Bible Principles of Musicing (Revisited)-part 2

 

Bible Principles of Musicing (Revisited)-part 2

           Not all music was considered appropriate for public worship in ancient Israel.  There were many instruments mentioned in the Bible but only some of them were used in Temple worship.  Some music was no doubt used for sensual purposes including harlotry.  Loud music was played at funerals by the hired professional mourners.  A word by word study of dance in the Bible reveals that most of the references do not refer to any type of religious dancing.  Some of the dancing was used specifically for idol worship and some of it was possible used for human sacrifices.  Dancing and furious drum beating was certainly never used in the Temple in the worship of Jehovah and dancing or rhythmic movement is nowhere traceable in the first or second Temple.        Although some secular music was used for improper purposes, not all references to secular music in the Bible were considered improper or for lewd effect. The student of music in the Bible should look very carefully at the occasion and content of each mention of music to see if it was performed in the Temple as a part of public worship of YHVH or if it was a part of a public entertainment or a military victory which was not public worship at all.

           The term “joyful noise” of the Authorized Version is most unfortunate since the Hebrew word translated “joyful noise” meant with power, acclamation and great joy, NOT NOISE or noisy raucous music.  However, the Bible does say in Ezekiel 26:13, “And I will cause the noise (hamown 1995) of thy songs to cease...” and Amos 5:23, “Take thou away from me the noise (hamown 1995) of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.”  The word hamown used in the aforementioned Scripture does not mean strength or joy or acclamation but rather NOISE.

Bible Principles of Musicing (Revisited)-part 1

 

Bible Principles of Musicing (Revisited)-part 1

            What are some principles of music found in the Bible?  Vocal music was most important since it was a vehicle for the word of Jehovah to ride into the hearts of the worshiper.  The instruments used to accompany vocal music were mostly string instruments that would not cover up the words.  Percussion was used but it was used to mark beginning and pauses and never used as a continuous driving beat.  Instrumental music was used for music therapy purposes.  We have every reason to believe that this instrumental music was melody oriented and produced a pleasing beautiful, restful effect on the listener.  We have absolutely no reason to believe that it was ugly, raucous or harsh sounding.  There were two species of music mentioned in the Bible which Jewish musicologists have recognized and explained in their scholarly writings.  These two species of music mentioned in the OT are “men’s music”, which was controlled by melody and words, and “women’s music”, which was controlled by rhythm.  The use of women’s music is nowhere traceable in either the first or second Temple.

 

Christian Musicians Should Think about Music

 

Christian Musicians Should Think about Music

It is not a novel thought that the 21st century Christian musician should be deeply involved in thinking about music. As far back as the Levite musicians in ancient Israel, the Egyptian musicians, the musicians from Sumer, Akkad and Ugarit, Plato, Aristotle, the church fathers such as Aquinas and Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John and Charles Wesley, to mention only a few, have been greatly concerned about music as is reflected in their writings. 

          A plethora of conflicting books either partially of in entirely written about music philosophy have been written in the last 100 years from a secular perspective.  It is unfortunate that so little has been written about music philosophy from a Bible basis or even from a faith basis.  Most of the books written by Christian musicians that discuss music philosophy have only devoted a portion of their works to a serious study of music philosophy.  It is also most regrettable that Christian authors have for the most part not struggled with many of the major concepts of music philosophy that the secular music philosopher have and are still dealing with in this century.  So, there is much need for current philosophical writings about music from a Bible and faith basis.

 

Ancient Knowledge of the Effect of Instrumental Sounds

 

Ancient Knowledge of the Effect of Instrumental Sounds

          We are often made to understand from the writings of current practicing church musicians that it is a “Jonny come lately” notion that instrumental music is capable of arousing passion and sensuality.  However, A.Z Idelsohn stated, “…from our record of the manner of use of the musical instruments we may deduce that at the time of its height, Egyptian  religious music had a certain dignity and holiness, inasmuch at those instruments employed were not held conducive to arousing sensuality.”  Jewish Music in Its historical Development, p.4. He went on to say,”neither did they employ a great number of instruments of percussion, but usually they employed only one drum and one pair of cymbals in the entire religious orchestra.”  Ibid. p.4. 

