Instrumental Music in the Jerusalem Temple Alfred Edersheim
Alfred Edersheim shows the vast difference between the worship of the Jews and the vocal and instrumental music of the Levites. Instrumental music was never an element of worship but a signal for the worship elements. For All of Edershim CLICK HERE.
Edersheim Chapter Two
The Chambers
In each of the four corners of the (Jerusalem Temple) Court of the Women were chambers, or rather unroofed courts, each said to have been 60 feet long. In that at the right hand (on the north-east), the priests who were unfit for other than menial services on account of bodily blemishes, picked the worm-eaten wood from that destined for the altar. In the court at the farther angle (north-west) the purified lepers washed before presenting themselves to the priests at the Gate of Nicanor. At the left (south-east) the Nazarites polled their hair, and cooked their peace-offerings; while in a fourth court (at the south-west) the oil and wine were kept for the drink-offerings. The musical instruments used by the Levites were deposited in two rooms under the Court of the Israelites, to which the access was from the Court of the Women.
Of course the western colonnade of this court was open. Thence fifteen easy steps led through the so-called Gate of Nicanor into the Court of Israel. On these steps the Levites were wont on the Feast of Tabernacles to sing the fifteen 'Psalms of Degrees,' or ascent (Psalms 120 to 134), whence some have derived their name. Here, or, rather, in the Gate of Nicanor, all that was ordered to be done 'before the Lord' took place. There the cleansed leper and the women coming for purification presented themselves to the priests, and there also the 'water of jealousy' was given to the suspected wife.
Edersheim Chapter Three
The Temple Hymnody
To the wealth and splendour of the Temple corresponded the character of its services. The most important of these, next to the sacrificial rites, was the hymnody of the sanctuary. We can conceive what it must have been in the days of David and of Solomon. But even in New Testament times it was such that St. John could find no more adequate imagery to portray heavenly realities and the final triumph of the Church than that taken from the service of praise in the Temple. Thus, when first 'the twenty-four elders,' representing the chiefs of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, and afterwards the 144,000, representing redeemed Israel in its fulness (12 x 12,000), sing 'the new song'--the former in heaven, the latter on Mount Zion--they appear, just as in the Temple services, as 'harpers, harping with their harps' (Rev 5:8; 14:2,3).
Instrumental Music
Properly speaking, the real service of praise in the Temple was only with the voice. This is often laid down as a principle by the Rabbis.
What instrumental music there was, served only to accompany and sustain the song.
Accordingly, none other than Levites might act as choristers,
........... while other distinguished Israelites were allowed to take part in the instrumental music.
The blasts of the trumpets, blown by priests only, formed--at least in the second Temple--
no part of the instrumental music of the service, but were intended for quite different purposes. Even the posture of the performers showed this, for
........... while the Levites stood at their desks facing towards the sanctuary, or westwards,the priests, with their silver trumpets, stood exactly in the opposite direction, on the west side of the rise of the altar, by the 'table of the fat,' and looking eastwards or down the courts.
On ordinary days the priests blew seven times, each time three blasts--a short sound, an alarm, and again a sharp short sound (Thekiah, Theruah, and Thekiah *), or, as the Rabbis express it, 'An alarm in the midst and a plain note before and after it.'
* Inferring from the present usage in the Synagogue, Saalschutz (Gesch. d. Musik bei d. Hebr.)--Thekiah, Theruah, Thekiah midi file (.5 k)
According to tradition, they were intended symbolically to proclaim the kingdom of God, Divine Providence, and the final judgment.
The first three blasts were blown when the great gates of the Temple--especially that of Nicanor--were opened.
Then, when the drink-offering was poured out, the Levites sung the psalm of the day in three sections.
........... After each section there was a pause, when the priests blew three blasts,
........... and the people worshipped. (Bowed down of fell down)
This was the practice at the
evening, as at the morning sacrifice. On the eve of the Sabbath a threefold blast of the priests'
trumpets summoned the people, far as the sound was carried over the
city,
........... to prepare for the holy day,
........... while another threefold blast
announced its actual
commencement.
On Sabbaths, when, besides the ordinary, an additional sacrifice was brought, and the 'Song of Moses' sung--not the whole every Sabbath, but divided in six parts, one for every Sabbath,--the priests sounded their trumpets additional three times in the pauses of the Sabbath psalm.
(Note: the term Selah is, according to some scholars, a sound which carries to everyone to silence them so that they might hymn to themselves the meaning of the Psalm just quoted or chanted and not sung. Eldersheim may support this by indicating that the Priest's trumpet would signal perhaps tens of thousands to pause. KLS).
