Theology | A People for His Name

Learning from Supernaturally Directed Creation and Soundings of Musical Instruments

November 11, 2024 — Leave a comment

God directed the Israelites to make two trumpets—this, therefore, was not independent cultural musical activity. Furthermore, God determined what the trumpets would be made of (silver) and how they were to be made (“of a whole piece shalt thou make them”):

Numbers 10:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

God also specified how the trumpets were to be used through distinctively different soundings of them:

Blowing both trumpets but not sounding an alarm to assemble all the assembly:

Numbers 10:3 And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Numbers 10:7 But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.

Blowing only one trumpet to gather only the princes:

Numbers 10:4 And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.

Blowing an alarm to direct the camps to move in specified ways:

Numbers 10:5 When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. 6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

Blowing an alarm when going to war:

Numbers 10:9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Blowing the trumpets over certain sacrifices on certain days:

Numbers 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

Discussion

This passage plainly teaches us that certain human beings (the Israelites) made two musical instruments (two silver trumpets) and engaged in certain musical activities (the soundings of the silver trumpets) such that all their activities with those instruments were supernaturally directed—this was not independent human musical activity that was culturally based.

Moreover, their heeding that entirely supernatural direction included at least two distinctively different soundings of those instruments: blowing an alarm versus blowing that was not the blowing of an alarm.

Conclusion

We, therefore, can say with certainty that the Bible does not teach that all musical activities of all people of all time have all been culturally determined. Rather, some of those musical activities have been supernaturally directed in both the making of the instrument or instruments used and the soundings of the instrument or instruments.

In Exposition, Interpretation, Music, Theology

“Why Human Skull Drums Matter”

October 31, 2024 — Leave a comment

I posted the following today on Sharper Iron:

Why human skull drums matter

Skull drums matter because of key realities that they reveal, including the following:

1. We do not have any evidence that skull drums created themselves, evolved on their own, magically appeared on earth, or fell out of heaven.

Neither God nor holy angels nor righteous prophets or apostles or people made them. Someone had to make them. Who, then, made them, and what does their making them reveal? What does the existence of human skull drums teach us?

2. God made human skulls to be what they are. He did not make them to be used as percussion instruments in any manner in any musical activities.

Furthermore, skull drums are not made just from human skulls–they are made from one or more additional materials combined with something good that God made (human skulls).

What does that prove about what evil entities can make from one or more things that were in and of themselves good things that were made by God?

3. Any and all musical uses of drums made from human skulls is perverse musical activity that is totally and unchangeably unacceptable to God. What does God want righteous people to do concerning all musical activities done with drums made from human skulls?

In Music, Theology

Profiting Fully from the Doctrinal Importance of Narratives: Hebrews 11:1-12:1

October 16, 2024

To profit fully from Scripture, we must understand correctly the doctrinal importance of narratives. To that end, we must remember that the chapter divisions and verse divisions in Scripture are not inspired by God.

Hebrews 11:1-12:1 is an important example of this truth. If we do not connect Hebrews 12:1 to all that is in Hebrews 11, we will miss vital truth that God has given us for our profit.

To understand why this is true, note especially how Hebrews 12:1 connects with 11:32-40 (and all that precedes it in Hebrews 11) through the word “wherefore” at the beginning of 12:1:

Hebrews 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Here, the inspired writer of the book of Hebrews issues two prescriptive mutual exhortations that instruct us that we must profit in our own lives from what God has given us in all of Hebrews 11.

To the extent that we do not profit from the vital connection between Hebrews 12:1 and Hebrews 11:1-40, we will not be fully the holy brethren that we should be.

It is a great mistake to take the position that only what is explicitly stated in the NT (or even in the rest of Scripture) is what matters for us. Rather, this passage vitally teaches us that we must profit from the numerous narrative passages in the OT that God has given us in Scripture, especially all the passages about the prophets who spoke and lived faithfully for God (Heb. 11:32).

What’s more, the writer of Hebrews explicitly tells us that he had much more to say than what he did explicitly talk about in Hebrews 11:

Hebrews 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.

