Hosanna!

Yesterday in church, the children came into the sanctuary waving palm fronds and singing “Hosanna” and it was so cute and yet so very inspiring!  It seems that every Palm Sunday, no matter where I worship, the congregation always does something similar and all services involve shouting hosanna!  Today I found myself wondering about that word -  hosanna.  When I got home, I spent a little time with my new BFF, Google!


Hosanna is defined in Merriam-Webster as a cry of acclamation and adoration.  That makes sense, right? Matthew 21:9 tells us about Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey.  “The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!””  


But, wait!  I also found out that hosanna is from the Hebrew word hosiana or hoshana that means save or rescue.  I’m not getting the connection – adoration vs. salvation?  And here's another bit of information - did you know that the word hosanna is not used in the old testament?  At least, Google and I couldn’t find it!  So when did we start using “hosanna” to honor the Lord?  I did discover one idea and I think you will find it very interesting!  But, let’s preface it with this fact:  at this time (the time we now refer to as Palm Sunday), there was no split between Judaism and Christianity yet.  (This is important to the conclusion!)


It all starts with a Hebrew phrase, domine salvum me fac, which translates to “Lord, save me.”   Back in the Old Testament days, people would use this phrase to ask a king to help or save them.  This Hebrew phrase was also part of the service at the Feast of Tabernacles (see Psalm 118), which celebrated the Lord’s deliverance of Israel into the promised land.  The Hebrew for salvum fac or serva nunc was hoshi'a na. This was repeated so frequently that it became abbreviated into hosanna; the seventh day of the feast was called the Great Hosanna; and the palm branches received the name of hosannas.  


No one really knows how Hosanna made the shift from salvation to celebration.  There are a few theories out there but the one I find most likely is that when Jesus was entering Jerusalem and the multitudes were waving the palm fronds, they naturally thought of the Great Hosanna service and made the connection.  Who knows?  Maybe they were both praising Jesus Christ as the King and asking for salvation!  I hope so because I really find that satisfying….


Maybe as years progressed and Christianity became its own sect, the “hosanna” shouted in Jerusalem on this awesome day eventually became synonymous with adoration and the salvation piece just fell to the wayside.  Or possibly it stemmed from the Feast of Tabernacles, a season of great rejoicing.  There was a saying among the Jews that those who had not witnessed it, did not know what joy meant.  This might be how Hosanna became associated with rejoicing, joy or even adoration.

I don’t know about you, but I kind of like thinking that this one word, Hosanna, has the dual function of asking for salvation while at the same time adoring our Lord.  I know it will have this meaning to me forevermore!
 
Hosanna!