Musicing about God’s Holiness-part 1

Musicing about God’s Holiness-part 1

            2Chronicles 20:21 records, “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever.”   In the comments on the twentieth chapter of 2 Chronicles in John Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament he explains that, “Jehoshaphat called a counsel of war, and it was resolved, to appoint singers to go out before the army, who had nothing to do, but to praise God, to praise his holiness, which is his beauty, to praise him as they did in the temple, that beauty of holiness.  By this strange advance to the field of battle, Jehoshaphat shewed his firm reliance on the word of God, which enabled him to triumph before the battle, to animate his own men and confound the enemy.”

            So, if you want to confuse and confound the enemy of your soul, sing about the beauty of God’s holy nature.  The avant-garde of Jehoshaphat’s army was not an impressive line of armed troops, but rather a group of musicians singing and playing the praises of YHVH.  We justly deduce that these musicians sang and played because the Hebrew word shiyr (7891 connotes singer-players.  We also conclude that they were giving YHVH lavish praise (halal 1984) with their musical performance.