Handels Messiah Week 3
Kevin Ireland
Handels Messiah Week 3
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Hallelujah
The Bible and Handel’s Messiah. - The Text
Who is this King of Glory?
Psalm 24
Week one – “He Trusted in God” – Psalm 22 – emotions of psalms
Week two - “Behold the Lamb of God” – Isaiah 53 (Suffering servant – shepherd & sheep)
This week - “Who is the King of Glory?”
Handel and Jennens are using the entrance liturgy of Psalm 24 to announce Christ’s resurrection.
Powerful theological statement about the identity of Jesus Christ. Response to “Who is the King of Glory?” is “Jesus, the Risen Christ.”
• Looking at setting for Psalm 24
• How Ps 24 function is the “plot” of Handel’s Messiah
Week one – “He Trusted in God” – Psalm 22 – emotions of psalms
Week two - “Behold the Lamb of God” – Isaiah 53 (Suffering servant – shepherd & sheep)
This week - “Who is the King of Glory?”
Handel and Jennens are using the entrance liturgy of Psalm 24 to announce Christ’s resurrection.
Powerful theological statement about the identity of Jesus Christ. Response to “Who is the King of Glory?” is “Jesus, the Risen Christ.”
• Looking at setting for Psalm 24
• How Ps 24 function is the “plot” of Handel’s Messiah
Slide 3
Live performance on 24 March 2018 at the Sarah Baartman Hall, UCT, Cape Town. Soloists: Levy Sekgapane (Tenor), Magdalene Minnaar (Soprano), Minette du Toit-Pearce (Alto), Bongani Kubheka (Bass). Treble: Lorena Marais CTYC Festival Orchestra. Leader: Suzanne Martens Harpsichord: Erik Dippenaar Trumpet: Mike Blake Conductor: Leon Starker
"Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart" –
"Behold and See if There Be Any Sorrow" –
"He Was Cut Off" –
"But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in Hell"
feat. Levy Sekgapane & Magdalene Minnaar. Cape Town Youth Choir & Junges Vokalensemble, Hannover (Dirigent: Prof Klaus-Jürgen Etzold).
Scriptures:
Psalms 69 : 20 Thy rebuke hath broken His heart: He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him.
Lamentations 1 : 12 Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.
Isaiah 53 : 8 He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of Thy people was He stricken.
Psalms 16 : 10 But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.
Characterize the mode of each piece.
Slide 4
What’s the Setting
• Once upon a time …
• Speak now or forever hold your peace.
• Dear John …
• Have you heard the one about …?
• Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• May I have the envelope please?
• Hi, do you come here often?
Slide 5
Psalm 24
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it,
2 for he has founded it on the seas
and established it on the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false
and do not swear deceitfully.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6 Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.[a] Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
8 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory. Selah
Setting – the climb to the Temple in Jerusalem (describe going to Jerusalem – up hill)
Perhaps bringing the Ark to the Temple
a 24.6 Gk Syr: Heb your face, O Jacob
Slide 6
vv 1-2 – initial profession of faith - announce YHWH as creator and sustainer of the world and all that is in it
v6b confirms intention of the worshippers – “seek the face of the God of Jacob”
v. 3 liturgical exchange between priests and vv. 4-6 worshipers
gives a kind ethical character sketch for would-be participants
describes the life of one in right relationship with God – similar to Jesus “you will know them by their fruits” Matt 7:20
v. 3 may be an invitation (not examiniation) - invites us to recognize God’s claim and to live as God intends
Vv 7-10 entrance liturgy leading to the Temple
Calling out to the gates as if they were persons
“Who is the King of glory?” – like a request for a password
Response – “The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle” v 8b
Repeated in vv. 9-10
vv 1-6 might be newer section
vv 3-6 testing worshippers as to their fitness for the journey
Structure significance
vv 1-2 and vv 7-10 surround the central section vv 3-6 - expanding the question – who will enter the Temple, to a more comprehensive and perennial question of who will live in submission to God’s claim on their lives and the life of the world. e.g. who will repent and enter the reign of God.
• Similar to Communion liturgy – “Lift up your hearts” ”We lift them up to the Lord”
• Pledge of Allegiance
• bold claim (easily glossed) – “The earth is the Lord’s – (not Baal)
• Handel’s answer to “Who is the King of glory?” – the risen Christ
a 24.6 Gk Syr: Heb your face, O Jacob
Slide 7
Structure within Psalms chiastic pattern:
A Psalm 15 entrance
liturgy
B Psalm 16 psalm of trust
C Psalm 17 prayer for help
D Psalm 18 royal psalm
E Psalm 19 torah-psalm
D’ Psalms 20-21 royal psalms
C’ Psalm 22 prayer for help
B’ Psalm 23 psalm of trust
A’ Psalm 24 entrance liturgy
Slide 8
Every wonder who was Baal?
Slide 9
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it,
2 for he has founded it on the seas
and established it on the rivers.
A Bold Claim
Slide 10
Mark 4:35-41
Jesus Stills a Storm
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Ps 24
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it,
2 for he has founded it on the seas
and established it on the rivers.
How are the two passages similar?
• What is the implied answer to the disciples’ question in Mark 4:41?
• Does it help or hinder your appreciation of these passages to know about the ancient Canaanite myth of Baal’s epic battle with Yamm, the god of the sea? Why?
Theological move – from YHWH to JC
Slide 11
Invite to close eyes and imagine yourself as part of the Temple procession
or – think about the significance of Christ’s being identified as “the King of Glory”
Lift up your heads, O ye Gates Messiah Choir: Choir of King's College, Cambridge Orchestra: Brandenburg Consort Conductor: Stephen Cleobury Composer: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Slide 12
Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates
Listen to how Handel uses the different voice parts to reflect the antiphonal nature of vv 7-10
vv 1-2 and vv 7-10 surround the central section vv 3-6 - expanding the question – who will enter the Temple, to a more comprehensive and perennial question of who will live in submission to God’s claim on their lives and the life of the world. e.g. who will repent and enter the reign of God.
• Similar to Communion liturgy – “Lift up your hearts” ”We lift them up to the Lord”
• Pledge of Allegiance
• bold claim (easily glossed) – “The earth is the Lord’s – (not Baal)
• Handel’s answer to “Who is the King of glory?” – the risen Christ
a 24.6 Gk Syr: Heb your face, O Jacob