Bible Alphabet, The (The Bible A-B-C)

DESCRIPTION: Typical Alphabet song, with Biblical references: "A is for Adam who was the first man, B is for Bethlehem where Jesus was born," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad wordplay | alphabet
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 183, "The Bible A-B-C" (1 text)
Roud #16404
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Alphabet of the Bible" (subject)
NOTES [501 words]: There have been many poetic alphabets based on Bible themes published over the years; a list of some of the older ones, some of which may be related to this; for a list, see the notes to "The Alphabet of the Bible."
The various scripture references in this version:
"Adam, who was the first man": Genesis 1:27, 2:7, etc.
"Bethlehem, where Jesus was born": Matt. 2:1, Luke 2:1-4
"Cain who slayed his brother": Gen. 4:1, 8
"Dan'l who was cast in the lion's den": Daniel 6
"Elijah, who was taken up to heaven": Elijah's story occupies 1 Kings 17-19, 21, 2 Kings 1-2. His ascension occurs in 2 Kings 2:11.
"the flood that drownded the world": Gen. 6-8
"Goliath who was slain by David": 1 Samuel 17 (but cf. 2 Samuel 21:19)
"Hannah who gave her son Samuel to the Lord": 1 Samuel 2
"Isaac the son of Abraham": Gen. 17:15f.,21:1f., etc.
"Jacob who interpreted the dream": Probably a mixed reference. Jacob had a dream at Bethel in Gen. 28:11-22, but it was his son Joseph who made a reputation for interpreting dreams (Gen. 40-41)
"Korah who was swallowed up by the earth": Gen. 16
"Lazarus who Christ raised from the dead": John 11
"Methuselah who was the oldest man": Gen. 5:21-27
"Nazareth the home of Jesus": Matt. 2:23, Mark 1:9, Luke 2:2, etc.
"Olive the mount where Jesus prayed": Mark 14:26f., etc.
"Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea": Cf. Exodus 14. Note that the Bible account does not say that Pharaoh was killed, though his army was ruined. Egyptian history gives no hint of a drowned Pharaoh.
"Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon": 1 Kings 10, etc.
"Rome where Paul was put in prison": Paul went to Rome after his non-trial in Jerusalem (Acts 25:12), but the Bible does not say he was imprisoned there (though he was imprisoned in many other places); he preached there "without let or hindrance" (i.e. freely)
"Sodom the city destroyed by fire": Gen. 18-19
"Tyre where Paul preached all night": Paul's visit to Tyre is mentioned in 21:3-6. There is no evidence that Paul preached there for such a long time, however; the reference is probably to Troas, where (Acts 20:6-12), where Paul (to put it bluntly) droned on so long that he put a boy named Eutychus to sleep and caused him to fall out a window.
"Uzzah who steered the Ark" - 2 Samuel 6:2-11. We might note that Uzzah tried to keep the Ark from falling off its cart, and God killed him for it.
"the vine, represents Christ": allusion to John 15:1
"Watchman on the wall of Zion": Probably a generic allusion; there is no explicit reference to a watchman on Zion's walls. The image of the watchman is probably most typical of Isaiah (21:6, 52:8, 56:10; also, though from a different Hebrew root, 21:11, 12, 62:6)
"X is for the cross of Christ": Not a true scriptural reference. Ironically, the first letter of "Christos" in Greek is χ, chi, which looks like an X.
"the yoke of Christ": cf. Matt. 11:28-30, etc.
"Zion the home of the blessed": Numerous references starting with 2 Sam. 5:7; this appears to me to be another generic reference. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: Wa183

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