music Summary and Overview

Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban's interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15). But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chr. 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8). The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6). In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa. 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke 15:25).

1. The most ancient music. --The inventor of musical instruments, like the first poet and the first forger of metals, was a Cainite. We learn from #Ge 4:21| that Jubal the son of Lamech was "the father of all such as handle the harp and organ," that is, of all players upon stringed and wind instruments. The first mentioned of music in the times after the deluge is in the narrative of Laban's interview with Jacob, #Ge 32:27| so that, whatever way it was preserved, the practice of music existed in the upland country of Syria, and of the three possible kinds of musical instruments two were known and employed to accompany the song. The three kinds are alluded to in #Job 21:12| On the banks of the Red Sea Moses and the children of Israel sang their triumphal song of deliverance from the hosts of Egypt; and Miriam, in celebration of the same event, exercised one of her functions as a prophetess by leading a procession of the women of the camp, chanting in chorus the burden of the song of Moses. The song of Deborah and Barak is cast in a distinctly metrical form, and was probably intended to be sung with a musical accompaniment as one of the people's songs. The simpler impromptu with which the women from the cities of Israel greeted David after the slaughter of the Philistines was apparently struck off on the spur of the moment, under the influence of the wild joy with which they welcomed their national champion. "the darling of the sons of Israel." #1Sa 18:6,7| Up to this time we meet with nothing like a systematic cultivation of music among the Hebrews, but the establishment of the schools of the prophets appears to have supplied this want. Whatever the students of these schools may have been taught, music was an essential part of their practice. Professional musicians soon became attached to the court. 2. The golden age of Hebrew music. David seems to have gathered round him "singing men and singing women." #2Sa 19:35| Solomon did the same, #Ec 2:8| adding to the luxury of his court by his patronage of art, and obtaining a reputation himself as no mean composer. #1Ki 4:32| But the temple was the great school of music, and it was consecrated to its highest service in the worship of Jehovah. Before, however the elaborate arrangements had been made by David for the temple choir, there must have been a considerable body of musicians throughout the country. #2Sa 6:5| (David chose 4000 musicians from the 38,000 Levies in his reign, or one in ten of the whole tribe. Of these musicians 288 were specially trained and skillful. #1Ch 26:6,7| The whole number was divided into 24 courses, each of which would thus consist of a full band of 154 musicians, presided over by a body of 12 specially-trained leaders, under one of the twenty-four sons of Asaph, Heman or Jeduthun as conductor. The leaders appear to have played on the cymbals, perhaps to make the time. #1Ch 15:19; 16:5| All these joined in a special chant which David taught them, and which went by his name. #1Ch 23:5| Women also took part in the temple choir. #1Ch 13:8; 25:5,6| These great choirs answered one to another in responsive singing; thus the temple music most have been grand and inspiring beyond anything known before that time. 3. Character of Hebrew music.--As in all Oriental nations, the music of the Hebrews was melody rather than harmony, which latter was then unknown. All old and young, men and maidens, singers and instruments, appear to have sung one part only in or in octaves. "The beauty of the music consisted altogether in the melody;" but this, with so many instruments and voices, was so charming that "the whole of antiquity is full of the praises of this music. By its means battles were won, cities conquered, mutinies quelled, diseases cured." --ED.) 4. Uses of music. --In the private as well as in the religions life of the Hebrews music held a prominent place. The kings had their court musicians, #2Ch 35:25; Ec 2:8| and in the luxurious times of the later monarchy the effeminate gallants of Israel amused themselves with devising musical instruments while their nation was perishing ("as Nero fiddled while Rome was burning"). But music was also the legitimate expression of mirth and gladness The bridal processions as they passed through the streets were accompanied with music and song. #Jer 7:34| The music of the banquets was accompanied with song and dancing. #Lu 15:26| The triumphal processions which celebrated victory were enlivened by minstrels and singers. #Ex 15:1,20; Jud 5:1; 11:34| There were also religious songs. #Isa 30:29; Jas 5:13| Love songs are alluded to; in #Ps 45:1| title, and Isai 5:1 There were also the doleful songs of the funeral procession, and the wailing chant of the mourners. The grape-gatherers sang at their work, and the women sang as they toiled at the mill, and on every occasion the land of the Hebrews during their national prosperity was a land of music and melody.

