Rod

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan's tyranny

From depths of hell Thy people save

And give them victory o'er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!

What in the world is a "rod of Jesse"? A lot of folks have no idea even who Jesse is (unless he's the uncle on Full House). In the Bible, Jesse is the father of David—yes, that David, the shepherd boy who (eventually) became King David. There is a prophecy (a proclamation and a promise) that says out of his family, God will bring a savior, a Messiah.

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" (Isaiah 11:1). The "shoot" is a living branch, sort of like how a new plant will grow out of what seems to be a dead trunk. Immediately, the "shoot" or the "rod" that was to come from Jesse's family was David, the one who would unify Israel, save them from their enemies, and establish the nation.

But long-term, the one who would, as the hymn suggests, save people beyond nationalistic hopes was Jesus. Jesus was born in the family line of David, as the genealogies in Matthew and Luke remind us. Jesus was of royal heritage, but by the time he arrived on the scene, the line of David was no longer in power (and hadn't been for a long, long time). Jesus was born in poverty, and David's town (Bethlehem) was of no account, sort of hidden in the shadow of the mighty Jerusalem. No one was really paying attention to his family, and so you might say Jesus snuck in the back door, but was always in plain sight. Had those who studied the prophets bothered to check, they could have easily figured out who he was—and is!

Jesus is the branch/shoot/rod of Jesse that has come to rescue humanity from sin, death and the grave—and that is reason to rejoice.

The rod of Jesse is the one who gives us hope.