WHM:let’s sing “Follow the Prophet”
by Mary Ann
In honor or Women’s History Month, I’ve written a few extra verses for the Primary song “Follow the Prophet”. I thought the FMH community might enjoy seeing them.
(Judges 4)
Deborah was a prophet—
she judged Israel.
Led them into battle,
triumphed with Jael.
God will guide our leaders,
women can lead too.
They will show the way to
God for me and you.
(2 Kings 22 & 23)
Huldah was a prophet—
she warned Judah’s king
“keep the law, repent!
or evil I will bring”
Humbled by the word,
the king changed Judah’s ways
Huldah’s counsel lengthened
out the city’s days.
(Luke 2:36-38)
Anna was a prophet
in Jerusalem,
recognized redemption’d
come to all of them.
Anna testified that
Jesus was the one,
just as all the prophets
’fore and since have done.
I can’t help but wonder how different I would be if I had grown up singing verses like that in primary.
Comment by Karen — March 17, 2007 @ 12:43 am
Bravo Mary Ann - This rocks!
Comment by Annastasia — March 17, 2007 @ 1:03 am
It’s about time someone wrote additional women-based verses for that song!
The lines “recognized redemption’d / come to all of them” in the Anna verse are akward and aren’t clear in their meaning, but excellent job on the other 22 lines you wrote!
Comment by Janell the Great — March 17, 2007 @ 1:37 am
Congrats, Mary Ann! Loved the verses and the positive spin they had (some of the current verses in “Follow the Prophet” I refuse to sing because of the “be good or be damned” approach :)).
Sang them to my husband, and he sends his kudos as well!
Comment by Chris — March 17, 2007 @ 7:55 am
These are great! But then we’ll have to change the end of the chorus into a gender-neutral phrase. I suggest: “Follow the prophets — they’ll show the way!”
Comment by CW — March 17, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
Thanks for the feedback!
I like the idea for making the refrain neutral–one for all works better than the s/he split.
Janell, you’re right about Anna’s verse. It’s too bad that we don’t have more about her, or that I’m not more creative. I was trying to stick to just the stuff in the scriptures without speculating too much about these women. Anyway, it was fun to write them.
Comment by Mary Ann — March 17, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
Ooh, tonight I want to fiddle with some more verses! This is great fun! And I love the gender-nuetral chorus idea.
Comment by Janet — March 17, 2007 @ 1:31 pm
MaryAnn - dug this. thanks for writing and submitting them!
More, more!
Comment by EmilyS — March 17, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Ditto on the approval for the gender neutral chorus! I’m always having to remind people, “There have been prophets who were women.” If we can change the primary song, “Geneology, I am doing it,” to “Family History, I am doing it” and updating the Prophet’s song, those in charge could certainly tweak a few more songs
Comment by Janell the Great — March 17, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Wow, Mary Ann, I really love this. My husband and I just read Judges a few weeks ago.
Comment by Serenity Valley — March 17, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
These are great!!
I remember as a child/young woman reading about “Deborah: Prophetess and Judge” in one of the church magazines and thinking that was Really Cool.
Comment by Pam W. — March 17, 2007 @ 6:57 pm
Hip Hip Hooray for new verses to Follow the Prophet!!!
Comment by Kage — March 17, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
I just want to join the chorus and tell you how great these are! Anyone plan to mouth the new words in Primary? (I remember when the only way I could get the boys in my Blazer class to sing was if we changed the words).
Comment by JohnR — March 17, 2007 @ 11:16 pm
Do you have plans to submit these to Salt Lake?
I am interested to get their response.
Maybe somebody knows somebody on the general Primary Board (I kind of do, one of my old college professors, Dave Magelby’s wife. Linda, is on the board)
Perhaps you could get in touch with someone and submit them for publications.
Great verses.
Comment by Jessawhy — March 17, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
bless you, bless you, bless you, mary ann!
I’ll share these verses with my folks- it may leave them speechless for a bit
Comment by G — March 18, 2007 @ 12:42 am
“A prophet”, as in someone who has a testimony of Christ is very different from “THE prophet”, as in someone who holds the keys, has the authority to lead the Church. The ending of the chorus is a reminder to follow THE prophet, who is a man. Don’t confuse the two definitions.
