I to the hills will lift mine eyes.
From whence doth come mine aid?
My safety cometh from the Lord,
who heaven and earth hath made.
The lines above come from an old metrical version of one of my favourite psalms, Psalm 121. A more modern version of these verses is probably easier to understand: ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.’ Ps121:1,2 (New International Version) The song was probably written to reflect the feelings of people facing a pilgrimage through rough, mountainous and dangerous terrain.
The Book of Psalms is found in what is commonly called the Old Testament. The OT is a collection of writings that make up the sacred texts of ancient Israel. These Hebrew Scriptures came to be known by Christians as the Old Testament after the formation of a subsequent collection of writings – the so-called New Testament - that reflected on the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians gathered the OT books and the NT books into one collection of ‘holy scriptures’ now known as the Bible. The question of which books made up the Bible was more or less settled by the year 400. All the books in the Bible are probably no later than 100AD or CE. The earliest Christian believers used them as a guide to authentic Christian living.
From whence doth come mine aid?
My safety cometh from the Lord,
who heaven and earth hath made.
The lines above come from an old metrical version of one of my favourite psalms, Psalm 121. A more modern version of these verses is probably easier to understand: ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.’ Ps121:1,2 (New International Version) The song was probably written to reflect the feelings of people facing a pilgrimage through rough, mountainous and dangerous terrain.
The Book of Psalms is found in what is commonly called the Old Testament. The OT is a collection of writings that make up the sacred texts of ancient Israel. These Hebrew Scriptures came to be known by Christians as the Old Testament after the formation of a subsequent collection of writings – the so-called New Testament - that reflected on the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians gathered the OT books and the NT books into one collection of ‘holy scriptures’ now known as the Bible. The question of which books made up the Bible was more or less settled by the year 400. All the books in the Bible are probably no later than 100AD or CE. The earliest Christian believers used them as a guide to authentic Christian living.
I to the hills… is a blog where I hope to share my reflections on life, the universe and everything from my perspective as a Christian. I hope to record thoughts on general reading, current events, theology, church and maybe some personal stuff. The first few posts are pretty serious - mostly essays I've written - but time will no doubt lead to a downgrade of quality, and hopefully some lighter stuff too. My aim is to record my own pilgrimage through life, to share my understanding of the Christian gospel, and to reflect on its application in all aspects of life.
I hope to publish the following posts soon: What is Christianity? and Why I am a Christian. Hopefully, these will set the context for everything else that I post on this blog.
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