My Favorite Hymn!

Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed?
alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die?
would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as i?
was it for sins that i have done He suffered on the tree?
amazing pity! grace unknown! and love beyond degree!

well might the sun in darkness hide
and shut his glory in
when Christ, the great Redeemer, died
for man, the creature, 's sin

thus might i hide my blushing face while His dear cross appears
dissolve my heart in thankfulness and melt mine eyes to tears

but drops of grief can ne'er repay
the debt of love i owe
here, Lord - i give myself away
tis all that i can do
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i think most people don't understand this song, mostly because i didn't for a very long time. i mean, we're talking about like 6 years or something! anyway, here's the rundown (and yes, this is very exegetical and literary and you can suck it up, because i'm an english major and right now doing this sort of thing is my job):
1) "alas! and did my Savior bleed and did my Sovereign die?" - basically what we're saying here is "how awful that my God and King would suffer like this!" combined with the thought "i am absolutely dumbfounded by this!"
2) "was it for sins that i have done He suffered on the tree?" - "so He endured the cross to pay for my sin?"
3) "amazing pity! grace unknown! and love beyond degree!" - nuff said
4) "well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glory in, when Christ, the great Redeemer, died for man, the creature, 's sin." - when it got dark at midday on Good Friday, we're saying we don't blame it - that's a good reason to quit shining, when the God of the universe pours Himself out like a drink offering to buy back some measely little people
5) "thus might i hide my blushing face while His dear cross appears, dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes to tears" - like the sun from #4, i hide when i see the way Christ took my shame and infirmity and it was nailed to the cross with Him. this leads to utter thankfulness and "tears" ("godly grief" "leads to repentance" - 2 corinthinans 7:10).
6) "but drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love i owe" - there is no way all i have to offer - which is tears, by the way - can reimburse God for what He shelled out.
7) "here, Lord - i give myself away, tis all that i can do" - this is kinda an ironic line, since i am no longer mine to give anyway - the point of #6 partly is that we have been bought, and we can't buy ourselves out of that. even so, there is some resolution, some agreeing with the ownership God now exerts over my soul, implicit in this line. plus, what else can you do for Someone Who loves like Christ?