Stringed instruments are more important in corporate worship than are wind instruments or percussion instruments

The numerous mentions of musical instruments in Scripture, especially commands, teach us that God wants us to understand what sound doctrine concerning musical instruments comprises.

Such doctrinal understanding requires exhaustive and careful handling of all the data concerning at least all the following:

Kinds of instruments

Total number of mentions

Frequency of mention

Order of mention

Nature of mention

Exclusivity of mention

Settings

Individual vs. corporate use

God's people vs. other peoples vs. the entire world vs. heavenly beings

Humans vs. angels vs. God

Musical vs. non-musical uses

Past, present, or future

OT vs. NT

Other aspects?

In something that I have written elsewhere, I set forth data that shows the truth of the following statements:

"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. Four 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."

[RG]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.

[KM]Or this proportion could be descriptive of the level of ownership of various musical instruments. If nobody owned a kazoo, you wouldn't expect a kazoo to be mentioned. If harps were more common than other instruments, then one would expect the harp to be mentioned more often. I don't have proof they were more common, but the frequency of mention does point to a commonality. Of course, there is logic to the thought that the most common instrument in a culture is going to then be the most important instrument in that culture, so I'm not denying an importance to the harp. If stringed instruments were more common that wind or percussion, then of course they would be mentioned more often and be seen as more important.

Actually, no, this proportion does not have anything to do with level of ownership. This paragraph was part of my development of the 55 Psalms that are explicitly directed to the chief musician. The chief musician in the worship in the Tabernacle/Temple in David's time and beyond had access to all the kinds of instruments.

Despite the chief musician's having such access to all kinds of instruments, the Spirit inspired four times as many mentions about stringed instruments in those 55 Psalms than the Psalms in those 55 Psalms that mention either wind instruments or percussion instruments or both. There is no legitimate denial of this data's profoundly instructing both the chief musician and everyone else about the much greater comparative importance of stringed instruments above both wind and percussion instruments.

[RG]Actually, no, this proportion does not have anything to do with level of ownership. This paragraph was part of my development of the 55 Psalms that are explicitly directed to the chief musician. The chief musician in the worship in the Tabernacle/Temple in David's time and beyond had access to all the kinds of instruments.

[KM]So let me get this straight. Are you saying that in those 55 Psalms it is only the chief musician who is using musical instruments, instruments that he had access to, and not the general population using the instruments in those Psalms?

No, that is not what I am saying. These Psalms were explicitly directed to the chief musician to give him direction foremost about what was to be done by the sacred musicians in the Tabernacle/Temple worship. Its primary thrust was not just for the chief musician himself--it was also for all those whom he would be directing in the corporate worship.

Something similar would be a pastor's giving direction to the choir or music director of a church about what he wants the church's musicians to do in the church services. Obviously, the choir or music director is not going to do everything using multiple instruments personally and only by himself.

As for applications to "the general population," whatever they were allowed to do and did do in that corporate worship in the Tabernacle/Temple worship would also have needed to have been in line with what the Spirit directed to the chief musician about what should have been done in that corporate worship.

Ah, so they are not specifically written just regarding the chief musician, but they are specifically just for the temple musicians when playing in the temple and not really for the general population. Is that right?

No. This is not the kind of question that the Spirit has provided explicit information about how to answer it.

The important point is that I have shown conclusively from numerous aspects of the explicit content of the Psalms that the Spirit has instructed us that stringed instruments are far more important than either wind instruments or percussion instruments in the book of Psalms.

[RG]No. This is not the kind of question that the Spirit has provided explicit information about how to answer it.

[KM]You made a claim in your post, that the frequency of mention in the 55 Psalms has nothing to do with proportion of ownership, and I'm asking clarifying questions to try to understand your claim, and now you say that the Spirit hasn't provided the information for you to clarify your claim. Why, then, did you make that claim in the first place?

Since we don't have explicit information either way, then it could possibly relate to the level of ownership. That seems reasonable to me, so I don't understand why you are so adamantly opposed to the idea, especially since you can't even clarify the statement you made in opposition to it.

