Praise the Lord, God kept our nation (우리나라 지켜주신)
Words: 김경희, Kim Gyeunghyee 1996(1929–2002)
Music: 백태현, Baek Teahyun 2000(1925–2010)
Hymn Tune: 나라사랑
Hymn Meter: 8.8.8.8.8.8.REP.
Introduction
“Who is superior, Emperor of Japan or God?” [1]
Many Korean Christians were asked this question and were imprisoned if they did not deny God during Japanese colonialism from 1910 to 1945. The Japanese police cruelly tortured and even planned to kill Christians by gas on August 19, 1945. However, just four days before the execution, the Korean Peninsula was finally liberated on August 15, 1945. The Koreans commemorate March 1st every year in honor of those independent activists and the independence of Korea. [2]
The “Praise the Lord, God kept our nation (우리나라 지켜주신),” recorded in the 21st-century Korean hymnal, is a hymn that was written to praise God who brought Koreans freedom through the March First Movement and Independence day of Korea.
The Korean Independence Day was catalyzed by the March First Movement is also known as Sam-il-jeal. On March 1, 1919, the Korean students and youth started a series of protests and began to read the Declaration of Independence against illegal Japanese colonialism, which came to be called Man-se Demonstrations. Immediately, the movement spread like fire throughout the entire peninsula. This movement was a peaceful demonstration with protesters shouting “Independence for Korea” and waving the national flag. However, as a result, the protesters were cruelly suppressed and 7000 were killed with guns and swords by the Japanese military. [3]
Analysis of Hymn
Korean
1.우리나라 지켜주신 하나님께
찬양하라 억눌렸던 겨레 울음 가슴 터져 쏟아졌네 만세 소리 울린 그 날 태양빛도 눈부셨네
English
Praise the Lord, God kept our nation With His mighty hands through the years. Long we cried out for our freedom From oppressions dark, fearful power When we shouted for the freedom Brilliant sunlight shone all around.
Refrain:
오랫동안 당한 고통 나라 찾은
그 감격을 대대 후손 일깨워서
그 뜻을 전해주세
Freed from sufferings of the long years We recovered our sovereignty
Let us keep our nation’s freedom
For the generation to come
2. 북을 치고 나팔 불며 하나님께
찬양하라 어깨에서 짐 벗기고 손 발 사슬 푸시었네 말과 글을
찾았으니 주의 은혜 고마워라
Praise the Lord, with drums and trumpet Singing with harp and strings.
We are free from heavy burdens From the shackles binding our feet.
We recovered our own language Thanks we give to God for His grace
3. 영원토록 지키시는 하나님께
찬양하라 죄와 우상 몰아내고
믿음으로 하나되어 순교자들
본받아서 주를 위해 일을 하세
Praise the Lord, God who will keep us In His mighty hands evermore.
Let us drive out sings and idols Made as one through faith in the Lord.
It’s our calling in Christ Jesus
To live as the martyrs once lived.
4.사랑으로 복 주시는 하나님께
찬양하라 이 나라를 살리신 뜻
세계 만민 위함일세 기쁜 소식
전파하리 지상명령 준행하세
Praise the Lord, God who has blessed us With His bounteous love and deep grace.
It is for all of earth’s people That our Land became free again
Let us proclaim to the whole world Good news of salvation in Christ.
“Praise the Lord, God kept our nation” is a Korean hymn which relates Christianity and Nation for the memorial of March First movement and Korean Independence Day. Among 33 national leaders of the March First Movement, there were 16 Christians who played a vital role in the movement in order to resist against worship the emperor of Japan instead of God.[4]
Although this hymn doesn’t use an indigenous Korean pentatonic scale, it uses the most common Korean rhythm pattern which has a regular meter of three to four syllables. Each stanza of the hymn has 8 syllables 8.8.8.8 and stepwise melody throughout the entire song. The respective and simple rhyme patterns in every phase seem to emphasize the words rather the beauty of music itself.
