It’s the Finale, Baby!
Amen, Amen, Amen! is the 25th song in “Old Testament Records” and is it’s finale! It’s a bit of a mash up: Kinda “Sunday School Lesson meets Gospel Diva”. (There are other great O.T. stories that come after the story of Ezra, but I’m saving those for “Old Testament Records, Book II”!)
When Ezra read the Law to the congregation, they shouted, “Amen!”
If you want to get right to the gospel goodness, start the MP3 at 1:07, get up out of your chair and Shake It! If you want to really have fun, close your eyes and picture a stage-full of joyous people dancing around and shouting out those “Amens”!
Who is Telling Ezra’s Story?
It’s obvious that the recordkeepers of our scriptures were men. The Old Testament has sooooo many stories about men and so many fewer stories about great women.
Sometimes I get tired of all the awesome songs going to the guys, so rather than have the protagonist tell his story, I have a female narrator sing the story instead. This puts a woman downstage and center,
right
in
the
spotlight!
When and Where:
Here’s the historical synopsis: After Judah was conquered by Babylon, many of the best and brightest inhabitants of Jerusalem were carried away to the Babylonian court. It is here that we have the stories of Daniel, who – with Persia’s conquest of Babylon – serves first Babylonian then Persian kings. To hear Daniel’s song, Stand Up, click here.
Credit: Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts by Thomas Nelson
When the Persian king, Cyrus, decrees that all Jews may return to Jerusalem, 3 groups make the trip: First Zerubbabel’s group, MANY years later Ezra’s group and finally Nehemiah’s group. To read the lyrics to the (yet unreleased) song Home Again, which recounts the story of the initial return to Jerusalem, click here. (Home Again, which I thought would be a simple move-the-story-along-song, turned out to be quite a surprise as it it one of the most moving songs to sing. More on that in the song’s upcoming release post.)
After he arrived in Jerusalem, Ezra took the book of the Law – which hadn’t been read aloud in years – and read it before the whole congregation. To read what happened next, check out the lyrics to Amen, Amen, Amen! here.
Ezra reads the law – Credit: Pensecola Christian College
The story of Ezra’s reading of the law is found in Nehemiah 8. (Which may seem odd at first, but the books of Ezra and Nehemiah used to be one book.) Nehemiah is the last of the historical books in the Old Testament timeline. To find out what happened between the time of Nehemiah and the birth of Christ (the New Testament) one has to read Apocryphal or Pseudephigraphal works or study secular records.
My thanks to the recording vocalists who provided the crucial “Amens!” for this song. To read the details about this group’s intense night of recording, read this blog post.
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There are a lot more songs to come: To receive each new song release, just use the side-bar sign up on this page. I hope you like this one!