The Serugin, Te’amim, and Meturgeman in Christian Perspective-part 20

The Serugin, Te’amim, and Meturgeman in Christian Perspective-part 20 

            Aaron Rothmuller lists hermeneutics and music as a part of the function of the accents in the following statement, “As we have said besides possessing grammatical, syntactical, and hermeneutic functions, the accents determine the nature of the musical rendering.  So, they [the accents i.e. the te’amim] have always been of supreme importance in the preservation of the Jewish musical manner of execution.”   Rothmuller, TMotJ, p. 103.  Haik-Vantoura believed that intoning [cantillating] the Scripture “supported and completed it.” Haik-Vantoura, TMotBR, pp. 161-2. This is what Nehemiah chapter eight explains as giving the sense which caused distinct understanding. 

            Since singing the Scripture, with what we now know was a precise music notation, brought greater understanding of the Tanakh to the people, in ancient Israel, why shouldn’t  Christians believe that the way we music God’s law and love will have an effect on the understanding of both saints and seekers?  Also, shouldn’t Christian musicians consider that the way we music the good news of the gospel can have a hermeneutic function if it [the music part of the music] supports its [the gospel’s] message and meaning?  Remember, Rothmuller believed that the musical notation of the OT determined “the nature of the musical rendering”.  Christian musicians should give the same level of respect to the power and potential of the music part of the music that is now used to music in the context of worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