Wrong. I already explained why proportion of ownership is not at all relevant to the explicit force of what is revealed in those Psalms. Your further questions were seeking to get minute answers to more specific information that does not pertain to what is explicit in those Psalms. Those Psalms were explicitly directed to the chief musician--he had access to all kinds of instruments and the people who played them. My point stands.

You've shown that stringed instruments are mentioned more often. You haven't explained how that frequency of mention relates to importance. In what way are stringed instruments more important? Is it just due to them frequently being mentioned? How exactly does that make them important? I've suggested that commonality in a culture can relate to importance, but you haven't acknowledged whether that idea seems valid to you or whether that is actually your main point in the first place. You've just seemed to argue against it, so that makes me wonder what exactly are your reasons for thinking that frequency of mention equals importance.

If we were talking about the most important mineral or gemstone in the Bible, we could go with the one that is mentioned most often or we could go with one that is the most valuable or we could go with the one that is most closely associated with God's presence. There are a number of different ways that can be used to show how something is important, and "frequency of mention" is not necessarily the ultimate one.

I did not just treat frequency of mention. I treated other aspects as well, such as exclusive mention and greater number of commands. My argument was not just based on one difference and my post was limited to the book of Psalms.

Most importantly, the Spirit inspired that book to have exactly the content that He wanted it to have.

Frequency of mention is most certainly a valid indicator of importance, and I have presented multiple aspects in which the Spirit chose to inspire that explicit content about stringed instruments that far exceeded all the content about the other kinds of instruments put together.

The Spirit did not decide what to include in the Psalms based on what more humans happened to have on hand and arbitrarily chose to use. Everything about the Temple worship was sovereignly chosen by God--none of it was based on human factors where God took notice of what the people fancied and went with whatever was popular or commonplace among them.

I suspect you stopped answering my questions because you didn't want to say that the instruction in those Psalms would also apply to worship by the general population, because then you would be allowing for at least the possibility that the Spirit might take into account the ownership level of instruments among the general population.

Your suspicion is completely wrong. I am astounded that you think that God looked at what sinful humans were already doing and then decided on that basis that is what He would command them to do in worship.

There is zero basis that I know of in the Bible to hold that God got His wisdom by observing what was popular or commonplace among sinful humans. To me, this thinking is so contrary to the whole tenor of what God says in His Word.

I don't think harps were common because they were arbitrarily "fancied" by the people. My guess is that they would have been common because they were relatively easy to make and could produce a variety of notes. A ram's horn would also have been fairly easy to get, but the note variety would not have been as great. If a person wanted to worship God with music, a harp would have been their easiest, most useful choice. God isn't blind or stupid. If people are making and playing harps, then it makes sense for God to sovereignly choose to command people to worship Him with the harps they have on hand.

As with your previous comments, these comments are so contrary to what the Bible reveals that I can hardly fathom how anyone could think this way. To me, it is bordering on blasphemy to even speak about God being blind or stupid . . .

So I asked you if the instructions in these Psalms was only to the temple musicians while playing in the temple and not to the general population. I wanted simply to make sure I had your point straight. I wasn't looking for "minute answers." At that point you refused to answer, claiming you no longer had enough information make the point you were trying to insist upon, and now you have gone back to saying that those Psalms contain information directed specifically to the chief musician and the people who played instruments within the temple.

No, I did not refuse to answer because I no longer had enough information to make the point that I was insisting upon. Your question about the general population was never part of what I had commented about. It is you who is either misunderstanding what I said or intentionally misrepresenting what I said.

My point stands about what the Psalms reveal about those Psalms being directed to the chief musician, etc. The Bible does not provide revelation to answer directly with Scripture what relevance that did or did not have for the general population.

Answering that question properly from the Bible would require a lot of thought and theological reasoning and examination of what the Bible has revealed about that subject, which is not the topic of this thread.