(Sorry for using caps, I’m not shouting, just adding emphasis.)
Cheers.
Comment by FL — March 18, 2007 @ 12:56 am
Janell and Jessawhy, per the suggestion that these verses be officially added, I haven’t given it much serious thought. I wrote these mostly for the sake of doing it. But just for the sake of it, lets ask:
How many of you think there should be a serious effort to get them into the song book?
FL raises a good point, though not one that I agree with. Deborah and Huldah were absolutely God’s mouthpiece in their communities. They were in every sense THE prophet, as far as I know. Can someone add insight here? Anna seems to be one among other prophets in her day, as was Miriam (Moses’ sister). But at least with Deborah and Huldah, I think we have conter examples to FL’s assertion.
Comment by Mary Ann — March 18, 2007 @ 1:10 am
A prophet is not only someone who has a testimony of Christ. A prophet is the mouthpiece of the Lord who teaches and testifyes of God and proclaims His word. Yes, a prophet can refer to anyone who preaches of Christ, but the context generally is a person of particular authority. In past times we have a fewexamples of there being multiple prophets at once - such as the time of Jeremioah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Lehi just before the destruction of Jerusalem. In modern times we have 14 men sustained to the position of prophets (the first presidency and the quorum of the 12). We use the term “the prophet” to refer to the leader of this group. In that sense, yes, “the prophet” is a priesthood position and, as such, always a man.
Ok. I recast my fictional vote (because it’s not like voting really matters) to going with the less lyrical words, “Follow the prophets. They know the way.”
Comment by Janell the Great — March 18, 2007 @ 4:28 am
Oh, the second part. I think the song is long enough and more verses do not really need to be added to it. It would be interesting to see some sort of Children’s magazine snippet explaining how to encourage children to write their own verses about prophets or some such.
Comment by Janell the Great — March 18, 2007 @ 4:33 am
Fabulous! These verses should definitely be in the song; if some think it’s too long, remove a few of the men and keep it balanced…
Definitely worthy of submission. Please do!
Comment by Rich — March 18, 2007 @ 11:17 am
i loved it..:)
Debrauk
Comment by debrauk — March 18, 2007 @ 6:10 pm
Well done. I second the motion to get them into the official versions. It probably won’t happen, though. But one can dream
Comment by Natasha — March 18, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
#16-18 — We hear “prophet, seer, revelator, president, high priest” all rolled into one, but I think each term can be considered a “hat” that can be worn either 1) all hats at once by one person at the same time (GBH), or perhaps 2) one person could wear one hat and another person could wear another hat at different times. In the OT, I think we see this. There are prophets (men or women) who don’t necessarily have priestly authority or presiding power, but they do indeed seem to be speaking God’s word. I have to catch myself projecting modern hierarchy/bureaucracy onto ancient times, when there’s little clear indication that there was a centralized “president” in the same way we have today.
I like the verses and will print them out and add them to my Primary songbook.
Comment by Joanne LC — March 18, 2007 @ 11:46 pm
projecting modern hierarchy/bureaucracy onto ancient times, when there’s little clear indication that there was a centralized “president” in the same way we have today
This is dead on. I met a man in Germany a few years ago who was just plain angry when we asserted that our chruch had prophets–a living prophet NOW–and that this prophet was THE prophet. He opened up his bible and read about some of the concurrent prophets (see Janell’s #18), and we just stood there feeling a bit confused. It is with this experience in my mind that I would like to see greater discussion in church of the differences between contemporary prophethood and the incarnations it saw in the past–women, multiple prophets, etc.
Comment by Mary Ann — March 19, 2007 @ 1:00 am
All of the quorum of the twelve are prophets, seers, and revelators, but Gordon B. Hinckley is the only one who is designated as the President of the Church, so that’s what can be meant by he is THE prophet…but there are concurrent prophets even in our time.
Comment by Mari — March 19, 2007 @ 1:12 am
I wish we did better teach contemporary and ancient differences, like suggested within Marry Ann (#24)’s comment - it would certainly help us better understand the scriptures when reading them!
