The Serugin, Te’amim, and Meturgeman in Christian Perspective-part 21

The Serugin, Te’amim, and Meturgeman in Christian Perspective-part 21 

            After reading (in the Western sense) this discussion concerning the history of the te’amim and the function of the serugin, one can legitimately ask, why all the fuss about this ancient history of the graphic signs that surround the OT Texts?  First, singing is very important as taught in the Bible and in the history of ancient worship that surrounds it.  Second, based on the strength of Scripture itself, the singing of the OT Texts brought greater specifity, meaning and understanding of Scripture.  Third, there is a distinct possibility that the musical notation is as ancient as the Texts and furthermore that the OT Bible texts and the notation may have been conceived as a unit i.e. a melos.  Fourth, throughout history, the “masters of the transmission” went to great lengths to protect and preserve the meaning and integrity of the te’amim. Fifth, since the ancients went to great lengths to protect this very ancient precise music notation that surrounds the entire OT, they doubtlessly considered it to be efficacious—even to the point of having the hermeneutic function of supporting and completing Scripture. Sixth, the notion that the music part of music does not and never has transmitted understandable meaning to the hearer is without scholarly basis.  Seventh, although many of the hypotheses concerning the history, validity, meaning and understanding of the OT notation are not proven theories, some of them are being substantiated by modern research. For this reason, Christian students of the OT should at least give these hypotheses the “time of day” so to speak by giving them serious thought and serious study.

Bibliography 

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Haik-Vantoura, Suzanne; Translated by Dennis Webber, Edited by John Wheeler.  The Music of the Bible Revealed. Berkeley:  Bibal Press, 1991. 

Idelsohn, Abraham.  Jewish Music in Its Historical Development.  New York:  Schocken Books, 1967.

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Sachs, Curt.  The Rise of Music in the Ancient World.  New York:  W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1943.

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Sendrey, Alfred.  Music in the Social and Religious Life of Antiquity. Cranbury,NewJersey:Associated Presses, Inc., 1974. 

Stainer, John.  The Music of the Bible.  Revised Edition.  New York:  Da Capo Press, 1970.

Wolf, Garen I. Music of the Bible in Christian Perspective. Salem, Ohio: Schmul Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.