Levite Ministers of Music-part 2

Levite Ministers of Music-part 2

            I Chronicles 15:16-24 is another example of Levite music organization.  Verse sixteen states, "And David spake to the chief (8269) of the Levites to appoint (amad 5975)^A their brethren to be singers with instruments of music. . ." and verse seventeen continues, "So the Levites appointed (5975)^A Heman. . .Asaph. . .and Ethan. . ." and verse eighteen "And with them their brethren of the second (4932) degree. . ."All of these musicians as well as the students mentioned in chapter twenty-five of I Chronicles were all under these three chief musicians.  It would seem there could be little doubt that the chronicler is stressing the organization, excellence, and administration of the Levite musicians.  The example left for us is that everyone had a rank and a job and as far as we know they worked together in harmony without one single complaint recorded in scripture.

            I Chronicles 23:1-2 states, "When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son King over Israel.  And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites."  In chapter twenty-five we see a complex organization of church music.  Verse one states, "Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals. . ."  Some writers believe that the term "captain of the hosts" means the chief of the Levites.  If this is so, perhaps Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun--all chief of Levites--helped King David set up the organization mentioned in verses eight through thirty-one.

Levite Ministers of Music-part 1

Levite Ministers of Music-part 1

Although we do not know all the significance of the order and organization imposed on the Levite musicians, we do know from scripture that they were accustomed to a high degree of organization.  6:32-48 tells us of some of that organization when it states in verse thirty-two, "And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem:  and they waited on their office according to their order (misphat 4941)."  Misphat means a formal decree giving this statement the import that their placement was of importance to the program of organization.

            Verses thirty-three to forty-four of I Chronicles chapter 6 tell us that Heman the singer stood in the middle and Asaph stood on his right side and Ethan on his left.  Evidently they stood in their respective positions with their sons or brethren (vs. 33 and 44).  We are not informed as to why they stood in this order, but it was important enough for the chronicler to record.

            I Chronicles 16:5 also explains the order and chain of command of the Levite musicians.  "Asaph the chief (7218), and next (mishneh 4932) to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom:  and Jeiel with psalteries and with harps; but Asaph made a sound with cymbals."  This example show their rank.  Asaph was chief and the rest were "next" or Mishna which means of the second rank.  Note that this organization specified that the Levites of second rank would play melodic musical instruments and that Asaph the conductor would sound or direct with the cymbals.

To my Faithful Blog Readers

To my Faithful Blog Readers

Some of my faithful readers have for many months read my thoughts on music. It is my desire that you now have greater insights into the Scriptures concerning music in the Bible.  Church musicians are not usually language scholars and, on the contrary, they have general tendency to avoid original language study concerning Bible music.

            All too many musicians' libraries consist of a host of volumes on music history, theory, literature, a few volumes of hymn stories, and their favorite hypnology text without a single concordance or lexicon to study the original Bible languages.  I hope that your word study appetite has been stimulated until you will at least invest in the standard works that are now keyed to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.

            As we are now more than half way through the second decade of this twenty-first century, every Christian musician needs to not only be prepared spiritually and musically, but also have a deep understanding of the significance of music in the Bible.  It is important that musicians be able to understand the music of the Bible in Christian perspective.  I Corinthians 2:12-13 states, "Now ye have received, not of the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that ye might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

            No music blog will be able to completely guide church musicians in the twenty-first century.  Only an understanding of what the Book of Books has to say about sacred music will serve as a guide for Christian musicians of the next century.  If my blog has stimulated you to study music in the Book of Books, the many hours that it has taken to prepare these posts have been well spent.

                                                                        G.L.W.

Sing unto the LORD

Sing unto the LORD

            "Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name."  (II Samuel 22:50).  Romans 15:9 says, ". . .I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name."  In Psalm 108:3 David proclaimed that he would sing praises among people and nations.  Isaiah 42:11-12 is an exhortation to praise God in the islands.  Again the Psalmist David declared in Psalm 57:9, "I will sing unto thee among the nations."  Paul and Silas sang praises unto God in the prison (Acts 16:25).  Finally, we are admonished to, "Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints." (Psalm 149:1).  The writer of the Hebrew letter (2:12) said, ". . .in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."

            We are instructed in God's Word to sing among sinners, among saints, in foreign countries, in the time of persecution, and in God's house.  We are instructed to sing praise unto Him everywhere.

            "Praise ye the LORD.  Praise the LORD, O my soul.  While I live will I praise the LORD:  I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being." (Psalm 146:1-2).  "I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live:  I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." (Psalm 104:33).  We should praise the LORD as long as we live, for He is worthy of our praise.  Finally, in the Revelation John speaks of those who win victory over the beast, his image, and his mark.  "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." (Revelation 15:3).

            Rather than becoming overcome by the responsibility to sing unto the LORD, the Christian musician who sings should consider it an honor and a privilege to sing for God’s glory.  The Christian singer never quits singing unto God.  He or she may retire from regular every day music ministry but my Bible teaches that everyone who breathes must use that breath to praise the LORD.

Philosophical Outcomes—part 3

Philosophical Outcomes—part 3

One thing for sure, public education will not directly teach the next generation of church musicians wrong things about God because they are not allowed to openly teach the knowledge of God (as taught in the Bible) in their music philosophy.  Although federal law has mandated that public education can no longer retain God in our educational knowledge, the fact that they will not directly teach false concepts of God does not indicate that no “God-education” will take place in public schools and universities.  By eliminating God as the Creator and Lord of music education, public education relays strong false messages about the nature and value of music to our young people.

