HYMN FOR PENTECOST 22 Hail to the Lord's Anointed
Text: James Montgomery 1771-1854 Tune: George Webb (1803-1877)
1. Hail to the Lord's Anointed,
great David's greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed,
his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
to set the captive free;
to take away transgression,
and rule in equity.
2. He comes with succor speedy
to those who suffer wrong;
to help the poor and needy,
and bid the weak be strong;
to give them songs for sighing,
their darkness turn to light,
whose souls, condemned and dying,
are precious in his sight.
3. He shall come down like shower
supon the fruitful earth;
love, joy, and hope, like flowers,
spring in his path to birth.
Before him on the mountains,
shall peace, the herald, go,
and righteousness, in fountains,
from hill to valley flow.
4. To him shall prayer unceasing
and daily vows ascend;
his kingdom still increasing,
a kingdom without end.
The tide of time shall never
his covenant remove;
his name shall stand forever;
that name to us is love.
REFLECTION
Jesus has been debating with the religious authorities through most of these last Sundays. Here he stops them cold, using Psalm 110 to confute them as to his identity. What did David mean in Psalm 110, one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament, when he asked them who the Messiah would be? The son of David. They knew their scripture and were quick with the answer, but that got them into trouble. "If David calls himself Lord, how can he be his son?" This stops them and they do not ask any more questions.
Over the past generations, many biblical scholars have taught that the Old Testament has nothing to do with the New Testament, that references to the Messiah in the Psalms, for example, were not about Jesus. But now as scholars like N. T. Wright
are teaching the New Testament, they are showing us over and over again how Jesus and the apostles saw that the Old Testament is all about Jesus and the Messiah he is. Psalm 1, recommended for this lesson, was all about Jesus, the church taught and saw him as blessed, like a tree beside the river of waters.
This summer my latest book, a collection of hymns on the psalms, was published. As I was writing them, I, who had been taught by the scholars who did not see Jesus in the Old Testament, was thrilled to see how now the scholars were teaching how Jesus was all over the psalms. And how the church, from Peter and Paul, on through the first 1700 years of Christianity had used the psalms, especially, to show who Jesus was. The Bible for Christians from the beginning is a story of God's work to save his people. Instead of reading it for the intentions of authors of its small parts, people like Wright are teaching us to read it in its whole, and restoring to us the riches of Scripture and our faith. In the Psalm Jesus quotes we see how it works. David's Son will be the Messiah and his Lord. "Great David's greater Son!" Praise be to God.
HYMN INFO
James Montgomery lived just after the time of the Wesleys. Born in Scotland to Moravian missionaries who left him for the West Indies, he was orphaned when they died while he was at school. He became editor of the Sheffield Iris, a paper that often took radical positions. Montgomery was jailed once for praising the fall of the Bastille. He was also a strong opponent of slavery and the treatment of chimney sweep boys in England. He devoted much of his time to the writing of poetry and hymns, of which he is said to have written over 400. Several of his books of hymns were published before and around mid-19th century in England. Songs of Zion (1822), The Christan Psalmist (1825) and Original Hymns (1853.) Although this hymn is traditionally for Advent, it uses the psalm text in its beginning lines.
LINKS
Panoply
Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s in the Loop, Chicago
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PSALMS
These are my hymn texts written on the Psalms. The book contains helpful notes on how the church used the psalms through time. Musical settings of the texts will be available next year. This book would make a great gift for those who love the psalms and use them in their daily devotions. Here is the hymn for Psalm 110
PSALM 110
Sit at My Right Hand
A Psalm of David.
(Ascension)
66 66
The Lord said to my Lord,
“Come sit at my right hand,
a footstool I will make
of ev’ry wicked man.”
From Zion God sends forth
a rod of mighty strength
to vanquish ancient foes,
to rule in righteousness.
Your people freely gave
to you your power and might,
and from the morning’s womb
comes dew and dawning light.
God will not change his mind:
you are forever priest,
like King Melchizedek,
a king, who gave a feast.
The Lord at your right hand
will shatter chiefs and kings.
Drink water from the brooks,
lift up your heads and sing!
copyright 2026 by The Leupold Foundation
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