Jesus Paid It All is a well-known hymn that is easy to play on the guitar in the key of D because it uses only 5 basic chords: D, A, A7, G, and G# dim. This PDF provides the melody notes, chords, and first stanza of the hymn plus a simplified bass line that advanced students can use to accompany themselves in various ways.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Many justify using certain contemporary worship practices by arguing that they enhance the Church’s effectiveness in evangelizing people. Ezekiel 33 reveals why such reasoning is dangerously flawed.
Addressing Ezekiel as “son of man,” the Lord revealed to him the true state of many who were flocking to hear his ministry of the Word:
Eze 33:30 Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.
31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Even as these people were exhorting one another to come and hear the word of God through Ezekiel, their hearts were horrifically iniquitous. They were not coming to worship the Lord with a true heart for hearing from Him and doing what He says; instead, they loved enjoying what was to them a sensuous experience of hearing the faithful ministry of a true man of God:
Eze 33:32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovelya song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
aHol6047 Ez 3332: sensual desire (condemned) Ez 2311 3332. † (pg 264)
This divine revelation shows that their worship was seriously flawed, and the Lord warned Ezekiel that it was dangerously so:
Eze 33:33 And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.
When God’s judgment would come upon them for their hearing but not doing what He says, they would know the truthfulness of the message and the messenger that they had disregarded because their hearts were wrongly oriented toward enjoying the titillating experience of hearing him preach the word of God to them.
The Lord’s exposé of their dangerously flawed worship explicitly likened what Ezekiel was to them to their hearing a skilled instrumentalist with a beautiful voice who sings a very lovely but sensual song to them (Ezek. 33:32). In both cases, they fail to profit from the verbal message delivered to them because of the sensual orientation of their hearts.
This divine comparison shows that God is very well aware of the immense power that sensual music can have to influence people in ways that do not enhance the persuasiveness of the message that is communicated verbally to them as part of that music. Several commentators concur with this interpretation:
The news of Jerusalem’s fall appears to have given Ezekiel’s message a certain popularity and topicality. He is now the subject of conversation in the cities and the doorways (33:30). To use a contemporary analogy, he is the toast of the talk shows. But the interest is superficial: The people listen to his words but do not put them into practice, regarding them as an interesting phenomenon rather than a life-changing reality. His fame is like that of a pop star, whose declarations on spiritual matters may arouse curiosity but are scarcely accorded authoritative status. People may also have been humming along to his tune, but they are paying no attention to the true meaning of the lyrics.
Time, however, will prove the power of the word of the Lord through Ezekiel: “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them” (33:33). In that day, just as all will know experientially the power of the Lord, so they will also be forced to recognize the authenticity of the Lord’s prophet.” —Iain M. Duguid, NIVAC: Ezekiel, 385-86.
“Your fellow nationals, human one, who are talking about you in the alleys and doorways, invite each other to come and hear what message Yahweh has sent. They come to you in crowds and sit down in front of you. They listen to your messages without acting on them. To them you are just like a fine vocalist, some professional musician who sings erotic songs. They listen to your messages without acting on them. When it finally happens—and happen it will—then they will realize that they have had a prophet among them.”—Leslie C. Allen, Translation of Ezekiel 33:30-33 in WBC: Ezekiel 20-48, Vol. 29, 149.
Ezekiel, long regarded with suspicion and distaste for his defeatism and scolding (cf. 2:6; 3:9), has been vindicated as a true prophet. In spirit he now seems to stand shoulder to shoulder with his compatriots in exile. Ezekiel’s popularity knows no bounds, as the exiles crowd into his home (cf. 8:1; 14:1; 20:1) to hear what this sensational prophet will say next. Unfortunately, it was the popularity of an entertainer, a pop star, that Ezekiel enjoyed, and he was being taken no more seriously than before. His hearers functioned as a concert audience rather than a congregation.
The extended simile of the singer refers . . . to the fact that his words were so welcome that they were music in the ears of those who thronged to hear them. —Allen, 153-154.