In fact, what exactly are you talking about when assert something about worship by the general population? Are you talking about what people individually did in their homes? In their families?

Do the Psalms make such worship by the general population a focal point of what God has revealed in the Psalms?

Hmmm, I thought, your point that these Psalms did not reflect the instruments in the general population would be a valid point IF the instruction in those Psalms were ONLY directed to the temple musicians while they were playing in the temple and not to the general population.

My point was never "that these Psalms did not reflect the instruments in the general population" in the sense that they prove or show what was not true about the general population.

My point was that these Psalms do not speak explicitly at all about whether they "reflect the instruments in the general population" or not.

What they speak explicitly about is that they were directed to the chief musician. He had access to all kinds of instruments. Nonetheless, the inspired revelation profoundly highlighted to him the use of stringed instruments instead of directing his attention equally to all kinds of instruments or to the primacy of some other kind of instruments.

[RG]Your suspicion is completely wrong. I am astounded that you think that God looked at what sinful humans were already doing and then decided on that basis that is what He would command them to do in worship.

[KM]I'm astounded that you think humans didn't know about or use stringed instruments until God told them to use those instruments in worship.

I've never thought this or said anything that even remotely shows that I think this ("humans didn't know about or use stringed instruments until God told them to use those instruments in worship"). Thinking that I think this ("humans didn't know about or use stringed instruments until God told them to use those instruments in worship") is purely the imagination of your heart.

In fact, the Bible provides revelation in more than one place that does not at all support this kind of thinking ("humans didn't know about or use stringed instruments until God told them to use those instruments in worship").

For example, Job says that the wicked in his day did the following:

Job 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? . . . 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

This passage shows that the wicked as far back as in Job's day were using stringed instruments ("harp") as well as percussion ("timbrel") and wind instruments ("organ") in their lives and does not provide any evidence that they did so because God had told them to use any or all of those kinds of instruments in worship.

I just looked up Psalm 33:13 which says

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

There's no indication in this passage that these commands are just for corporate worship. One can fulfill these commands alone or with their families.

I have never said that the commands in Psalms 33 are just for corporate worship.

Do you think the commands in the Psalms apply only to corporate worship, which in their case was in the temple? I was reading a web page written by someone who thinks instruments are not to be used by the church. One of his points is that the commands in the Psalms cannot be used to promote instruments in the church because the commands in the Psalms are specifically for temple worship music and we no longer worship in the temple, so those commands do not apply to the church.

No, I do not think that the commands in the Psalms apply only to corporate worship. The Psalms, however, that are explicitly directed to the chief musician have a special relevance for that corporate worship that is explicitly stated by those designations.

I can accept that the Psalms show that God would want music in the church just as God wanted music in the temple. But does God want music in only corporate settings? I don't see that distinction in the Psalms. I can find general command after general command to simply worship God with instruments without the designation of the command being divided into corporate or personal.

I have never claimed that God wants music only in corporate settings. That has never been my position. Nonetheless, the Psalms themselves and especially the explicit NT use of them and directives concerning them show that the Psalms have singular importance to them for corporate worship by NT Christians.

Dan Miller said:

This has a ring of believability. But I disagree. We worship God with English words—not because we were commanded to but because we know English.

The worship of The Lamb in Revelation 5 is in Greek.

Yes, there’s a lot about worship in Scripture that is with new designs or with animals, which God created. But there is worship that uses the items at hand, eg, tambour.

I'm not clear about what point or points you are wanting to make here. Saying that the worship of the Lamb in Revelation 5 is in Greek, but we worship God with English words does not mean that we do whatever we want because we worship in a different language.

God commanded the whole earth in Psalm 98 to do the same thing in worshiping Him with musical instruments despite the nations of the earth having numerous different languages as their own languages when He inspired those commands in Psalm 98.

