Advent Devotional for December 5th - Songs of the Bible by Rev. Parker Benson

There are a lot of songs in the Bible. There is the song of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15; the song of the Israelites at the well in Bé’er in Numbers 21:17-18; the song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5; and the song of David in 2 Samuel: 22. But probably no Biblical song is more well-known than the song of Mary in Luke 1:46. It is widely known as the Magnificat because the first line in the Latin Vulgate translation is Magnificat, which means “glorifies.” 

Mary sings, “My soul glorifies – or magnifies – the Lord.” It is a wonderful Christmas song and is often put to music (See hymn 199). Mary is glorifying the Lord in the knowledge that she is pregnant with the Christ Child. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

The Magnificat is a song of a mother who is happy that she is going to have a baby. Most all mothers can relate to that happiness and to the sentiment, “my soul glorifies the Lord.” Motherhood is a special calling, a special experience, a unique and, I believe, exalted experience. The second line in Mary’s song is, “My soul rejoices in God my savior.” I love that line too and have committed it to memory. There are times in my life when, more so than at other times, “my soul rejoices in God my savior.” It is a line of hope and a reminder that there is One greater than I in whom I trust and therefore can rejoice. 



No matter what the situation or predicament; no matter what the season or what the current difficulty may be, with Mary, I like to proclaim: “My soul rejoices in God my savior.” That is a song worth singing at Christmas time and all the time. 

Rev. Parker Benson