Short history of the Christmas carol "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night," a best-loved Nativity song.

"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" is a Christmas carol written by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, and music arranged from George F. Handel (1685-1759) with the Tune Name: "Christmas." The text came from the biblical Scripture in Luke 2:8-14: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night…"

"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" has an easy to understand narrative, and has remained one of the most popular Christmas songs, found in nearly every Protestant hymnal.

Brief History of the Hymn

From the beginning if the 16th-century Protestant Reformation until the 18th-century, the singing of hymns was practically non-existent in England and the United States. Congregational singing consisted of versified forms of the Psalms. The psalter used exclusively during this entire period was the Sternhold-Hopkins Psalter, published in 1562. It was known for its faithfulness to the original Hebrew, however, it was rather crude and unpoetic in character of its texts.

During the reign of William and Mary in 1696, two Irishmen, Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, collaborated in undertaking a new metrical version of the Psalms more in keeping with the literary tastes of the day. This new psalter, known as the New Version, was met with widespread resistance. The villagers believed that Tate and Brady were being disloyal to God's words from the Psalms.

As time went by, and with the official endorsement by King William III, the New Version supplanted the old Sternhold-Hopkins Psalter throughout the Church of England. From England it came to the United States of America, where it was adopted by the American Episcopal Church. Tate and Brady, in fact, had already published a supplement to their New Version in 1700 The supplement contained 16 hymns in addition to the metrical Psalms. One of these original hymns was Tate's Christmas carol description of the angel' appearance to the shepherds as described in Luke 2: 8-14: "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks."

Text Author Nahum Tate and Collaborator Nicholas Brady

Nahum Tate (1652-1715) was born in Dublin, the son of an Irish clergyman. Educated at Trinity College, he was proclaimed Poet Laureate of England for the Court of William and Mary during their reign. Sadly, his intemperate living as a drunkard and a spendthrift eventually led to his downfall. In 1715, he died at a debtor's refuge in Southwark, London. Nicholas Brady (1659-1726), also Irishman and Tate's friend, was educated at both Oxford and Trinity Colleges. He later served the Anglican Church at Cork, England.

Composer George Frideric Handel

The music for this carol has been adapted from a work by George Frideric Handel, German-born English composer best known for his oratorio, Messiah.

First stanza:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around,

And glory shone around.

Text and Music

CyberHymnal

Sources

101 Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications (1982)

A Companion to Together in Song, by Wesley Milgate and D'Arcy Wood, The Australian Hymn Book Pty Ltd. (2006)