The Eighth Day to Christmas

         What does Jesus have to with apples? Well, everything if we're talking about "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree," a carol published in 1761 generally attributed to a Rev. Richard Hutchins who I'd never heard of before now. It is set to a beautiful tune by Elizabeth Poston and is one of those ubiquitous carols which is associated with Christmas, and yet never mentions the birth of Christ or the incarnation. At the same time, what is the centre of Christmas but Christ, Himself, and this carol is so perfectly and beautifully centred around Christ that I consider it to be a fitting meditation for Christmastime, even if it is not explicitly a Christmas carol.

         Also, since it is pretty universally considered a Christmas carol, you are likely to hear it only around Christmas, and therefore, I feel justified including it in this series. 

      As far as I can tell, there have been put forth two possible origins for the idea of this carol, one is that it was taken from Song of Solomon 2:3, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, And his fruit was sweet to my taste."

      I think that's a very plausible origin. The other posited option is that it came from the old English custom of wassailing in which health was often wished to apple trees. If you want to learn more about wassailing and what it was, stay tuned for future posts in this series where the topic will come up, I promise. I have plans. However, back to the point, I believe this is also a plausible solution. Quite possibly both thoughts were in the author's mind when he penned this lovely song. 

       However it was, I'm so glad it was written. Take these verses, each one is beautifully and cleverly crafted. Take the first verse, for example: