David Musical Levites for the Temple
it began in the garden of Eden with Lucifer (Lucy fer) Christ in the prophets called the "singing and harp playing prostitute." The Serpent was not a snake (smile) but a musical enchanter(ess). Moses was warning those who had fallen from Grace because of musical idolatry of the universal Babylonian Assyrian Indian serpent worship. In fact, when God abandoned them to worship the starry host the worship they are LUSTING to impose as "teams" with or without instruments was STAR and SERPENT worship.
The next LURCHING FORWARD of Satan was at Mount Sinai for which God removed Grace and gave them the Law of Moses to Legislate for the Lawless. All religious music is idolatry because it takes all of the attention away from Christ and HIST Word and places it on the musicians and THEIR words. For the Israelites in Egypt it began with the PATTERNISM of the Levite musicians who were devoted to Dionysus "the new wineskin god" connected to gender bleed. It culminated at Mount Sinai where some engaged in musical idolatry. God removed the covenant of grace and turned them back over to worship the astrial deities. Few of those waged to REPLACE the role of Jesus Christ as the only song and sermon writer and mediator know or care that they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit: telling people that the Spirit told you to deliberately sow musical discord.Jacob warned against attending the assemblies of the tribe of Levi.
Gen. 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
Gen. 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly,
mine honour, be not thou united:
for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Gen. 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel:
I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
You remember that Al Maxey insists that Miriam was a female worship minister (an approved patternism) but reading 101a proves that she was a Prophetess of Hathor in Egypt and here prophesying was called SOOTHSAYING as was the prophesying of the Levites--closely connected to the "wreathed serpent" in tradition.
The last blasphemy was the elders demanding a Senior Preacher Person to rule over them. God knew that they wanted to WORSHIP like the nations. That is why the Monarchy was the END OF THE ROAD and the captivity and death sentence would be imposed.
It is a fact that after the last blasphemy requested God to carry out the conditionaly sentence at Mount Sinai. The final abandonment was demanding a king so they could WORSHIP (musically) like all of the nations.
After David had sinned so that he could not go to the designated place of the Tabernacle, rather than kill David, God gave him a Jebusite High Place where he built an ALTERNATIVE tabernacle: This was a prophetic type of the end time worship. He was now one of those kings God gave in His anger. Samuel records God's abandonment of the national system to a NATIONAL (Canaanite, Egyptian, Babylonian etal) Civil-Military-Clergy complex to carry out the captivity and death sentence. This was not irrational because the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai caused God to ABANDON the Civil-Military-Clergy over to worship the starry host. Christ PRESERVED the Spiritual Thread from that with the Church of Christ which was to Rest, Read and Rehearse the Word of God and was EXCLUSIVE of vocal or instrumental rejoicing. THAT is the patternism of Christ and that never changed.
Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol,Those who use the curse of the sacrificial system also RESIST the Holy Spirit of Christ who speaks through the PROPHETS all of whom condemn the Civil-Military-Clergy complex as robbers and parasite: a parasite in the Greek defines all religious musicians.
and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Acts 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven;
as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel,
have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
No sacrifices were commanded and therefore no music "to make the lambs dumb before the slaughter."
Acts 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the STAR of your god Remphan,
figures which ye made to worship them:
and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Acts 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
Acts 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles,
whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Acts 7:46 Who found favour before God,
and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Acts 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Acts 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me?
saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
The Ghebers of Hebron 2 Hoaea, xii. 4 derives the name Inracl from Sarah to contend, to fight, and El = God of Fire. — Gen. xxxii. '28. Asarians, Asriel, Israel, a name of the War god {Exodus, xiii. 21, 22, xiv. 25), Saturn and the Sun. The Fire-god Azar was the God of war, and M'irs was the Sun. — Macrob. I. xvii. OSStephen (Acts 7 you missed in sermons, songs and classes) says that:
But these fire-worshippers carried with them the arks of Moloch and Khiun (Life-god), their Adon, and they had, like the other peoples of the Delta, their Mysteries, which the priests instituted. They took with them from Phoenicia, probably, a certain knowledge of fixed vocal signs; and it would not be safe to deny to Syria the possession of some sort of (Syrian) hieroglyphs
In the cuneiform writing the Jews were named laudi.— Schrader, Keilinschr. n. d. Alt. Test. 188. Audah, in Hebrew, means ' I will praise.' This reveals the original name of Ju- dea, the land of And. If we follow St. Jerome's dictum " to write a ' he' but to read it an «," we will find that Isaiah, xix. 17, has " laiidah's laud " instead of Jeudah's land. By a Hebrew pun, Genesis, xxix. 35, gives us ' Audah' as the root of the name laudah. Ami's altar was sprinkled with blood. Saturn's name was Chion, the Living One. Saturn's altars were blood-besprinkled. The horns of lachoh's (lao's) altars were blood-besprinkled on Saturn's day. The right ears of Aharon and his sons, their right thumbs, their right great toes, and their garments were sprinkled with blood.—Exodus, xxix. 12, 116, 20, 21. For the life of the flesh is in the blood.—Leviticus, xvii. G, 11. Chion was the Achiah asur Achiah, of Exodus, iii. 14, the Living God of Time, Set or Saturn. Compare Daniel, vii. 13. For Chion (like Moloch) was the name of the Living One!
We find the cities of the priests with the brothers (fratres) in their orders, in 2 Chronicles, xxxi. 15. A deity, regarded as the pure, holy fire, cannot be approached by the ordinary man; a priest-caste is requisite, to which the preservation of the sacred fire-place is entrusted, and which by mortifyings (of the flesh) and torments self-inflicted must make itself worthy of the access to the deity and its revelation. We find among the Old Canaanites no proper priesthood, but everywhere in Palestine, according to the Scriptural accounts, where the Chaldean fire-god Moloch was adored.'
Dionysus was worshipped among the Old Kanaanites and Arabians—" where the Bacchic fire of the God leaps forth." This Fire is that of Bal Melkarth or Moloch. The worship of this Tyrian Fire-god Herakles (Archal) was carried to Tarz
1 Eiodus, xix. 10, 11, 18; 1 Samuel, xxi. 4, 5. The "bundle of life" with la'hoh (1 Sara. xxv. 29) is the union of the souls with Osiris!
God gave (by Grace) David a TENT which permitted the "worship of the starry host."
God loves people even when they turn to idolatry. However, David is not a PATTERNISM for approvel even under the Monarchy.
But, David built God a HOUSE
But, God does not LIVE IN nor is worshipped in houses built by human hands: God is worshipped IN the place of the human spirit which ALL forms of "music" intends to shut down so that you watch THE EFFEMINATE performance and therefore worship THEM.
Ecclesiasticus 48:
1. Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, and his word burned like a torch.
2. He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal he made them few in number.
3. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens, and also three times brought down fire.
4. How glorious you were, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! And who has the right to boast which you have?
5. You who raised a corpse from death and from Hades, by the word of the Most High;
6. who brought kings down to destruction, and famous men from their beds;
7. who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb;8. who anointed kings to inflict retribution,
........and prophets to succeed you.
Hosea confirms this of Israel and Judah was not much different:
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. Hosea 13:9
I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? Hosea 13:10
I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:11
The Levites who served (hard bondage) as musical prophesiers (soothsaying, sorcery) were an old Guild in Egypt: that is the meaning of God turning them BACK to the old Egyptian (Babylonian etal) worship). Because they had been abandoned to worship the starry host:
The Ghebers of Hebron The Jews blew the trumpet on the newmoon, poured out libations and offered burnt sacrifices. And for this duty the Lobii, Luim or Levites were assigned to do just what the Brahmans did in India. They ministered to la'hoh, Lord of Life, according to Exodus, iii. 14 ; xxxviii. 21; xl. 15; Jeremiah, xxxiii. 18. Hence the Jews were the Brahmaus of Palestine, as Josephus said, worshipping Brahma, whom, for their own political purposes, they chose to regard as Ab (Father) Ram (Most High) which title is not unsuitable to the Most High of the Hindu Gods. King states that the words brahrna and abrahm have the same numerical value.6
Hos. 2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
Hos. 2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
Hos. 2:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said,
These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
Hos. 2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.The names of the Thracian Orpheus and Musaeus carry us back to the dusky period from which all sacred history starts. The name Moses, or, as it is written, Mse (Mase), designating as it does many of that name, originally meant a mythic personage.
Threskeia (g2356) thrace-ki'-ah; from a der. of 2357; ceremonial observance: - religion, worshipping. religious worship, cult, ritual, Apollônos at Delphi
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, Col.2:18
"Voluntary" (g2309) means determined, delightful, pleasurable.
"Nor are these Thracian orgies, from which the word Worship (threskia) is said to be derived; nor rites and mysteries of Orpheus, whom the Greeks admired so much for his wisdom that they devised for him a lyre which draws all things by its music. Nor the tortures of Mithras
Of Thracia:
And ever on the watch from their place of prospect with its fair haven, often from many had they taken away their sweet return, consuming them with the waste desire; and suddenly to the heroes, too,
they sent forth from their lips a lily-like voice (opa leirion). And they were already about to cast from the ship the hawesers to the shore,
had not Thracian Orpheus, son of Oeagrus, stringing in his hands his Bistonian lyre (phorminx),
rung forth the hasty snatch of a rippling melody so that their ears might be filled with the sound of his twanging; and the lyre (phorminx) overcame the maidens' voice.
And the west wind and the sounding wave rushing astern bore the ship on; and the Sirens kept uttering their ceaseless song. (Translation: Seaton 1980)
They spoke a barbarian language, that is, one unintelligible to the Greeks, we must despair of being able to comprehend these accounts of the ancient Thracian minstrels, and of assigning them a place in the history of Grecian civilisation; since it is [p. 1181] manifest that at this early period, when there was scarcely any intercourse between different nations, or knowledge of foreign tongues,
Mases is an ancient Greek town mentioned by Strabo, 376, and Pausanias, 197; similar names are Amasia a city of Pontus in Asia Minor, Musia (Mysia), Masion, a name of a mountain near to Armenia, and Masa. Some may prefer to connect it with Mosia meaning redeemer, others with maase, meaning story ; but Plutarch gives us the mythic name Masses, who is apparently no other than Mase (Moses) himself. As this name is connected with much that is mysterious as well as apparently miraculous, and as he is expressly stated to have been learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians, his treatise is based on the Mysteries and is evidently an inspiration or revelation from their hidden wisdom. Some have connected him, floating in an ark on water, with Dionysus, Osiris, and Noah. But his horns point to the crescent, to Dionysus and Hermes or Mithra. Genesis points to the life of the Egyptian priests just as it was known to be in later times. The allies of Saturn were called Eloeim (CTI^N'), the Jewish priests were the Loim or Luim (Levites), and Dionysus Luios or Luaios (as Nonnus has the name ; from luo to free, to redeem) might have called his priests redeemers of the souls from Hades.
There is incontrovertible archaeological evidence for the antiquity of the musical guilds themselves. The Phoenicians (Canaanites) outshone their contemporaries in music, and the Israelites were early influenced by them.
Musical guilds of the Hebrews may be traced back in some instances,
to old Canaanite families whose designations, such as Hemen the Ezrahite (I Chron. 2:6),
became a part of later Hebrew family names." (Unger, Merril, Archaeology and the Old Testament, Zondervan, P. 216-7)
Carthage through the Phoenicians brought this paganism to Canaan long before the Israelites arrived.
"In an inscription from Cyprus, in one from Rhodes and in several from around the district of Carthage, [The Source of Molech Worship]
there are references to important personages who bear the title Mqm'lm which we can translate as AROUSERS of the god.'" (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 247)."We even have a mention at a later date of a similar custom in connection with the cult in Jerusalem, where certain Levites, called me'oreim, 'AROUSERS,' sang (every morning?) this verse from "Ps 44:23: "Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever." The Talmud tells us that John Hyrcanus suppressed the practice because it recalled too readily a pagan custom." (Roland de Vaux, p. 247).
Psalm 57:8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
Psalm 108:2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake eaH6049 ‛ânan aw-nan' A primitive root; to cover; used only as denominative from H6051 , to cloud over; figuratively to act covertly, that is, practise magic:— X bring, enchanter, Meonemin, observe (-r of) times, soothsayer, sorcerer.
Deut. 18:14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
Deut. 18:11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please them selves in the children of strangers (adulterous women). Isaiah 2:6
Soothsayers: Anan (h6049) aw-nan'; a prim. root; to cover; used only as denom. from 6051, to cloud over; fig. to act covertly, i. e. practise magic: - * bring, enchanter, Meonemin, observer of times, soothsayer, sorcerer.
This points to RESPONSIVE SINGING and the worship of ANATH.
Nachash (h5172) naw-khash'; a prim. root; prop. to hiss, i. e. whisper a (magic) spell; gen. to prognosticate: - * certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) * enchantment, learn by experience, * indeed, diligently observe.
Nachash (h5175) naw-khawsh'; from 5172; a snake (from its hiss): - serpent.
The me'oreim term is associated with the "resounding gong" and the "clanging cymbal" of 1 Cor. 13-- me'onem "means to emit a hoarse nasal sound such as was customary in reciting the prescribed formula" or charm.
"Peckham 1987:84-87: the association of Astarte with the dying god, Eshmun, may well be related to child sacrifice, as Peckham; Robertson 1982:329. Given the parallel to Genesis 22, the tradition of Kronos sacrificing his only son as a part of the Phoenician cult looks to be related to the thriving business of infant sacrifice in Phoenician culture.
The mourning ritual connected with Astarte in KAI 37 and elsewhere, and the tradition of "raising the god" (mqm 'lm), identified as Astarte's bridegroom in KAI 44:2, in Phoenician epigraphs (c.f. the Eqron epigraph, lmqm, in the seventh c., where other indications of Phoenician influence are present), suggest the importance of the cycle through the underworld in this cult
Peckham, J. B. 1987 Phoenicia and the Religion of Israel: The Epigraphic Evidence. Pp. 79-99 in Ancient Israelite Religion. Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross, ed. P. D. Miller, P. D. Hanson and S. D. McBride.Philadelphia: Fortress.
You should read our article on First Samuel eight for the background. Here, God would carry out the captivity and death sentence imposed because of their musical idolatry at Mount Sinai and the result of this "because of transgression." See Psalm 81 to see that there was no God-given command to WORSHIP with music.
Of Psalm 78 Anderson wrote--
"Here the Psalmist affirms that the old sacred history which centered in the Exodus and the Conquest has come to an end. Yahweh has made a new beginning by raising up David and selecting Mount Zion as his sanctuary." Anderson, Bernhard W., Understanding the Old Testament, p. 520, 3rd, Prentice-Hall, p
"In the kingdom of Judah... there developed a conception of the covenant that was fundamentally at odds with the northern Mosaic tradition. David, the architect of the United Kingdom, had tried to unify the twelve tribes under his rule by taking over the religious traditions and symbols of the old Tribal Confederacy.
But in the circle of the Davidic court a new theology developed, one that in the long run all but eclipsed the covenant faith that had been inherited from the Mosaic period.
According to this view, Yahweh bound himself by a covenant oath to David, promising to preserve the Davidic line and to spare the Davidic kingdom 'for the sake of my servant David,' as Isaiah is reported to have said (Isa. 37:35; see II Sam. 7).
In short, Yahweh's sovereignty was limited by the covenant, for he was no longer free to choose or reject Israel, as Amos maintained, but was obligated to preserve her." (Anderson, p. 333).
"The covenant festival celebrated in the south was unique in some respects, owing to the profound changes brought about by the Davidic monarchy. It will be remembered that David, in order to support his regime with the religious sanctions of the Tribal Confederacy, had brought the Ark to his capital and planned to install it in a temple. David's plan, which was realized by Solomon, called for a reinterpretation of Yahweh's covenant with Israel. The royal court of Jerusalem advanced a new theology of king and temple, the substance of which was that Yahweh had elected the Davidic king as his 'son' and had elected Zion as his sanctuary, the place of his sacramental presence.
"The effect of this new theology, especially under Solomon's influence, was to modify Israel's worship. The covenant renewal festivals of the former Confederacy were transformed into fall New Year celebrations of the foundation of the Temple and the election of the Davidic house.
It was not until the great reformation of Josiah that the Mosaic covenant tradition was discovered." (Anderson, Bernhard W., Understanding the Old Testament, p. 519, 3rd, Prentice-Hall, p)
David's change
"The book of Psalms contain new doctrine after the Law of Moses. And after the writing of Moses, it is the second book of doctrine...
