Glad tidings for a darksome world

Old, outdated words get a bad rap. About a week and a half ago, I was picking hymns for Sunday, and I chose one that includes this line:

“Behold how many thousands still are lying
Bound in the darksome prison house of sin,”

Darksome. I doubt I have ever used that word in conversation. I doubt I’ve ever used it period, except for the occasions when I’ve been singing, “O Zion, Haste, Your Mission High Fulfilling.”

Some might say that “darksome” is nothing more than a two-syllable version of “dark,” used to make the meter work. Maybe. Some might say it should be rendered to the dustbin of antiquity along with “thine” and “thou.” This attitude is especially common amongst my own age group, since we were reared on the NIV and NASB and think KJV-isms like the aforementioned (speaking of fun words) examples are useless and confusing. Again, maybe. After all, language is dynamic and evolving. Words take on new meanings over time. Old words get discarded when they’re no longer needed and new ones get invented or coined when the need arises. (For example, I like to demonstrate how different Biblical Hebrew is from Modern Hebrew by saying, “I never learned the Hebrew word for ‘airplane,'” since, ya know, Moses didn’t have any airplanes to write about.)

So maybe we should just ditch “darksome,” find a way to make the meter for that hymn work, and move on. But I must say that “darksome” caught my attention and made me think about that lyric more than I otherwise would have. Plus, it’s not like it’s hard to figure out the meaning. It fairly obviously means dark, but the extra syllable seems to be just a little more foreboding. Webster’s online says it means, “Gloomily somber.”

Speaking of which, I’ve been watching a lot of cop shows lately. The one I was watching tonight right before bed was about a junkie trying to get clean. I don’t know if he’s gonna make it. His chances look slim. The outlook is glum. And as I sat there watching this poor guy, the word that popped into my head was “darksome.” As in, a “darksome prison house of sin.” Maybe that’s a stretch or a coincidence. Or maybe that old hymn with the old word finally gave me a lens to see and describe an all too common situation for what it is- darksome and seemingly hopeless.

Behold how many thousands still are lying
Bound in the darksome prison house of sin,
With none to tell them of the Savior’s dying,
Or of the life He died for them to win.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just a frustrated journalism major who likes fancy words. Or maybe I’m frustrated because this world is darksome and depressing and fallen, and it’s sometimes hard to find the right word to express just that.

It’s getting late, and a preacher rambling about strange old words like “darksome” the day before he has to preach borders on “gloomily somber” in its own right. Fair enough, but it’s also important to understand the darksomeness (spellcheck doesn’t like that, but let’s run with it) of this world so that you can know how much and how urgently we need to publish glad tidings, tidings of peace, tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

Here’s a link to the full lyrics of the hymn, O Zion, Haste, Your Mission High Fulfllling: http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/z/ozionhas.htm