At best Ezekiel is like a singer of ‘a sensual song’ (literally, ‘song of loves’), gifted with a pleasant voice and with the ability to handle an instrument ‘well‘. Nowadays, pop singers tend to celebrate one theme only, and normally in a debased manner. It seems that his hearers estimated Ezekiel in this fashion, switching off when he has hard things to say and treating him as no more than entertainment. When the performance was over, and when their ears had been tickled pleasurably, they would disperse and return to normal business. The picture is vivid, and we can readily understand it: although music and lyrics are core entertainment for the masses, they are never taken seriously, the top tune and its singer being soon forgotten because they are only a temporary diversion. Ezekiel was a passing voice that men of sense would not allow to affect their lives (33:32).
How embarrassing for the prophet! Yet he is assured by Yahweh that his warnings cannot be in vain, for which reason Ezekiel must persist in his ministry. One day ‘it’ will come, and then men will appreciate fully that he was a prophet (33:33; cf. 2:5).” —Peter Naylor, EP Study Commentary, Ezekiel, 515.
The Israelites in exile and the remnant in Palestine had looked on Ezekiel’s ministry in mockery. They would gossip that they should go and hear God’s word (v.30). Yet when they came to Ezekiel, or heard his message, they would listen; but they would not act in accord with his warnings (v.31). They orally expressed devotion, but their hearts were greedy for material gain. They were “playing games” with God. To them Ezekiel was no more than a good entertainer. He was amusing to listen to and to watch, with all his symbolic acts and prophecies. But just as an entertainer demands no response, so they did not sense a need to respond to Ezekiel’s messages (v.32; cf. 2 Tim. 4:3). However, as Ezekiel’s prophecies became reality—and such had already begun in the Fall of Jerusalem—then Israel would realize that a true prophet had been among them (v.33). Oh the importance of listening to men of God and acting on God’s word that they proclaim! —Ralph H. Alexander, EBC, Ezekiel, 6:910-11
Choosing to evangelize people in our day with the use of music that has a widespread popular sensuous and sensual appeal puts those people at great risk of experiencing the same tragic dynamic that Ezekiel’s hearers experienced. When people are focused on their love of a popular musical style used to communicate God’s truth, their hearts will be distracted from attending properly to that truth.
Contrary to what many believe today, using sensual musical styles that are very popular (such as the styles used in “rock-influenced” CCM) as vehicles for God’s truth hinders lost people from receiving His truth properly. Although God can and at times does graciously choose to work in some hearts in spite of the negative effects experienced by the hearers of such music, God’s people should learn from Ezekiel 33:30-33 that it is wrong for us to put such obstacles in their way.
Let us beware dangerously flawed reasoning used to justify using contemporary worship to evangelize people!
For more help with issues concerning CCM, please see the many resources that I have compiled: Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
In Part I, I treated Genesis 4:21, Job 21:12, Job 30:31, Job 35:10, Job 38:7, and Genesis 31:27 to bring out several points about what Scripture reveals about music early in the history of mankind. This article brings out a key truth seen from comparing these passages both among themselves and with other relatively early references to music.
Comparing These Passages among Themselves
Genesis 4:21 reveals that Jubal in the ungodly line of Cain may have invented two musical instruments:
Gen 4:21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר; a stringed instrument] and organ [Heb. עוּגָב; a wind instrument].
Job 21:12 reveals that wicked people used three different instruments at the time of Job:
Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? . . . 12They take the timbrel (Heb. תֹּף; a percussion instrument) and harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר; a stringed instrument], and rejoice at the sound of the organ [Heb. עוּגָב; a wind instrument].
Job 30:31 shows that Job either played two of the same instruments as the wicked did or had someone in his household who did so:
Job 30:31 My harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר] also is turned to mourning, and my organ [Heb. עוּגָב] into the voice of them that weep.
Regardless of which way we understand the verse, we see that God’s people used the same instruments at this time that the wicked did.
Moreover, Job was the most righteous person of his time (Job 1:8; 2:3). His use of the same instruments as the ungodly used forcefully supports the propriety of doing so.
Comparing These Passages with Other Early References to Music
Some later passages both confirm this conclusion and go beyond it.
After God destroyed Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea, Miriam and all the women used timbrels to extol God in dance and song:
Exo 15:20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel (Heb. תֹּף) in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels (Heb. תֹּף)and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
These Israelite women used the same instrument (“timbrel” [Heb. תֹּף]) that the ungodly used back in the time of Job (Job 21:12). More importantly, these women used the timbrel in a sacred setting!
