Music & HymnsWhen Israel, Of The Lord Beloved

"The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud...and by night in a pillar of fire." Exodus 13:21

Words: Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1817.

Music: "Melcombe," Samuel Webbe, Sr., 1782

In Chapter 40 of Ivanhoe, Scott introduces the hymn:

It was in the twilight of the day when her trial, if it could be called such, had taken place, that a low knock was heard at Rebecca's prison-chamber. It disturbed not the inmate, who was then engaged in the evening prayer recommended by her religion, and which concluded with a hymn we have ventured thus to translate into English…

When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out from the land of bondage came,
Her father's God before her moved,
An awful Guide, in smoke and flame.

By day, along the astonished lands
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night, Arabia's crimsoned sands
Returned the fiery column's glow.

Thus present still, though now unseen,
When brightly shines the prosperous day,
Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen,
To temper the deceitful ray.

And O, when gathers on our path,
In shade and storm, the frequent night,
Be Thou, long suffering, slow to wrath,
A burning and a shining light.

Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website