          Although the Egyptian worship was in no way Christian worship, it does show that at this early date they were careful of the sounds that were used in worship.  They were sensitive to the power of percussion and the sounds that the musical instruments made and their effect on the hearer’s emotional states.  If during ancient times musicians had such knowledge of the effect that instrumental music made on worshipers, it would behoove us to also become aware of the emotional effect that instrumental has on Christian worship.

The Song of Fools

 

The Song of Fools   

 Ecclesiastes 7:5  It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

        Church musicians sometimes get a little worried that their musicing unto God is too serious,  because all of us want people to like our music ministry.  What does the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes mean by “the song of fools”?  Is he suggesting that the content of the song is foolish or that those who are singing the songs are actually fools?  He probably means all of the above. 

       Never be afraid of the seriousness of the musical message of Christ crucified.  The awesome depth of this message is the very thing that makes it worthwhile.  The message of Christ being obedient to the will of His Father: which included being reviled, rebuked, rejected, misunderstood, abused and tortured physically and mentally is a very solemn and worthwhile message.  Never be ashamed of the awesome and solemn truth about Christ’s suffering and death. The Christian musician should never water it down or fail to sing about the precious blood that Christ shed for the sins of the whole world.

       Although the message of His suffering and death is a very solemn message, there is another side to this musical coin.  Turn it over and you will see victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You will see the joy of the debt of sin being paid by His suffering and death and resurrection.  You will also see that we can have a clean and pure heart through the efficacy of His precious blood that was shed on Calvary.  You will further see freedom from the guilt of sin.  You will also see the joy of having a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this life and in the life to come.

       Sing, play and tell through your musicing, not only the suffering and death of our Savior but also of the fact that He was victorious over sin, death, hell and the grave.  This message is the antithesis of the “song of fools” which is merely a social gospel.  This message of Christ crucified and resurrected is far better than the foolish, light, chaffy, religious music that contains little eternal value. Church musician look up!  Lift up your head because you are doing the King’s business when you music the deep message of Christ crucified, buried, risen again and seated on the right of the Father praying for us all.

 

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 3

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 3

 

 I am not saying that my philosophical preferences do not matter.  I am simply acknowledging that my relationship with other Christian musicians matters more than most of my musical preferences.  My preferences matter enough for me to disagree agreeably with my Christian colleagues who are of a different opinion about music ministry, and church music.

 So, I must very carefully follow Bible principles of musicing which are taught in the Bible. I must not music in ways that  are not compatible with living a Christian life or with the purposes of Christian worship. However, I must remember that there is a difference between my personal musical convictions which are based on my interpretation of what the Bible teaches about how I must music unto God, and my musical preferences that make me most comfortable musicing unto God-- which are negotiable.  I must also remember that 1Corinthians 13:4-5 reminds us all that, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil…”

 

Thought for the Day

Sometimes musical differences  are based on a desire for power rather than on Bible principles of music and musicing, or on sound worship philosophy.

 

 

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 2

 

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 2

 

I am not only passionate about  what the Bible teaches about music an musicing and my philosophic music convictions,  but I am also passionate about the philosophical preferences that I have which I earnestly believe are important to excellence in musicing.  I will endeavor to be true to my personal beliefs about how I should music unto God but at the same time I must recognize that they are my personal convictions that I have developed from my interpretation of what the Bible teaches about music and my lifelong study of music . I also have personal preferences about the styles of music and the way I interpret these styles of music in my personal music ministry. 

There is something that I have learned over the years that has helped me—my musical preferences do not matter enough to cause me to break fellowship with other musicians who disagree with me. In the light of what words spoken do to relationships, most musical preferences really do not matter as much as we think they do when the waves of adversity and disagreement are blowing.  At these times we need Christian musical friendship more than having our way musically.   What we need to do in these times is let the blessed Holy Spirit be our rudder to help us stay out of “foot in mouth disease”, remain on course musically, and at the same time allow other Christian music to exercise their musical preferences that are reasonable and that follow Bible principles of music and musicing.

