Worship the Creator Not the Created—part 8

Worship the Creator Not the Created—part 8

With the information discussed in the previous seven posts in this series, we can now discuss why this discourse in Nehemiah is so often left out of commentators and modern day writers. First, many Bible scholars have glossed over these verses because they have hot had sufficient knowledge of the Levite musicians (and all Jews who “read” the Torah) intoned, cantillated or, if you will, sang the entire Old Testament during public reading in ancient worship in Israel.  The precisely accurate intoning of Scripture by the Levite musicians was accomplished by cheironomers using hand signs which provided the musical notes (te’amim) to the Levite instrumentalist(s) and vocalist(s) who played and sang the Old Testament Scriptures.

Second, a great host of Bible scholars in the19th, 20^th and now, 21^st. century have not been aware that the entire Old Testament Scripture was intoned (sung) by those who “read” it in public in ancient Israel. Third, Bible scholars have not had knowledge of the fact the te’amim represent a musical notation or that they represent a precisely accurate musical notation.  The te’amim are the ancient symbols above and below the entire Old testament texts.  The symbols below the texts are a precise musical scale system and the symbols above the sacred texts are deviations in the note movement mush like the musical embellishments that are used in music today. 

Many scholars have considered music to be an aid to memory and a means of facilitating didactic poetry with emotion and meaning (a far to detailed discussion to discuss here).  May it suffice to say that it is by no means farfetched to consider that the intoning of the texts here mentioned in Nehemiah could and, as the discourse in chapter eight attests, “gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading”. Although the meaning of the music part of the discourse in Nehemiah chapter eight has become more and more esoteric over the many centuries since it was written, it is still, as 2Timothy 3:16 teaches, “…profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. We must again be reminded that the distinction and understanding that was made possible by this ancient musicing of The HOLY WRIT was for worshiping YHVH rather than artistic musical performance. Its ultimate purpose was worshiping the Creator rather than the created thing—music.