They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
If you don't know what "sheaves" are, here is Vincent Van Gogh's Sheaves of Wheat in a Field.
Sheaves are bundles of wheat gathered after the reaping. So, with that being said, bellow is the song I sang as a child that I didn't understand because I didn't know what sheaves were. It would have been nice to have had this picture opposite of the hymn. Isn't it interesting how a picture can change how we understand things? That is why parables and illustrations are so important. They are word pictures. Ages prior to ours, sheaves didn't have to be explained, no more than a gallon of milk needs to be explained today. But for people who are unfamiliar, the picture helps drive the point home and often explains the point.
It is also interesting how you can know the words to a song by heart and yet have no idea what the lyrics mean. We sang this song at church so much as a child I could have easily rattled of the verses from memory. In fact, it has been several years since I sang this song, but I still know the lyrics by heart. And yet for the longest time, I didn't have a clue what sheaves were. It wasn't until a preacher got up after we sang that song and asked "I wonder how many of you know what you just sang about? If I asked each of you, could you tell me?" My first reaction was horror that he might actually ask me, but my second thought was what am I singing about and if I don't know why am I singing?
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
2 comments:
Greetings from Wordwise Hymns. You're quite right. Many folks--even in a rural area like ours--have no idea what sheaves are. What they see in the fields are bales, some of them those monster round ones.
And, as someone whose studied and written about our traditional hymns and gospel songs for many years, I appreciate the point about understanding what we sing! A word of explanation here and there can usually take care of that. It dismays me to see churches abandon the hymn book, instead, robbing believers of their Christian heritage.
Very true. One of the troubling aspects of contemporary worship music is its mindless repetition. Saying the same few words, over and over and over...
This is more like Eastern Mysticism than Christian worship. Churches need sound, theological, doctrinally sound songs to edify us, teach us, and glorify God.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
The great thing about these hymns are their doctrinal depth. It is a shame that man are moving towards music 'style' instead of lyrical message of the old hymns.
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