¶ … Biblical Text In Handel's Messiah Pastoral Theology (The Bible in the Life of the Church)

The context of the work

On April 13th, 1742, Dublin's music hall resounded to an enthusiastic audience's applause. For the very first time ever, Messiah -- the famous musical oratorio -- had been staged with its composer, George Frideric Handel acting as conductor. Ever since, the musical work has been performed worldwide from time to time, and has captivated thousands of individuals by its moving solos and majestic choruses. Its music is absolutely thrilling, and rises to the pinnacles of pathos and drama, stirring the very souls of listeners (Mansfield, 2014).

Based on the way one counts and the edition, George Frideric Handel's oratorio is made up of 53 to 56 texts. Twenty-two of these represent choral arrangements. Handel himself states that Charles Jennens created the oratorio's text, although one cannot discount the modifications made by Handel to the original text. The oratorio's score was composed within an astoundingly short period of time - 24 days to be precise, between 22nd August and 14th September, 1741 (Part I being composed in a week, Part II in 9 days' time, Part III in 6 days' time, and instrumentation taking an extra couple of days). It is structured in three parts: Part I comprising texts 1 through 21; Part II comprising texts 22 through 44; and Part III comprising texts 45 through 53. The oratorio's text is made up entirely of quotations of biblical origin, taken mostly from the King James Bible, although it has been altered to some extent in a few places to serve musical and lyrical purposes (Block 2001; Young and Luckett 1993).

Historical Progression

The term 'Messiah' is Hebrew for 'Christ' according to New Testament translations, and refers to God's "Anointed One." The Oratorio's aim is presentation of a summary of Jesus Christ's mission and life, derived from Scripture, as every word sung in this musical piece are derived from Scripture and, when placed within their appropriate setting, possess a highly important and wonderful meaning. Handel begins his work with a few prophecies cited in the Old Testament, which proclaim the Messiah's coming. This is followed by an account of his birth, the mission he undertook 1900 years ago, the Jews' rejection of Jesus's teaching, his sacrifice on the cross and its meaning, the Gospel's proclamation to all nations of the world by His disciples, Jesus' ascension to the heavens, his second advent, the nations' subjugation to him, and the glorification and resurrection of all who accept Christ's message (Mansfield, 2014; Marissen, 2007).

Just as is seen with every such issue, the reality will probably be someplace in between the two suggestions; Jennens might well have possessed a sort of polemical or apologetic motivation to produce his Scriptural collection, but concurrently, he might have been obliged under the artistic and ethical conventions of the day. Also, that even Jennens' indirect and allusive presentation of Christ created disquiet among London audiences imparts credibility to the belief that any more blatant rendering was totally unthinkable (Rooke, 2011; Marty, 2007).

Use of the Biblical Text- An Exegesis

The most noteworthy aspect of Handel's work -- Messiah -- is that it is entirely composed of quotations from the Bible. Assuming it was indeed Charles Jennens who primarily selected the texts that makes up the oratorio, it is clear that he possessed an extraordinary understanding of the sacred writings, or, at a minimum, of the Bible's prevailing English Messianic/Christological interpretation or Book of Common Prayer. The texts utilized in the oratorio are exegesis, since the composition provides an amazing musical analysis of deliverance history -- the Bible (Block, 2001; Davies, 2007). Some have in fact pronounced that this was the very first time in the history of music that the grand drama of humanity's redemption was discussed within epic poetry. In the texts, Jennens' concern was one key thought that he decided to portray in three segments:

The first part is the Old Testament's promise, anticipation of Jesus' advent, and the fulfillment of the promise as stated in the New Testament;

Part II deals with Passion as well as Victory over the Rebellious World, Old Testament verses depict anticipation of Jesus' zeal and eventual triumph over this world's kingdoms, while New Testament verses in this Part of the oratorio depict fulfillment of that expectation; and Part III deals with victory over death, with Old Testament text (only 1 verse) depicting anticipation of this victory, with its corresponding New Testament verse of fulfillment, securing salvation for man and ensuring his...

Its outline is as follows: the prediction of Messiah's arrival, His birth, life, atonement of death, his ascension and resurrection, and lastly, the general last judgment and resurrection.
However, instead of directly broaching this subject, it is only hinted at, often by employing verses from the Old Testament, which are believed to be references to Christ, whether they explicitly mention him or not. To that degree, it addresses people who are "in the know"; that is, individuals who can fathom what's being stated are individuals who are aware of what the selected verses apparently imply from the orthodox Christianity perspective. Scholars in the field have debated the rationale for this oblique quality. One recent article authored by John Roberts, an American musicologist, indicates that it resulted from the reserve experienced during the eighteenth century with regard to portraying Jesus Christ on stage, something that many would consider blasphemous, and was likely to result in prosecution (Rooke, 2011; Roberts, 2010). However, Ruth Smith, who has concentrated on oratorio libretti within their intellectual and cultural contexts, asserts that, through the Messiah, Charles Jennens was demonstrating the genuineness of the biblical prophecies regarding Christ and countering the beliefs of rationalistic sects like deists. Such sects censured the notion of a Lord who is interventionist and a faith that involves divine revelation, mysteries, and miracles (Smith, 1995).

The Continuity in the Use of Texts

The educated Charles Jennens, with his powerful amateur attraction to the areas of music and theology, has, when choosing verses for his Messiah, relied more on Old Testament material than New Testament matter, although a 3:2 OT (Old Testament) to NT (New Testament) verse ratio isn't all that great a gap. The matter from the OT is mainly concentrated in the first two parts, whereas the third and final part that deals with the last judgment and general resurrection comprises almost completely of material from the NT. Of course, the major question is the reasons for Jennens' choice of OT verses and his presentation of it as a reference to Christ (Rooke, 2011)

The foremost and most indisputable source is the scripture itself; it is a well-known fact that writers of the NT mention and refer to a vast collection of matter from the OT when presenting Jesus' life, significance, and works, thus proving that he marks the prophecy's fulfillment, and is God's Messiah or Anointed Son. Moreover, if these writers utilized any given passage thus, they ought to have done so correctly, as their writings form part of the sacred text, or God's words. Hence, the NT has been considered an authoritative basis of material pertaining to the OT texts' christological interpretation. One good example is Jennens's usage of Isaiah Chapter Seven's Immanuel prophecy; the oratorio's text states that "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emanuel, God with us." Of course, this represents a combination of 2 verses:

1) Isaiah 7:14, in which the prophecy first appears, "Behold ... his name Immanuel" and

2) Matthew 1:23, in which, after Mary is discovered as being with child, the following prophecy is quoted by the evangelist, "Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us." The inference that Isaiah Chapter Seven's verse is in relation to Christ's birth is firmly rooted in the OT's Christian exegesis, starting from Matthew's employment of it. Jennens's combination of this text's OT and NT versions reveals that the NT is the decisive basis for this interpretation (Rooke, 2011).

Perception of the observer

"Comfort ye my people" - the tenor that Handel's Messiah starts with, is perhaps one among the most famous musical biblical language settings (naturally, besides the chorus of Hallelujah). It indicates what the remaining oratorio is about: beautiful verses from the Bible's King James Version, which are set to just as exquisite music, such that the words get affixed into listeners' minds, and it becomes very hard to envisage them using some other significance or in some other context than that given to them in the musical piece.

Undoubtedly, Handel's Messiah takes the credit for much of people's popular knowledge with regard to the King James…