Those commands and many others become absurdities if someone tries to assert that the commands about specific kinds of instruments (stringed vs wind vs percussion) can be fulfilled by using other kinds of instruments (stringed vs wind vs percussion). If someone were to claim that divine commands to use harps and psalteries can be fulfilled by using drum sets, bongo drums, kazoos, harmonicas, saxophones, etc., he would be rejecting what God has said and setting forth his own wisdom instead.

We can go even farther back than Job. Genesis 4:21 says, "And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." So harps have been a common instrument since the beginning of Genesis. Yet, you were "astounded" that something that "sinful humans were already doing" would then be commanded by God to use in worship. I couldn't understand why you were so astounded. Sinful humans had already been using harps, in fact, someone from Cain's sinful line was the father all who played the harp, yet you were astounded that God would tell people to use an instrument that was common. Perhaps, I facetiously thought, you were unaware that humans had already commonly used the harp. Why else would you be so astounded?

Ah, yes, Jubal. I was expecting that you would bring up Jubal. What that text shows does not prove that harps were a common instrument since the beginning of Genesis. All that it shows is that some people in the evil line of Cain knew about and played that instrument as well as "organs."

Most important, it does not establish in any way that God told people to use harps to worship Him because it was a common instrument. You are reading that into the Bible.

Honey was exceedingly common among humans, but the Bible explicitly says that God forbad any use of honey in offerings by fire. According to your reasoning, God should have seen how common it was for people to have honey and eat it and therefore command its use in such worship.

[RG]No, I do not think that the commands in the Psalms apply only to corporate worship. The Psalms, however, that are explicitly directed to the chief musician have a special relevance for that corporate worship that is explicitly stated by those designations.

[KM]Well, if we are being specific about the explicit direction to the chief musician of the temple, then we have to acknowledge that the corporate worship involved is temple worship, which had it's own explicit set of designated worship standards.

So what? The temple worship comprised the most important activities by human beings in the whole world. The primacy of the divinely ordained use of stringed instruments in what God has explicitly revealed about the temple worship profoundly shows the primacy of stringed instruments in corporate worship.

Furthermore, divine revelation about corporate worship that shows the importance of stringed instruments above the other kinds of instruments is not limited to what has been revealed about temple worship:

The Importance of What First Samuel 10:5-6 Reveals about Music | A People for His Name

There is more that I could say to support this point, but I am not going to bring up that content now because I do not want the focus of the discussion to be turned away from the importance of stringed instruments in the Psalms and in Revelation.

We can go even farther back than Job. Genesis 4:21 says, "And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." So harps have been a common instrument since the beginning of Genesis. Yet, you were "astounded" that something that "sinful humans were already doing" would then be commanded by God to use in worship. I couldn't understand why you were so astounded. Sinful humans had already been using harps, in fact, someone from Cain's sinful line was the father all who played the harp, yet you were astounded that God would tell people to use an instrument that was common. Perhaps, I facetiously thought, you were unaware that humans had already commonly used the harp. Why else would you be so astounded?

Not only do the mention of musical instruments in Genesis 4:21 and in Job not support your point, but also they prove that your point is wrong.

First, Gen. 4:21 speaks of both harps and organs. According to your reasoning, both were common instruments from "the beginning of Genesis." Because they were both common, we should find that God commanded the use of both of these instruments far more than any other instruments.

What we find, however, is that is not the case at all. In strong contrast to the profound emphasis on harps in Scripture, the wind instrument that is translated as "organs" in Gen. 4:21 occurs only 3 other times in Scripture after Gen. 4:21:

(1) Job 21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

(2) Job 30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Since Job may be the oldest book of our Bible, the mentions of both harps and organs in Job 21:12 and 30:31 correlates to their earliest mention in Gen. 4:21.

In all the rest of the Bible, however, there is only one other mention of "organs":

(3) Ps. 150:4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

Remarkably, this is the only command for the use of these instruments in the whole Bible.

If God's reason for commanding the use of harps over and over again were because they were the common instruments of people, we would see the same emphasis on "organs" that we do on harps because Gen. 4:21 and Job 21:12 would be showing that they also were the common instruments of the people. But that is not what we find in Scripture.

