Musical Instruments in Ancient Israel

Music permeates the culture of ancient Israel. In the Iron Age, the place of music in the life of the Israelites cannot be overestimated. The Bible is rich with references to music and the role that music played in the social, political, and religious aspects of ancient Israel. Festive choruses enriched marriage ceremonies with music and dancing, and music expressed the joy and thanksgiving when the sheep were sheared and the grapes were gathered. Victorious armies were met with the songs of women, celebrating the return of Israel's warriors, and apparently, music sprang up spontaneously and effortlessly in day to day life as well.(1) In the religion of the Israelites, musical instruments played meaningful roles in the festivals and in the worship at the temple. In spite of the breadth and depth of music in ancient Israel and the many references to the types of instruments in Jewish texts, the instruments themselves are never explicitly described. Because of the uncertainty that surrounds the nature of ancient Israel's musical instruments, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty the attributes of musical instruments in ancient Israel. In this paper I will survey the references to instruments in ancient Israel and try to reconstruct the attributes of ancient Israel's instruments based on archaeological finds in Israel, from the information in the texts, and from the knowledge of instruments in surrounding cultures.