Some believers hold that making musical instruments and making instrumental music are solely human activities. The Bible does not teach that these views are true.
Consider the following texts:
Exod. 19:13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
The Holy Spirit is emphatic in this account that there were no humans allowed to be on the mount, and yet there would be a long sounding of a trumpet (Exod. 19:13).
In that setting, the Spirit repeatedly and explicitly speaks concerning the sounding of a trumpet on this occasion and attests that such a sounding of the trumpet took place (Exod. 19:16, 19; 20:18):
Exod. 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
Exod. 19:19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
Exod. 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
The New Testament reiterates this information for our profit:
Hebrews 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake).
These verses plainly teach us that making instrumental music is not just a human activity—no humans were allowed on the mount; therefore, the trumpet that was sounded on this occasion was sounded by a supernatural, non-human being.
Moreover, they also teach us that the instrument played on this occasion was not made by any humans or copied from any humans because it is untenable to hold that supernatural beings had to either obtain an instrument to play from humans or only learned about making such an instrument by learning from what they observed humans doing.
Those who hold that making musical instruments and making instrumental music are only human activities do not hold views that are true according to Scripture.
See also We Must Reject a Man-Centered Understanding and Practice of Music
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