"Hail to the Lord's Anointed" (Trinity Hymnal 311)

Hymn of the Month, January 2020
Researched and written by Rev. Nicholas Davelaar

James Montgomery (1771-1854), the writer of this month’s hymn, was born in Scotland to a Moravian minister and his wife. At the age of 6 his parents sent him to a boarding school to be educated for service as a minister, while they left to serve as missionaries in the West Indies. Both of them died within a few years, leaving young James in the care of that boarding school. At the age of 14 he flunked out and wandered from place to place for the next five years. Eventually he managed to get a job working for a radical weekly newspaper in Sheffield, and not long afterwards became its editor when the previous editor was forced to flee the country on account of his political activities. Montgomery himself would be jailed twice during the 31 years of his editorship, during which he became famous for his advocacy for causes such as the abolition of slavery. During this same time he also returned to the Moravian church, from which he had drifted. He became a passionate advocate of Christian missions and began to publish Christian poems and hymns. He ended up printing some 400 hymns and settings of psalms, and to this day most hymnals contain at least a half-dozen of them, making him one of the best represented English hymnwriters. The tune printed with Montgomery’s lyrics in the Trinity Hymnal is one of the handful of tunes commonly associated with it. It holds the distinction of being composed by one of Charles Wesley’s grandsons, Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876).
 
From its opening line onward, it is evident that James Montgomery wrote this hymn to lead others in praising Jesus Christ. Those well-acquainted with the Psalms will also observe that Montgomery relied heavily on Psalm 72 to do so.
 
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.
 
The hymn opens with an acclamation of praise to Jesus, calling him the Lord’s Anointed, great David’s greater Son, who has begun his reign on earth. His reign, as anticipated by Psalm 72, is one of setting captives free and ruling in equity (v. 4). Jesus himself acknowledged as much when he quoted Isaiah 61’s similar words in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4).
 
He comes with comfort 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,
were precious in his sight.
 
This second verse continues where the first left off and uses Psalm 72:12-14 to continue leading us to reflect upon and rejoice in the reign of David’s greater Son. As Psalm 72:12-14 states, “He delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.” Will you sing this with such hope in your heart?
 
He shall come down like showers
upon the fruitful earth;
and love, joy, 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.

The words of the previous verse centered on the purpose of Christ’s reign; in this verse we sing of the result. The hymnwriter leads us in likening the coming of Christ’s reign to showers that induce the land to yield a carpet of colorful flowers, specifically love, joy, and hope. On the surface this image might sound as if it were born in the mind of our hymnwriter, but in truth James Montgomery was drawing on Psalm 72:6. There we hear it said of David’s greater Son, “May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!” The same is true of the remainder of this third verse of our hymn; Psalm 72:7 states, “In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!” This is the glorious result of the reign of Jesus Christ, and it will be so in perfect fullness when he returns in glory!
 
O'er ev'ry foe victorious,
he on his throne shall rest,
from age to age more glorious,
all-blessing and all-blessed;
the tide of time shall never
his covenant remove;
his name shall stand forever -
that name to us is Love.
 
This hymn, as Montgomery penned it, originally had eight verses, but at this point the Trinity Hymnal and many other hymnals jump straight to the last verse, which leads us to look ahead with confidence. Echoing Psalm 72, we profess that Jesus will be victorious over every foe (verse 11), from age to age more glorious (verses 19), and all-blessing and all-blessed (verse 18). Additionally, his covenant shall never end (verse 18 refers to God as “the God of Israel”), and his name shall stand forever (verse 17). The hymn then leads us in concluding with the declaration that his name to us is Love, as the New Testament shouts. Romans 5:8, for instance, states that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The name of Jesus truly is love to sinners like us—is it to you?