Brooke Ligertwood

A THOUSAND HALLELUJAHS – Brooke Ligertwood

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Image by Belinda Fewings from Unsplash

“A Thousand Hallelujahs” is one of my two favorite songs from Brooke Ligertwood’s 2022 release SEVEN. I can’t decide if I like this one or “Honey in the Rock” better! Songwriting credits also belong to Scott Ligertwood and Phil Wickham. We’ve already been singing this song in church for several weeks, so that’s a bit of a spoiler for whether I find it suitable for worship or not, but let’s analyze “A Thousand Hallelujahs” anyway to see what makes it such a great congregational song!

Focus

The main theme of “A Thousand Hallelujahs” is the surpassing worth of Jesus to receive praise. As a response, we offer that praise to him. The eternal reign of Jesus as king is a secondary theme. The song addresses Jesus in the second person and calls him by name, as well as calling him Lord, the Lamb, and the King of Heaven.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Both verses start with a pair of rhetorical questions, and the answer to all of them is Jesus.

During the Triumphal Entry, when the Pharisees complain that Jesus’ followers shouldn’t be worshiping him, Jesus replies that, “if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:37-40) The Psalmist and the author of Job also tell us that the shining of the stars is their way of praising God (Ps. 148:3, Job 38:6-7). These passages (and the song lyrics) aren’t trying to tell us that rocks and stars actually have minds or desires. Instead, they’re personifying elements of God’s creation to show that there is something so unique about Jesus’ glory that creation must praise him.

So, the main thrust of this verse is that while all of creation “sings” to God by showing his creative power and divinity (Rom. 1:19-20), we humans get the joy and privilege of actually singing to him and using words to praise his glory.

CHORUS
While the Ligertwoods and Phil Wickham are amazing songwriters, I do need to criticize their math skills: There are only eight hallelujahs in this song, not a thousand. However, “hallelujah” means “praise Yahweh,” so if we count the times they say “praise,” we get 18 hallelujahs, which is closer, but still not 1,000. Although, if you have 56 people singing with you, and each of them sings 18 hallelujahs…

Joking aside, the number 1,000 (and a thousand more) isn’t an actual number of hallelujahs, it’s just an arbitrarily large number chosen to represent that Jesus deserves and will receive infinite praise from his people throughout eternity. (See the end of verse 2).

To magnify means “to make great,” so we are making the name of Jesus great when we praise him. It is fair and right to say that he alone deserves the glory, because we are told in Philippians 2:9-11 that God has given to Jesus the name that is above every name, and that the Father is glorified when the Son is glorified.

VERSE 2
Again, the answer to these questions is Jesus. He’s the one who died to redeem us, and his resurrection is the one in which we are raised to life (Col. 2:12-14). Much like John the Apostle, the authors of this song claim that there’s not time enough in the world to describe all the amazing things Jesus has done (John 21:25). In the final line, they delight in the opportunity to sing of Jesus’ amazing deeds through all eternity.

BRIDGE
The simple words of the bridge call Jesus the Lamb, the Lord, and King (Rev. 17:14). We give him praise specifically because he rose from the dead (1 Thes. 4:14) and because he reigns (Rev. 11:15).

When we say, “we will sing forever,” we are echoing Psalm 89:1. I also think it’s worth noting that singing forever does not mean that when we die we are locked into an interminable choir rehearsal. We will live and reign with Christ forever, and singing to his glory will be a frequent, delightful, and life-giving activity that we eagerly participate in. For more discussion of heaven and our eternal state, see my review of “Homecoming.”

Accessibility

I don’t see any potential theological errors or misunderstandings in this song. I think it’s abundantly clear who we’re singing to, and “A Thousand Hallelujahs” gives Jesus abundant praise in a very clear way while still containing variety. The only potential point of confusion I see is the rhetorical-question-posing nature of the verses, but I think anyone who’s paying attention will understand what’s going on by the second verse.

Singability is a mild-to-moderate issue for this song. The melody only spans an octave plus one, so it’s not too rangy, but there are lots of skips that may be difficult for the casual singer. The trickiest part to sing is the bridge, which alternates between lines of weird, off-beat triplets, and lines of straight quarter notes. Very counterintuitive. But honestly, if the congregation lags a quarter beat behind on those weird lines, it’s not a big deal.