 Public education can no longer recognize God in the development of a philosophical basis for music education.  As a matter of fact, teaching God as the basis of all philosophical thought is forbidden.  The only safe path in public education is to omit the authority of God in any philosophical discussion of music.  In public education, no sacred music concerts are legal and the sacred classics may only be taught or performed as music literature.  It is often mandated that there be no Christmas or Easter concerts.  The only time that it is totally legal to mention God in the music classroom is when the music instructor stubs his toe on the desk leg. 

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

I remember so distinctly those thanksgiving weekends when the whole family would gather at mom and dad’s place.  If it was not snowing we would go quail hunting and if it was snowing or had snowed the day or two before, we would go rabbit hunting.  I think the best part of rabbit hunting was walking through the snow covered fields taking in all the beauty that God had provided by the pure white covering he had painted over all the areas that our eyes could take in.  For as far as we could see observing those Kansas rolling pastures and fields that had been harvested earlier in the fall.

            We took this Kansas utopia for granted as though those hunts on Thanksgiving Day would go on forever.  In the earlier days dad would hunt with us but in the years that followed he would only go as far as the barn yard and then he would disappear in the distance as we got farther and farther away.  Those were wonderful times, but of course they did not last.  Like a vapor those times of hunting have disappeared.  Dad and mom are both gone.  He farm has been divided into three different tracts of land with three different owners.  The smokehouse, chicken house and all the pigeon pens are gone.

            As I look back on those Thanksgiving days, I would like to say to all of you out there who are meeting together at your mom and dad’s house, don’t take these times for granted.  Hug your mom and dad and tell them how much you love them.  If you are now “grandpa and grandma” and the married children and your grandchildren are gathered around your table, be sure that you include Christ our blessed savior in your festivities.

Philosophical Outcomes—part 2

Philosophical Outcomes—part 2

 Any musician who believes the end of all human endeavors is the gratification of self will ultimately come to different philosophical conclusions than a musician whose life is sold out to Christ.  For the committed Christian, music begins and ends with God.  To the humanist, music begins and ends with self.  The musician who has submitted his or her music to the Lordship of Christ believes that all church music is sung and played to glorify God since God owns music.  Conversely, the secular humanists (and the religious humanist) believe that music belongs to man’s true humanness since all music is about self-actualization.  This type of thinker owns his or her music.

 We cannot trust public education to produce Christ-centered musicians who have a Christocentric music philosophy.  Christians never should have trusted the world to formulate music philosophy for Christian young people.  It has always been the responsibility of Christians to train their own. Although many Christian parents have ignored it, the world has never been a friend of grace.  Could you imagine the ancient Hebrews calling in the Philistines to train their Levite sons?  The 20^th century church did just that--they called in the worldly musicians who outwardly profaned the name of Christ to train church musicians.  The result was generation after generation of Christian musicians filled with Philistine philosophy. 

Philosophical Outcomes—part 1

Philosophical Outcomes—part 1

Christian musicians often question the necessity of developing a series of systematic beliefs concerning the nature and value of the whole of music.  Furthermore, they often seem to believe that those values set forth by major public colleges and universities are adequate for Christian musicians.  After all, aren’t the elements of music the same for Christians and non-Christians?  The philosophy of a musician who does not bring his entire musical endeavor under the Lordship of Christ should not be completely trusted. Christians must remember that you can also trust an unregenerate musician to be worldly in his or her philosophical basis.

  Matthew 12:34b reminds us that “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”.  Although Christians and non-believers will agree on some issues concerning music philosophy, they will not agree on many of the major issues that will affect how a musician ultimately musics. .  Remember, direction determines destiny!   The committed Christian will not only think different things about musicing but will also think differently about music and musicing.  The reason is that the Christian musician believes that “…he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)   Any music philosopher who is unwilling to put Christ and what the Bible teaches about music first in his or her life will not come to the same philosophical conclusions concerning music and musicing as the committed Christian.

Thanksgiving Should be Volitional

Thanksgiving Should be Volitional

Leviticus 22:29, “And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.”

            Ratsown (7522) translated “ means one’s delight, desire, favor, or pleasure.  Today is the day set aside in the US to give thanks to God for His bountiful mercies and blessings to mankind.  We all acknowledge that God knows everything past , present and even the future.  So, when a Christian musics praise and thanksgiving to God, our heavenly Father knows whether we mean it or not.  This Scripture states very clearly that thank offerings must be free-will offerings.  Volitional thanksgiving means that this act is the result of a Christian making a conscious choice or decision.   

            On this day which has been designated a day of thanksgiving, we should offer sacrifices of thanksgiving.  We should make these sacrifices of thanksgiving genuine worship acts that are our response to the goodness and mercy of our loving Savior.  Christian musicians should not render these musical offerings as acts of obligation but rather acts of our love responses to our loving forgiving God.

Training Our Own

Training Our Own

1Chronicles 25:6, “All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.”  Think of it, all these musical sons were under the hands of chief musicians who loved and served YHVH.  It is of little wonder that sacred music and musicing came to such a high point during this time in ancient Israel. 

            Temple music was without doubt very God honoring for a number of reasons.  First, these God fearing Temple musicians set about instructing the next generation of musicians ‘in the songs of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 25:7).    Second, the higher order of authority over the sacred music and musicing in the Temple sought out chief musicians who loved YHVH and loved sacred God honoring music.  Third, these musicians were willing to five of their time and talent to the task of training their own. 

            If we will follow this pattern of responsibility, there is much hope for the future of church music in his century.  As Christian musicians we must search our hearts to be sure that we truly love and serve Jesus Christ with all our hearts.  Second, those who are responsible for church administration must not run from the responsibility of selecting a music staff who are conservative and have a love for sacred music.  Third, we must take time to instruct our sons and daughters “in the songs of the LORD”.