Other relatively early references show God’s people using in sacred settings all the instruments mentioned in earlier references to the music of the wicked:
1Sa 10:5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret (Heb. תֹּף), and a pipe, and a harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר], before them; and they shall prophesy:
Psa 150:4 Praise him with the timbrel (Heb. תֹּף) and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs [Heb. עוּגָב].
Whereas First Samuel 10:5 attests that specially consecrated people of God used these instruments in his service, Psalm 150:4 attests to the propriety of all of God’s people doing so.
This analysis of music in the early history of God’s peoples conclusively shows that God’s people used the same instruments as the wicked did, including serving and worshiping Him with those instruments. What’s more, He commanded them to use those very instruments in their serving and worshiping Him (e.g., Ps. 150:4)!
The Contemporary Significance of These Passages
Some believers today object to Christian use of the guitar because of its “paganistic origins.”[1] Some believers also object to its use in Christian worship because of how ungodly people have used it to play ungodly music in ungodly settings.
A careful examination of Scripture, however, shows that these are invalid objections because God’s people have used in their service and worship of God (1 Sam. 10:5) instruments that the wicked may have invented (Gen. 4:21). In fact, God commanded them to do so (Ps. 150:4).
Furthermore, they did so at the same time that the wicked were using those same instruments to play music in their ungodly lives (e.g., Job 30:31 cf. 21:12).
Believers today who choose to use the guitar appropriately in Christian worship have abundant and conclusive Scriptural basis for doing so.
[1] One person voiced his concern this way: “Do you know that guitars have paganistic origins. Maybe you should research more into the history of classical guitars before you promote it so much.”
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
“The God of Abraham Praise” is a beautiful hymn that is adapted from a traditional Hebrew melody. This PDF provides the melody notes, first stanza, and guitar chords for this hymn in the key of Em.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of Scripture guarantee the absolute truthfulness and reliability of everything that it records and reveals concerning the history of the world. Two books, Genesis and Job, provide the earliest inspired historical information about music. An examination of that information reveals several important facts.
In the first canonical reference to music in Scripture, we learn that people in the ungodly line of Cain may have invented two musical instruments:
Gen 4:21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר; a stringed instrument] and organ [Heb. עוּגָב; a wind instrument].
We know that this verse gives us the earliest inspired historical information that we have about human music because all other references to musical instruments used in early human music present people using one or both of these instruments (Job. 21:12 and 30:31 have both the same instruments as in Gen. 4:21; Gen. 31:27 has one).
Job bemoaned that the wicked enjoyed themselves by singing to accompaniment provided by the use of instruments, including the same two instruments mentioned in Genesis 4:
Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? . . . 12They take the timbrel (Heb. תֹּף; a percussion instrument) and harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר], and rejoice at the sound of the organ [Heb. עוּגָב]
Job, therefore, knew of wicked people who were skilled musicians in his day who knew how to sing to musical accompaniment.[1] Because Job presents this information in a matter-of-fact statement and not as some new development in his time, we can be certain that by this time humans had extensively developed the ability to sing to the instruments that may have been invented by Jubal.
Furthermore, either Job himself was also a musician (Cf. “my harp” and “my organ” in the verse below) or someone else in his household played these musical instruments for him (conveyed by two occurrences of “my” in the verse below) or both Job and others were musicians:
Job 30:31 My harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר] also is turned to mourning, and my organ [Heb. עוּגָב] into the voice of them that weep.
Even if we understand this statement as figurative language for Job’s joy turning to mourning, it still testifies to his knowledge about instrumental music and human singing to instrumental accompaniment.
From the combined teaching of these passages in Job, we know that at the time of Job both the wicked and God’s people knew how to sing accompanied by musical instruments.
Elihu testified about God’s giving His people music in some unspecified manner:
Job 35:10 But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;
As a contemporary of Job, Elihu attests that God’s people in Job’s time knew and believed that God gave people songs, which would point to the existence of music that was sacred at least from the standpoint of its source.
