O God of Bethel

DESCRIPTION: "O God of Bethel, by whose hand Thy people still are fed, Who through this weary pilgrimage Hast all our fathers led; "Through each perplexing path of life Our wandering footsteps guide; Give us each day our daily bread, and raiment fit provide."
AUTHOR: Words: Philip Doddridge (1702-1751)
EARLIEST DATE: 1736 (source: hymnary.org)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad food clothes
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 108, "Through each perplexing path of life" (1 fragment)
Roud #25514
NOTES [152 words]: For brief background on author Philip Doddridge, see the notes to "The Last Words of Copernicus." It is not possible to list an author of the tune; the hymn has had multiple tunes, none of them at all dominant.
The title "God of Bethel" probably refers to Genesis 28 and 31; in chapter 28, who is fleeing his brother Esau, has a vision and calls the place where he has it Bethel ("House of God") -- Genesis 28:17. In Genesis 31:13, God comes to Jacob again, declaring himself the God of Bethel.
Of course, Alice Kane didn't remember that part. She remembered the "perplexing path[s] of life." Ironically, the word "perplexing" never occurs in the King James Bible (although "perplexity" and "perplexed" occur in Esther 3:15, Isaiah 22:5, Joel 1:18, Micah 7:4, Luke 9:7, 21:25, 24:4, 2 Corinthians 4:8); certainly there are no references to "perplexing paths." That's a Doddridge image, not a Biblical one. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC108A

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