First of all, killer song. Love it. I think that a major component to interpreting the meaning of this song is figuring out the point of view. In the beginning, with the line "We watched them fall, eyes locked to mine" we are being told about what I see as someone falling to temptation (caught blinded by silk, led by lips to the baited chains) So there is a group, who has fallen in the past, which represents humanity, a fallen world. We continue to see those around us falling to temptation, falling away from God. It gets personal, with eyes locking to "mine," and "feeling as if I had let them down." This is coming back to the personal call we have to support our brothers and sisters. We see the battle raging on, we have all felt pulled by temptation, been caught by it. It is our duty to help those in the similar plight of humanity as we are. The next section is recognition of the falling. It is an urging from someone who has experienced the same, who had never learned to fight, but had seen that their lack of care, of desire to fight left them feeling vulnerable and weak when the time came to stand up and fight. “Pick yourself up and fight.” Bounces back to the beginning of the song, where they are falling, seeing others fall, but now is not the time to dwell on the regrets of never measuring up to the task before, now is the time to stand up and learn. It is never too late to say that you have fallen for the last time, that this was the last time you will be one of the watched, you will never have to pick yourself up again, this time you will fight, even though it seems impossible to stop such an elegant blade. In the next section, the perspective changes yet again. This is the mind of the one who is choosing to learn, to fight. Doubts are being brought forth, with “But how such an elegant blade to be stopped?” The elegant blade is the silky temptation, the weapon of satan fighting back against our efforts.”When in times where eyes set sights to cross-hair the weak” When the times come for the weak to be targeted, the one who is learning to fight will look for the light, but still he will be tempted, bait will be set to lure him to the fire. Then comes in the line that is repeated twice, both times after explaining how the enemy will attempt an attack; what a cunning foe we’ve met. An enemy that knows what he is doing, and plants doubts knowing that they will take root and possibly destroy and progress made. Next, with “Our horizons pushed pages away to a new fight, a new method, new plan,” I saw the horizons as being hopes, dreams, plans made. A desire to never fall again, to always be ready to fight. Pushing pages away, with pages being young children, based off of the questions coming later; how do I train? How do you ready a child for war? Our cunning enemy knows that pages grow up to be warriors. So he tries to feed us lies that it’s incredibly difficult to train children to fight, to be real Christians. Just a side note, 1 Timothy 4:12 says don’t let anyone look down upon you because you are young, and my old pastor used to say that kids have the same size jesus as the rest of us. Here is the doubt again. This cunning foe is strategically placing doubts. Now, near the end of the song, faith is brought up. We have to know that God will provide. This is stating that there is faith, but it is questioning. What help will God (Captain) send? I know He will, but what is coming? This is the slip that is mentioned in the next line, a flaw in this faith. We do not always know the answers to our questions, but we do always know that God has them, and He loves us. Therefore we can count on His always being there, always doing what is best for us, but we can’t expect answers when we wants to know why He does what He does.
The next section, “A buzzard scrapes nearby….As I, atop this hill, stand and scream. It’s all I can do to control my gaze from the curiosity of seeing myself as prey.” Many elements are brought up here. The slip in faith opens him up for the sin to enter, to allow the enemy a hold on the door. Controlling his gaze from seeing himself as prey. He cannot allow himself to be caught up in seeing what would happen if he were to allow the enemy even more ground within himself. A buzzard wouldn’t kill its own food; it would wait for something to already be dead. The enemy would wait for a weakness to present itself, in the slip of faith, to make his move.
“And then I heard an armored march.” This is the march of the archers coming in. The archers are definitely the good guys, the unanswered help sent by God. In the album lyrics book thing, where the band is thanking everyone, there is a thank you sent out to all the archers. These are the forces sent to aid, to help those who are struggling, to beat down the forces of the enemy. They come singing, they are confident because this army is sent by God. It is His will that we are protected, He gives aid, He always comes through. I so dig this song.