Music

We begin mezzo piano, with pad, toms, and chill electric guitars. After a minimal introduction, the clear, tender melody of the verse introduces us to the main ideas of the song. We introduce the chorus with similar instrumentation plus cello, and then build into a normal groove for verse 2. The second chorus is mezzo forte, and then we drop back down for a quiet instrumental and a bridge that crescendos into a big chorus, instrumental and reprise of the bridge. There’s a subito piano closing chorus, and we’re done.

Nobody likes playing in Db, so I advise raising or lowering this song a half step. This song’s not too tricky instrumentally except for the fast chord changes on “forever yours” in the middle of the chorus. The dynamic arc is satisfying and easy for the band to follow and remember. I like that the electric guitar part at the beginning gives a skilled player something to do, but it’s not essential if your guitarists aren’t comfortable playing lead lines.

Conclusions

…and a thousand more! This one will absolutely worship. We acknowledged earlier that the melody is a little tricky to learn, but that intricacy also keeps the song from getting boring once you learn it. The lyrics are a clear declaration of love, honor, and glory to Jesus, and I imagine “A Thousand Hallelujahs” will remain in our congregational repertoire for quite some time.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

HONEY IN THE ROCK – Brooke Ligertwood, Brandon Lake

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

Image by Tim Mossholder from Unsplash

I’m not gonna lie; this song weirded me out at first. I thought to myself, “God made water come from the rock, not honey.” It turns out I was mistaken! This rich image does come from Scripture and it’s been used in church music for a long time. (Watch this video for another artist’s musical take on this idea. You’ll thank me later. Or hate me. 🤷‍♂️) The more I listen to “Honey in the Rock,” the more it grows on me, so before I go ahead and add it to Planning Center, let’s slow down a minute and ask ourselves, “Is it biblical? Will it worship?”

Focus

This song focuses on the sufficiency and provision of God. He is all that we need. A secondary and related theme is the singer’s need for him. “Honey in the Rock” is personal and vertical, using “I” language and addressing God as “You.” We also address Jesus by name and mention the Spirit.

Lyric Analysis

CHORUS 1
We come right out of the gate with the unusual title: “There’s Honey in the Rock.” What in the world does that mean? I find the idea in 2 places in Scripture: Deuteronomy 32:13 and Psalm 81:16. Let’s get a little context from Deuteronomy 32. Here’s an excerpt:

“The Lord alone guided him,
    no foreign god was with him.
He suckled him with honey out of the rock,
    and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat of lambs,
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

So the honey, water (Ex. 17:1-7), and manna (Exodus 16) in the chorus represent God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness. By extension, they represent God’s provision for us, and in declaring that there is honey in the rock, we are saying that we trust God to provide for us even when it seems impossible. This applies to our physical needs, but more importantly to our spiritual needs. The passage from Deuteronomy also uses the image of the rock to describe God. He is the steady, unshakable source of our life and salvation.

It’s also worth noting that in both places where the Bible mentions honey coming from the rock, it is in the context of Israel’s unfaithfulness. This is especially so in Psalm 81 where God longs to satisfy his people with honey and wheat, but they won’t turn to him. This song combats the natural tendency of our hearts to seek satisfaction and sustenance from sources other than our Maker.

VERSE 1
This verse describes a state of longing and need. The line “praying for a miracle” can be easily applied to any situation any singer of the song is facing. I appreciate that the song doesn’t promise that we’ll get the exact miracle we ask for, it just acknowledges our need for God’s intervention in the situation.

We also acknowledge our thirst for the Living Well. This comes from John 4:7-26, where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and describes himself as the Living Water. He tells her, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” It’s interesting that this passage immediately turns to a discussion of worship, as if John wants us to understand that worshiping God in spirit and truth is how we enjoy the living water Jesus offers, but that’s just speculation on my part! Only God can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst (Isa. 55:2).

VERSE 2
The mercy seat is also called the atonement cover, and it’s the portion of the Ark of the Covenant where the high priest would sprinkle a bull’s blood, symbolically coming between God and the law tablets that represented the people’s sins (Lev. 16:11-14). In the context of the song, it can represent both forgiveness and God’s presence. Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good comes from Psalm 34:8.

VAMP
We repeat “there’s honey in the rock” a few more times. Hopefully the congregation will take this opportunity to meditate on what the words mean.

VERSE 3
Paul tells us that there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is (2 Cor. 3:17). As we discussed in the first chorus, the heart of this song is God’s ability to provide bounty for us in the wilderness. This is both literal in referring to Israel and metaphorical in describing God’s provision for us spiritually.