If, however, we understand this verse to mean simply that God blessed people so that they sang at night, we would still have a statement that shows that His people at this time responded to God’s goodness to them with singing.
Job and his readers also knew that God Himself challenged Job by asking him where he was when he laid the foundation of the earth and angelic beings extolled Him for doing so:
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job, therefore, was directly instructed by God about the existence of singing prior to the existence of man.[2]
Laban chided Jacob for secretly leaving without allowing him to send him off properly:
Gen 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret (Heb. תֹּף), and with harp [Heb. כִּנּוֹר]?
Apparently, singing accompanied by musical instruments as part of sending off a relative was a well-established practice for Laban. We also see that this reference presents the use of music positively in a constructive group setting, unlike the negative connotation conveyed by Job’s mention of the music enjoyed by the wicked.
Furthermore, as was the case with Job, we know from this statement that either Laban himself was a skilled musician or someone else in his home was skilled at singing and playing musical instruments or both Laban and others were musicians. In fact, the mention of two different instruments that cannot be played at the same time by one person almost certainly points to at least two skilled musicians in Laban’s household (unless the same person first played one instrument and then the other).
In connection with the musical references in Job, this text further shows us that singing to musical instruments was commonplace among pagan people by this time in history.
Scripture presents at least some aspect of music as originating in the ungodly line of Cain (Gen. 4:21 mentions a stringed instrument and a wind instrument). Because God destroyed all humanity in the Flood except for Noah and seven members of his family (1 Pet. 3:20), Noah and his family apparently played a vital role in the preservation of human knowledge about music. All human music after the Flood would seem, therefore, to have to have had in some manner its origins in the musical knowledge and activity of these eight survivors of the Flood.
After the flood, by the time of Job, we know that singing to instrumental accompaniment was commonplace among humans (Job 27:12). Wicked people had at least three types of musical instruments at this time: percussion (“timbrel”), stringed (“harp”), and wind (“organ”) instruments. The greater diversity of instruments mentioned here points to an advance from the two instruments mentioned in Genesis 4.
Both God’s people and the wicked were skilled musicians at least from the time of Job onward. Later, in the time of Jacob, singing accompanied by musical instruments was part of a well-established practice of sending off departing family members (Gen 31:27).
This examination of the biblical chronology of early music reveals that human knowledge and practice of music, both instrumental and vocal, was well developed before the Hebrews departed (in the Exodus) from their bondage in Egypt. This fact has important bearing on how we must interpret the references to music found in the book of Exodus, which after Genesis and Job provides us with the next earliest information about early human music.
[1] Cf. NET Job 21:12 They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute. The NET Notes for Job 21:12 explain why this verse teaches us about people singing to musical instruments: “29 tn The verb is simply ‘they take up [or lift up],’ but the understood object is ‘their voices,’ and so it means ‘they sing.’”
[2] The Hebrew verb rendered “sang” in this verse is not necessarily a word always pertaining to music; all major translations, however, render it as signifying singing in this verse (KJV, NAU, NKJ, ESV, NIV, and CSB).
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
This morning, I began researching all that Scripture teaches about evil spirits. As I worked on generating a list of every verse pertaining to this subject, I was struck anew by just how invaluable electronic Bible study has been for me over the years.
I have used electronic Bible study tools over the years to study at great length what the Bible teaches about numerous subjects, such as health, evangelism, head coverings, judgment, prayer, the Holy Spirit, eschatology, and music. Without these tools, I would not have been able to study these subjects to the extent that I have and certainly would never have been able to study in-depth so many diverse subjects in the same amount of time.
I have also used these tools to do a vast amount of original language study of various subjects. In fact, my dissertation work would have been impossible to do without these tools because it involved very complex study of biblical Hebrew and Greek that I would not have been able to do just by using ordinary original language tools.
This morning, I searched for every occurrence of words that start with the string of letters devil (to do this search in BibleWorks7 [BW7], you would search on devil*). Using the Verse List Manager, I then created a verse list from that search and examined all the verses.
I did these additional searches and made verse lists for each one:
evil spirit*; familiar; tempter; Satan; serpent*; ‘prince of; unclean spirit*; dragon*; principal*
I briefly examined all the verses that these searches produced and generated a master list of 232 verses from them. Scanning through this list makes clear that Scripture has much to say about this important subject and its profound ramifications for every believer.
