minstrel Summary and Overview

(Matt. 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual accompaniment of funerals. In 2 Kings 3:15 it denotes a player on a stringed instrument.

The Hebrew word in #2Ki 3:15| properly signifies a player upon a stringed instruments like the harp or kinnor [HARP], whatever its precise character may have been, on which David played before Saul, #1Sa 16:16; 18:10; 19:9| and which the harlots of the great cities used to carry with them as they walked, to attract notice. #Isa 23:16| The "minstrels" in #Mt 9:23| were the flute-players who were employed as professional mourners, to whom frequent allusion is made. #2Ch 35:25; Ec 12:5; Jer 9:17-20|

MIN'STREL , a musician or singer. As seen from the case of Jairus, it was customary in the time of our Saviour to employ minstrels at funerals - that is, players on stringed instruments, flute players, and people hired to perform the official lamentation. Thus, when Christ came into the house to raise the daughter, "he saw the minstrels and the people making a noise." Matt 9:23.

A player upon the" harp" or kinor (1 Samuel 16:16; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:9). Elisha called for a minstrel to withdraw his mind from the outer world, so that his spirit might be in a state to receive the divine revelation (2 Kings 3:15). Music was often so used to prepare the frame for spiritual influences (1 Samuel 10:5-11) and to soothe an evil spirit of excitement, as when David played to calm Saul. In Matthew 9:23 the "minstrels" were flute players employed as professional mourners at a funeral (Ecclesiastes 12:5; Jeremiah 9:17-20;