The Influence of David
The music of the Temple owed its origin to David, who was not only a poet and a musical composer, but who also invented musical instruments (Amos 6:5; 1 Chron 23:5), especially the ten-stringed Nevel or lute (Psa 33:2; 144:9). From the Book of Chronicles we know how fully this part of the service was cultivated, although the statement of Josephus (Anti. viii. 3, 8.), that Solomon had provided forty thousand harps and lutes, and two hundred thousand silver trumpets, is evidently a gross exaggeration. The Rabbis enumerate thirty-six different instruments, of which only fifteen are mentioned in the Bible, and of these five in the Pentateuch. (Note: music is addictive CLICK HERE.)
As in early Jewish poetry there was neither definite and continued metre (in the modern sense), nor regular and premeditated rhyme, so there was neither musical notation, nor yet any artificial harmony. The melody was simple, sweet, and sung in unison to the accompaniment of instrumental music.
Only one pair of brass cymbals were allowed to be used.
But this 'sounding brass' and 'tinkling cymbal' formed no part of the Temple music itself,
and served only as the signal to begin that part of the service. To this the apostle seems to refer when, in 1 Corinthians 13:1, he compares the gift of 'tongues' to the sign or signal by which the real music of the Temple was introduced.
The Harp and Lute
That music was chiefly sustained by the harp (Kinnor) and the lute (Nevel). Of the latter (which was probably used for solos) not less than two or more than six were to be in the Temple orchestra; of the former, or harp, as many as possible, but never less than nine. There were, of course, several varieties both of the Nevel and the Kinnor. The chief difference between these two kinds of stringed instruments lay in this, that in the Nevel (lute or guitar) the strings were drawn over the sounding-board, while in the Kinnor they stood out free, as in our harps.
Of wind-instruments we know that, besides their silver trumpets, the priests also blew the Shophar or horn,
notably at the new moon, on
the Feast of the New Year (Psa 81:3),
and to proclaim the Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:9), which, indeed, thence derived its name.
Originally the Shophar was probably a ram's horn (Jos., Ant. v. 5, 6.), but afterwards it was also made of metal. The Shophar was chiefly used for its loud and far-sounding tones (Exo 19:16,19; 20:18; Isa 58:1). At the Feast of the New Year, one priest with a Shophar was placed between those who blew the trumpets; while on fast-days a priest with a Shophar stood on each side of them--the tones of the Shophar being prolonged beyond those of the trumpets.
In the synagogues out of Jerusalem the Shophar alone was blown at the New Year, and on fast-days only trumpets.
The Flute
The flute (or reed pipe) was played in the Temple on twelve special festivities. *
* The flute was used in Alexandria to accompany the hymns at the love feasts of the early Christians, up to the year 190, when Clement of Alexandria introduced the harp in its place.
These were: the day of killing the first, and that of killing the second Passover, the first day of unleavened bread, Pentecost, and the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Quite in accordance with the social character of these feasts, the flute was also used by the festive pilgrim-bands on their journey to Jerusalem, to accompany 'the Psalms of Degrees,' or rather of 'Ascent' (Isa 30:29), sung on such occasions.
It was also customary to play it at marriage feasts and at funerals (Matt 9:23); for according to Rabbinical law every Jew was bound to provide at least two flutes and one mourning woman at the funeral of his wife.
In the Temple, not less than two nor more than twelve flutes were allowed, and the melody was on such occasions to close with the notes of one flute alone. Lastly, we have sufficient evidence that there was a kind of organ used in the Temple (the Magrephah), but whether merely for giving signals or not, cannot be clearly determined.
The Human Voice
As already stated, the service of praise was mainly sustained by the human voice. A good voice was the one qualification needful for a Levite.
In the second Temple female singers seem at one time to have been employed (Ezra 2:65; Neh 7:67). (Not true probably. kls)
In the Temple of Herod their place was supplied by Levite boys.
Nor did the worshippers any more take part in the praise, except by a responsive Amen.
It was otherwise in the first Temple, as we gather from 1 Chronicles 16:36, from the allusion in Jeremiah 33:11, and also from such Psalms as 26:12; 68:26. At the laying of the foundation of the second Temple, and at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the singing seems to have been antiphonal, or in responses (Ezra 3:10,11; Neh 12:27,40), the two choirs afterwards apparently combining, and singing in unison in the Temple itself. Something of the same kind was probably also the practice in the first Temple. What the melodies were to which the Psalms had been sung, it is, unfortunately, now impossible to ascertain. Some of the music still used in the synagogue must date from those times, and there is no reason to doubt that in the so-called Gregorian tones we have also preserved to us a close approximation to the ancient hymnody of the Temple, though certainly not without considerable alterations.