Because he said this, we have full biblical warrant to give close attention to the biblical accounts of all those who are mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 to learn what more the writer of Hebrews would have taught us about faith and other closely related truths had he had the time to talk about those truths in Hebrews 11.

Conclusion

We must not allow unsound doctrine about the doctrinal importance of narratives to deprive us of the full profit that the Spirit wants us to receive from them!

In Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

What “A New Song” Does Not Mean in Scripture

September 25, 2024

Scripture speaks of “a new song” in 9 verses:

Ps. 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Ps. 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Ps. 96:1 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Ps. 98:1 <A Psalm.> O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

Ps. 144:9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

Ps. 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

Isa. 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

Rev. 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Rev. 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

A careful examination of these verses reveals the following points, which may be truths from the passages that many believers have not understood:

1. In all 9 passages, “song” is a noun modified by the adjective “new.” That adjective is not modifying anything else other than song in any of the passages.

2. Moreover, in 8 of the 9 passages, “song” is the direct object of forms of the verb “sing.”

3, “Song” is never the object of a verb signifying the playing of an instrument, and “new” in the 2 passages where instruments are explicitly mentioned is never an adverb modifying another word that has to do with the playing of an instrument.

4. Yes, 2 of the passages mention the use of musical instruments, but holding that the adjective “new” in those passages extends to the playing of those instruments as well as the song is not what the passages say.

5. None of the 9 passages says anything directly about the use of new kinds of instrumental music, the use of new instruments, etc. None of those passages requires us to hold that there must be a continual newness to our playing of musical instruments.

Conclusion

When the Bible speaks of “a new song,” the adjective “new” does not itself directly speak about anything to do with the use of musical instruments or instrumental music in ways that are continually new.

In Interpretation, Music, Theology

The Primacy of Stringed Instruments in the Book of Psalms

August 17, 2024

Musical instruments or terms having specifically to do with them are mentioned explicitly in the Psalms at least 49 times.^a An examination of these occurrences reveals that the Spirit has stressed the importance of stringed instruments above that of both wind instruments and percussion instruments.

Stringed Instruments

Stringed	Mentions	Verses	Psalms	Commands
Harp	14 (33:2; 43:4; 49:4; 57:8; 71:22c; 81:2c; 92:3c; 98:5 (2x); 108:2; 137:2; 147:7; 149:3; 150:3b)	13	13	6 (33:2a; 81:2c; 98:5; 147:7; 149:3; 150:3b)
Psaltery	8 (33:2b; 57:8; 71:22a; 81:2c; 92:3b; 108:2; 144:9; 150:3b)	8	8	3 (33:2b; 81:2c; 150:3b)
“Instrument of ten strings”	3 (33:2b; 92:3a; 144:9)	3	3	1 (33:2b)
“Stringed instruments”	1 (150:4b)	1	1	1 (150:4b)
“Neginoth”	6 (4:1; 6:1; 54:1; 55:1; 67:1; 76:1)	6	6
“Sheminith”	2 (6:1; 12:1)	2	2
“Neginah”	1 (61:1)	1	1
“Play skillfully”	1 (33:3)	1	1	1 (33:3)
“Players on instruments”	1 (68:25b)	1	1
Total	37^b	25^b,^c	23^b,^c	9^c

Wind Instruments

Wind	Mentions	Verses	Psalms	Commands
Trumpet	4 (47:5; 81:3; 98:6; 150:3a)	4	4	3 (81:3; 98:6; 150:3a)
“Cornet”	1 (98:6)	1	1	1 (98:6)
“Organs”	1 (150:4b)	1	1	1 (150:4b)
Total	6^d	5^c	4^c	4^c

Percussion Instruments

Percussion	Mentions	Verses	Psalms	Commands
Timbrels	4 (68:25c; 81:2b; 149:3; 150:4a)	4	4	3 (81:2b; 149:3; 150:4a)
“Loud cymbals”	1 (150:5a)	1	1	1 (150:5a)
“High sounding cymbals”	1 (150:5b)	1	1	1 (150:5b)
Total	6	5^c	4^c	5^c

Discussion

The data about musical instruments in the Psalms shows that stringed instruments (or terms specifically pertaining to them) are mentioned more than three times as often (37 times) in the Psalms as are wind instruments and percussion instruments combined (12 times). Information about stringed instruments is mentioned in more than three times the number of verses in the Psalms (25 verses) than is information about wind instruments and percussion instruments combined (8 verses).