Comment by Janell the Great — March 19, 2007 @ 1:56 am
I think you should absolutely attempt to get these added to the song! They are good enough! I’m sure there are people on this blog with the connections to get them submitted. I’m willing to help in whatever way I can.
Comment by Rachel — March 19, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
Amen.
Comment by steven Ford — March 19, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
In response to the “not THE prophet” comment, here’s some exerpts from the published children’s song…
“Samuel was A prophet”…”Jonah was A prophet”…”If we heed THE PROPHETS (plural)”…”Abraham was A prophet”…
None of these were THE prophets, God calls many. Samuel was chosen as a boy, and we would consider him a prophet before he was THE prophet, Abraham paid tithes to another, Jonah was one of many prophets at the time. Further, what about Lehi, he was one of many although Jeramiah was another one at the same time. The point of the song is to follow God’s chosen prophetS…These are awesome additions that are very much in line with the published version of the song…unless I’m somehow mistaken…
Comment by M(a)cBeth — March 19, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
I’d like to see it official somehow too.
Comment by cchrissyy — March 19, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
I simply was asserting, that the ending chorus is for us to follow the living prophet.
“Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, he knows the way.” Is a charge to follow our sustained prophet who currently holds the keys and has the authority to act on those keys.
I’m all for educating our children about the stalwart women in collective Christian history (Bible and elsewhere) who are/were valiant in their testimony. The point I’m making is about authority, which requires priesthood keys. I will be choosing to follow the prophet with the keys, thank you.
Regarding, one sense of the word prophet being one who has a testimony of Christ, it is instructive to read the LDS Bible Dictionary on the subject. I also noticed the use of the word “he” throughout the entry.
Link: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bd/p/61
Comment by FL — March 20, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
FL, I completely agree that the living prophet is essential–absolutely THE prophet to follow. I have no wish to detract from the current prophet in any way. I hope that the verses I worte would further emphasize how miraculous it is that we have prophets, rather than in some way diminishing them.
And you are right that in the here and now, authority, maleness, and priesthood seem to all be wrapped into one neat package. But as we know, the duties of the priesthood, who held it, or was eligible to; these are things that have changed over time. It ought to give us pause, at the very least when we consider the past. It is false to claim that our current ‘job description’ for a prophet is the only way it has ever been.
Deborah and Huldah, maybe Anna too were not just “stalwart women”. They were “preachers of righteousness. When the people had fallen away from the true faith in Jehovah, the prophets had to try to restore that faith and remove false views about the charater of God and the nature of the Divine requirement. In certain cases prophets predicted future events”. FL, that is exactly what Deborah and Huldah did, and that’s a quote from the Bible Dictionary describing it.
Once more, you are right about the Bible Dictionary’s exclusive use of ‘he’ in describing the prophets’ role. I noticed that too. But it also says that prophets “taught the men”. Does that mean their words aren’t for women?
Comment by Mary Ann — March 20, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
these are great, mary ann. i very much appreciate anyone paying attention to the female prophets of the scriptures (some of whom are also named as priestesses).
and i just want to say that it’s either ignorance or willful disregard to assert that because an entry about prophets uses “he” there’s something inherently male about the office of prophet. in english, the default pronoun is “he” and the default designation for humanity is “mankind” or “men.” that does not necessarily mean that the definition or statement can only be applied to males.
Comment by amelia — March 22, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
I love these verses. Please try to publish them as part of the children’s songbook! I’ve taught the Sunbeams for two years, and before that I was the ward chorister, I’m also a mother of three daughters. I am bothered by the fact that throughout the church publications (lesson manuals, GAK, songs, etc.) girls are taught that males are like Christ (prophets, priesthood, etc.) and that females are absent, unimportant, etc. These verses would give girls female heroes instead of only male heroes.
Comment by Kelly — March 22, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
If your new lyrics were even close to being inspired by God or the spirit then they would be added to the song and taught in primary but they are not of God! As far as needing something like this to create women heros … I feel sorry for you. I am a house wife and proud of it. That alone makes me a hero to my little girls. If you honestly feel like that is not enough then yyou truly don’t understand how vital a role you play and how loved you are in God’s eyes. He would never let the leaders of our church put us down or do anything to diminish our importance.
