Song Leaders? part 7

       We have been discussing the song leader and what he or she should be like.  We have learned that in the Old Testament in ancient Israel these Temple music directors were called "chief musicians".  Today we are going to look into the life if a Temple song leader named Chenaniah.
       Although translators of the Bible labor over each original word, sometimes the nuance of scriptural meaning is lost.  Such has been the case concerning I Chronicles 15:22 which the A.V. renders, "And Chenaniah (3663), chief (sar 8369) of the Levites, was ( hayah 1961) for (key 3588) song (massa 4853): he instructed (yacar 3256) about the song (4853) because he was skillful (biyn 995)."
        An amplified rendering could justly read,  "And  Chenaniah, whose name means Jah has planted, was an accomplished musician and had burden [borne in upon him of God] for song.  He corrected, instructed or chastised with words about the burden (massa) of song because he was able to perceive and could separate or distinguish mentally."  As we can see from the amplification, Chenaniah's name signified that he had purpose in life for his name meant "God had planted" and had purposed that he become a Chief Levite musician that God could trust to stay on the job.
        He became a "chief" musician because he was skillful and could discern the import of what was right concerning music ministry in the Temple.  He knew what he was doing musically and set about imparting this musical  philosophy and practice to others--he was a music teacher with a passion and burden for church music. From the fact that the Chronicler used the Hebrew  word biyn, we can deduce that Chenaniah was a skillful music director (song leader), and that his massa or burden for song that was was given to him by Jehovah, caused him to not only minister musically but also to teach others to minister in the Temple.  Tomorrow we will consider more about Chenaniah's burden for song.