Does “Yad” Refer to Cheironomy?

 Does “Yad”  Refer to Cheironomy?

            The AV translates 2Chronicles 29:25, “And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.”   Young’s translation of the Bible renders this verse, “And he appointeth the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, by the command of David, and of Gad, seer of the king, and of Nathan the prophet, for by the hand of Jehovah is the command, by the hand of His prophets” (YLT).  Bible expositors do not often comment on what is meant by “the hand of YHVH and the hand of His prophets”.

            It is somewhat puzzling that this verse refers to the commandment (i.e. the mitzvah 4687) of David, Gad, and Nathan but specifies that the commandment (mitzvah) came by the hand (yad 4687) of YHVH and His prophets.  Some scholars believe that the use of the Hebrew word yad is actually an esoteric reference to the use of cheironomy.  Perhaps this reference is a command of YHVH for these musical prophets to utilize these ancient musical hand-signs.

             Although there is no direct reference to the use of cheironomy by the ancient Levite musicians, it is possible that cheironomers transmitted the te’amim to the Levite musicians who performed in the ancient Jewish Temple.  We know from ancient writings that the Egyptians used these ancient musical hand-sighs to transmit exact pitches to performing musicians as early as this musical reference in 2 Chronicles 29:25.  So it is not far-fetched to suppose that the Levite musicians could have made use of them.