Comment by erin — April 11, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Oh, erin, I’m an absolute novice lyric writer, and so the blame lies with me if my little rhymes are found wanting. I would never claim that God inspired them. I simply opened my Bible and read.
Please don’t feel sorry for me or the other women who enjoy learning about the depth and variety of our sex throughout time. It is enriching to gain all the knowledge we can about ourselves and our mothers and grandmothers.
As one housewife to another, I applaud you. Yes, a housewife is a hero, one of the many ways a woman can show heroism. The nobility of the housewife-hero does not close the door on other ways to be heroic or diminish the possibility of being a heroic prophet, judge, or commander of armies. You don’t need to feel threatened by this.
Comment by mary ann — April 14, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
very creative mary ann, you did a good job. But I’m sure you understand that the song is speaking of following the “Prophet” - refering to the president of the church, not just one who has the gift of prophesy.
Comment by Talmage — May 4, 2008 @ 11:27 am
Deborah, Huldah and Anna were prophetesses in the sense that they received prophecies from God. But they were not called to preside over the church.
Comment by Talmage — May 4, 2008 @ 11:31 am
Talmage, I have to wonder if you have read the scripture references I gave for each of my verses. If you had, you would already know that Deborah and Huldah are not cases where just any-old woman for a brief moment had the gift of prophecy. These women were sought out by the political leaders of Israel who recognized that their authority to speak for God. If they weren’t the spiritual leaders, or THE prophet for Israel at that time, then who was?
It really is too bad that Anna’s entire story is confined to two verses. I would love to know more about her. But with only two verses, hers is the only case where you can claim the ” just the gift of prophecy” argument.
As for whether my verses are inconsistent with the song, I don’t think they are. There is only one verse that refers to a prophet who is also the president of the church (the last one). Old Testament prophets are another story. Some of them were the rough equivalent of our contemporary prophet (being an administrative/political and spiritual leader), but others never had both roles. In general, we tend to conflate of our current prophet job-description with the one we read about in the Bible. But this is rarely accurate, and I think there is much to be gained by examining the differences that have existed over time to better understand the breadth and variety that is represented in the “prophet” experience.
Comment by mary ann — May 23, 2008 @ 7:39 pm
Mary Ann,
I love your response to Erin in #36. Also, thank you very much for this post. I love it.
Comment by Andrea — May 23, 2008 @ 11:00 pm
Me Too..
You did a great job with the verses. We already have our ‘altered hymnbook’ with ‘He’ll’ changed to “they’ll’. Also on the Christmas hymns “Peace on Earth, Good will to All.”
Also we frequently have swapped “Another” or “Other” with Brother.
On Praise to the Man we sing that he’ll prepare for his PEOPLE (not brethern.) The list goes on and on.
I really appreciate what you are trying to do and I think Erin is defensive for reasons other than she what she wrote. Too often women are our own worst enemies.
Comment by Elise — May 24, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
You’re brilliant. Please keep up the good work! I would hope to incorporate these lyrics in primary and especially in girls’ achievement. Thank you so much!
Comment by Ruth — May 16, 2009 @ 11:46 pm
I love this!
Comment by Jddaughter — May 17, 2009 @ 12:14 am
GHB was a false Prophet, as was Howard Hunter, Ezra Taft Benson and so on and So on and so On….did I mention that I am the daughter of the late “BIG BOPPER”?
Comment by Sue Bopper-Simpson — May 8, 2010 @ 9:41 am
What makes you say so, Sue? Or are you just drivin’ by?
Big Bopper- the song writer?
Comment by Kimberly — May 8, 2010 @ 10:30 am
Isn’t GHB the date rape drug?
Comment by Risa — May 8, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
You are brilliant! These verses should definitely be added to the primary hymnbook and sung. I’m going to print and sing them to my little girl. Thank you.
Comment by Ladyship — June 18, 2010 @ 7:00 pm