Was this prayer first on Joshua’s lips during a crucial period when the people were returning to the land God had pledged to them? (They began to retake Canaan around 1400 B.C., when they conquered Jericho -- see the reproduction here of the 15th Century artist Jean Fouquet’s painting, depicting Jericho and Israelites blowing trumpets to spark its fall.) That was certainly one of many episodes in which the leader standing at the head of God’s people could have directed them to pray “Let Us Adore” Him, the one true God. Could the prayer have also been voiced initially, perhaps some ten centuries later, by a group of prophets, teachers, and other wise men -- known collectively as the Great Assembly -- as a part of the routine worship practices in the rebuilt temple (the second one, constructed after the Israelites returned from exile)? The prayer’s specific origin remains a mystery, yet people living some 2,500 years after that post-exilic experience are still lifting up this prayer, still saying that He is God. This monotheistic expression, which was originally of Jewish birth, has evolved into one that even Christians use today.
It is known today as Aleinu – literally, ‘it is upon us’, or ‘is our duty to praise God’. And so, the first few words forming this song-prayer’s title are an imperative. ‘Let Us Adore’ is essentially a rephrasing of the 1st of the 10 Commandments. If it was Joshua who spoke it first in song-prayer, was he using the letters of his childhood name (Hoshea; Numbers 13:16), in reverse order, to begin each of the first four verses? Or was it a group of prophets and other leaders (possibly including Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Mordechai and Zerubbabel) who crafted this prayer to use in the Temple’s daily rituals? Other theories abound, but while the origin remains cloudy, this prayer has survived and has become part of what was known by the late 19th Century (A.D.) as the Union Prayer Book; it’s a text that today helps guide many Jewish (Reformed) congregations in various ceremonies, but especially as they begin and end their synagogue worship services. ‘He is our God! There is no one else!’ exclaim the believers heavenward. We who sing the words of the first verse of Aleinu also acknowledge the Genesis account of this Creator forming ‘the heavens’, and ‘the earth’, and that His creation continues to make Him ‘manifest’. We, and all we can see, testify to His artistry, His unparalleled genius. In short, He’s awesome, a realization that the song’s present-day minor key (B-flat minor) helps provoke. Christianity has taken this same sensation, imprinted in this faith’s foundation that the God-Son came as the ultimate sacrifice ‘on a rugged tree’, onto another plane. This Creator-God is also Savior, the perfect lamb that Jews could never have offered themselves. But, it’s not a censure of the Jewish people and their faith’s articulation that Christians seek; rather, we just say that He, in the sending of His Son, communicates to us, in His divine and sovereign way – which only God can do – that He’s totally committed to us, and is willing to do everything in His power to rescue us from our shortcomings. Pretty awesome.
I am impure, but He’s willing to impute His perfection to me. He’s not a rulebook authoritarian, with His unrelenting fingers paging through Leviticus to find all my faults, so He can lord over me how much I fall short. I know it, if I examine myself honestly. I desperately need to find a way to bridge the imperfection gap – kinda like a terminal disease -- between Him and me. He’s got the remedy, and He’s inspired a letter-writer who’s done a pretty good job of spelling out just how all this works. Just crack a bible and turn to Hebrews – or, like I’ve just done, run a search on the word perfect in your bible app – and see all the various ways that Jesus achieves perfection for you and me (particularly, Hebrews chapter 7). Now go adore Him, even more.
Read about this prayer-song here: Aleinu - Wikipedia
Also see here for Let Us Adore Union Prayer book song story - Search (bing.com)
Read about one episode where the prayer might have been first uttered: Battle of Jericho - Wikipedia
Read about a potential other source of the original prayer here: Great Assembly - Wikipedia
See information on the image of Jericho’s Fall here: File:Jean Fouquet 001.jpg - Wikipedia . This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1929.
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