Women in the Bible were
reported as singing a low kind of music.
Even at its best it was for dancing or funeral mourning and at its worst
to aid in the sensuous appeal of harlots on the street. Isaiah's satire (23:15) states, ". . .
after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot” (or KJV margin,
"It shall be unto Tyre as the song of an harlot") It is no wonder
that women were not used in Temple worship since it was so closely related to
paid dancing at weddings and funerals and was associated closely with harlotry
in ancient Israel.
The question of
importance to Church Musicians today is, should we or should we not use women
in church music? Should we consider the
disuse of women in the music of Temple worship, and the Biblical silence about
women in public worship as "proof" that women should not be used in
church music today? The Bible is silent
concerning the use of women in Temple worship.
However, this silence does not implicate that women should not be used
in church music today. Remember that
part of the reason that women were not used in Temple music was because of the
type of music they sang and played and the association of women's music with
harlotry. However, the ancient customs
of Israel concerning women did not allow for them to be used as Temple
musicians. It is safe to conclude from
the research that there is no evidence given in the Bible to cause us to
exclude women from church music today.
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