Why the Ebenezer is so Important in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
If this talk interests you, I also published a version of it on my web site at jethro.site/comethoufount with additional references and stories that I don’t have time for today.
To understand this song, we start at the creation of the world.
In the section of Pyramid Text 600, speaking of Atum (or whom we would call Christ), it says, “You rose up as the Benben.”
The excellent podcast “The Ancient Tradition” explains what this Benben stone is:
The Benben…is the ancient Egyptian name given to the first solid land or rise out of the primordial waters, the primordial hill. It represented the initial point of creation and the foundation upon which the world was built.
This first “rock,” a Benben stone, is considered to be the foundation of all the world. Or, the foundation stone upon which our entire world is created.
In Isaiah 28:16 we read:
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
This Benben stone that was laid was a symbol of Christ as the foundation of our world.
Matthew 7:25 in the telling of the wise man and the foolish man reminds us that something that is built upon the rock shall not fail.
Christ is that Cornerstone. He is the Foundation. When we build upon Christ, we cannot fail.
After David defeated Goliath (with a stone, no less, again a symbol of Christ), Samuel the prophet wanted to commemorate the victory of The Lord through David over the Philistines.
Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. 1 Samuel 7:12
Ebenezer means “stone of help” or as it says in 1 Samuel, “The Lord helped us.”
This Ebenezer is also the Benben stone.
Robert Robinson wrote the beloved hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing in the middle of the 18th century. Robinson was converted to the Calvinist Methodist sect in 1755 at the age of 20, and wrote the hymn in 1758. just one year later, he converted to be a baptist.
Like most people, he was “prone to wander” a bit in his youth. Let’s just say, he hung around some ruffians.
The Calvinists’ beliefs help you understand why he chose certain words. The Calvinists beliefs can be summarized with the acronym TULIP,
- Total dependence on Christ’s interposition - “of His Precious blood.”
- Unconditional Election - “here’s my heart, oh take and seal it.”
- Limited atonement - “by Thy good pleasure.”
- Irresistible Grace - “Oh, to grace, how great a debtor, I’m constrained to be”
- Perseverance of the Saints - “oh, that day when freed from sinning”
You may not recognize that last quote. This hymn usually is missing the fourth verse, as it is in our hymnal as well.
The missing verse is as follows:
O that Day when freed from sinning,
I shall see thy lovely Face;
Clothed then in blood-washed Linnen [sic]
How I’ll sing thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransom’d Soul away;
Send thine Angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless Day.
To take us back to the beginning, and the phrase, “Here I raise my Ebenezer,” I want to end with this.
We raise an Ebenezer after a victory has been won, as a symbol of Christ’s help to us to overcome whatever we may have overcome.
The victory that we win is eternal life through the atonement of Christ our Savior.
While many believe that Christ’s grace is all we need, “we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23)
I like to think of it like this: Christ’s grace saves us and our last effort will be to raise an Ebenezer in tribute to the grace Christ has extended, one last work to honor Him.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ asks us to not just accept His grace and live whatever life we choose. It asks us to become like Christ in all things.
References and additional links
- The History of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
- The Ancient Tradition Episode 31 - Pyramid Text 600 Transcript and Audio
- The Ancient Tradition Episode 34- The Eben-Ezer Transcript and Audio
- 3 interesting facts about ‘Come, Thou Fount’ (including the author’s touching backstory) - LDS Living
- Mack Wilber’s arrangement of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
- 1994 BYU choirs rendition is amazing. Worth a watch on YouTube.
- There are several other tunes associated with this hymn, including “Normandy,” “Warrenton,” and “Jewin Street.”