I am anticipating reading through the Psalms once a week for the next 3-5 months. Based on the number of verses in each Psalm, here is a reading schedule that divides the Psalms into 7 roughly even sections:
| Psalms | Verses |
| 1-26 | 346 |
| 27-47 | 349 |
| 48-70 | 342 |
| 71-88 | 350 |
| 89-106 | 373 |
| 107-119 | 375 |
| 120-150 | 326 |
| Total | 2461 |
See my post Insights from a Graphical Analysis of the Psalms
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
From my intensive study of the book of Psalms this year, I am convinced that all churches should sing through all the Psalms in some manner on a regular basis. Most churches today, however, are not singing the Psalms much at all these days.
I’m interested in learning why this is so and would welcome any thoughts that anyone has about this matter.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
As part of a work project, I have been studying intensely what the Bible teaches about music. Using the graphical search engine in BibleWorks 7, I did a search of Scripture for key terms pertaining to music: sang, sing*, song*, music*, melod*, instrument*; cymbal*, cornet*, trumpet*, flute*, sackbut*, psalm*, psalter*, organ*, pipe*, timbrel*, tabret*, and dulcimer*.
From this search as well as my doing other searches of Scripture for passages pertaining to music, I discovered that Scripture provides us with the text of 163 songs comprising 2821 verses. My search engine search list provided 181 other verses about music that are not part of the text of any of these songs.
Putting these two lists of verses together, I now have compiled 3002 verses in Scripture pertaining to music! This vast number shows that music certainly is an extremely important topic in Scripture.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
David directs Psalm 19 “to the chief musician” (19:1). As it does in every other instance that it occurs, this inspired heading signifies that the content of this Psalm is of special importance to believers who are musicians.
We are not told specifically what that special importance is. By examining the ending of Psalm 19, however, we at least learn that David here has provided musicians with a prayer that is of patent significance for them.
David closes the Psalm by saying,
“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins: let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (19:12-14).
Certainly, this prayer is vital for all believers. Because of the public nature of their ministries, those believers who speak or write to others must especially entreat God to sanctify them wholly in this manner.
The special importance of this prayer for Christian musicians lies in the singular effects of their verbal ministry to others—words that are sung, especially repeatedly, are far more often remembered and uttered by others long after words preached in even striking messages have been forgotten. Because the potential for their words to have this unique influence on others is exceedingly great, musicians who minister to others must beg God fervently for His work in their lives to make their words and the meditation of their hearts acceptable to Him!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Scripture provides us with the truths that we need to be fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). Music is not an exception to this truth, and we must apply Scripture to all problem issues in our churches concerning music.
Many people today hold that music without words is amoral. The account of David’s music ministry to Saul (1 Sam. 16), however, makes clear that instrumental music is not amoral.
God judged Saul by sending an evil spirit to afflict him (1 Sam. 16:14). To relieve him of his affliction, Saul’s servants sought a skillful harpist to minister to him (1 Sam. 16:15-16). They found David and brought him to Saul (1 Sam. 16:17-22).
Whenever the evil spirit troubled Saul, David’s playing made Saul better and caused the demon to depart (1 Sam. 16:23). The passage does not say anything about David’s singing any words to Saul as he played his harp.
It was David’s instrumental harp music, therefore, that caused the evil spirit that tormented Saul to depart from him. Had his music been amoral, it could not have had this effect for good.
Because the music did drive out the evil spirit, it was a force for good. We thus learn that David’s instrumental music was not amoral.
Please see these important articles related to this passage:
Did an Unholy Spirit from God Torment Saul?
Correcting a Wrong Handling of the Accounts of David’s Music Ministry to Saul
The Importance of 1 Samuel 16:14-23 for a Sound Theology of Music
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Prior to this year, I had read through the book of Psalms 25 times, including twice in the LXX. This year began with my reading through the book in January and in February.
Because of a work project concerning Christian music, I have read through Psalm 101 again so far in March. At this pace, I expect to finish the book by the end of this week, which would bring my total times through the book to 28. Reading through one more time by the end of March would make my total 29 times.
Then, to get to 50 times through the book, I would need to read through the book 21 more times by the end of the year. With 9 more months left in 2012, I would need to read through the book at least twice a month each month and also read through it a third time in at least 3 of the 9 remaining months.
Reading through twice a month requires reading an average of 10 chapters a day for 30 days. Three times a month would require reading 15 chapters a day for 30 days.
Although 10-15 chapters a day sounds like a lot, many of the chapters are fairly short, so it is not as much as it might seem initially. If God leads me to persevere with this project and enables me to do so, I will have read the book through 25 times in 2012.
I look forward to seeing how God is going to open my understanding of this marvelous book through this intensive study!
