The Holy Spirit and Music Ministry-Part 11

The work of the Holy Spirit in Music Ministry-Part 11
The chief Levite musicians were commanded to (sharath 8334) or minister.  I Chronicles 16:4-5b states:

v.  4         And he [King David] appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.

v.  5b       with psalteries and with harps...  (words in brackets are mine)

Strong believes that shareth means “to attend as menial or worshiper, to contribute, serve, wait on”.  Again the emphasis is not on the perfection of performance, or aesthetic awareness, or kinesthetic coordination, or the pleasure of performance, but rather on service as a servant or menial worshiper.  These Levite musicians wore in type and shadow, the yoke of the New Testament Christ.  They were men of God who heard from God and delivered his message to His people through the medium of music.  They served God and they served the people.  The Scripture never makes mention of a haughty, heady, self-seeking Levite musician.  The Levite musician sang (shiyrah kiy yehovah) the songs of the Lord.  Do you know what these musician’s claim to fame was?  They were expert and could distinguish mentally about the right kind of songs – the songs of the LORD.  I Chronicles 25:7 states:

So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed [lamad 3925-expert or skillful] in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning [biyn 1995-could separate mentally or could perceive] was two hundred fourscore and eight.  (words in brackets are mine)

They were ministering musicians who were meek and lowly of heart and were experts in the songs of the self-existent, eternal God who is!  Say, Church Musician, what is your area of greatest expertise?  Do the great hymns of the church feed your soul?  Do they raise your soul to great heights?  Are they a means of grace to you and the people’s souls that you feed through music?  Do these songs bore you?  Have you given them up for renaissance madrigals, and Beethoven sonatas or hip-hop and rap?