#514: O Word of God Incarnate

[lutheranhymns]

Long extended metaphor about how God's word is like light. Light in the sky, a lantern, a "lamp of burnished gold" (is this an allusion to some obscure Bible story? I don't know if so.) It's also like navigational tools to guide metaphorical sailors (or a lighthouse, maybe?) through "mists and rocks and quicksands." Yes, the word "quicksands" appears in the ELW. If you'd asked me to bet on that proposition I would probably have lost a decent amount of money, but the "sea travel is dangerous" era was a good one for hymnwriters.