Moreover, stringed instruments (and other information about them) are mentioned in more than three times the number of Psalms (23 Psalms) than wind instruments and percussion instruments are (6 Psalms). Strikingly, nine Psalms mention only stringed instruments (Ps. 33, 43, 49, 71, 92, 108, 137, 144, 147), but only one Psalm mentions only a wind instrument (Ps. 47), and no Psalm mentions only percussion instruments.

The Psalms also reveal that God has commanded the use of stringed instruments nine times in the Psalms, which equals the total number of commands for the use of wind instruments and percussion instruments. Six Psalms have commands for the use of string instruments (Ps. 33, 81, 98, 147, 149, 150), while commands for the use of either wind or percussion instruments are found in four Psalms (Ps. 81, 98, 149, 150).

Another facet of the greater importance of stringed instruments in the Psalms directly pertains to corporate worship in a distinctive way. Of the 55 Psalms that the Spirit inspired to be directed explicitly to the chief musician, eight have explicit mentions of stringed instruments or terms pertaining specifically to them at the beginning of the Psalm (Ps. 4:1; 6:1; 12:1; 54:1; 55:1; 61:1; 67:1; 76:1).

Four other Psalms explicitly have content about stringed instruments, but their content is later in the Psalm (Ps. 49:4; 57:8; 68:25; 81:2). The Spirit, therefore, has inspired explicit mentions of information about stringed instruments in 12 such Psalms!

By striking contrast, none of the 55 Psalms explicitly directed to the chief musician have content about wind or percussion instruments at the beginning of the Psalm. Three of the 55 Psalms do have later content in them about wind (Ps. 47:5; 81:3) and percussion instruments (Ps. 68:25; 81:2).

The Spirit has thus inspired content about stringed instruments in four times as many such Psalms (12 total) compared to content about wind or percussion instruments (3 total for both wind and percussion instruments)! This far greater proportion stresses the comparative importance of stringed instruments above wind and percussion instruments.

These facts about what the Spirit has revealed about musical instruments through the Psalms plainly teach us that stringed instruments are far more important than are either wind instruments or percussion instruments. The primacy of stringed instruments in the Psalms therefore is undeniable.

Application

Musically conservative brethren who choose to use wind and percussion instruments only sparingly and in limited ways in their corporate worship have full biblical justification to do so. The biblical data in Psalms does not necessitate that either wind instruments or percussion instruments are to be used prominently in corporate worship.

Moreover, churches that cite the mentions and commands in the Psalms concerning percussion instruments to justify the use of rhythmically dominant music in their corporate worship would do well to consider whether what they are doing in their corporate worship properly accords with what the Psalms teach us about the primacy of stringed instruments in corporate worship.

Notes:

^a I am fully aware that there is more data in the Psalms that may pertain to the use of musical instruments. I have chosen not to treat that data because there are significant uncertainties about what that data signifies. For example, some sources hold that Nehiloth in Psalm 5:1 has to do with the use of flutes (see the translation note in the NET Bible), but they state that this understanding is uncertain.

^b Psalm 45:8 has the same Hebrew word that is rendered as “stringed instruments” in 150:4.

^c The totals do not equal the sum of the numbers in each row of this column because some of the entries are from the same verse, Psalm, or command, respectively.

^d Psalm 87:7 may speak of the use of pipes or flutes.

^e As needed, I will be making changes, corrections, additions, etc. to the information in this post. I would appreciate feedback about any factual errors that need correcting.