Update: Praise God that I made it through the Psalms 25 times in 2012!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Scripture has at least 56 chapters that are explicitly directed to musicians.
1. Psalms has 55 chapters that have the same wording in their headings, “To the chief musician”:
4-6; 8-9; 11-14; 18-22; 31, 36; 39-42; 44-49; 51-62; 64-70; 75-77; 80, 81, 84, 85, 88; 109; 139, 140
-Of these, only the heading of Psalm 88 does not begin with these words.
-Interestingly, although nine messianic Psalms are included (8, 22, 41, 45, 49, 68, 69, and 109), some key ones are not (2, 16, 72, 78, 96, 110, and 118).
2. Habakkuk ends with similar wording: “To the chief singer on my singed instruments” (3:19). It seems that this phrase applies only to the final chapter of the book.
Because these are the only chapters in Scripture that are explicitly addressed to musicians, it seems to me that every Christian musician should make these 56 chapters a special focus of his study sometime early in his life. They should also be covered in some manner in all music programs in Christian colleges and universities.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The debate about the propriety of using Christian Contemporary Music has been going on for many years now. I recently was made aware of a dimension of the debate that I had not encountered before– some proponents of CCM who object to other believers’ using secular sources to address the issue.
According to this view, we should only use the Bible to decide whether or not music is moral or not. Almost immediately after I first heard of this objection raised against the use of secular sources, God brought to mind how Paul handled a serious problem in Crete.
Paul instructed Titus that he had left him in Crete so that he would “set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city, as [he] had appointed [him]” (Titus 1:5). He then related the necessary qualifications for such men (Titus 1:6-9).
He concluded his teaching about these qualifications by informing Titus that the elder must hold “fast the faithful word as he hath been taught [so] that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9). He thus stressed the centrality of the elder’s adhering to and using sound doctrine from Scripture to both exhort believers in that sound doctrine and refute those who were contradicting it.
Paul then explained the necessity of such ministry by the elders by declaring the presence in Crete of “many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision” (Titus1:10). The destructive works of these evil men in subverting entire households had to be stopped by the elders’ skillful use of sound doctrine (Titus1:11).
In support of his own evaluation of the Cretians and of the necessity for the mouths of their false teachers to be stopped, Paul informed Titus that one of the Cretians’ own prophets had said, “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12). The prophet thus confirmed Paul’s assessment of the Cretians.
Paul then affirmed the truthfulness of the witness of this secular prophet (Titus 1:13a). Finally, based on his preceding instruction and the corroboration of his assessment by that of their own prophet, he commanded Titus to rebuke them sharply so that they would be sound in the faith (Titus 1:13b-16).
Paul thus handled this serious problem in Crete by exhorting Titus about the necessary verbal ministry of elders to oppose the perverse work of the false teachers among them. He based his exhortation and instruction to Titus upon his own evaluation of the Cretians and the corroborating witness of one of their own secular prophets.
We thus learn that a Pauline approach to handling a problem issue at times includes the use of one’s own scripturally informed assessments of the problem and the use of legitimate supportive data from non-biblical sources. When, therefore, many Christian leaders today use both their own assessments and corroboration from secular sources to urge God’s people to reject the viewpoint that music is neutral, they are using a valid scriptural approach.
This analysis of Titus 1 in relation to the CCM debate has shown that contemporary critiques of using non-biblical perspectives to address the issue of whether music is neutral or not are invalid. In handling the difficult problem of the use of CCM in the Church today, we should employ a Pauline approach of using present-day sources to support our own Bible-based evaluations of the issue.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The Church of Jesus Christ is embroiled today in intense controversy about the music that it should use. Through careful attention to some key truths from Scripture, we can move toward solving many of the Church’s music problems.
Recognizing the Extreme Importance of Music
God inspired various men to pen the 66 books of Scripture. Of those books, Psalms is the longest by far. It has the most words, verses, and chapters of any book. It also has the longest chapter in Scripture (more than two times as long as the second longest chapter).
When these facts are coupled with the truth that every one of the 150 chapters of Psalms is a perfect song written by God, we should be awed at how important music is to God! We must also learn that God has through these facts greatly underscored to us how important music is for His people!
Focusing on God’s Emphases in His Music
Because the book of Psalms is a perfect songbook written by God Himself, those who desire to resolve the Church’s music problems should focus on learning everything that God stresses in this book. Apart from such immersion in the book of Psalms throughout our lifetimes, we will never have all the wisdom that God has provided for us to honor Him fully with our music.
Submitting to Divine Wisdom about Music
In His perfect wisdom, God has chosen not to give His Church the specific, detailed information in His Word about musical styles, etc. that we might wish that He had given to us. His not providing us with that information should instruct us that such information is not what we need most to resolve our music troubles.