Thought for the Day

 

It is perfectly acceptable to feel passionate about a Christian’s musical preferences.  However, demanding that others share those preference is a different matter.

 

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 1

 

Bible Principles of Musicing vs. Personal Preferences -Part 1

What the Christian musician firmly believes about the nature and value of music at its deepest levels should exude from that musician’s musical convictions.  These musical convictions should be derived from Bible principles of musicing, from a solid understanding of the purpose of the use of music in the context of corporate evangelical worship, and a broad life-time study of the music part of music.  An example of a Bible principle of musicing is one’s belief, based on Ephesians 5:19, that there is more than one genre of music that is appropriate for public corporate worship, but that there are standards of how a fellowship of believers utilize music in worship. 

A musical conviction is the strong feeling of being sure that what that musician believes about a particular type of music is true and therefore must be followed. For instance, a musician may believe that the strong incessant rhythms in a particular genre make this music an inappropriate vehicle to represent the moral nature of God.     Therefore, since the Christian is not comfortable with the music part of this music, he or she is convinced that it is not an appropriate worship vehicle, that musician may be said to have conviction against using it in a worship setting.  A musical preference is different in that it is a greater liking for one musical alternative over another.  As the reader can see there is a dramatic difference between the two terms.

 

Thought for the Day

Christians often think of lifestyle matters when the term convictions  is mentioned.  Some conservative Christians that I have known have a long list of things that they don’t do, wont wear, and places they wont go.  Sadly enough the kinds of music they perform and listen too are often not mentioned.

God Is Interested in Form

 

God Is Interested in Form

Although the discussions of music being a part of God’s acts of creation in my former writings are of utmost importance to Christian musicians, I will refrain from repeating them here.  However, I will add one additional thought about  “in the beginning God created…”  One of God’s acts of creation was to bring form to the earth. Genesis 1:2 states,  “And the earth [erets 776] was without form [tohuw 8414], and void [bohuw 922]; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”  One of the valuable lessons to be learned from Genesis 1:2 is that because of God’s omniscience He included, as a part of His acts of creation, bringing proper form to everything on the earth.  So, it is reasonable to deduce that God is very interested in form. God saw that the erets i.e. the world at large and not just the adamah (127) i.e. the ground, needed to have proper form.  For years I have heard Christian musicians say that musical form i.e. style does not matter to God and therefore only the words utilized in a Christian’s musicing are of importance to Him.  These statements troubled me greatly, but I confess that I as a young musician I struggled with the term form. 

Later, it became clear to me that the form in which a composer or arranger organizes the formal properties of music does matter.  Just recently I was studying the Book of Genesis, and it occurred to me that a part of God’s acts of creation was  bringing proper form to everything on the earth.  God saw that because it was without form (tohuw) it was in a state of confusion that caused it to be without proper worth.  Furthermore, God saw that the erets was also void (bohuw) i.e. it was empty and a vacuity.

Teaching Biblical Music Standards—part 2

 

Teaching Biblical Music Standards—part 2

          There is an argument among some Bible scholars as to whether the New Testament is referring to pastors and teachers or pastor-teachers.  If the Scripture refers to pastor-teachers, then the onus probandi falls squarely to teach Bible principles of musicing to succeeding generations of Christians.  If the Bible is referring to pastors AND teachers, they must share the responsibility. 

          Let me point out that the responsibility to teach Bible principles of musicing to our children and youth must include both secular and sacred musicing.  God must be Lord of all a Christian’s musicing or it won’t be very long until He will not be Lord of any of a person’s musicing.  As I often point out, all Christian who music first Christians and second musicians are.  All a Christian’s musician’s musicing must follow what the Bible teaches a Christian to do.  Musicing is never done in a “bubble” but conversely it is a part of that person’s “whole-life”.  So, pastors, music teachers, and Christian performers must all accept the responsibility to train our own to music in a way that will bring honor to our high and holy triune God.