My Favourite Hymn Tune: Ebenezer

The tune ‘Ebenezer” was written by Thomas John Williams (1869-1944), and it is the only tune by Williams that appears in Common Praise: number 587, Once to Every Man and Nation. The hymn is about peace and justice, and words are quite good too, but it is the tune that haunts me. It is written into my funeral directions, so I hope Tristan is practicing. From the composer’s name, it is easy to guess that the tune is Welsh. In fact, my memories are of the hymn being sung by a Welsh male voice choir, raising the rafters.

Ebenezer also appears in an older version of the shape note hymn “Come, thou fount of every blessing” (number 354). The second verse used to begin: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I come”, but it has been diluted out in more recent versions. (It is not clear whether it was thought than an Ebenezer was a large vessel containing nourishing liquid - perhaps something like a Jeroboam? At any, rate, “mine Ebenezer” has been cut from the modern hymn version.)

So, who or what is Ebenezer? Ebenezer is a place with a standing stone, rather like the standing stones or menhirs in Brittany, Ireland and the west of Britain. The stone was erected by Samuel in thanksgiving for the final victory of the Israelites over the Philistines, with the recovery of the Ark of the Covenant, which had been captured by the Philistines in a previous battle at the same site. There are only 3 biblical references to Ebenezer, in 1 Samuel 4: 1-11, 5:1 and 7: 7-12. Ebenezer is derived from the two Hebrew words “Even”, stone, and “Ezer”, help. It signifies rededication to God and a turning point in history, giving new hope. The site may have been holy for long periods, but there is no sign of the stone today. The site is known to have stood just south of Gilgal.

Which brings me to the next point – what do we know about all those other resonant place names that loom out of the Old Testament, and get mentioned in the gospel songs – Beersheba, Gilgal, Shiloh, Bethel, Ramah, Shechem, Gilboa? Time to look in Google and/or to join EFM.

Ebenezer was a popular name for places and people in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, but I doubt if a search through the registers of baptisms, marriages and memorials at St John’s would yield many contemporary Ebenezers. As far as I can tell, there are towns called Ebenezer in PEI, Saskatchewan and Ontario (2 towns). You can buy an Ebenezer Shiraz from Barossa Valley Estates, South Australia. Many churches are named after Ebenezer, particularly among the non-Anglicans. The name is a favorite among Baptists, and the nearest Ebenezer Baptist Church is at 6858 Fraser St, Vancouver. Martin Luther King, his father and his grandfather were pastors in succession at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta from 1914 until MLK’s death.

Dr Ebenezer Robson, DD, born 1835, was the first Methodist minister to Victoria. He was known as “The Grand Old Man of BC.” A famous shipyard in Canning, King County, Nova Scotia, was named after its founder, Ebenezer Bigelow.

The best loved fictional Ebenezer is Scrooge – aptly named by Dickens for his original stony nature, later changed by the ghosts of Christmas into an upright stone of help.

But, above all, it is the tune I like best.                          

GM.