Reading (Singing) Distinctly Gave the "Sense" part 1

 

Reading (Singing) Distinctly Gave the "Sense"   part 1

 

 Nehemiah 8:8 states, “So they read [qara7121] in the book in the law of God distinctly [parash 6567], and gave the sense [sekel 7922], and caused them to understand [biyn 995] the reading [miqra 4744 ].”  This passage of Scripture has troubled many Bible expositors for centuries.  They have often queried, “What made the reading of the scrolls of the Law “distinct”?  They have also wondered how the Levite musicians were able to “give the sense’ of the meaning of the Law?  It has also been a great mystery as to what type or rendering of the scrolls by the Levite musicians actually took place. We know from verse seven that the Levites were among those who “…caused the people to understand the law…”

            I have no doubt that this Bible reference, which over the many centuries has become an *esoteric reference to the Levite musicians intoning or singing of the Law by the use of the te’amim (the biblical musical notation) which is found above and below the text in some Hebrew Bibles.  This intoning, cantillating, or singing is what made the Levite rendering of the Law “distinct” i.e. more understandable to the people.

 Thought or the Day

 It seems strange that many Christian musicians struggle the concept that all of the OT was notated and was intended to be sung and at the same time sing scriptural songs.