Monday, April 12, 2010

'Go Down Moses... Tell ol' Pharoah, Let My People Go!'

The sweet wife and I have started the Book of Exodus in our daily Bible reading as we start over from Genesis to Revelation once again, a chapter a day. An old spiritual hymn, "Go Down Moses" has been playing in my head since we started Exodus. The story of the Hebrew nation coming out to slavery in Egypt into freedom in the Promised Land is a theme that is not only repeated through the rest of the Bible, but is also repeated daily in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike today. I was 29 when Jesus came to me and set me free from slavery and I shall be eternally grateful.

I googled it and found the lyrics so I could sing the whole anthem and I also found this video with Jess Lee Brooks performing the classic spiritual. From the 1941 Preston Sturges movie "Sullivan's Travels", starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.

The spiritual is sung during a powerful scene of white and black convicts in chains tramping into a black church on Sunday to worship as "special guests," Joel McCrea among them. If this don't get your spiritual waterwheel turning, you better check up because your Holy Ghost well is dry.

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