Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
Once in Royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.
He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.
For he is our childhood’s pattern;
Day by day, like us He grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above,
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
Mary and Joseph were there in Bethlehem to be counted in the census, which, as in our day, determined the tax distribution and burden of many communities, and was a real hardship for the poor who had to travel across Israel.
The hymn focuses on the reality of the event – lowly stable, Jesus’ humble origins, and the weak and dependent baby is destined to become the savior. The hymn’s controversial nature comes from the language expressing the cultural patronizing of children during the Victorian era. However, it provides a way to identify with because he is like us and understands suffering and human suffering
In the spirit of the Romantic poetic era, Alexander speculates in stanza three that Jesus was “little, weak, and helpless” when there is no biblical account to support this. To the contrary, the one biblical witness we have of Jesus’ boyhood in Luke 2:41-52 indicates that he strayed from his parents and caused quite a stir in the temple when teachers “who heard him were amazed at his wisdom and his answers.” (Luke 2:47)
One could make a case that Alexander’s third stanza was more concerned with supporting Victorian child-rearing principles—children as submissive and “seen, but not heard”—rather than providing an accurate account of Jesus’ life.
The final stanza moves from actual childhood to a symbolic family in which we are all children of God. The poet explores the paradox that this “child, so dear and gentle” is actually the “Lord in heaven” who “leads his children on the place where he has gone.”
The original final stanza explores another paradox—the journey from the “lowly stable” to a place “at God’s right hand.” The little child who sings this song then joins the throngs in heaven who will shine “like stars”:
Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing round,
we shall see him; but in heaven,
set at God’s right hand on high;
when like stars his children crowned,
all in white shall wait around.
Thus, there is a sharp contrast in this song from the child who is characterized as a “baby in a manger” and “little child” in stanza 1 and “weak and helpless” in stanza 3, and then in stanzas 4 and 5 is seen as the “Lord in heaven above” and “at God’s right hand on high.” The Apostles’ Creed, as explained shows the same contrast when “born,” “suffered,” “dead,” and “buried” give way to “ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God” and “will come to judge the living and the dead.”