Christmas Carol: Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming

Madonna del Granduca por Rafael

Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming

Artwork:
Madonna del Granduca by Rafael, (1505) is an oil on wood Italian renaissance painting. Housed at the Museum Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy. Rafael depicts the Virgin Mary standing, with the Christ child in her arms. Her melancholy gaze is directed downwards as she holds her child positioned toward the onlooker for all to behold the Savior.

Carol Text: German, 1599
Carol Melody: German, 1599
Piano accompaniment by Lezlie Taguding

Lo how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As men of old have sung
It came a flower bright
Amid the cold of win – ter
When half gone was the night

Isaiah ‘twas foretold it
The rose I have in mind
With Mary we behold it
The virgin mother kind
To show God’s love aright
She bore to men a Savior
When half gone was the night

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

- Isaiah 7:14

Advent Devotional


This tune is a traditional German melody from the sixteenth century. Resembling a Renaissance madrigal, the earliest source of this old and unusual Christmas carol is a manuscript dating between 1582 and 1588. Originally a hymn, it develops Isaiah’s prophesy concerning the “rose” from the “stem of Jesse” later in Isaiah chapters 11 and 35, but is begun here in Isaiah 7 with the incarnation prophecy. Using the blooming of a rose to represent the coming of Christ, the imagery is stunningly profound.

For centuries before the song appeared the rose had been used as a symbol for Christ, and sometimes for Mary, particularly in her direct and immediate obedience to God in bearing His Son. Emphasizing the humanity of Christ through His mother, Mary, is contrasted with His deity, as Savior and King of Glory. Rooted in Scripture, and the Christmas story in Luke 2:1- 20, through His human birth, Christ is connected to the family of King David, “from the stem of Jesse,” David’s father. Indeed, “as men of old have sung it came a flower bright amid the cold of winter when half gone was the night.”

We all love the extraordinary beauty of the rose and the lovely fragrance it offers as well. It cheers even a winter table. The flower is therefore a fitting picture of the multiple levels of magnificent beauty revealed in our Savior. This Christmas allow His ever-blooming beauty and bouquet to fill your home, for His glory.

Prayer

My dear Savior and Lord,
thank You for giving
Yourself as an offering
and a sacrifice to God for me.
I adore You.
Amen.

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Lynne Marie Kohm

Professor Lynne Marie Kohm serves as the John Brown McCarty Professor of Family Law at Regent University School of Law. She is the author of the books Estate Planning Success for Women and The Christian Guide to Wills, Living Trusts and Estate Planning. Her professional affiliations include and have included the Virginia State Bar Family Law Section Board of Governors, Virginia Bar Association Domestic Relations Council, Christian Legal Society, American Bar Association, Eagle Forum, Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America, and Bethany Christian Services. She and her husband have two children.  
COPYRIGHT: This is a publication of the C.S. Lewis Institute; 8001 Braddock Road, Suite 301; Springfield, VA 22151. Portions of the publication may be reproduced for noncommercial, local church or ministry use without prior permission. Unless otherwise noted all material is copyright of the C.S. Lewis Institute or in the public domain.

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