They Musiced Distinctly---part
1
Nehemiah 8:8, “So they read in the book in the law of God
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin,
Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah,
and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood
in their place. So they read in the book
in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand
the reading.”
Have you
ever thought about how the Levites actually “caused them to understand the
reading”? We have a tendency to read
this Scripture passage “through Western eyes” with “Western understanding”. Protestant Bible scholars have generally not
understood, or have at least glossed over the fact, that during ancient times
all Scripture was sung i.e. intoned by the Levite musicians.
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