This biblical data falsifies your claim that the reason God repeatedly commanded people to use harps was because they were common instruments of the people.

[RG]If God's reason for commanding the use of harps over and over again were because they were the common instruments of people, we would see the same emphasis on "organs" that we do on harps because Gen. 4:21 and Job 21:12 would be showing that they also were the common instruments of the people.

[KM]You're not making sense with this point. How many mentions of organs did you say occurred? If there are only 4 total, then that shows that the organ never did gain the same common status as the harp. Maybe harps and organs were equally common during the time of Jubal, but if organs had stayed more common, we likely would have seen more commands in the Psalms to use them.

According to your method, mention equals commonality/popularity of use. It must also signify equal commonality and popularity of use. To claim otherwise, unless there is information in the texts that shows otherwise, is illegitimate.

Before the Flood, the only information about musical instruments that we have is Gen. 4:21. If that verse shows that harps were common and popular, it must also show that organs were common and popular. To say otherwise, is special pleading and illegitimate handling of the Bible.

After the Flood and hundreds of years after the time of Jubal, the next oldest information that we have about musical instruments is in the book of Job. The mention of the use of harps and organs by both the wicked and the godly, according to your method, must mean that they were both common and popular and equally so. You cannot claim from the texts that harps were popular and common at that time, but organs were not. That would be illegitimate handling of the Bible.

Moving forward many centuries, the last Psalm has commands for the use of both harps and organs. You cannot legitimately claim that the harps were commanded because they were common and popular, but the command for the organs was not based on their commonality and popularity.

What's more, the Bible speaks of honey in 56 verses, which is more than the 50 verses for harps. According to your reasoning, God should have commanded the use of honey in offerings by fire because it was exceedingly common and popular, but He did not do so. In fact, He forbad its use in any offerings by fire.

In actuality, your assertions that God commanded repeatedly that harps be used because they were common/popular but did not do so with other kinds of instruments because they were not common/popular has no biblical support.

In the Bible, trumpets are mentioned 116 times in 104 verses in 27 books, and harps are mentioned 54 times in 50 verses in 14 books. This data shows that trumpets are mentioned more than twice as often in the Bible as are harps.

According to some, this data shows that commonality of ownership of trumpets was far greater than for harps. If then, God commanded the use of instruments based on how commonly they were owned, we should find that the number of mentions and commands for trumpets in the Psalms should be far more than the number of mentions and commands for harps.

The data for Psalms, however, shows that the opposite is true. Harps are mentioned 14 times in the Psalms in 13 verses in 13 Psalms, and there are 6 commands for the use of harps in 6 verses in 6 Psalms.

In the Psalms, trumpets are mentioned only 4 times in 4 verses in 4 Psalms, and there are 3 commands for the use of trumpets in 3 verses in 3 Psalms.

This data conclusively proves that harps are much more important in the Psalms than are trumpets in spite of trumpets being much more frequently mentioned in the Bible overall.

Moreover, it conclusively disproves the notion that the frequency of divine commands for the use of an instrument in the Psalms was based on the supposed commonality of ownership of that instrument among humans as it supposedly was indicated by the frequency of mention of that instrument.

This is the second time you've mentioned honey. Why this obsession with honey? Honey is a food, not a musical instrument, and the Bible does command its use as food. Proverbs 24:13 says "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:" It's likely that the commonness and popularity of honey contributed to the many mentions of honey in the Bible.

Two times mentioning something does not equal obsession. Calling it such is illegitimate.

Because I provided actual biblical evidence that refutes your reasoning, you label it as obsession? That tactic is illegitimate.

So what if honey is a food and not a musical instrument? It disproves your notion that whatever was common and popular is what God would command to be used in worship.

Yes, God did command its use as food, but He forbad its use in worship. You have to explain biblically why He did so. Otherwise, you are engaging in special pleading by claiming that what was not true about God concerning one facet of worship was true concerning another. You have to prove that biblically.