Top of Mount Zion (When I Reach That City on the Hill)

DESCRIPTION: "On the top of Mount Zion is a city" -- the city of salvation. The singer briefly describes it and makes plans to go there. He describes what will happen "when I reach that city on the hill"
AUTHOR: Johnson Oatman Jr. (1856-1922) (source: hymnary.org)
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (recorded from Buna Vista Hicks)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious nonballad death | city hill
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, pp. 95-96, "On the Top of Mount Zion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7133
RECORDINGS:
Buna Hicks, "Top of Mt. Zion" (on USWarnerColl01)
Amy Michels, "When I Reach That City" (Piotr-Archive #167, recorded 05/10/2022)
NOTES [222 words]: In secular usage, the name "Zion" and "Mount Zion" referred to the more eastern of the hills on which Jerusalem rested -- the name first occurs in the Bible in 2 Samuel 5:7, where David attacks the "stronghold of Zion," the key to the city of the Jebusites, which became the City of David -- i.e. the citadel of the Davidic capital. The term is generally used in the Psalms to include the broader area around the Temple -- i.e. the City on Mount Zion is the whole city of Jerusalem.
The name is not common in the New Testament, and six of the eight New Testament usages to be Old Testament citations -- most notably, Romans 11:16 (citing Isaiah) says that the deliverer comes from Zion. But the two uses of the name not derived from the Hebrew Bible are noteworthy: Hebrews 11:22 refers to coming to "Mount Zion and the city of the living God, while Revelation 14:1 says that the lamb stood on Mount Zion. Thus Mount Zion is an accepted, though not a common, name for the heavenly city.
Author Johnson Oatman Jr. seems to have been incredibly prolific, but only a handful of his songs achieved much popularity (based on the hymnal count at hymnary.org). His most popular songs appear to have been "There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus," "I'm pressing on the upward way," and "When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RcToMZi

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