But how solemn must have been the scene when, at the dedication of Solomon's Temple during the service of praise, 'the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Jehovah; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God'! (2 Chron 5:13,14) Such music, and such responsive singing, might well serve, in the Book of Revelation, as imagery of heavenly realities (Rev 4:8,11; 5:9,12; 7:10-12), especially in that description of the final act of worship in Revelation 14:1-5, where at the close of their antiphony the two choirs combine, as at the dedication of the second Temple, to join in this grand unison, 'Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth' (Rev 19:6,7; comp. also Rev 5:13).
(Note: This is judgmental. The priests could not minister. However, the congregation prayed from outside the walls and gates and God heard from heaven. There was, therefore, no connection between the work of the priests and Levites under the commanders of the army and the congregation which always met God outside the gates. KLS)
Edersheim Chapter 8
The Temple Music
Upon this the Temple music began.
It was the duty of the priests, who stood on the right and the left of the marble table on which the fat of the sacrifices was laid, at the proper time to blow the blasts on their silver trumpets. There might not be less than two nor more than 120 in this service; the former in accordance with the original institution (Num 10:2), the latter not to exceed the number at the dedication of the first Temple (2 Chron 5:12).
The priests faced the people, looking eastwards,
while the Levites, who crowded the fifteen steps which led from the Court of Israel to that of the Priests, turned westwards to the sanctuary.
On a signal given by the president, the priests moved forward to each side of him who struck the cymbals.
Immediately the choir of the Levites, accompanied by instrumental music, began the Psalm of the day. It was sustained by not less than twelve voices, with which mingled the delicious treble from selected voices of young sons of the Levites, who, standing by their fathers, might take part in this service alone. The number of instrumental performers was not limited, nor yet confined to the Levites, some of the distinguished families which had intermarried with the priests being admitted to this service. *
* It is a curious coincidence that of the two families named in the Talmud as admitted to this service, one--that of Tsippariah--should have been 'from Emmaus' (Luke 24:13).
........... The Psalm of the day was always sung in three sections.
........... At the close of each the priests drew three blasts from their silver trumpets,
........... and the people bowed down and worshipped.
This closed the morning service. It was immediately followed by the sacrifices and offerings which private Israelites might have to bring, and which would occasionally continue till near the time for the evening service. The latter resembled in all respects that of the morning, except that the lot was only cast for the incense; that the incense was burned, not, as in the morning, before, but after the pieces of the sacrifice had been laid on the fire of the altar, and that the priestly blessing was generally admitted.
(Note: Again, as always, the instruments are used to signal the silence necesarry for the individual to worship by bowing or falling on the ground. Again, the sound was issued to signal that the interval was over. To try to attract God with worship while the instruments sounded would be identical to paganism)
The Order of Psalms Prophetic of The Kingdom of Christ
The following was the order of the Psalms in the daily service of the Temple (Tamid, sect. vii, and Maimonides in Tamid). (Note: The order of daily worship was symbolic of the change from Seventh Day worship to First Day worship. The First day Psalm was prophetic of the nature of worship under the new King of Glory. KLS).
"On the first day of the week they sang Psalm 24, 'The earth is the Lord's,' etc., in commemoration of the first day of creation, when 'God possessed the world, and ruled in it.'
Chapter 24
1 (A Psalm of David.) Meaning lover, friend, uncle, love-token
THE earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
"On the second day they sang Psalm 48, 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,' etc., because on the second day of creation 'the Lord divided His works, and reigned over them.' On the third day they sang Psalm 82, 'God standeth in the congregation of the mighty,' etc., 'because on that day the earth appeared, on which are the Judge and the judged.' On the fourth day Psalm 94 was sung, 'O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,' etc., 'because on the fourth day God made the sun, moon, and stars, and will be avenged on those that worship them.' On the fifth day they sang Psalm 81, 'Sing aloud unto God our strength,' etc., 'because of the variety of creatures made that day to praise His name.' On the sixth day Psalm 93 was sung, 'The Lord reigneth,' etc., 'because on that day God finished His works and made man, and the Lord ruled over all His works.'
Lastly, on the Sabbath day they sang Psalm 92, 'It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,' etc., 'because the Sabbath was symbolical of the millennial kingdom at the end of the six thousand years' dispensation, when the Lord would reign over all, and His glory and service fill the earth with thanksgiving.'
Chapter 92
1 (A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.)
IT is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
Note: The Sabbath and the Law were symbolic of slavery, Egyptian bondage and the Temple ritual according to Paul's Hagar allegory. When Israel fell at Mount Sinai it was because of their play worship which included instrumental music. Therefore, it is fitting that on the Sabbath they sang a song adopted for instrumental accompaniment.
However, on the First Day they prophetically sang the 24th Psalm which was prophetic of the reign of Christ which is symbolized by the First Day worship and not the Seventh Day Worship. This was understood in the churches to exclude instrumental music and other mind-altering rituals.
- Chapter 3--Temple Order, Revenues, and Music
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