A New Song: Psalm 98

the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

In the fifteenth chapter of the book Exodus, we read, starting at verse one:

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this Song to the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my Song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.”

Now, if you had to guess, what event elicited Moses to compose this Song, teach it to the people, and then sing it unto the Lord? Let me answer by continuing Moses’ Song:

"Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea…Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries…The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters” (Ex. 15).

Redemption. Salvation. Victory over the enemy who once enslaved Israel and then, having let them go, tried to run them down and destroy them... this is why Moses and the people have gathered to sing a song to their God, who "with his mighty right hand” shattered their enemy: Pharaoh and his armies. "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously." Their Song was compelled by miraculous salvation obtained by a Divine victory when the sea was parted by the mighty hand of the Lord.

In the Bible, songs are always occasioned and compelled by Divine victory. Think of The Song of Deborah from the book of Judges, considered one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible, where she sings a song describing the victory of the Israelites at the battle of Mount Tabor. And what of barren Hannah, who, after having miraculously conceived and given birth to Samuel, sang, "My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation."

Or David, who on the very day the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, sang, "In my distress, I called upon the LORD; to my God, I called. From his temple, he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears... He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me because he delighted in me" (2 Sam 22:7, 17-20).

In the New Testament, an angelic visitation and announcement of the great victory to come by the birth of the Messiah inspires Mary to sing, "My soul doth magnify the Lord and spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden" (Lk 1:46, 54-55). Why? Because remembering his mercy, God was going to come by the incarnation of the Son to help his servant Israel as he had promised to her forefathers, Abraham, and his seed forever.

And Simeon, who sings his dying Song of Joy because his eyes were looking upon God's salvation as he held the Christ child in his hands, Jesus, "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of [God's] people Israel." We even read of angels singing on earth, as a multitude of the heavenly host surrounding a group of shepherds on the eve of Christ's birth sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" (Lk 2:13) Praising God for the victory to come marked by the birth of John his Son.

So, from Moses to Zechariah, God's people (even the angels) sang the Song of Salvation, the Song of Divine victory over their enemies, which God had sworn to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. And their songs, though they saw dimly, pointed to the ultimate victory to come by the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For in times past, God had revealed it to them in mystery. Adam knew Him, and so did Abel, who offered Him a lamb; Seth, who called on His Name; Noah, who was His type, saving mankind in the Ark; and Abraham, who offered up his Son. But the world had forgotten Him, so the Father chose to make Him known by miraculously bringing forth one last prophet from a priest named Zacharias and a barren woman called Elizabeth, whom St Luke writes,

"Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shown great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his Father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John" (Lk 1:57-60).

John, who is called the Baptist, was born to fulfill Malachi’s prophesied “messenger of the covenant," sent to pronounce and prepare God's people for the coming of the Lord. God was on the verge of fulfilling the promise of Divine victory for his people. And Zechariah, being filled with the Holy Ghost, realizes that the time of this promised victory has begun in the birth of his Son John. The fulfillment of God's old promise to save had finally begun; God was doing something new; the Divine promise of victory was about to manifest itself to the world. So, being illuminated with such wonderful knowledge, what does Zachariah do? Well, he sings a song!

He sings praises to the Lord God of Israel because (and I'll paraphrase) he perceives that by the birth of John, the Lord has visited Israel; the birth of John is announcing that God has raised up "a horn of salvation In the house of his servant David" the same bringer of salvation prophesied of old by Israel's prophets. And this Son of David will soon come to save Zechariah, John, Elizabeth, Mary, and all of Israel from their enemies "and the hand of all that hate them." And this little newborn child, John, Zechariah's Son, has been chosen and sent by God go to prepare sinners to meet him who will come "to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide God's people into the way of peace.

A keen observer will hear echoes of Psalm 98 in Zechariah's Song, which is the psalm appointed for this feast day. Listen for the similarities between the two as I read Psalm 98 and then Zechariah's lyrics. Beginning with Psalm 98, "O SING unto the LORD a New Song; for he hath done marvelous things. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm, hath he gotten himself the victory."

Now Zechariah, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: For he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David." Continuing the Psalm, "The LORD declared his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen" and Zechariah, "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, Which have been since the world began; That we should be saved from our enemies, And from the hand of all that hate us." And one final comparison, "He hath remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel; (sings the Psalmist) and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God," which Zechariah rephrases, "To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father, Abraham."

