical, worldly, and secular for so many churches of its day.

“To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1:27-28‬ ‭KJV‬‬