(David) first gave to the Hebrews a new style of psalmody, why which he abrogates the ordinances established by Moses with respect to sacrifices, and introduces the new hymn and a new style of jubilant praise in the worship of God; and throughout his whole ministry he teaches very many othe things that went beyond the law of Moses."On: The book of Psalms contains new doctrine after the law of Moses.
And after the writing of Moses, it is the second book of doctrine.
Now, after the death of Moses and Joshua, and after the judges, arose David,
who was deemed worthy of bearing the name of father of the Saviour himself;and he first gave to the Hebrews a new style of psalmody, by which he abrogates the ordinances established by Moses with respect to sacrifices, and introduces the new hymn and a new style of jubilant praise in the worship of God; and throughout his whole ministry he teaches very many other things that went beyond the law of Moses. (Fragment of Commentary by Hippolytus, bishop of Rome, Ante-Nicene, V, p. 170)"So one of his shrewdest acts was to rescue the Ark of the Covenant from the place of oblivion in which it had rested since the fall of the confederate sanctuary of Shiloh and to bring it to Jerusalem with great pomp and ceremony--on which occasion he performed a religious dance, virtually in the nude, much to the disgust of his wife (II Sam. 6) (Anderson, p. 182).
"David sought to encircle his crown with the religious halo of the past. Thus the religious center of Israel was shifted from the confederate sanctuary of Shiloh to the royal shrine in Jerusalem. Hence was the beginning of a 'royal theology' which challenged the anti-monarchic conservatism represented by men like Samuel and insisted that Yahweh had made a special covenant owith David... He wanted to replace the old Tent with a splendid royal temple patterned after the temples of other nations. .. Nathan argued that Yahweh had not dwelt in a 'house'... So David wisely conceded to the prophet that this was going too far--at least for the time being. He contented himself with reorganizing Israel's religion in other spheres, especially music." (Anderson, p. 182)
"David succeeded in transferring the traditions of the Confederacy to Jerusalem: the Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthood. But in this change something happened to the character of 'Israel,' to the structure of the community.
No longer was Israel, the people of God, bound together on the basis of covenant allegiance to Yahweh at the central sanctuary;
Israel was now bound together politically, on the basis of a contract between king and people (II Sam. 5:3). As citizens of the state, the people of Israel owed allegiance to a king who could take a census, exact forced labor, and require submission to his power...As Israel became a state modeled after other oriental monarchies, more and more she lost her distinctive character and faced the danger of being swallowed up in the power struggle and cultural stream of the Near East." (Anderson, p. 188).
Musical Worship Teams Added by David for the Future Temple Sacrifices
Israel demanded a king to replace the direct rule of God. He gave them kings but prophesied that they would destroy the nation and He would not hear their prayers. Ezekiel and others make it clear that Israel, for much of their life, worshiped like the nations. It was logical therefore that David begin and Solomon construct a temple and begin to worship like the nations. God would not tolerate it and within five years of Solomon's death, Shishak from Egypt came to get his gold from the temple as Israel was cut off from the faithful tribes to begin their march to Assyria.
The kings Israel demanded to permit them to worship like the nations used musical worship as the most effective way of dulling the rational (spiritual) part of the brain. However, not even David involved the nation in "congregational singing with instrumental accompaniment." His additions were for the developing Temple-State which was civil rather than religious:
"Indeed not before David's time do professional musicians appear in the Bible. From where did they come?
Considering the apparent connection of professional musicians with the institution of Monarchy,
we must bear in mind that in the neighboring countries, Egypt and Assyria, the professional musician was an old and familiar figure. It seems that the midrash alludes to an ancient tradition when it relates that King Solomon's Egyptian wife, daughter of the Pharaoh, carried in her dowry a thousand foreign instruments.Yet an instrument is of no use without a musician able to play it.
Hence, we may assume that the systematic import and subsequent training of professional musicians took place in the era of David and Solomon." (Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, p. 457).
