After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

• Matthew 2:1-11a

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

• Luke 2:13-15

“1 O come, O come, Immanuel
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain

3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

4 O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave. Refrain

5 O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death’s abode. Refrain

6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light. Refrain

7 O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace. Refrain”

• John Mason Neale, 1^st verse and translation, O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Caroling was such an important part of Christmas.  I was probably caroling before I could read.  I remember walking from house to house with other members of the youth group and even before I was old enough for youth group.  No one invited us in for cocoa and cookies.  All of that was waiting back at the church.

From 2021 through 2023, I dissected carols during the Advent Season for quizzes.  I plan to do so this year, but maybe in yet another different vein, and the carols that I choose will be some that I have not yet used.

The first carol for 2025 is O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  This is an advent song more than a Christmas song, or Christ’s Birth song.  But I am dissecting it early in the month.  And I am looking at this hymn in a different manner.  With some of the old carols, I went through what was Biblical and what was not.  Other times, I looked at Scripture and asked what verses speak of that Scripture.

I will ask questions based on the first two verses above, in my usual fashion.

Note: I used the photo above originally to illustrate Ezra’s return to Jerusalem.

The Questions:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	Isaiah asks which king of Judah to ask God for a sign, but the king says he will not put God to the test?  He was the son of Uzziah.
2	Due to the king’s response in question 1, Isaiah gives the king a sign.  But who will conceive and have a son, according to Isaiah’s prophecy?
3	What will the mother in question 2 name her son?
4	Who proclaimed He was the ransom?
5	Where was Israel exiled?
6	Who ordered a remnant to return from exile, after God moved his heart?
7	What half-brother of Jesus said that Wisdom comes from Heaven (or from on high)?
8	What prophet prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem?

There is a verse of the hymn that is missing in the quoted verses above.  Of the four verses in one of my hymnals, the four verses in the hymnal are the first verse, the missing verse, the second verse, and a highly edited seventh verse.  The missing verse was in both of the two hymnals that I have at home.

Verse 1b:  O come, Thou Day-Spring, come
And cheer our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

In one hymnal, it suggests that the two verses to use while caroling are the first verse and the verse above.

Bible References:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	Isaiah asks which king of Judah to ask God for a sign, but the king says he will not put God to the test?  He was the son of Uzziah.	Isaiah 7:10-12
2	Due to the king’s response in question 1, Isaiah gives the king a sign.  But who will conceive and have a son, according to Isaiah’s prophecy?	Isaiah 7:14
3	What will the mother in question 2 name her son?	Isaiah 7:14
4	Who proclaimed He was the ransom?	Mark 10:45
5	Where was Israel exiled?	Jeremiah 29:28
6	Who ordered a remnant to return from exile, after God moved his heart?	Ezra 1:1
7	What half-brother of Jesus said that Wisdom comes from Heaven (or from on high)?	N/A
8	What prophet prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem?	N/A

J.M. Neale translated the carol into English in 1851.  His first version started Draw nigh, draw nigh Immanuel.

The original Latin hymn originated in either the 8^th or 9^th Century.

Neale wrote two verses and rewrote the opening line to the hymn within a few years to become O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	Isaiah asks which king of Judah to ask God for a sign, but the king says he will not put God to the test?  He was the son of Uzziah.	Isaiah 7:10-12	Ahaz
2	Due to the king’s response in question 1, Isaiah gives the king a sign.  But who will conceive and have a son, according to Isaiah’s prophecy?	Isaiah 7:14	A virgin (unnamed)
3	What will the mother in question 2 name her son?	Isaiah 7:14	Immanuel, meaning God with us
4	Who proclaimed He was the ransom?	Mark 10:45	Jesus
5	Where was Israel exiled?	Jeremiah 29:28	Babylon
6	Who ordered a remnant to return from exile, after God moved his heart?	Ezra 1:1	Cyrus of Persia
7	What half-brother of Jesus said that Wisdom comes from Heaven (or from on high)?	N/A	James 3:17
8	What prophet prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem?	N/A	Micah 5:2

And here is the Young Artist Orchestra of Las Vegas playing O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  This is the Mannheim Steamroller arrangement, arranged by Chip Davis.

But how about the words?  Here is Enya singing the first verse in English and a couple more in the original Latin, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

But then, how would a new, present-day composer treat this carol that has been around for more than eight hundred years?  Here is the Tommee Profitt version.  In watching this video, and all the interesting and often off-beat accompaniment, I am amazed that the children singing the song stayed focused on their parts and did not miss a beat, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  And notice that you can see the breath of the boy at the far left, as you are watching (Probably the only place the lighting picked it up).  It was cold in that warehouse.

Picture yourself on the banks of the Kebar River.  Maybe the priest, Ezekiel is not far away, praying in silence.  Oh, if Ezekiel could just tell us what God has said to him…  But you remember a song that was written when the Babylonians took you into captivity and they wanted you to sing a song.  Someone wrote Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion…”  But you began to weep anew.  You remember the prophecy from Isaiah 7.  You turn to Heaven and your cry out, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  Here is Simon Khorolskiy.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.