Instead, we are to learn that through the Spirit’s filling, which will only fully profit those who have immersed themselves in His own words about music, God is able to lead His people infallibly about what He wants them to do in worshiping Him in music even though they do not have specific information from Him about musical styles. Only by submitting to divine wisdom in what information He has seen fit to give in His Word and what information He has not seen fit to give will we be able to deal properly with our music problems.
Sanctifying Chosen Men for Musical Ministry
In view of the truths treated above, what the Church needs most today is men set aside for leadership in musical ministry who have intensely immersed themselves in His truth as He has given it to us in His Word, especially in Psalms. Such men should be directed to do what leaders in other disciplines do in order to excel: many years of intensive study in preparation for proper ministry.
Having been through a very demanding doctoral program myself, I believe that it would not be asking too much to ask such chosen men to read carefully through Psalms 50 times in a five-year training period prior to assuming key leadership roles in musical ministry in the Church. That pace of reading would require them to read an average of five Psalms a day for at least 10 months in each of the five years of training.
Glorifying God by Glorifying His Word in Our Musical Ministries
Men who devote themselves to glorifying God in musical ministry—by glorifying His Word in their own lives in the intensive manner explained above—will equip themselves to be used greatly by God for His eternal glory. They will be the ones who will be filled with the Spirit to resolve our music problems through their supremely exalting in their musical ministries the truth that He has given us in the book of Psalms!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The account of Saul’s conversion comprises the majority of Acts 9 (31 of the 43 verses in the chapter), and many have exposited this account carefully. Following that conversion account, however, Luke records two striking instances of many people being saved about which fewer people probably have heard a careful exposition.
These two instances of great evangelistic success are noteworthy because of what we know about what took place on these occasions. Even more remarkable is what we are not told about them.
Lydda and Sharon
In the first, Peter dramatically healed a man in Lydda who had been paralyzed for eight years by proclaiming to him that Jesus Christ was making him whole (9:32-34). As a result, everyone who was living in Lydda and Sharon saw him and “turned to the Lord” (9:35).
Luke does not say anything about any testimony of the gospel in this account, and yet, we read of two entire cities being converted. Are we therefore supposed to understand that these masses of people were saved without hearing any gospel testimony? If so, how were they saved?
Joppa
Luke then relates an even more remarkable account of Petrine ministry. Joppa was a city near Lydda (9:38a). Because a beloved widow among the believers in Joppa had passed away, and the disciples had heard that Peter was nearby in Lydda (9:36-37a-b), they decided to send for him (9:38c).
Coming with the two men who had been sent to appeal to him to come (9:38c-39), Peter unhesitatingly acted prayerfully to raise her from the dead (9:40) and present her alive to the believers who were there (9:40-41). This marvelous manifestation of God’s power became known throughout the entire city (9:42a), and “many believed in the Lord” (9:42b).
As with the preceding account, Luke provides no information about any gospel testimony being given in Joppa at this time. How then were these many people saved?
Interpretation
These two accounts record numerous people who turned to the Lord and believed in Him after receiving testimony either visually or verbally about His miraculous working through Peter. Because elsewhere Scripture makes clear that people cannot believe in Him of whom they have not heard (Rom. 10:14), we must conclude that Luke intends for us to understand that there was gospel testimony of some sort to these who were saved, even though he does not record it.
Two other passages support this interpretation. First, Luke records that all the multitude of believers who were present at the proceedings of the Jerusalem council kept silent and listened intently to Barnabas and Paul as they declared “what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them” (Acts 15:12).
In the flow of thought in the passage, this testimony from Paul and Barnabas follows the account of how the Gentiles in Caesarea had heard the word of the gospel from Peter and believed it to be saved (15:7-11). Because what was at stake at the Council was how were the Gentiles to be saved (15:1), it cannot be that Luke intends us to understand that these two successive testimonies bore evidence to the Council of two differing ways in which Gentiles had been saved: some were saved by hearing the gospel and believing it (15:7-11), but others were saved only by hearing and seeing the miracles and wonders that God was doing among them (15:12).
This interpretation is confirmed by a second passage that also confirms the interpretation provided above of the two accounts in Acts 9:
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Heb. 2:3-4).
God’s miraculous working among the apostolic company (including therefore what happened in Lydda and Joppa) thus was His acting to witness along with as well as to those who had provided verbal testimony (of the very great salvation that had been first spoken of by the Lord) both to the writer of Hebrews and to others.
Conclusion
Based on this handling of the accounts in Acts 9 and related passages, whenever we read in the NT of people being saved, we are to understand that they received testimony to the gospel prior to their being saved, even if the account does not say anything directly about such testimony being given to them.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Rajesh Gandhi holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones Seminary; he's a long-time member of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC.
