The Beginnings of Musical Knowledge

The Beginnings of Musical Knowledge

             It is possible that the beginnings of musical knowledge could be traced to Genesis 1:26 where Adam is commanded to “...have dominion (7287) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth (776), and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”  Also in verse twenty-eight he is admonished to “replenish the earth (776) and subdue (3533) it.”  The words dominion (radah 7287) and subdue (kabash 3533) mean to subjugate or to conquer and the word earth (erets 776) is the broad term used for the world as opposed to the word adamah (127) which means the soil.  So, Adam was given the command to conquer and bring under his control the world around him which included music.  We know from Genesis 2:19-20 that Adam was given tremendous insight and knowledge.  Although these passages say absolutely nothing about music, it is possible that he also had unusual insight in music.  However, the pursuit of such an exotic hypothesis would be nothing more than exegetical gymnastics.