hosanna

 

(hōzăn'ə) [Heb.,=save now; Psalm 118], an intensified imperative, a cry, addressed to God, particularly used in the Feast of Tabernacles, when prayers for rain were offered. In the New Testament the crowd shouted it when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is used as an acclamation in Christian worship, e.g., in the Sanctus.

Hosanna is a liturgical word in Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, it is always used in its original Hebrew form, Hoshana.

Liturgical use in different traditions

In Judaism

"Hoshana" (הושענא) is a Hebrew word meaning please save or save now. ^[1] In Jewish liturgy, the word is applied specifically to the Hoshana Service, a cycle of prayers from which a selection is sung each morning during Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. The complete cycle is sung on the seventh day of the festival, which is called Hoshana Rabbah (הושענא רבא, "Great Hosanna").^[2]

This festival^[3] 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] The festival suggested a Dionysiac celebration to the ancient Greek writer Plutarch.^[5]

In Christianity

"Hosanna" (ὡσαννα, hōsanna) 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]

'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]

Etymology

The word hosanna is etymologically derived from the Hebrew הושיעה־נא, hôšî‘â-nā’. Christian usage has come through the Greek Bible, giving it the form ὡσαννά, hōsanná.

• 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" (Matthew 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" Mark 11.9; "hosanna in the highest" Mark 11.10; "hosanna to the Son of David" Matt 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."

Other examples of modern usage

The Hosanna Anthem^[9], based on the phrase Hosanna, is a traditional Moravian anthem written by Bishop Christian Gregor sung on Palm Sunday and the first Sunday of Advent. It is antiphonal, i.e. a call-and-response song; traditionally, it is sung between the children and adult 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.

Debuted in 2007, Hosanna is a song that comes from the Hillsong United album, All of the Above, authored by New Zealand singer Brooke Fraser.

See also

• Alhamdulillah
• Aramaic of Jesus#Hosanna
• Hallelujah
• Hosanna Shout (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

References

1. ^ See ArtScroll Siddur, p. 727.
2. ^ See ArtScroll Siddur, p. 726; so also in Syrian usage; cf. Palm Sunday.
3. ^ See Leviticus 23:39-43; 2 Maccabees 10:7; Jos. Ant. xii. 10. 4, Xiii. 13. 155 and the Talmudic tractate Sukkah.
4. ^ Zechariah 14:16-17
5. ^ Symposiacs, Book iv. 6.
6. ^ Matthew 21:9,15; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13.
7. ^ See the articles of JH Thayer in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 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.
9. ^ The Moravian Hymn Book with Services (authorized for use in the British Province of the Moravian Church), 1960

• Yohannan Aharoni & Michael Avi-Yonah, The MacMillan Bible Atlas, Revised Edition, pp. 157-165 (1968 & 1977 by Carta Ltd).
• 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on Hosanna.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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