Not only is it clear that the musical worship teams were the overseers or presiding elders during growth efforts and in the service of God's "house," they assumed the role of priests during animal sacrifices. When the Phonecians were having trouble cheating the Egyptian, Wen Amon, out of his ship-load of cedar, the prince sent a female musician to lull him to sleep so that eventually he might be murdered to cheat him:
"Most likely, Israel first became acquainted with ecstatic prophecy in Canaan, where it was connected with Baal religion. The Egyptian story of Wen Amon tells of a religious festival in the Phoenician port of Byblos where 'the god seized one of the youths and made him possessed'--that is, he fell into an ecstatic state.
Centuries later, prophets of Baal, imported from Phoenicia, worked themselves into an ecstatic frenzy on the top of Mount Carmel as they danced around the altar, cut themselves with knives, and raised their cultic shouts (I Kings 18:20-29).This type of orgiastic prophecy was also known in Asia Minor, from which it spread into the Mediterranean world and later took the form of the orgies of the cult of Dionysus" (Anderson, Theology of the O.T., p. 229). (This always included musical instruments)
"The ecstatic condition appears to have been normal to the prophetic guilds of the period of the judges and the early kingdom, and for the first time in 1 Sam. 10:5-10, 19:20-24 the contagiousness of the condition comes to light, in the case of Saul.
Someone has suggested that much modern church music is really "low-level glossolalia" or speaking in tongues. It is intended to manipulate the paying audience with a deliberate attempt to dismiss the Biblical text and substitute what Albert Barnes called "soulless versifying." This was the beginning of the feminization of Israel's practices:
David introduced a new form of military-like prophesying which was singing with instrumental accompaniment. However, this was a temple ritual where the temple was more private shrine of the king than synagogue of the congregation.
Levitical Musical Teams Not Intended for Worship
David intended the musical guilds to praise the Lord at the temple during animal sacrifices for certain purification and dedicatory services. Even this was condemned. Amos (5, 6, 8) condemned Israel for imitating David's musical instruments because they were used for daily worship while the leaders lay upon ivory couches and the "congregation" starved for the Word of God. Theirs was a wineskin gospel.
The later intrusion of the Levites into the temple rituals with music is marked as the cause of Israel's failure to hear and obey the Word of God. They had been the "panic" leaders in military battles and would be added to subject the nation to the king (against God's wishes) and the civil state. Neither they or Saul or David had the right to perform priestly functions.
David [secular king], together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service" 1 Chr 25:1NIV
From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nathan and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were under the supervision of Asaph,who prophesied under the king's supervision." 1 Chr 25:2<>
All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the LORD,The singers or musicians who made NOISE and not music never went beyond the courtyard where the priests slaughtered innocent animals. Because of the blood, innocent cries, dung and burning flesh the LOUD NOISE was to SERVE [meaning hard bondage] the priests. This would be like "making music" in the parking lot while the preacher slaughters an innocent lamb. No singer or instrument player could ever enter into the Holy Place which was a type of the body or church of Christ. It was a "national" type of the synagogue where the people worshipped only in the sense of hearing the Word of God and praying.
The TYPE proves that a singer or musician who attempted to enter the Holy Place, synagogue or ekklesia as the "school of the Bible" would be worthy of death. Worship in the presence of God was in the Most Holy Place and no singers or musicians could "lead you into God's presence" on the penalty of death.
This fits with the Samaritan woman's ability to grasp that "when Messiah comes He will tell us all things." Jesus confessed that He was the MESSIAH or TEACHER and not a worship leader. Jesus said that God is worshipped ONLY in the new place of the human spirit as it gives heed to the truth.
Because we have king or kingdom and a NATIONAL SHRINE we also are guilty of sin if we try to ACT the role of KING which belongs to Lord Jesus Christ.
with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were
under the supervision of the king." 1 Chr 25:6
MOREOVER David (king) and the captains (Sar h8269) 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: and the number of the workmen according to their service was: 1 Chon .25:1KJV
Prophesy, here, means to sing certain work songs along with loud instrumental sound. Work songs were common in all of the other kingdom of the world which Israel had now become. If you begin to grasp the implication of processing, transporting and burning tens of thousands of animals then you grasp that this is not "spiritual worship." This prophesying was called SOOTHSAYING.
Remember that God gave his permission for Israel to "worship like the nations'' when the elders fired Him and demanded a king like the nations. The NATIONS or Goyim speaks directly of the Babylonian and Canaanite religions totally surrounding the land. When they wanted to worship like the nations it was to worship like the Canaanites. These are the survivors of CANAAN or Kenites who infiltrated the Jewish Religion just as the descendants of CAIN had been used by Satan to seduce God's people with music.
