Vol. 621: Ten Thousand Angels

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "They bound the hands of Jesus, in the garden where He prayed; They led him thro' the streets in shame.  They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin; They said, 'Crucify Him; He's to blame.'
2. "Upon His precious head they placed a crown of thorns; They laughed and said, 'Behold the King.'  They struck Him and they cursed Him and mocked His holy name.  All alone He suffered ev'rything.
3. "When they nailed Him to the Cross, His mother stood nearby; He said, 'Woman, behold thy son!'  He cried, 'I thirst' for water, but they gave Him none to drink, Then the sinful work of man was done.
4. "To the howling mob He yielded; He did not for mercy cry.  The Cross of shame He took alone.  And when He cried 'It's finished,' He gave Himself to die; Salvation's wondrous plan was done.

• Refrain:"He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world (the world) and set Him free.  He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, (alone), for you and me."

(Words and music by Ray Overholt, Copyright 1959, Renewal 1987 by Lillenas Publishing Company)

As we once again begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we can see that this is a psalm of praise to God (more specifically God the Son, the Messiah Jesus) giving high praise for His work in dying on the cross (along with all the preparation up to that point), as well as high praise for His power ("He could have called ten thousand [twelve legions of] angels") and the humble quality of His character (since He did NOT call those angels down to save Him but "died alone for you and me").

This song was written by Ray Overholt (1924-2008) who began his music career when, at an early age, living on a farm near Middleville, Michigan, he took two dollars, bought a guitar, and taught himself how to play.  By the age of ten he had written a tune called "The Lonesome Cowboy" ("Ray Overholt and His Grand River Boys").

He went on to become a cowboy-country music singer in the Grand Rapids area, even hosting his own "Ray's Roundup" TV show on WOOD-TV.  He went on to write more songs, much of his music having been covered by at least 100 artists including Loretta Lynn and Kate Smith ("Ray Overholt").

In 1958, however, at perhaps the pinnacle of his show-business career, he began writing the song we know today as "Ten Thousand Angels".  By his own account:

One day I thought to myself: I’ve written secular songs, I’d like to write a song about Christ. I opened the Bible. I knew a little about it from my mom. I began to read how Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane told Peter to put away his sword. Jesus told Peter that He could ask His Father and He would send twelve legions of angels. I didn’t know at the time that would have been more than 72,000 angels (cf: MATT 26:53). I thought a good title for a song would be “He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels”.... I wrote the first verse and put it in my guitar case. I then told the club [where I was performing] that I was quitting.  I finished the song and sent it to a publishing house, which reluctantly agreed to publish it (C. A. I.).

Now that we are familiar with some of the history behind this song, let's check it's scriptural integrity.  As I have been doing for the last few commentaries, I have reprinted the lyrics in outline form so we can hopefully stem some confusion.

