Murmuring

During church yesterday, an investigator (someone looking into the LDS Church) asked me about one of the hymns from the program. Specifically, he was worried that there was an accuracy in the lyrics. The hymn in question was called "Behold the Great Redeemer Die" and it's about the crucifixion of Christ. It is Hymn 191 in the hymn book. One of the lines in the hymn says: "Although in agony he hung, no murmuring words escaped his tongue." As you may recall, in Matthew 27:46, it says: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There was some concern that this scripture rendered the hymn inaccurate (i.e., saying "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" equates to "murmuring").

Afterwards, I talked to a couple of people about this concern. All of them pointed out to me that "murmuring" has a very specific meaning in a Biblical context - grumbling or whining under your breath. Murmuring is even considered a sin (see non-LDS source #1 and #2). Simply speaking or making sound does not qualify as "murmuring". You'd have to argue that Jesus was specifically whining in this situation and doing it in a way that he didn't want others to hear to make it "murmuring". I think it's hard to make that argument. In a different non-LDS source regarding Matthew 27:46, it says that may think Jesus was making a very deliberate reference to Psalm 22 when he spoke - a scripture that he hoped people would recall and investigate later (for their benefit). So, again, I think it's very challenging to categorize Jesus' statement on the cross as "murmuring".

Most of you probably don't care about this but, since I spent some time looking into the topic, I figured I'd post it here for future reference. At any rate, you can sleep well at night knowing that Hymn #191 in the LDS hymn book is accurate as written and there is no need for changes or reprinting. =)