Lo, How A Rose, E'er Blooming:
But where is Isaiah's 'winter rose'!?
Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
In a typical hymnbook the following Scripture reference appears alongside the title of this carol.
"I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley"
Song of Songs 2:1
There is already a problem with this popular Scripture reference, since it appears very likely that the speaker in this verse is not the man (or "lover") but the woman ("beloved"), and so, if the verse is symbolically applied to Christ and the Church, it is the Church and not Christ who is the "rose".
The carol, however, is not based on Song of Songs at all. The second itself tells us where this "rose" is mentioned in Scripture:
Isaiah 'twas foretold it
But where does Isaiah make such a prophecy? The word "rose" does not appear in the book of Isaiah! (For that matter, the references to "flowers" in Isaiah all speak of flowers' perishing, an image of human mortality.)
The key is found in the description of the rose springing from a Wurzel or "root," and the following explanation that it/he is "from Jesse's lineage." This makes it clear that the song is based on the Messianic promise of Isaiah 11:1:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Why then a "rose"? It helps to know that the German word for "twig" or "sprig" is Reis. At some point it became confused with the word Ros ("rose"). Since the song continues to speak of him as a "flower" the confusion may have existed in the original 15th century song, reflecting a popular misquote of Isaiah. (Another possibility is that the original song was correct, but was corrupted by the misundertanding, perhaps in part because of the mention of a "flower".)
But why might people think "rose" instead of "Reis"? The likely explanation is in the common symbolism of the wintertime feast. Long before there was a "Christmas" feast, Europeans used plants that thrive or flower in the winter as a symbol of hope and life in the spring to come. Today we use the pointsettia and the fir tree in this way. Another plant that has long been used in this way is the Christmas rose.
Closely connected with the rose/flower image, this song speaks of the promised one "sprouting"
amid the cold of winter
when half-spent was the night
"Lo, How a Rose" is hardly remarkable in describing Christ's birth as taking place in the winter. In this it joins countless other carols. Doubtless this is based on the winter observance of Christ's birth. Yet, though technically we cannot assert that Christ was born in the wintertime, the use of the imagery of winter in the carols to depict the plight of the sinful world needing a Savior to bring new life is fitting.
The same may be said of fixing the time of the Savior's birth as the middle of the night. The only connection of Christ's birth with nighttime is the appearance of the angel to the shepherds at night (Luke 2), though he simply says the birth has taken place "Today." Yet Scripture itself suggests the appropriateness of the darkness of night as an image of the time of the coming of the glorious "light of the world,"
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light"
(Isaiah 9:2/Matthew 4:16)
"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. . .
(Isaiah 60:1-2)
He is indeed the One who
dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere.
Seldom have all these uncertain and even incorrect ideas come together more effectively than in this carol. The powerful poetic image of a flower, particularly a beautiful rose, sprouting in the winter captures the imagination. (It has, for instance, been echoed in the "Christmas rose" of "Gesu Bambino". Even Bette Middler's "The Rose" plays on this picturesque image, though it is unlikely that song intends any connection with the Christmas story.) It is as difficult to leave behind as to correct the translation error that turned Cinderella's fur slipper into a glass one. And, all in all, it seems rather harmless to maintain. Perhaps in its own poetic way it makes the point even clearer.
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