1.  
• "They bound the hands of Jesus, in the garden where He prayed;
•  Confirmed in John 18 (particularly verse 12).
• They led him thro' the streets in shame.
•  This seems to be a little heavy in artistic license.  Three of the Gospels give account that the chief priests and elders were trying NOT to be conspicuous about this: they feared the people (Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2).  The only times they would have had to walk Him through the streets would be from Gethsemane to the house of Annas (former high priest), from Annas' house to the house of Caiaphas (then current high priest and son-in-law to Annas), then from Caiaphas' house to Governor Pilate's headquarters (John 18:1-28).  The first two trips were at night, the last trip was in the early morning (John 18:28), presumably all times when there wouldn't have been much of a spectacle.  Even if you account their journey from the governor's HQ to where King Herod was lodging and then the return trip (Luke 22:5-11), all of this happened before His crucifixion at 9 o'clock in the morning (the third hour, Mark 15:25), and Pilate still had one more interrogation session with Him and the soldiers still had to make THEIR preparations for His walk to the cross.
• They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
• This they did at the house of Caiaphas after their interrogation and before sending Him to Governor Pilate (Matthew 26:67-68; Mark 14:65).
• The soldiers who took Him into the Governor's HQ, preparing Him for His crucifixion, also spit on Him (Matthew 27:27-30; Mark 15:16-19), but this took place during the events of the second verse.
• Considering Jesus truly was (is) "free from sin" (more accurately, He is "without sin", Hebrews 4:15), therein lies the shame: that He had to go through all this for our benefit and salvation (Isaiah 53:4,5).
• They said, 'Crucify Him; He's to blame.'
•  The mob definitely shouted for Him to be crucified (Matthew 27:23; Mark 15:13,14; Luke 23:21,23; John 19:15).
• The mob did not directly say, "He's to blame."
1. This statement seems rather vague to begin with.  To blame for what?  Actually, this vague quality seems rather parallel to one of the "accusations" brought against Jesus.  When Governor Pilate asked what accusation they had against Him, they answered, "If this Man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered Him over to you!" (John 18:29-30)
2. This could again be more poetic license.  Many times song writers will illicit sympathy from the audience by saying that the hero of their ballad was maliciously accused of something of which he was innocent and everybody says "He's to blame!!"
3. However, there were other "accusations" brought against Jesus that could fit the "He's to blame" motif, such as when they said, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay tribute to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2).  Apparently, according to them, He was the reason they weren't paying their duties to Caesar (would that WE could get away with an excuse like that before the Internal Revenue Service!).
2.  
• "Upon His precious head they placed a crown of thorns;
• They laughed and said, 'Behold the King.'
• They struck Him and they cursed Him and mocked His holy name.
• All of this is well documented (Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; John 19:1-3) although each account says the Roman soldiers mocked Him.
• All alone He suffered ev'rything.
• Some commentators have stated this to be a false statement because Jesus was not alone, in fact at this point the whole battalion of the governor's soldiers was there with Him in the headquarters (Matthew 27:27)!  And yet, even in a crowd of people, one can feel so alone, especially when the rest of the group seems (is) pitted against you.
3.  
• "When they nailed Him to the Cross, His mother stood nearby; 
• He said, 'Woman, behold thy son!' 
• This, too, is well documented (John 19:26).
• He cried, 'I thirst' for water, but they gave Him none to drink,
• John 19:28 shows that Jesus said, "I thirst."  We can only assume that he meant water.
• In the Praise for the Lord hymnbook, the lyric is written, "He cried, 'I thirst' for water...", directly quoting Him and implying what He (and most normal people) would have been seeking in a situation like this.
• However, John points out in this verse that He made the request to "fulfill the Scripture".  In John 19:29, he points out that a jar full of sour wine was nearby; someone got a sponge loaded with it, placed it on a hyssop branch, and gave it to Him to drink.
• Apparently, the Scripture to be fulfilled was Psalm 69:21.
• However, in other versions of this song (such as the Paperless Hymnal), Jesus is quoted as saying, "I thirst for water."
• Some may find this matter to be more trifling, others may make a bigger deal out of this.  In the end, it seems certain that the Lord would have preferred water to drink.  Whether or not he truly wanted it, he still had a prophecy to finish and this was how He chose to do so.
• Then the sinful work of man was done.
•  It is at this point, in John 19:30, that Jesus said, "It is finished."
• One could make the point that the soldiers still had to check the body and not break His legs (John 19:33; Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12:43-48, emphasis on verse 46), He had to be buried (John 19:38ff, Isaiah 53:9); and so on; but in essence, it was over (with the exception of the resurrection!).
4.  
• "To the howling mob He yielded; He did not for mercy cry. 
• Again, well documented, He never cried for mercy; in fact there were a few times He could have spoken, possibly even in His own defense, but chose not to do so. 
• The Cross of shame He took alone. 
•  Although one could make the argument that Simon of Cyrene was compelled to help Him carry the cross (Mark 15:21), but He still bore the brunt of everything that happened as He hung on that cross.
• And when He cried 'It's finished,' He gave Himself to die;
• Salvation's wondrous plan was done.
•  Again we can go by a strict interpretation of John 19:30 for this.  It is still up to us to respond correctly to this in order to receive His salvation!

Refrain:

• "He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world (the world) and set Him free. 
• He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, (alone), for you and me."
• As was mentioned by the song's author, Jesus Himself mentioned that He could have called twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:53).
• At the time, Mr. Overholt did not realize that a legion could consist of anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 people.
• That would range 36,000 to 72,000 angels!
• Considering how powerful ONE angel is (Numbers 22:22-35; Daniel 6:22) imagine how formidable an entire army of them would be (2 Kings 6:15-17), a comfort to those under their protection, torment and distress to their intended target!
• But he felt the lyric sounded good (and there is a certain poetic sense to it).

On a personal note, I have heard this song sung in two different ways: one where all four verses are sung before singing the chorus, the other where the chorus follows every verse.  Some songs lend themselves to the first version, such as "Low in the Grave He Lay" [#408 in PftL] ("Up from the grave, He arose" only once!).  I tend to believe the second version to be more fitting for this song, because there are many times throughout this event (at any "station of the cross", if you will) where the Lord could have said "I have had enough of this, I want to go HOME!!!"  All praise is due Him for His humility in going through all of it for the benefit of all of us, who were still sinners at the time (Romans 5:6-11, emphasis on verse 8[!])!

I must admit that I have had reservations about singing this song in worship before, particularly the third verse.  But as I study it more and take a closer look into each Gospel's account of the crucifixion, as we did here, I find it easier to sing in good conscience.

Of course, I welcome your comments or thoughts on this....

-bas4d

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Works Cited

• "Ray Overholt", c-2017, West Mich Musical Hysterical Society.
• "Ray Overholt and His Grand River Boys", http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=12856, c-2000-2017, Hillbilly-Music.com, Modesta, CA.
• "Samuel S. Wesley and Ray Overholt", Christian Assemblies International.

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 (Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)