^fPhoto Credit: D. Hendrix

In Music, Theology

What ἕκαστος Teaches Us about the Harps in Revelation 5:8

August 10, 2024

Revelation 5 is the first of three passages in the final book of Scripture that reveal to us the only musical information in Scripture that the Spirit has inspired for our profit about heavenly worship music. A careful handling of the Greek word ἕκαστος [Eng. “each”] in Revelation 5:8 teaches us a key truth about the harps that are mentioned in that passage.

Revelation 5:8 καὶ ὅτε ἔλαβε τὸ βιβλίον, τὰ τέσσαρα ζῶα καὶ οἱ εἰκοσιτέσσαρες πρεσβύτεροι ἔπεσον ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου, ἔχοντες ἕκαστος κιθάρας, καὶ φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας θυμιαμάτων, αἵ εἰσιν αἱ προσευχαὶ τῶν ἁγίων.

Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

The Spirit’s use of this word shows us that all of the elders in this scene had the exact same thing–harps. Whatever harps signify in this verse therefore has to be the same thing for each elder.

Those who take harps in this verse to be symbolic of praise offered on all kinds of musical instruments do not have any basis to do so in the text. The text does not allow for or support in any way holding that some of the elders had one musical instrument, others had a different musical instrument, and so on.

All 24 elders in Revelation 5:8 had harps–they did not have differing musical instruments among themselves. Revelation 5:8 does not in any way support the view that harps in the passage signify praise on all kinds of musical instruments.

In Exposition, Interpretation, Music, Theology

Do What is Right Even If Your Heart Is Not Fully in It!

July 22, 2024

Have you ever heard someone say something like this: “It’s not what you do that matters—it is the heart that matters”?

Take care that you are not misled by such statements. The heart certainly matters, but what you do also matters.

In fact, God teaches us that He cares about people’s doing what is right in His sight even if they do not do it with a perfect heart!

2 Chronicles 25:1 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.

For our profit, the Spirit inspired this passage to teach us that God took note that Amaziah did what was right in His sight, but not with a perfect heart.

Even if your heart is not fully in it, always do what is right in the sight of God!

In Discipleship, Exhortation, Interpretation, Theology

Isaiah 38:20 and the Importance of Stringed Instruments

July 15, 2024

Isaiah 38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

Hezekiah was one of the godliest kings ever to rule over a nation. In this verse, he communicates that his response to God’s sparing him from dying from what was originally divinely declared to be an illness that would lead to his death was to extol God musically all the days of his life in the house of God!

What’s particularly noteworthy in this statement is that he specifies that the instruments to which they would sing his songs in the temple of God were stringed instruments. This is one of several such statements in Scripture that lead me to hold that stringed instruments were the most important instruments that were used in acceptable corporate worship of God in His temple.

In Interpretation, Music, Theology

Let Us Praise God with Singing on Stringed Instruments Day and Night on the Lord’s Day!

July 6, 2024

God ordained that there would be consecrated singers who would minister to Him *day* and *night* with singing accompanied with stringed instruments.

1 Chronicles 9:33 And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.

Especially on His uniquely consecrated day, it was a good thing to sing praises to His name upon stringed musical instruments *in the morning* and *every night.*

Psalm 92:1 <A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.> It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: 2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

O that there were many more consecrated followers of Christ in our day who would supremely value the honor and privilege of being in God’s house both *in the morning* and *in the night* on the Lord’s Day to glorify God with singing His praises accompanied by stringed instruments.

In Exhortation, Prayer, Theology

“How Biblical Is Your Demonology?”

June 30, 2024

Today, I added a new forum post for discussion on Sharper Iron, “How Biblical Is Your Demonology?”

In the opening post, I said the following:

Pastor Mark Minnick preached a very helpful message this morning from Mark 1:21-24 that treats the subject of demonology in considerable detail:

“A Powerful, Indwelling Demon Reacts to Jesus Christ“

I heartily recommend the careful consideration of this treatment of the subject of demonology and examining your own beliefs in light of it to see how biblical is your demonology.

In Theology

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