First of all, killer song. Love it. I think that a major component to interpreting the meaning of this song is figuring out the point of view. In the beginning, with the line "We watched them fall, eyes locked to mine" we are being told about what I see as someone falling to temptation (caught blinded by silk, led by lips to the baited chains) So there is a group, who has fallen in the past, which represents humanity, a fallen world. We continue to see those around us falling to temptation, falling away from God. It gets personal, with eyes locking to "mine," and "feeling as if I had let them down." This is coming back to the personal call we have to support our brothers and sisters. We see the battle raging on, we have all felt pulled by temptation, been caught by it. It is our duty to help those in the similar plight of humanity as we are. The next section is recognition of the falling. It is an urging from someone who has experienced the same, who had never learned to fight, but had seen that their lack of care, of desire to fight left them feeling vulnerable and weak when the time came to stand up and fight. “Pick yourself up and fight.” Bounces back to the beginning of the song, where they are falling, seeing others fall, but now is not the time to dwell on the regrets of never measuring up to the task before, now is the time to stand up and learn. It is never too late to say that you have fallen for the last time, that this was the last time you will be one of the watched, you will never have to pick yourself up again, this time you will fight, even though it seems impossible to stop such an elegant blade. In the next section, the perspective changes yet again. This is the mind of the one who is choosing to learn, to fight. Doubts are being brought forth, with “But how such an elegant blade to be stopped?” The elegant blade is the silky temptation, the weapon of satan fighting back against our efforts.”When in times where eyes set sights to cross-hair the weak” When the times come for the weak to be targeted, the one who is learning to fight will look for the light, but still he will be tempted, bait will be set to lure him to the fire. Then comes in the line that is repeated twice, both times after explaining how the enemy will attempt an attack; what a cunning foe we’ve met. An enemy that knows what he is doing, and plants doubts knowing that they will take root and possibly destroy and progress made. Next, with “Our horizons pushed pages away to a new fight, a new method, new plan,” I saw the horizons as being hopes, dreams, plans made. A desire to never fall again, to always be ready to fight. Pushing pages away, with pages being young children, based off of the questions coming later; how do I train? How do you ready a child for war? Our cunning enemy knows that pages grow up to be warriors. So he tries to feed us lies that it’s incredibly difficult to train children to fight, to be real Christians. Just a side note, 1 Timothy 4:12 says don’t let anyone look down upon you because you are young, and my old pastor used to say that kids have the same size jesus as the rest of us. Here is the doubt again. This cunning foe is strategically placing doubts. Now, near the end of the song, faith is brought up. We have to know that God will provide. This is stating that there is faith, but it is questioning. What help will God (Captain) send? I know He will, but what is coming? This is the slip that is mentioned in the next line, a flaw in this faith. We do not always know the answers to our questions, but we do always know that God has them, and He loves us. Therefore we can count on His always being there, always doing what is best for us, but we can’t expect answers when we wants to know why He does what He does. The next section, “A buzzard scrapes nearby….As I, atop this hill, stand and scream. It’s all I can do to control my gaze from the curiosity of seeing myself as prey.” Many elements are brought up here. The slip in faith opens him up for the sin to enter, to allow the enemy a hold on the door. Controlling his gaze from seeing himself as prey. He cannot allow himself to be caught up in seeing what would happen if he were to allow the enemy even more ground within himself. A buzzard wouldn’t kill its own food; it would wait for something to already be dead. The enemy would wait for a weakness to present itself, in the slip of faith, to make his move. “And then I heard an armored march.” This is the march of the archers coming in. The archers are definitely the good guys, the unanswered help sent by God. In the album lyrics book thing, where the band is thanking everyone, there is a thank you sent out to all the archers. These are the forces sent to aid, to help those who are struggling, to beat down the forces of the enemy. They come singing, they are confident because this army is sent by God. It is His will that we are protected, He gives aid, He always comes through. I so dig this song.