A People for His Name

Kings, Princes, Priests, and Prophets

April 5, 2012

Reading in Jeremiah 32 today, I noticed again that it lists various leaders among the people of God in a particular order. A BibleWorks search revealed that in every verse in which the words king, prince, priest, and prophet all occur, they are always found in this same order:

Neh 9:32 ¶ Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Jer 2:26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,

Jer 4:9 ¶ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

Jer 8:1 ¶ At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:

Jer 32:32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

This fact seems to suggest that this order reflects the importance with which God viewed the roles of these various leaders among His people. If this interpretation is valid, it would support the understanding that the most important role of Jesus from divine viewpoint is that of His being God’s chosen King.

In Interpretation

Use of "Slant Rhyme" in Hymns

April 3, 2012

I learned a new poetical concept today: slant rhyme. This term refers to the use of words that do not rhyme exactly, but have enough in common to work in hymn texts.

Here are some of the more interesting words used as slant rhymes that I have found in my recent study of a number of hymnals:

God – flood, blood, stood, abroad, abode

Lord – Word

love – prove, rove, remove

Savior – favor

faith – death

grace – praise; praise – always

Christ – price

perfume – tomb

sacrifice – replies; sacrifice – life

come – womb

obey – away

do – go

come – home

Him – sin; sin – clean

more – storm

oppressed – rest

dire – cry

eyes – price

lost – most

eve – live

name – diadem

proclaim – Lamb

cross – distress

men – train

grave – have

confessed – blest

noon – dome

men – again

alone – home

too – refuse

state – grace

sound – town

name – stream

form – torn

Learning of and understanding this practice is going to make my project of setting many of the Psalms to music much easier!

In Music

Some Interesting Stats for Bible Readers

March 31, 2012

Today, I analyzed all the books of the Bible for the number of chapters, verse, and words in each book. These data and some derivative information bring out some interesting statistics for Bible readers.

I. Using the numbers of chapters, verses, and words in each book, I calculated three other statistics: average number of verses/chapter; average number of words/chapter; and average number of words/verse.

-Psalms has the most chapters (150), verses (2,461), and words (43,738)

-Five books have only one chapter (Obadiah; Philemon; 1 John; 2 John; and Jude); 2 John has the fewest verses (13), and 3 John has the fewest words (294)

The following chart shows the derivative statistics for the book having the highest number in each category and the book having the lowest:

Book	Verses/Chap	Book	Words/Chap	Book	Words/Verse
Luke	47.96	I Kings	1114.23	Esth	33.73
Jonah	12.00	Psalms	291.59	Prov	16.43

The differences between the highest and lowest values in each category are remarkable.

II. A comparison between Psalms and each of the books with the highest values in the derivative categories likely explains why Psalms is one of the easiest books to read:

-Luke (47.96 verses/chapter) vs. Psalms (16.41 verses/chapter; 13^th lowest)

-1 Kings (1114.23 words/chapter) vs. Psalms (291.59 words/chapter; lowest)

-Esther (33.73 words/verse) vs. Psalms (17.77 words/verse; fourth lowest)

III. A different comparison should help put reading through the Psalms into better perspective:

Book	Words	Verses	Chapters
Psalms	43738	2461	150

Luke	25939	1151	24
Acts	24245	1007	28
	50184	2158	52

Luke	25939	1151	24
John	19094	879	21
	45033	2030	45

John	19094	879	21
Acts	24245	1007	28
	43339	1886	49

This data shows that reading through either Luke-Acts or Luke-John entails reading more words than Psalms (6446 more words for Luke-Acts; 1295 more words for Luke-John). Reading John-Acts, you read 399 fewer words than reading Psalms.

Many people may have read Luke-Acts, Luke-John, or John-Acts through in a week. If so, you should be able to read the Psalms through in a week with a similar amount of effort!

For more information, see my PDFs: Statistical Analysis of the Books of the KJV Bible and my Six-fold Analysis of the Books of the KJV Bible. The first one gives the information for all the books in Bible order; the second lists the books in order from lowest to highest in each category.

In Bible reading

Some Music Principles from the Psalms

March 30, 2012

Using the Detailed Statistics facility in BibleWorks 7 to analyze the Psalms, I compiled some interesting statistics. These statistics seem to provide some helpful guidelines for our music perspectives.

In the KJV, the 150 chapters of Psalms have a total of 2461 verses and 43,738 words. The average verse length for the book is 17.77 words.

The Psalms range in length from 2 verses (Ps. 117) to 176 verses (Ps. 119). These two Psalms also have the fewest and the most total words, respectively: 33 words (Ps. 117) and 2445 words (Ps. 119).

On average, Psalm 120 has the shortest verses (13.14 words per verse) and Psalm 53 has the longest verses (27.71 words per verse). Interestingly, Psalm 119, the longest Psalm by far, has quite a low average verse length of 13.89 words (fourth shortest).

These statistics suggest the following principles for our music:

1. Having some songs that are very short (e.g., only one stanza) is in keeping with what we find in God’s perfect songbook.

2. Stanza lengths of 13 to 28 words would match the range for the average lengths of verses for the 150 chapters of Psalms.

3. Having some songs that are much longer than others also would reflect God’s practice.

In Music

Schedule for Reading through the Psalms in a Week

March 27, 2012

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

In Bible reading

Why Are Most Churches Today Not Singing the Psalms?

March 24, 2012

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.

In Music

3002 Verses in Scripture Pertaining to Music!

March 20, 2012

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.

In Music

A Prayer That Is Especially Important for Musicians

March 17, 2012

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!

In Exhortation, Music, Prayer

David’s Instrumental Music Was Not Amoral

March 15, 2012

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

In CCM, Interpretation, Music

Reading 50 Times through the Psalms

March 13, 2012

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!

In Bible reading

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