Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

 This is the last verse of the very familiar psalm, the 23rd Psalm, by David. In this psalm, we see that David has absolute trust in God, because He is his Shepherd, who guides and cares for him. And that one day, he will dwell with Him in glory.

The 23rd Psalm has been the theme and inspiration for many authors and composers to set lyrics and tunes so the church can sing, as David, the Yahweh is the shepherd, and Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Francis Rous, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesely, Fanny Crosby, Joseph Gilmore, have their own setting of the psalm 23.

But there is another author that has a beautiful setting of the Good Shepherd  psalm, Sir Henry William Baker.

Baker was born on May 27, 1821, and he received his education at Trinity college, Cambridge. He was an Anglican clergyman and became very famous for his contribution in the English hymnody.

He wrote the hymn “The King of Love My shepherd Is” and because he was the editor-chief of the new edition of the Hymns Ancient and Modern, he included his poem as an appendix.

“The King of love my Shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His,
and He is mine forever.”

Baker created this paraphrase of the psalm 23 for the setting of a Welsh tune, but in our congregation we use an Irish melody.

Pay attention that Baker, using the psalm 23, still focuses the message on Jesus, because he uses the image of Jesus as the living water from John 7:37-38, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

“Where streams of living water flow
my ransomed soul He leadeth,
and, where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.”

He served faithfully in the same church until his death, as Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire.

When he died, his last audible words were the third verse of his hymn,
“Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love He sought me.
And on His shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.”

Baker served his Shepherd until he went home, a good example to follow. And one day we can sing the last stanza of his hymn.

“And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
within Thy house forever.”
​
In His service,
Israel