Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

Folk and soft rock artist, musician, and songwriter Leonard Cohen is not a Christian.  Rather, according to the New York Times, Cohen is an “observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath”.  he started his music career in 1967 after pursuing his passion in poetry and novels and passed away in November 2016.

I chose to review this song given its immense popularity and integration within western culture.  I also wanted to know for myself if it was biblical or not.

His most famous work Hallelujah was not initially popular.  It was other artists who covered it that popularized it to its current fame, including John Cale, Jeff Buckley, and Rufus Wainwright. Jeff Buckley’s recorded 1994 version remains the most popular recording, which includes additional verses not included in the original.  Many people attribute Buckley as its author.

Since I am a stickler for original artist content, we will only examine the lyrics from his original 1984 song.  Curiously, the Genius website contains verses not in his original and at least one verse added from Buckley’s release.  I will address verses 3, 4, and 6, but they will not be used to score this song.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/11678274.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

This song is intentionally vague, allowing the listeners to invoke their own interpretation from his lyrics.  This makes it extremely difficult to nail down its message, leading to what I hope is my correct opinion assessing in its meaning.

It starts off fine, with King David playing the lyre to calm the dark spirit inside King Saul.  It then takes a sharp turn for the worse, referring to David’s sin with Bathsheba, implicating her as the tempter (she is not).  As we skip over verses 3 and 4, Cohen expresses a negative attitude towards lawbreaking in the hopes that his words can still glorify God, regardless of their context.  He ends the song by relating an account of his life to God, hoping his best is good enough.  As Christians, we know that the sum of our works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), so it cannot save us.

I give Cohen credit for his honesty and faithfulness to Judaism, but since this is a Christian evaluation, I must harshly penalize it for a message contrary to the New Covenant.

Score: 3/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

While some of it makes accurate Biblical usage to make his points, Cohen’s beliefs about all words as holy, Bathsheba’s involvement with David’s, sin, poor attitude towards breaking God’s commandments, and Old Covenant approach are both contrary to the Word of God.  As stated in the introduction, I commented on verses 3, 4, and 6, but will not count them for/against this score.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-6: References the then shepherd boy David playing for King Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14-23.  It also uses musical references (e.g.; fourth/fifth chord progression, major, minor, etc) that is speculative in reference to this account, but lyrically creative.

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: The word ‘Hallelujah” is a compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, we are singing “we joyfully praise God in song” when we use this word.  This is the most famous portion of this song.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: This transitions from David’s early years to him sitting on Jerusalem’s throne as Israel’s king and seeing Bathsheba bathing and naked in 2 Samuel 11:2.  It does not say that David required proof of his faithfulness nor does it state that Bathsheba was the test.

Line 3: David gave into temptation in 2 Samuel 11:4.

Line 4: Rather than ruling as God would see fit, David is now under the control of his temptation, metaphorically tied to his throne (or chain) under enslavement to sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:20-22, and 1 Corinthians 6:12).

Line 5a: It was not Bathsheba but David who broke his own throne.  Nothing in the Scriptures indicate that she was a willing participant in David’s actions.

Line 5b: This references Judges 16:15-21, where the judge Samson, whose strength from God comes from his long hair, was tricked by the harlot Delilah into divulging his secret, losing his strength in the process.  Once again, Bathsheba is not responsible for David’s actions, nullifying the point Cohen attempts with this line.

Line 6: Despite David’s sin, he praises God, penning the most profound and intense repentance I have read in Scripture in Psalm 51:1-19.

[Verse 3 (John Cale’s 1991 recording)]

Lines 1-3: Cale refers to love.

Lines 4-6: I appreciate Cale’s honesty in his bleak take on love.  This obviously comes from a perspective of pain; However, Scripture teaches that love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

[Verse 4 (Cohen’s live performance)]

Lines 1-4: Probably a reference to sex.  More specifically, Cohen no longer has access to his lover’s physical intimacy, reminiscing on what he lost.

It is also possible that this refers to David’s lost intimacy with God using a sexual overtone.

Line 5: Cohen sees intercourse as a religious experience, referencing the dove, the Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, and John 1:32).  What is not clear is if Cohen’s lover is his wife or not.  If so, then sex bonds the two as one flesh (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:8, and Ephesians 5:31) with the Spirit’s help.  If not, this is contrary to Scripture.

If the David interpretation is accurate, it refers to the Spirit’s role to guide (John 16:13, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:26-27, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Galatians 5:18, and Galatians 5:25).

Line 6: Here the word “Hallelujah” takes on a different meaning, referring to orgasm.

However, if it refers to David, every breath we draw ought to praise God, the equivalent of praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

[Verse 5]

Lines 1-3: Such a flippant attitude towards breaking the third commandment (Exodus 20:7) is contrary to Scripture.

Lines 4-6: Cohen believes every word is holy regardless of context, contrary to studying to show one’s self as approved (2 Timothy 2:15).

[Verse 6 (Cohen’s live performance)]

Lines 1-5: Cohen’s honest take on his experiences of intimacy and love.  This keeps him from trusting God.

Line 6: Despite doubts, Cohen is still willing to show gratitude to God for the love he had, showing his praise to God.

[Verse 7]

Lines 1-3: Given Cohen’s Jewish background, it should not surprise us that he approaches God from an Old Covenant, works-based perspective.  I praise him for admitting his brokenness, but we’re no longer under this covenant.  Salvation is from grace through faith, not works (Luke 18:9-14, Acts 13:39, Romans 3:20-30, Romans 4:1-7, Romans 8:3, Romans 9:16, Romans 9:31-32, Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:10-12, Galatians 3:21, Galatians 5:2-4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 3:3-9, 2 Timothy 1:9, Hebrews 6:1-2, and James 2:10-11).  he gives an account for his life (Romans 14:12  and 2 Corinthians 5:10) with the hope that his best will grant him entry into heaven.  It is not (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10, and Romans 6:23).

Lines 4-6: I appreciate Cohen’s attitude of praising God regardless of circumstances (Romans 14:8, Philippians 1:20, Philippians 2:17, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23, and 1 Thessalonians 5:10).

Score: 2/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

GivenCohen’s intentional vague approach, unbeliever interpretation can be as varied as the number of individuals on earth.

Score: 0/10

4. What does this song glorify?

I believe Cohen “did his best” to faithfully glorify God through Judaism, which I would have been willing to grant high marks, only penalizing him for Verse 5).  However, under Christianity, his works-based approach to salvation does not bring glory to God.

Score: 1/10

Closing Comments

Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah approaches God from his background in Judaism.  His song’s low rating from a Christian review website should come as no surprise given his intentional ambiguity in lyrics, apathy in breaking the third commandment, and works-based righteousness.

He was a gifted artist and wrote a highly poetic and symbolic song, one that has a lasting impact thanks to other artists who covered it.  However, is it Biblical?  The answer is a resounding “no”.

Final Score: 1.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Hallelujah (listen to the song)

Artist: Leonard Cohen

Album: The Essential Leonard Cohen

Genre: Classic Rock

Release Year: 1984

Duration: 4:38

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