MUS'IC . 1 Sam 18:6. This was an important part of the festivities and religious services of the Jews. In their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem their march was thus enlivened. Isa 30:29. This is still the custom in Oriental pilgrimages. The practice of music was not restricted to anv one class of persons. 1 Chr 13:8; 1 Chr 15:16. The sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were set apart by David for the musical service, and "the number of them, with their brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord" was two hundred and eighty-eight. They were divided, like the priests, into twenty-four courses, which are enumerated. 1 Chr 25. Of the 38,000 Levites, "four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments," 1 Chr 23:5, being more than one in ten of the whole available members of the tribe of Levi. Each of the courses or classes had one hundred and fifty-four Stringed Instruments, Cymbals, etc. musicians and three leaders, and all were under the general direction of Asaph and his brethren. Each course served for a week, but upon the festivals all were required to be present, or four thousand musicians. Heman, with one of his leaders, directed the central choir, Wind Instruments and Sistrum. Asaph the right, and Jeduthun the left wing. These several choirs answered one another, as is generally supposed, in that kind of alternate singing which is called "antiphonal," or responsive. The priests, in the mean time, performed upon the silver trumpets. 2 Chr 5:11-14; Num 10:2. It is necessary to suppose that, to ensure harmony from such a number of voices as this, some musical notes were used. This truly regal direction of sacred music continued after the death of David until the Captivity; for though under the impious reign of some kings the whole of these solemnities fell into disuse, they were revived by Hezekiah and Josiah. And although during the Exile the sweet singers of Israel hanged their harps upon the willows by the waters of Babylon, yet two hundred musicians returned with Ezra to the Holy Land. Ezr 2:65. Musical Instruments. Eccl 2:8. They were invented by Jubal, the son of Lamech, Gen 4:21, and had appropriate names. Gen 31:27. They may be divided into three classes - stringed instruments, wind instruments, and such as gave their sounds on being struck. Of stringed instruments were the harp, the instrument of ten strings, the sackbut, and the psaltery. They are described under their proper names. The instruments of music mentioned in 1 Sam 18:6 as used by women are supposed to have been metallic triangles, as the name indicates. The instrument of ten strings resembled a modern guitar, having its strings stretched over something not unlike a drum; and it was played with the fingers. See separate titles.

(For illustrations, see DANCE; DAVID; FLUTE; HARP; JEDUTHUN.) Its invention is due to a Cainite, Jubal son of Lamech, "father (first teacher) of all such as handle the harp (lyre) and organ" (pipe). "The lyre and flute were introduced by the brother of a nomadic herdsman (Jabal); it is in the leisure of this occupation that music is generally first exercised and appreciated" (Kalisch: Genesis 4:21). "Mahalaleel," third from Seth, means "giving praise to God," therefore vocal music in religious services was probably earlier than instrumental music among the Cainites (Genesis 5:12). Laban the Syrian mentions "songs, tabret (tambourine), and harp" (Genesis 31:27); Job (Job 21:12) "the timbrel (tambourine), harp, and organ (pipe)". Instead of "they take," translated "they lift up (the voice)," as in Isaiah 42:11, to accompany "the tambourine," etc. (Umbrett.) Thus the "voice," stringed and wind instruments, include all kinds of music. The Israelite men led by Moses sang in chorus, and Miriam led the women in singing the refrain at each interval, accompanied by tambourine and dances (Exodus 15:21). Music rude and boisterous accompanied the dances in honor of the golden calf, so that Joshua mistook it for "the noise of war," "the voice of them that shout for the mastery and that cry for being overcome" (Exodus 32:17-18). The triumphant shout of the foe in the temple is similarly compared to the joyous thanksgivings formerly offered there at solemn feasts, but how sad the contrast as to the occasion (Lamentations 2:7). The two silver trumpets were used by the priests to call an assembly, and for the journeying of the camps, and on jubilant occasion (Numbers 10:1-10; 2 Chronicles 13:12). (On the rams' (rather Jubilee) horns of Joshua 6, see HORNS.) The instruments at Nebuchadnezzar's dedication of his golden image were the "cornet," like the French horn; "flute" or pipe blown at the end by a mouthpiece; "sackbut," a triangular stringed instrument with short strings, in a high sharp key; "psaltery," a kind of harp; "dulcimer," a bagpipe, emitting a plaintive sound, a Hebraized Greek word, sumfonia (Daniel 3:4). The schools of the prophets cultivated music as a study preparing the mind for receiving spiritual influences (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 19:19-20): at Naioth; also at Jericho (2 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 2:7), "when the minstrel among Jehoshaphat's retinue played, the hand of Jehovah came upon Elisha" (2 Kings 3:15); Gilgal (2 Kings 4:38); Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:14). "Singing men and women" were at David's court (2 Samuel 19:35), also at Solomon's (Ecclesiastes 2:8; Gesenius translated for "musical instruments and that of all sorts," shiddah wishidot, "a princess and princesses".) They also" spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, and made them an ordinance in Israel" (2 Chronicles 35:25). Music was often introduced at banquets (Isaiah 5:12), "the harp and viol" (nebel, the "lute", an instrument with 12 strings), etc. (Luke 15:25.) Amos 6:5; "chant (parat, 'mark distinct tones,' the Arabic root expresses an unmeaning hurried flow of rhythmical sounds without much sense, as most glees) to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music like David"; they fancy themselves David's equals In music (1 Chronicles 23:5; Nehemiah 12:36). He added to the temple service the stringed psaltery, kinor ("lyre"), and nebel ("harp"), besides the cymbals. These as distinguished from the trumpets were "David's instruments" (2 Chronicles 29:25-26; 1 Chronicles 15:16; 1 Chronicles 15:19-21; 1 Chronicles 15:24; 1 Chronicles 23:5). The age of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden one alike of poetry and of music. The Hebrew use of music was inspirational, curative, and festive or mournful. David's skill on the harp in youth brought him under Saul's notice, and he played away Saul's melancholy under the evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:16-23). As David elevated music to the praise of God, so the degenerate Israelites of Amos' time degraded it to the service of their own sensuality (like Nero fiddling when Rome was in flames), yet they defended their luxurious passion for music by his example. Solomon's songs were a thousand and five (1 Kings 4:32). In the procession accompanying the ark to Zion, the Levites led by Chenaniah, "master of the song," played cornets, trumpets, cymbals, psalteries, and harps, accompanying David's psalm composed for the occasion (1 Chronicles 15; 16; 2 Samuel 6:5). Of the 48,000 in the tribe 4,000 praised Jehovah on David's instruments (1 Chronicles 23:5-6). Heman led the Kohathites, Asaph the Gershonites, and Ethan or Jeduthun the Merarites (1 Chronicles 15:17; 1 Chronicles 25:1-8). The "cunning" or skilled musicians were 288: 24 courses, 12 in each, headed by the 24 sons of Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun. The rest of the 4,000 were "scholars." David's chant (1 Chronicles 16:34; 1 Chronicles 16:41) was used for ages, and bore his name: at the consecration of Solomon's temple (2 Chronicles 7:6); before Jehoshaphat's army when marching against the Ammonite invaders, to the thanksgiving is attributed God's giving of the victory, "when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set ambushments against ... Ammon" (2 Chronicles 20:21-22), compare in Abijah's victory over Jeroboam the priests' sounding of trumpets (2 Chronicles 13:12-24); at the laying the second temple's foundation (Ezra 3:10-11). Heman, Asaph, and Ethan played with cymbals of brass to mark the time the more clearly, while the rest played on psalteries and harps (1 Chronicles 15:19; 1 Chronicles 16:5). The "singers" went first, "the damsels with timbrels" in the middle, "the players on (stringed) instruments followed after" (Psalm 68:25). In intelligent worship the word has precedence of ornamental accompaniments (1 Corinthians 14:15); music must not drown but be subordinate to the words and sense. Amos (Amos 8:3) foretells the joyous "songs of the temple" should be changed into "howlings." In Psalm 87:7 translated "the players on pipes" or "flutes" (Gesenius), but Hengstenberg, "dancers" (choleel); the future thanksgiving of the redeemed heathen (1 Kings 1:40). Women were in the choir (1 Chronicles 13:8; 1 Chronicles 25:5-6; Ezra 2:65). The priests alone blew the trumpets in the religious services (1 Chronicles 15:24; 1 Chronicles 16:6), but the people also at royal proclamations (2 Kings 11:14). A hundred and twenty priests blew the trumpets in unison with the Levite singers, in fine linen, at the dedication of Solomon's temple (2 Chronicles 5:12-13; 2 Chronicles 7:6). So under Hezekiah in resanctifying the temple (2 Chronicles 29:27-28). As the temple, altar, and sacrifices were Jehovah's palace, table, and feasts, so the sacred music answers to the melody usual at kings' banquets. The absence of music such as accompanied bridal processions is made a feature of a curse being on the land (Isaiah 24:8-9; Jeremiah 7:34; Ezekiel 26:13). Judah's captors in vain called on her singers to sing her national melodies, "songs of Zion," in Babylon. She hung her harp on the willows of that marshy city, and abjured "mirth in a strange land" (Psalm 137:2-4). Away from Zion, God's seat, they were away from joy. Love songs (Psalm 45 title) as well as professional mourners' (Amos 5:16) dirges were composed. Harlots attracted men by songs to the guitar (Isaiah 23:15-16). (See MOURNING,) The grape was gathered and trodden with joyous song (Isaiah 16:10). (See HYMNS.) Music, instrumental and vocal, was all in unison, not harmony, which was unknown to the ancients; the songs were all melodies, choral and antiphonal, as Moses' and Miriam's song, and Nehemiah's musicians in two responsive choirs at the dedication of the wall (Nehemiah 12:40-42). For "instruments of music" (Daniel 6:18) translated "concubines." Xenophon's picture of Darius as addicted to wine and women, without self control, accords with Daniel's mention of his abstinence as something extraordinary. In Psalm 45:8 Gesenius translated for "whereby" (mini), as in Psalm 150:4), "out of the ivory palaces the stringed instruments make thee glad"; Hengstenberg shows this untenable, KJV is better. In 1 Samuel 18:6 "instruments of music," shalishim, is from shalowsh, "three," probably "triangles," invented in Syria (Athenaeus, Deipnos, 4:175).