December 20th : O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel, You open and no one can close, You close and no one can open: Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and the shadow of death.
Due to copyright, I cannot share the text of this hymn. However, you can find it either in your Lutheran Service Book #346 or here.
This hymn, originally titled “Es war die ganze Welt,” was written by Johann Gottfried Olearius, the nephew of the hymnist discussed on O Adonai, for the Feast of St. John the Baptizer. This family was large, talented, and liked repeating the same handful of names amongst their members, so figuring out how he was related took some digging. Anyway, following family tradition, Johann Gottfried, born in 1635, became a Lutheran theologian and hymnist. He lived a long life, filled with joys, sorrows, and accomplishments. By the end of his life in 1711, he was married four times, had at least 17 children, served as a deacon (among other positions), wrote many theological works, studied botany ( the genus Olearia of the daisy family is named after his family), edited hymnals, and supervised Johann Sebastian Bach while he was at Arnstadt church.
It is unclear when exactly the hymn was penned, but the tune WAS FRAG ICH NACH DER WELT was composed by Ahasuerus Fritsch in 1679 for his Himmels-Lust Welt-Unlust. He lived through the Thirty Years’ War, and like many, his family suffered greatly. Yet he still served the church during and after. This tune is also known as DARMSTADT and O GOTT, DU FROMMER GOTT, but the arrangement recognized today is largely due to the work of Bach. It was fairly popular, and several texts were set to this tune. The English text we use was translated in 1941 by Paul E. Kretzman for The Lutheran Hymnal.
Today is the forth day of the O Antiphons, and on it we remember Christ as the Key of David: our rescuer (Rev. 3:7). And what an opening for us: When all the world was cursed. Fear, trembling, and utter darkness. We are brought back to the Rebellion in Eden, when Adam’s race was cursed with sin (Gen. 3). As the hymn tells us, this was by “Moses’ condemnation,” by the Law (Gal. 3:23-24, 4:3-5). But just like in Eden, we are quickly brought to that Christmas hope, for the one who made the way for the Lord (and what a beautiful testament to his prenatal confession!) enters and names that greater one who comes with peace for all men, that man Jesus Christ! (Luk. 1:39-45, 67-79, 3:1-6) While the hymn repeats the themes and texts of many Advent hymns, I don’t think these words can be overstated: all the world WAS cursed. All the people were waiting for a Savior. The prophets foretold it, but He was not HERE yet. It truly was a dark work until the Advent of Christ (Isa. 9:1-2; Luk. 2:8-20). They could not rush to Christmas; they looked forward in faith, as we do now (Heb. 11). Now, we look forward to Christ bringing us to that heavenly home. So we sing with John the Baptizer: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who has come as a little baby, who has come to die for us (Isa. 53:1-6; John 1:29-34). Christ bore our curse under the Law and redeemed us. He has crushed the head of the serpent. So during Advent, as we celebrate the first coming of our Lord, we ask that He would be with us, walking with us daily in repentance and forgiveness, until the day of His return to rescue us from the sinful world for a world made new.
Blessings to you and yours,
~Madelyn Rose Craig
“346.When All the World was Cursed.” The Lutheran Service Book. 2006.
“DARMSTADT (Fritsch).” Hymnary.org.
DFG-Projekt “Orgelpredigt”. Digitale Edition.(Version 1.00 vom 31. Januar 2020).
“Johann Gottfried Olearius (Theologe, 1635).” Wikipedia (Deutsch).
Leaver, Robin A. “The Organist Encounters the Hymnologist: J. S. Bach and J. C. Olearius in Arnstadt.” Understanding Bach, 7, 21-28. 2012.
“Olearius, Johann Gottfried.” von l. u. in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 24 (1887), S. 280.
“WAS FRAG ICH NACH DER WELT*107, 446.” Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Handbook.
“When All the World Was Cursed.” The Free Lutheran Chorale-Book.
Madelyn Rose Craig 