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

“The first Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep

(Refrain) Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far
And to the earth it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night <Refrain>

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise Men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went <Refrain>

This star drew nigh to the north-west
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay <Refrain>

Then entered in those Wise Men three
Fell reverently upon their knee
And offered there in his presence
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense <Refrain>

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made heaven and earth of naught
And with his blood mankind hath bought <Refrain>”

• Old English Carol, The First Noel

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 next carol for 2025 is The First Noel.  This is a traditional Cornish hymn.  It is thought to come from 13^th or 14th century.  It is a long hymn, but some of these verses were not added until the 19^th century.  This carol was not among my favorites, but I loved the refrain.  More on that between the Questions and Bible References.

In looking at all six verses, there is a lot here biblically.  I will ask questions based on moat of the verses, in my usual fashion.

The Questions:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	At first, how many angels appeared to tell the shepherds the good news?
2	Was it a cold winter’s night?
3	In the second verse, only the shepherds had been mentioned, but in the shepherd story, is a star mentioned?
4	Was the star visible say and night?
5	Did the star draw the Wise Men from the northwest to Bethlehem?
6	Were there Wise Men Three?
7	Does Scripture say that they bent a knee before Jesus?
8	And were we bought by His blood?

I mentioned in the introduction that I enjoyed the refrain, but I did not much like the carol.  Well, the carol was translated from an old version of English, with the French word for Christmas in the title.  And you wondered how to sing this carol to a set meter when the person who wrote the words had no concept of meter – a great concept of rhyme though.

So, here you were, a young child cramming ten words into one or two notes and then holding one syllable for half the next measure of the song.  And attention span has gotten shorter with each generation, but to me as a young child, I was ready to move on to a different carol after two verses, but there are six verses.  My little brain was wondering when this torment would ever end!

And to be honest, once I was a few years older, they only sung the first two verses when we went caroling.  I wondered why I had to sing all six verses when the younger kids had to only sing two.

But then, I later became the tenor in the church choir.  Sure, we had three tenors at one point, but I was the only one who could read the music, and when I opened my mouth, something came out – thus, I was the tenor in the choir.  The classic arrangement for this carol has two crescendos for the tenor, on the last Noel and Israel.  I was pounding those out, and my mother, the choir director, decided to skip the refrains until the last verse and then sing the alternate refrain that only had one crescendo for the tenors and multiple crescendos for altos and the bass.  And the sopranos sang this ultra-high descant, basically drowning out any contribution from the tenor section.  I have often written about how my mother never complimented me, often showed her dislike of me, but maybe she was trying to drown out my voice for a legitimate reason.  We’ll never know.

So, in my mind, I almost had a chance of enjoying this carol, but I missed it by this much.  (Think of me holding my thumb and index finger an inch apart – my salute to the television show, Get Smart.)

Bible References:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	At first, how many angels appeared to tell the shepherds the good news?	Luke 2:9
2	Was it a cold winter’s night?	Luke 2:8
3	In the second verse, only the shepherds had been mentioned, but in the shepherd story, is a star mentioned?	Luke 21:25
4	Was the star visible say and night?	Matthew 2:10
5	Did the star draw the Wise Men from the northwest to Bethlehem?	Mathhew 2:9
6	Were there Wise Men Three?	Matthew 2:1-12
7	Does Scripture say that they bent a knee before Jesus?	Matthew 2:11
8	And were we bought by His blood?	1 Peter 1:18-19

Okay, now for dissecting the word “Noel.”

I am reminded of the television show, Home Improvements, about Tim Allen’s character and his family, his friend, Al, and a couple of others.  The youngest son was in the Christmas pageant, and he was not happy since he had to dress up as an angel with a letter on his chest.  To make it worse, the four boys who were going to sing the song went on stage in the reverse order.  Tim asked his wife if they were about to sing “The First Leon.”  The problem was quickly fixed.

But Noel, as mentioned above is the French word for Christmas.  It comes from the Latin natalis for day of birth or birthday.  It means “joyous news.”  In the Middle Ages, Noel was used as the word for Christmas Songs or Carols.

Because Noel is French for Christmas, I had often been told that the clunky and cumbersome words in the song were due to the translation from French, but the song has Cornish roots.  Cornwall is the southwestern tip of England, and Cornish was a dialect of the Celtic language spoken in Cornwall.

The carol may have disappeared into oblivion if it were not for William Sandys who wrote Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern in 1833.  It was at this time that Davies Gilbert added extra verses.

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The Answers:

?	Questions	Bible References	Answers
1	At first, how many angels appeared to tell the shepherds the good news?	Luke 2:9	One angel, but then a heavenly host appeared in verse 13.
2	Was it a cold winter’s night?	Luke 2:8	Scripture only says, “at night.”  There is no mentioning of winter or cold.  But on a clear night in fairly dry climate, the temperature can drop drastically at night in any season. Think desert at night – chilly.
3	In the second verse, only the shepherds had been mentioned, but in the shepherd story, is a star mentioned?	Luke 21:25	No, Luke 21:25 is the only mention of a star in the book of Luke.
4	Was the star visible say and night?	Matthew 2:10	Probably not, and it had even disappeared from the view of the Wise Men.  They were overjoyed when they saw the star and it led them to where Jesus was.
5	Did the star draw the Wise Men from the northwest to Bethlehem?	Mathhew 2:9	In a way, yes.  They were in Jerusalem.  They were looking southeast toward Bethlehem when the star moved over the place where Jesus was.
6	Were there Wise Men Three?	Matthew 2:1-12	Matthew never says how many Wise Men, Magi.  There were three gifts and modern sensibilities about visiting the king empty handed being a social no-no, the idea of three is a modern invention.
7	Does Scripture say that they bent a knee before Jesus?	Matthew 2:11	Not exactly, but going on one knee explains what they did in part.  They bowed and worshipped, which could have included falling prostrate before the King of kings.
8	And were we bought by His blood?	1 Peter 1:18-19	Yes.  This passage says it clearly, but you may quote others.

Here is Rosemary Siemens singing The First Noel.  She sings the first, second, and sixth verses.

I am beginning to like the composer and performer, Tommee Profitt.  Here is his arrangement, only the first and last verses, with Stanaj singing, Noel (He is Born).  The Profitt arrangements are powerful.  He takes an old carol that is centuries old and makes it new, just in the arrangement, orchestration, and the right voice.

Here is a more mellow version.  This is Lady A singing The First Noel.

Here is Mannheim Steamroller performing, The First Noel.

This carol is a good carol that tells the story.  Many make a little statement and dance around the rest.

Let us return to caroling.  Let us return to good Christmas music.  Let us show the great miracle that Almighty God became less so that He might dwell among us and pay the price.  He bought us on the cross with His blood.

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.