In a matter of minutes, I was able to study a subject with a breadth that would have taken many hours to do without the use of BW7. I plan to study these verses much more in the weeks to come and hope to write several articles based on that research, especially in connection with my ongoing study of the role of fallen spirits in the Golden Calf incident.
I praise and thank God for blessing us with invaluable electronic Bible study tools such as BW7 and heartily recommend their use!
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
For more than two years now, I have been intensively studying what the Bible teaches about music. As part of that study, I recently have been pondering the references in Scripture to secular instrumental music.
Scripture has at least 20 references about music in settings that do not pertain to instances of worshiping the true and living God. These references speak of the secular music of both the heathen peoples and God’s people.
Gen 4:21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. [Reference found in the ungodly line of Cain]
Gen 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? [Statement by Laban, who was an idolater (cf. Gen 31:30f.)]
Isa 23:16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. [In an oracle against Tyre]
Isa 24:8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. [In a passage about judgment on all the earth]
Eze 26:13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. [Part of God’s judgment on Tyre]
Dan 3:5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:a
7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.a
10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:a
15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?a
Dan 6:18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.
Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; [Part of God’s end-time judgment of Babylon]
Jdg 11:34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
Eze 33:32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. [General reference that does not specify the nationality of the musician or the precise nature of his music; I have included it here because it is in teaching about how God’s people were receiving Ezekiel’s ministry to them]
Lam 5:14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.b
Amo 6:5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
Mat 11:17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
Luk 7:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
Luk 15:25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.b
1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [Identity of the musician unspecified]c
1Co 14:7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? [Identity of the musician unspecified]c
These 20 references to secular music reveal the following truths:
In future articles, I hope to bring out the relevance of this study to the ongoing dispute about the propriety of using CCM in corporate worship.
a Strictly speaking, these verses do not refer to secular music because they speak of music in a religious context. I have included them here, however, because they are in a context of false worship, which means that they do have bearing upon our understanding of the secular music of the Babylonians, a heathen people.
b These references do not specify the use of instruments, but they likely signify their use.
c These references may refer also to music used in Christian worship, but the statements do not specify that they do.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Learning how to understand key signatures is an important skill for a guitar player because it enables him to better understand the music that he plays. Here are the basic rules for determining what keys are represented by each key signature:
1. The major and minor keys represented by two key signatures should be memorized: (1) no sharps or flats: C major and A minor; (2) one flat: F major and D minor.
2. For all the other key signatures, follow these steps to find the key:
If the key signature has one or more sharps, go to the last sharp. Going up to the next note will give you the major key and going down a third from that note will give you the minor key.
If the key signature has more than one flat, go to the next-to-last flat. That flatted note is the major key for that key signature. Going down a third gives you the minor key for that key signature
This PDF illustrates how to follow these rules for all the major and minor keys represented by all 15 possible key signatures.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Scripture is our only infallible source of information about God’s perspectives concerning people who engage in worship and the actual nature of that worship. In Ezekiel 33, He reveals to us vital principles about how He should be worshiped through His assessment of the presence and nature of the sensuality among those who worshipped Him at that time.
Among the Jews who were exiled in Babylon, there were those whose worship was not what it appeared to be (33:30-33):
Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.
31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
33 And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.
God made known to Ezekiel that his fellow Jews were maligning him even while they were exhorting one another to come hear his ministry of the Word of the Lord that he was proclaiming (Ezekiel 33:30).
These seeming worshipers were intermingled with true worshipers and mimicked the worship of the latter. They came as the others did and sat before him as the rest of God’s people did (Ezekiel 33:31).
They listened intently to Ezekiel’s proclamation of God’s words (Ezekiel 33:31a-c), but the true nature of their supposed worship of God was revealed by their failure to heed God’s words (Ezekiel 33:31d). God exposed them as hypocritical worshipers who did not do what He said because although they professed great love for Him, they were actually motivated by their lustful hearts and their pursuit of personal gain (Ezekiel 33:31e-f).