I have attempted to demonstrate that the birth of John marks the beginning of a new and remarkable work of salvation by God, which inspired Zachariah to sing a song based on Psalm 98. But why did he choose this psalm specifically? Why not use a paraphrased version of the Song of Moses, Deborah, Hannah, or David? The reason is that Psalm 98 contains a reference to singing a New Song: "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things." While the Old Testament mentions singing songs frequently, the idea of a New Song is only present in five of the 150 Psalms.

The New Song is different because the New Song rejoices over a means of Divine salvation that had never been experienced before. In a sense, all of the Old Testament Songs pointed towards a future day when, by his own right arm, God would accomplish salvation by entirely new means and far beyond the scope of anything he had previously done, even greater than having delivered his people by the parting of the seas.

"O SING unto the LORD a New Song; for he hath done marvelous things." Psalm 98 sings a New Song because it foreshadowed this new thing, anticipating and rejoicing in the future birth of Christ, Jesus the Messiah, and the day of his coming. That 'marvelous thing,' my friends, is the sending of the Son to be born of a virgin named Mary, who would give birth to Jesus six months after the birth of his cousin John (June 24th). The Song is new because, in Christ, new and marvelous things will be done by the mystery of His Incarnation, Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and the mission of the Holy Ghost.

You see, in the old times, He brought His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm; it was one small nation that He saved; it was only a human enemy that He overthrew in the Red Sea. But now the salvation His victory has won extends to all the nations of the earth. The enemy He has routed is the Prince of the powers of the air and his cursed minions. He has taken Hade's keys and vanquished death's sting by raising himself up from death by his own Divine power, by the might of that Godhood which He united to his manhood. Thereby, he has gotten the victory by himself. God, our Father, has saved us by one instrument alone: by "his own right hand" and "holy arm," who is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

Zechariah was the first to sing this New Song as he recognized in the birth of his Son the new and wonderful work of salvation unfolding before his very eyes: the redemption of Israel and the giving of light to all who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. This is why Zechariah's song is a Christ hymn rejoicing in the salvation won by Jesus Christ, the Lord whom John will proclaim and point to, saying, "he must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30).

And at the risk of oversimplifying, are we not to do the same by magnifying Jesus Christ in every aspect of our Christian life? In our corporate life together, our daily prayers, and especially in this Eucharistic celebration? The vast treasury of hymnody we possess is it not all centered on the glory of Christ? And think about it, we sing everything (our liturgy, prayers, hymns, psalms), and our collective Song worships the Son and elevates his name above all names, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our salvation.

Christian, you must sing the Gospel to yourself, your children, and those you love because it is like David's lyre soothing an anxious soul. The tracks of this fallen world are songs of despair, anger, lust, violence, confusion, and death. Or the myriad of meaningless and mindless vehicles of escape meant to anesthetize you to reality, the worst form of escape. These sad and meaningless songs must be displaced with the New Song of our liturgies and music of holy mother church. We must be filled with the New Song, which is Jesus Christ. Clement of Alexandria makes this wonderful insight, writing, "In the beginning was the Word. and, inasmuch as the Word was from the first, He was and is the divine source of all things; but since He has now assumed the name Christ, consecrated of old, and worthy of power, he has been called by me the New Song." God's choosing to vacate heaven to be born of a woman; the God who was born to die was born to save sinners like you and me: Jesus Christ, IS the New Song.

We Christians have one Song, The New Song, which glories in Jesus Christ, the savior of the world because in Him, God did something he had never done: defeated sin and death by sacrificing himself on the cross, thereby atoning for the sins of the whole world and winning the victory of eternal life for all who believe in him. The New Song we sing together in worship or to ourselves in our prayers is the only antidote against the soundtrack of this world, the heavenly hymn to drown out a cacophony of noise. Therefore, let us heed the apostle's words and replenish our hearts, souls, and minds with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with our heart.” Therefore, I exhort you to be filled with the New Song so that you might guard your ears, eyes, hearts, and souls against the inundating nihilistic symphony of death bombarding you.

In the fifth chapter of John's Revelation, we are given a glimpse into the worship in heaven. There, gathered around the risen Christ, is a great multitude of people singing,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for were slain, and by your blood ransomed people for God from tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth" (Rev 5:9-10).

And since the day of Pentecost, the church on earth joins this heavenly choir every time it gathers to celebrate the Holy Eucharistic as we do today, singing with Moses, Zechariah, and all the Saints,

“A New Song; for he hath done marvelous things. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm, hath he gotten himself the victory. The LORD declared his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel, and all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps 98:1-3). Amen+