Wait, but who’s the soldier then?

Speaking of songs on repeat, I’ve had this one going for the past three weeks (so not closing in on 1,500 replays anytime soon). The lyrics go as follow:

There will come a soldier
Who carries a mighty sword
He will tear your city down, o lei o lai o lord
O lei, o lai, o lei, o lord
He will tear your city down, o lei o lai o lord.

There will come a poet
Whose weapon is his word
He will slay you with his tongue, o lei o lai o lord
O lei, o lai, o lei, o lord
He will slay you with his tongue, o lei o lai o lord.

There will come a ruler
Whose brow is laid in thorn
Smeared with oil like David’s boy, o lei o lai o lord
O lei, o lai, o lei, o lord
Smeared with oil like David’s boy, o lei o lai o lord.

O lei, o lai, o lei, o lord
He will tear your city down, o lei o lai.

~

The reason I bring this to your attention is because I need any number of second opinions to figure out the lyrics. The third verse pretty clearly seems to be talking about Jesus (“brow is laid in thorn” and “smeared with oil like David’s boy”), but the others seem less clear. David and Solomon maybe? Are we hitting up ye olde famliy tree? Or are they all christological? Like Prophet, Priest, and King, only with more sword-fighting? Or am I totally off track here?

Anyways, the real point is I have nothing to say tonight. I hit up the Florists again at the library (for a couple of hours with some solid story beats to show for it), because the planning stages are always the most fun. And I keep forgetting the latest version of Pine&Meyer Ch.6 at home.

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6 Responses to Wait, but who’s the soldier then?

  1. Your Local Friendly IT Guy says:

    Ah, conveniently “forgetting” Pine&Meyer back at home. Right. Right…

    As to your initial query: What little I could find all pointed to it being all Christological. Which it sounds like that song is supposed to be the joyous “triumph” song after the others. So that’s all the redemption. I guess.

    I actually had the exact same question after I listened to it… then read your post and realized we had the exact same question. 😛

    • Your Local Friendly IT Guy says:

      And now I realize that I wrote the exact same question twice. (Excuse the awkwardness in the previous sentence as I really needed to make it three times.)

      • A.L. Schultz says:

        I will! Mind you, I can actually go in and edit other people’s comments, but I’ll leave your’s alone in case anyone gets confused about what you’re talking about. More confused, that is.

    • A.L. Schultz says:

      I actually went through a bunch of their songs to try and figure out if they had other Christian themes (or at least biblical allusions) to see if I could find a pattern, but this seems to be the only one.

      Also, forgetting is convenient when applied correctly.

      • Your Local Friendly IT Guy says:

        Yeah, from what I’ve read they are Christian (raised in the church, fell away at least some, came back), but are not interested in making “Christian” music. As they explain it, music written by Christians, for Christians, and only for Christians. They want to make music that is for everyone – and some of what’s core to them will come out. (And they’re also CS Lewis fans.)

        • A.L. Schultz says:

          Ah-ha! I didn’t even think to look into the band themselves. Okay, that answers all my questions then. There’s a few groups out there where I find myself recognizing the language they use, which always gets me wondering if they’re Christian or simply former Christian (or at least raised in the Church and around the language). Mumford & Sons is one of them.

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