Knowledge Must be Accompanied by Faith—part 6

Knowledge Must be Accompanied by Faith—part 6

            Jewish scholars of music in the Hebrew Bible should be reminded of the warnings given the Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”  Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.  Deuteronomy 12:32 “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”  They need to be reminded that extra-biblical writings attest to the fact that the ancient Jewish scribes would pray and wash their hands before they would pick a quill and dip it in ink to recopy the ancient scrolls.  Some scholars believe that the short legged tables found in the ruins of Qumran indicate that the scribes, most probably the Essenes, knelt to recopy the ancient biblical manuscripts as a reverence to YHVH and the authenticness of the manuscripts that they were recopying.

            In defense of Jewish scholars of music in the Bible, they have traditionally been responsible for the only consistent scholarship concerning ancient musicing recorded in the Hebrew Bible.  Protestant scholars have been  hit and miss concerning their writings about  biblical and extra-biblical musicing in ancient Israel.  Most, if not all, of the scholarly teams who have translated the Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Old Testament in the twentieth and early twentieth century have not included a  qualified music historian, let alone a scholar who was an expert on ancient musicing of the Jews.