How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 1

How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 1

            The chief Levite musicians in ancient Israel were commanded to (sharath 8334) or minister.  I Chronicles 16:4-5b states, And he [King David] appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.  V. 5b with psalteries and with harps...  (Words in brackets are mine)

Strong believed that sharath means “to attend as menial or worshiper, to contribute, serve, and wait on”.  Again the emphasis is not on the perfection of performance, or aesthetic awareness, or kinesthetic coordination, or the pleasure of performance, but rather on service as a servant or menial worshiper.  These Levite musicians wore in type and shadow, the yoke of the New Testament Christ.  They were men of God who heard from God and delivered his message to His people through the medium of music.  They served God and they served the people.  The Scripture never makes mention of a haughty, heady, self-seeking Levite musician.

             The Levite musician sang (shiyrah kiy Yahovah) the songs of the Lord.  Do you know what this musician’s claim to fame was?  They were expert performers and could distinguish mentally about the right kind of songs – the songs of the LORD.  I Chronicles 25:7 states:  So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed [lamad 3925-expert or skillful] in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning [biyn 1995-could separate mentally or could perceive] was two hundred fourscore and eight.  (Words in brackets are mine)  These ancient musicians who loved and served YHVH were excellent performers and they were well educated but they did not let their performance skill or music education cause them to be heady and high-minded Temple musicians.