In his book, “Worship Wars: What the Bible Says about Worship Music,” Robert Bakss discusses the role of drums in worship music. He writes,
Most of the musical instruments in Psalm 150 are percussion instruments. This shows that beat is acceptable in worship music.
— p. 67
Are these statements correct?
Musical Instruments Mentioned in Psalm 150
Three verses in Psalm 150 mention multiple musical instruments:
Psalm 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Psalm 150 mentions 8 musical instruments or groups of musical instruments:
-
- trumpet
- psaltery
- harp
- timbrel
- stringed instruments
- organs
- loud cymbals
- high sounding cymbals
Three of the 8 instruments or groups are percussion instruments: timbrel, loud cymbals, and high sounding cymbals. Three out of 8 means that most of the musical instruments in Psalm 150 are not percussion instruments.
Conclusion
A careful examination of Robert Bakss’ statements about Psalm 150 shows that his first statement is factually wrong and therefore does not support his second statement. It is not true that Psalm 150 “shows that beat is acceptable in worship music” because “most of the musical instruments in Psalm 150 are percussion instruments.”
Brethren who seek to support that view need to provide factually correct information from Scripture to support their belief that beat is acceptable in worship music.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