God then called Ezekiel to perceive what was taking place in the hearts and minds of such people: “And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument.” (33:32). The Hebrew word rendered as “very lovely” (that modifies the word song) uses a word (‘Əgavah) that is used in a negative sense in Scripture for “sensual desire” that is “condemned” (Holladay, 264).
Ezekiel thus was to them like a song characterized by sensuality that was ministered by a person having a beautiful voice and playing a stringed instrument skillfully (33:32a-b). Implicit thus in this statement is these people’s appetite for sensual songs and God’s condemnation of that fleshly proclivity.
This statement revealed the essential problematic sensuality of these supposed worshipers of God. Because of that sensuality, God’s words did not profit them in bringing about obedience to Him in their lives, just as hearing a sensual love song sung by one with a pleasant voice accompanied well on an instrument does not.
Through this comparison, God was not condemning those who have lovely voices or can play stringed instruments with great skill–He is the One who gifts people with these priceless gifts. His statement indicts the people who were hearing Ezekiel’s ministry of the Word with the same fleshly orientation of heart as they would hear sensual songs.
Unquestionably, Ezekiel was not preaching a sensual message to them; he apparently then had an appealing, pleasant speaking voice, good vocal production, and great skillfulness in his speaking for God. These sensuality-oriented worshipers were drawn to these elements of his ministry, but they did not have a heart for hearing from God to do what He was saying through Ezekiel.
This account warns us that we must come to hear the ministry of God’s Word with a true and sincere heart to obey Him. To have such a heart to hear from God, we through the Spirit must mortify all manifestations of the sensuality that our flesh is irredeemably bent toward. Otherwise, even hearing a true prophet of God preach His words in His house will not profit us, and our worship will be spoiled by the same sensuality for which God rebuked those among His people who came with that ungodly orientation to hear Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry.
For help with issues concerning CCM, please see the many resources that I have compiled: Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The NT provides fuller understanding about many key OT people and events, including Creation, the Exodus, and the ministry of Enoch. In a striking way not specifically revealed in the OT, First Corinthians 10 gives believers the key to a fuller understanding of the Golden Calf incident and its contemporary relevance.*
Prior to First Corinthians 10, at least five passages give us explicit revelation about the Golden Calf incident: Exodus 32; Deuteronomy 9; Nehemiah 9; Psalm 106; Acts 7. A thorough analysis of these passages shows that the incident was a profoundly important event in sacred history (see the previous articles in this series, which are listed below, for more information).
Fittingly, this prior revelation, however, does not reveal a key facet about the event that is necessary to know in order to understand it fully. God gives us that key through vital Pauline teaching in First Corinthians 10.
Of the two NT references to the Golden Calf incident, Acts 7:39-41 only indirectly pertains to believers today because it is part of Stephen’s defense before the high priest and other Jewish people who accosted and persecuted him (Acts 6:9-7:60). The reference in First Corinthians 10:7, however, is in epistolary teaching specifically directed to Christians.
Because Paul explicitly cites the Golden Calf incident in important epistolary teaching to believers, we know that properly understanding it and its application to us is vital. Moreover, Paul states both before (1 Cor. 10:6) and after (1 Cor. 10:11) his reference to the incident (1 Cor. 10:7) that the account is exemplary for us and was recorded for our instruction.
We must take pains, therefore, to study all the passages about the incident carefully and thoroughly. When we do so with First Corinthians 10, we discover at least three key aspects of the incident that pertain to believers today and need more attention.
Paul wrote First Corinthians to believers who were facing many problems in the church at Corinth. First Corinthians 10 is part of three chapters (1 Cor. 8:1-11:1) that he wrote to address problems that the Church was facing with issues concerning Christian liberty.
A key feature of the Golden Calf incident was its essential character as an instance of religious syncretism. Paul’s use of that account in First Corinthians 10 to warn Christians must alert us to the profound potential dangers posed by some disputed practices among believers that many regard as involving similar religious syncretism.
Invoking Christian liberty as justification for such practices without bringing to bear pertinent truths from the Golden Calf incident puts contemporary believers at profound spiritual risk. No discussion of such issues about Christian liberty is legitimate if it does not account fully for Paul’s teaching in First Corinthians 10 concerning the relevance of the incident for Christians.