CHORUS 2
We repeat the words from chorus 1 and add a few more. This is the part of the song where we really identify God’s provision of honey in the rock for the Israelites with Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. The purpose in God’s plan is to unite all things in heaven and on earth forever in Jesus through his death and resurrection (Eph. 1:9-10). “Power in the Blood” is the title of a classic hymn by Lewis E. Jones. For more on the power in Jesus’ blood, see my review of “Thank You Jesus for the Blood” by Charity Gayle. Jesus healed with the literal laying on of his hands (Luke 4:40), and the power to heal still belongs to God today. I love the line “everything you did’s enough,” because it declares the truth that we are saved by Jesus’ grace, not our own works (Eph. 2:8-9, Heb. 10:10).

The only line that gives me pause is “started flowing when You said it is done.” I take “it is done” to refer to Jesus’ statement “it is finished” on the cross (John 19:30). And the honey was made to flow in the wilderness roughly 1,200 years earlier, so that seems chronologically confused to me. If we take the honey as a metaphor for the sweetness of knowing and trusting God, this line still doesn’t make sense, because that sweetness has always been available to God’s people. As we mentioned earlier, Psalm 34 talks about tasting that the Lord is good. For this line to make sense, we have to see that the authors are drawing a specific parallel between the honey from the rock and the salvation we have through Jesus’ death. Jesus specifically calls himself the bread from heaven (John 6:51) and the source of living water (John 4:10), so it’s not much of a stretch to also see him as the honey from the rock. So, specifically, the sweetness of our saving relationship with him is what started flowing at the cross when he said “it is finished.”

BRIDGE
This looking and finding sounds like the wholehearted seeking that God celebrates in Jeremiah 29:13-14. (…and you thought 29:11 was the only good verse in Jeremiah!) We’ve already talked about God’s provision, which includes him giving, providing, and proving that he is all we need. God often moves in response to prayer (Exodus 32:10-14, James 5:16). I love that the bridge really clearly states what the rest of the song has alluded to. We sing to God “You are all that I need.”

ENDING
The ending sums up and encapsulates the whole song. It is so sweet to be able to trust in Jesus! I don’t think we need a chapter and verse for this one.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a big concern for this song. I’m a pastor and I didn’t even know that the Bible talked about honey coming from a rock. How embarrassing! Further, it took a great deal of analysis to discover that the whole point of this song is that Jesus is the rock and trusting him for provision and salvation is the honey. I am very skeptical that most members of the congregation will be able to make the connections needed to understand this song’s meaning without help. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leading this song on Sunday morning without some serious exposition beforehand.

Having said that, I don’t see much potential for any harmful misunderstandings of the lyrics. I suppose we could misapply the ideas of healing and provision, but I don’t see a big concern here.

Regarding congregational singing, the verse rhythms are a little tricky, but the chorus is eminently singable. The bridge is easy to pick up after a repetition or two.

Music

“Honey in the Rock” is a medium-length, country-gospel song. We start with a stripped-down piano-organ-acoustic chorus at the beginning. I think I might detect a hint of steel guitar in there too, maybe? I love the way this song starts because it gives the congregation an opportunity to learn the chorus before really diving into the song. I also love the breathy choir in the background. We build as we go, adding bass and drums. When we come back to the chorus throughout the song, it finds an infectious groove that you can’t not bob your head to. We do a quiet bridge that builds into another big chorus, and then we end with a quiet ending consisting of new lyrics. All in all, this song follows pretty standard worship song form, but that form is standard for a reason, and the dynamic arc works well here to create a peaceful atmosphere of joyful trust.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yes, but…

“Honey in the Rock” is catchy and very congregational. Its lyrics forge a beautiful link between Old Testament imagery of God’s provision and salvation and the work Jesus did on the cross and the relationship of trust that we have with him as a result. I’m just worried that that link will go over many people’s heads. I almost feel like I would have to read and explain the section of Deuteronomy 32 that I quoted above every time we sing the song in church, and that’s a lot of explaining. This song would be easier to employ on a worship night or during a week of camp, when Sunday morning time constraints aren’t an issue and time could be devoted to teaching what it means.

Will we sing it at church? It’s still very possible, I just need to see if I can trim this 1,700-word blog post down into a 60 second song intro!

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.