By A.C. Bridges
(Originally printed in The ARP Magazine November 1985.)
Our BIBLE Song-of-the-Month is No. 29 in Bible Songs, entitled “God Our Keeper.” It is a metrical version of Psalm 17:5-8.
Most ARPs are familiar with the prose version found as the chorus: “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.” These are the words of the Psalmist, and they are attributed to David who was “a man after God’s own heart.”
One of the most familiar words in Scripture is “keep” in one of its forms. The Christian wants to be kept by God, and he may have the assurance that he is being kept. One might think of Psalm 121 as he sings the words of this Bible Song.
The composer of this tune, as is true of so many tunes in Bible Songs, is J. B. Herbert. Herbert was a Baptist who came to Monmouth College in Illinois, an old Presbyterian college, to teach. He developed a fondness for the metrical Psalms and composed many tunes for them. He edited the old green Young People’s Psalter and compiled the Harp of David which has been republished this year by the ARP Board of Publications and contains the famous anthem, “Let Mount Zion Rejoice.”
(This Psalm can be found in the ARP Psalter 158 and in the Bible Song book 29.)