In First Corinthians 10:7, Paul commands all believers not to be idolaters. He cites Exodus 32:6 as a Scriptural record of some highly privileged people (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-4) who became idolaters in the Golden Calf incident:
Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
By citing this aspect of the incident in his command, Paul made clear that their eating, drinking, and playing on this occasion were all part of their idolatry.
Moreover, the reference to their eating and drinking in Exodus 32:6 is not pointing to ordinary eating and drinking that took place after they worshiped the calf. Rather, it refers to their eating and drinking food and drink that they had offered to the idol.
Based on First Corinthians 10:7, we understand that the Israelites’ eating and drinking what was offered to the idol and their playing afterwards are all key information that must warn us to flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). We must accept, therefore, that the profound danger that idolatry poses for believers involves much more than a believer’s personally doing homage to an idol by bowing to it or engaging in some other related actions that involve only the believer’s body and no other external objects.
What Paul then explains in the rest of First Corinthians 10 reveals just how this is the case with a believer’s partaking of meat offered to idols. In this concluding material, he gives us the profound revelation that is the key to a fuller understanding of the Golden Calf incident.
Paul teaches that believers “know that an idol is nothing in the world” (1 Cor. 8:4) and that food in and of itself does not commend us to God (1 Cor. 8:8). He later reiterates both truths through two questions (“What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?” [1 Cor. 10:19]).
What Paul says next brings out the horrific spiritual reality of what takes place when people offer sacrifices to idols:
But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils (1 Cor. 10:20).
Paul reveals that Gentiles who sacrifice to idols in reality offer sacrifices to fallen spirits and not to God! Although neither an idol nor what is offered to it has any innate spiritual qualities to it individually, people who combine the two in a worship context in reality worship fallen spirits—regardless of whether they intend to or not.
Worse yet, not only do they worship the fallen spirits, but they also have fellowship with them! Eating meat offered to an idol in a worship context thus puts those who eat that meat into direct contact with demons.
Moreover, Paul teaches that it is not possible to partake of both the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils (1 Cor. 10:21a). Nor is it possible to partake both of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:21b).
These statements make clear that believers who engage in worship that features any such religious syncretism are incapable of worshiping the Lord aright. True believers who do engage in such actions must fear provoking the Lord to jealousy (1 Cor. 10:22) because they are not stronger than He is, and He will surely chasten them for doing so.
When these considerations are brought to bear on our understanding of what happened in the Golden Calf incident, we learn that all that the passages record of their shameful debauched behavior after they had eaten and drunk what was offered to the idol was not merely human deviancy on display. Rather, their playing (Exod. 32:6; 1 Cor. 10:7), singing (Exod. 32:18; Acts 7:41), and dancing (Exod. 32:19; Acts 7:41) in unrestrained ways that brought them into shame with their enemies (Exod. 32:25) was the deviant behavior of people who had come into direct contact with fallen spirits and been influenced by them to engage in that shameful debauched behavior!
Moreover, we understand better God’s profound anger with the people on that occasion—they had provoked Him to wrath because their religious syncretism brought them into direct fellowship with demons. Because His people had become profoundly “contaminated” in that manner, He ordered that many of them be executed (Exod. 32:26-29) and would have destroyed them all had not Moses interceded for them (Exod. 32:11-14).
Based on the points covered above, any sound treatment of the Golden Calf incident and its relevance for believers today must account for its being a record of demon-influenced immoral behavior by spiritually privileged people that resulted from their engaging in purported worship of the Lord that included religious syncretism. We must allow God’s profound displeasure with His people on that occasion to underscore Paul’s use of that incident in First Corinthians 10 to warn us to take heed that we not fall similarly in matters concerning Christian liberty because we think that we stand (1 Cor. 10:12).
As I hope to show in future articles, this fuller understanding of the incident has profound relevance for contemporary debates about the propriety of incorporating debauched pagan elements into worship of the Lord.
*If you have not done so, please read the previous articles in this series before reading this article:
1. Toward Fully Understanding the Golden Calf Incident
2. More Insights about the Golden Calf Incident
3. Leadership Failure and the Golden Calf Incident
4. Religious Syncretism and the Golden Calf Incident
Copyright © 2011-2025 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.
