Hosanna

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
For the record label, see Hosanna! Music.

Hosanna is a liturgical word in Judaism and Christianity.

Contents

[edit] Liturgical use in different traditions

[edit] In Judaism

"Hosanna" is a Jewish liturgical term, applied specifically to the Hoshana Service, a cycle of prayers from which a selection is sung each morning during the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. The complete cycle is sung on the seventh day of the festival, which is called Hoshanah Rabbah (הושענא רבא, "Great Hosanna").[1]

This festival[2] already suggested a Dionysiac celebration to Plutarch,[3] and was associated with a ceremonial drawing of water which, it was believed, secured fertilizing rains in the following year; the penalty for abstinence was drought.[4]

Further evidence[5] points to rites of nature-worship, and it is possible that in these the term Hosanna had some other application.

[edit] In Christianity

"Hosanna" ('Ωσαννα) is the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord![6] It is used in the same way in Christian praise.

The old interpretation "Save, now!" which may be a popular etymology, is based on Psalm 118:25 (Hebrew הושענא hOshEeah-nna). This does not fully explain the occurrence of the word in the Gospels, which has given rise to complex discussions.[7]

[edit] 'Hosanna' within a Jewish-Christian Messianic Context

"Hosanna", "save now, Lord" (related to the words Hosea, Joshua and Yeshua), is understandable when considered as a messianic outcry for help from God to personally come down from Heaven and save the Jewish people. When considered within the Jewish-Christian Messianic context, there is no contradiction; the Jewish Messiah would be God incarnate. The Hebrew-Israelites were simply calling out for deliverance from their God, which they had done periodically throughout their long history, especially in times of great personal or national crisis (as in the time of Jesus, when the land of Israel was under the control of the hated Pagan Roman conquerors of Judea. [8]

[edit] Etymology

From the Bauer lexicon: derived from Aramaic (הושע נא) from Hebrew (הושיעה נא) (Psalm 118:25, הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא), meaning "help" or "save, I pray", "an appeal that became a liturgical formula; as part of the Hallel... familiar to everyone in Israel."

From the Friberg Lexicon: hosanna, indecl. particle translit. fr. the Heb.; strictly, a cry expressing an appeal for divine help "save! Help, we pray!"; in a liturgical usage, a shout of praise and worship "hosanna, we praise you" (MT 21.9).

From the UBS Lexicon: hosanna (in Aramaic), an exclamation of praise literally meaning, "Save, I pray".

From the Louw-Nida Lexicon: hosanna (an Aramaic expression meaning "help, I pray" or "save, I pray," but which had become a strictly liturgical formula of praise) a shout of praise or adoration - "hosanna; blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" Mk 11.9; "hosanna in the highest" Mk 11.10; "hosanna to the Son of David" Mt 21.9. Mt 21.9 may also be rendered as "praise to you, Son of David" or "we praise you who are the Son of David" or "... a descendant of David."

[edit] Other examples of modern usage

Based on the phrase, Hosanna is a traditional Moravian hymn written by Christian Gregor sung on Palm Sunday and the second Sunday of Advent. It is a call-and-response song; traditionally, it is sung between the choir and congregation, though it is not unheard of for it to be done in other ways, such as played between trombone choirs.

Hosanna is also the name of one of the songs featured in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The scene to which the song applies features Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, as in the above Biblical passages. Jesus is mocked by the high priest Caiaphas while his followers praise him as the Messiah.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ See ArtScroll Siddur, p. 726; so also in Syrian usage; cf. Palm Sunday.
  2. ^ See Leviticus 23:39-43; 2 Maccabees 10:7; Jos. Ant. xii. 10. 4, Xiii. 13. 155 and the Talmudic tractate Sukkah.
  3. ^ Symp. iv. 6.
  4. ^ Zechariah 14:16-17
  5. ^ See Ency. Bib. cols. 3354, 4880 seq.; I Levy, Rev. des El. juives, 1901, pp. 192 sqq.
  6. ^ Matthew 21:9,15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13.
  7. ^ See the articles of JH Thayer in Hastings's Dict. Bib., and more especially TK Cheyne, Ency. Bib. s.v.
  8. ^ See the revolts of the Zealots, the First Jewish-Roman War, the Siege of Jerusalem, in 70 A.D., the Fall of Masada & Simon Bar Kokhba's Revolt.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/o/s/Hosanna.html"
In other languages