Textual Analysis
- Praise the Lord, God kept our nation with His mighty hands through the years. Long we cried out for our freedom from oppressions dark, fearful power. When we shouted “Manse” for the freedom brilliant sunlight shone all around
The first stanza praises God who kept our nation as it recalls the oppression of Japanese colonization and the heartful of Manse movement in the past. It shows the belief of the sovereignty of God over the affairs of nations. “The Lord protects and preserves them. They are counted among the blessed in the land. He does not give them over to the desire of their foes. Psalm 41:2 (NIV) “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” Jude 24 (NIV)
2. Praise the Lord, with drums and trumpet singing with harp and strings. We are free from heavy burdens from the shackles binding our feet. We recovered our own language. Thanks, we give to God for His grace.
First and second stanzas give thanks and praise to God who set the nation free from slavery under the Japanese oppression. Dargie notes that in the most colonized nation, “people are prejudiced against their own culture.” He asserts that “if the people have a healthy pride in their culture and tradition…then not only can they build the church of God in a lasting way, they can also stand with dignity among the families of nations.” Thus, one of the most important roles of the missionary is to set people free from the prejudices through teaching the true status of themselves in Christ. [6]
3. Praise the Lord, God who will keep us in His mighty hands evermore. Let us drive out sings and idols. Made as one through faith in the Lord. It’s our calling in Christ Jesus. To live as the martyrs once lived
The third stanza refers to the protection of the Almighty God and encourages the believer to cast out all sins and idols in order that they may purify themselves and strengthen the unity in Christ as a community of saints. This verse also reminds believers of their calling to commit their lives for Christ like the martyrs before us. “But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.” Psalm 115:4 (NIV) “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” Deuteronomy 5:8 (NIV) Third and fourth stanzas proclaim to cast out long years of traditional idols and sins then move forward to proclaim the gospel to the whole world.
4. Praise the Lord, God who has blessed us with His bounteous love and deep grace. It is for all of earth’s people That our Land became free again. Let us proclaim to the whole world Good news of salvation in Christ.
The last stanza recalls that our freedom was given to us by God’s tremendous grace as an ample gift. This reflects the Mosaic promise in Exodus. God called Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The salvation given to Israel is not done by Israel’s own merits or good deeds, but by an absolute God’s grace. This is the good news that believers need to proclaim. This is also believers’ calling to be the path of blessing to all nations. Ultimately, this stanza implies the great commission from the New Testament to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to the whole nations. (Matt 28:18–19)
Refrain: Freed from sufferings of the long years. We recovered our sovereignty. Let us keep our nation’s freedom. For the generation to come.
The refrain expresses our delight over our nation’s freedom that cannot be forgotten. It requires our determination to keep the freedom of the nation for the generation to come. “Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” (Matthew 11:26) “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22 NIV) “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
Corporate Worship
This hymn explicitly describes the particular national monumental days and encourages believers to illuminate such special events from a biblical perspective.While it can be sung at any corporate worship gathering, the Sundays around March 1st and August 15th would be the most appropriate times to use the hymn as a congregational song in public worship after relative comments or sermon. In another way, since the hymn holds the proclamation of the great commission, it would be good to include instrumental addition such as accompanying with a trumpet for the refrain. Rearrangements of the song in a various way can make the song more powerful to remember and appear to all age group. There are not many hymns that connect Christianity with national patriotism particularly in the context of Korea. It is a great song to edify congregation to find their rightful status as a Christian Korean.
[1] 오소운, 알기 쉽게 쓴 21세기 찬송가 해설 (서울: 성서원, 2018). 984
[2] 송삼원, “3.1운동 숨겨진 주역은 한국 교회” 기독신문
[3] Inyoung Kang “더는 간과하지 않겠습니다. 유관순, 일제 통치에 저항한 한국 독립운동가”, The New yoke times, April 2 2018
[4] Ibid
[6] David Dargie A New Kind of Missionary (unpublished lecture for the South African Council of Priests, 1979),17.
