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.

The Earliest Information about Human Music

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).

The Earliest Information about Singing accompanied by Instruments

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.

The Earliest Information about God in relation to Human Music

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.

The Earliest Information about Angelic Music

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]

The Earliest Information about Music in the Time of the Patriarchs

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.

Discussion

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).

Conclusion

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.

Copyright © 2011-2024 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.

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.

Secular Music of Heathen Peoples

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]

Secular Music of God’s People

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

Observations about Secular Instrumental Music in Scripture

These 20 references to secular music reveal the following truths:

1. Heathen people may have invented instrumental music (Gen. 4:21).
2. Instrumental music has been important in the secular lives of human beings from very early in human history (Gen. 4:21) and will continue to be so until the end of human history prior to the Millennium (Rev. 18:22).
3. Scripture speaks about the secular music of both heathen peoples and God’s people.
4. The varied nature of the references to secular instrumental music shows that the inspired authors of Scripture were not ignorant about such music.
5. Instrumental music played a vital role in the preeminent occasion of heathen worship recorded in Scripture (Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15).
6. Daniel 3, the passage that emphasizes the use of instrumental music in worship more than any other passage in Scripture does, does not refer to the music of the people of God; instead, it highlights the role that instrumental music played in the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest heathen king in human history.

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 © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.