Come Let Us Sing – Anonymous

He was a priest or at least one of the descendants of Levi, and was thinking about what might spur all the people of his generation to celebrate and worship on a special day, perhaps even as some of them gathered near the steps of the temple in Jerusalem (see them here, in May 2009). He and perhaps others were engaged in the formulation of several musical numbers for this and probably other special occasions. This was his and his compatriots’ special calling – music. In our contemporary way of speaking, he might have been called the worship minister, or in a classical music sense in a royal dominion, maybe the court musician. Jewish by birth and experience, this poet also was steeped in liturgy. So, there was an expected standard, too. How does one craft something special to underscore the experience for all the participants on such an occasion? How did the poet finally settle on the words “Come Let Us Sing” and the others that followed in that period (perhaps around 1,000 B.C.)?

The 95^th Psalm’s first five verses form the word-for-word content of ‘Come Let Us Sing’. Since the New International Version (NIV) translation of the bible’s words of Psalm 95 match the words of the song, we can also safely presume that the 20^th Century version of the song is attributable to someone who read from this particular bible translation. Someone as early as the 1970s, when the NIV first emerged, was the author of ‘Come Let Us Sing’, borrowing the original words and thoughts written by the ancient psalmist some 2,500 – 3,000 years ago. This and other psalms of its genre (Psalms 93-100) are believed to have their origin in the era before the Israeli people, in two separate groups (Samaria and Judah), were forced into exile by foreign conquerors (the northern kingdom, Samaria, fell around 722 B.C. to Assyria; the southern kingdom, Judah, fell to Babylonia around 586 B.C.). Before these unhappy times, Israel would have celebrated as a free people, basking in the light of their God’s goodwill and His providence. All their history had taught this psalmist and his contemporaries that their God was unique, ‘the great God, the great King above all gods’ (v. 3 of Psalm 95). These people’s ancestors had been saved by Him, from the Egyptians and various other peoples who had tried to deny them the inheritance in Canaan that God pledged was theirs. They had much for which to be thankful, and probably had been celebrating their relationship with Jehovah-God annually for decades or even hundreds of years, by singing this and other Psalms at one or more of the festivals – Passover, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Tabernacles, or maybe another. He’s the earth’s Creator, Sustainer, and Owner, this ‘Rock of our salvation’ (v.1). The Levite tribe were the keepers of the temple and those who would have been most familiar with its practices, including the ‘high’ worship they were in charge of developing. They intrinsically understood what made sense in the music they formulated – what emotions and mental state they were aiming to stimulate. This was, after all, their job. Tap into the history of our people, tune in our God-given musical talent, and throughout all of this inject God’s Spirit to infuse ‘Come Let Us Sing’ with a mood that bonds everyone together. Sounds like a pretty reasonable formula, right?   

The psalmist knew for whom and what setting he was writing. ‘Us’ is spoken three times in the opening verses, a must if one crafts something for a crowd to sing and edify one another and prompt God’s presence. He inhabits not just the temple, but abides in our nation. But, even the nation is too small for this God. He made all the universe, so how does one address Him adequately? It would take more than one psalm with 11 verses (Psalm 95), and more than could be contained in several created by this writer and his associates. Only all time and all creation could give us a clear picture of this God. Psalm 95’s author gave us a good start.      

The following is the only source for comments in the above story: The NIV Study Bible, New International Version, edited by Kenneth Barker (General Editor) and others, Zondervan Bible Publishers,1985.