De nacht loopt ten einde = The Night Now Is Ending, 1967 - 1994

This song, from the early Oosterhuis-Huijbers repertoire, has also bee called The Song Of Deliverance Which Is At Hand. In typical Oosterhuis form, its text is a midrash, a collection of biblical texts which knit together through association for didactic and literary purposes. It recalls various biblical titles, including Son of Man, Morning Star and Emmanuel. It alludes to several biblical themes, especially the expectations of coming deliverance, the need to die so as to live, the branch (root) of Jesse from which the nation would flourish, and the need for the seed to die in the earth so that through winter's long night it would return to life. It invokes eschatological images about the coming messianic age, drawing on Psalm 72 (a champion for the poor), Psalm 24 (the source of unending justice), Psalm 118 (the arrival among us of one sent in the name of the Lord) and Philippians 4 (the Suffering Servant themes of Isaiah). It also draws on the many wintery images which characterize not only a time of exile but the seasonal landscape of the Netherlands: sea and storms which flood the land, dead trees and fallen branches blocking the way, and the newly-exposed, hesitant green twig. All of these images would feature later in the text of People of God. Among the many biblical ideas, specific references are made to: Isaiah 21:22 Isaiah 9:2 Psalm 130 Psalm 72:5 Isaiah 8:14 Psalm 24 The night now is ending, the morning is coming, says the watchman. The people who walk in darkness shall see a great light. The watchman waits for the dawn as Israel the Lord. He shall champion the poor, and his kingdom shall last till moon and sun be no more. A child will be born for us who will be called Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God is with us'. Open wide, you gates eternal, lift up higher, you ancient doors; that the King of Glory (the source of eternal justice) may enter. This is the song of a night-watch people, the community of the anawim, the poor and small ones, who have kept vigil in expectation of the coming Messiah. They have remained faithful to the memory of the return of the Risen Jesus. In the fulness of time, it is they who would inherit the earth, an earth scoured clean of excess and abuse. There are no triumphalistic images, none from Daniel about riding in in glory from some distant heaven. The one we await is already among us, and has been all the time, one devoid of all honor but in the still, small voice of the poor, readily identifiable as the anti-hero of The Song At The Foot Of The Mountain. Theologians call this immanent eschatology. This kingdom is not from beyond the stars but continues to take root here among us. Of such stuff are our dreams truly born. - Tony Barr