Therefore, of the musical guilds are in all aspects defined as PERFORMING THE ROLES OF WOMEN.
"The trained musicians which eventually appear around the time of David and Solomon mark a distinctive change in the history of Jewish music. Before this time much of the music was made by women." (Zondervan Pict., Music p. 313).
"Before the establishment of the kingdom under Saul, it was the women who, as in every young civilization, played a major part in the performance of music. Such figures as Miriam, Deborah, Jephtha's daughter, and the women hailing the young hero David have become almost archetypes of female musicians. Characteristic of all these cases is the familiar picture of a female chorus, dancing and singing, accompanied by frenzied drum-beating. This is the scene known to the entire Near East, and not even the severe rule of Islam could wholly suppress this age-old practice." (Int Dict of the Bible, Music, p. 457).
See our review of Rubel Shelly on Jael. More Rubel Shelly on Deborah promoting women in worship.
Service means:
Abodah (h5656) ab-o-daw'; from 5647; work of any kind: - act, bondage, / bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try), office, service (-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, * wrought
Abad (h5647) aw-bad'; a prim. root; to work (in any sense); by impl. to serve, till, (caus.) enslave, etc.: - * be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, / husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper.
The results of a religious practice may determine whether God commanded it or not. Of Topheth, where the musical praise with tabrets began for the civil leaders it was--
"Once the music-grove, where Solomon's singers, with voice and instrument, regaled the king, the court and the city; then the temple of Baal, the high place of Mooch, resounding with the cries of burning infants; then (in symbol) the place where is the wailing and gnashing of teeth." (p. 3313-14, four-volume Smith).
These sons of Mahol belonged to a Canaanite-like guild of musical prophesiers or "wise men."
"Such terms as 'Asaph,' 'Heman' and 'Ethan' or 'Jeduthun' are evidently used by the Chronicler to designate musical guilds, and in the case of 'Heman' and 'Ethan' are closely paralleled by scores of abbreviated names found at Ugarit and elsewhere, and are characteristically Canaanite and early, not appearing in later Hebrew lists of contemporary names." (Unger, Merrill, Archaeology and the Old Testament, Zondervan, P. 217)
"David introduced innovations in the age and service of the Levites (I Chron. 23-26). Certain Levites, particularly Asaph, became musicians and probably wrote some of the Psalms." (Living Bible Ency., p. 1143)
"Radical reconstructions, that seek to discover an opposition between David's Levites and the 'image worshiping' Aaronic priests, have been advocated by writers such as Theophile Meek:
'Thus were the Levites ensconced in a position of supreme priestly authority in the religion and there came a temporary eclipse of the bull cult and its Aaronite priesthood. This did not mean the suppression of the bull cult nor of any other; it simply meant that Yahwehism was now the state religion and Yahweh the national god.
In their local sanctuaries the people could and did worship what gods they would.'
"But though no evangelical would take Meek's theories seriously, it is true that the Levites were given the leadership in the new musical service which was created by David and which constituted a matter of his particular concern." (Anderson, B. Theology of the OT, p. 376)
Solomon would build an earthly house whereas God prophesied that He would build David a "family." The outward rituals were devoted to the physical house which did nothing to cleanse the conscience. The secular state was clearly modeled after Canaanite models:
"Music and psalmody likewise flourished, especially as Solomon
........lavished the resources of the state on the new Temple,
........enriching its cultus in various ways (1 Ki. 10:12).Although we know too little of prevailing musical techniques to make definite statements, Israelite music under Phoenician influence probably soon reached standards of excellence as high as any in the contemporary world." (Bright, John, A History of Israel, p. 198).
As one example, Asaph's name is from:
Acaph (h622) aw-saf'; a prim. root; to gather for any purpose; hence to receive, take away, i. e. remove (destroy, leave behind, put up, restore, etc.): - assemble, bring, consume, destroy, fetch, gather (in, together, up again), * generally, get (him), lose, put all together, receive, recover [another from leprosy], (be) rearward, * surely, take (away, into, up), * utterly, withdraw.
Much of the musical "praise" begun by David is described by the word ignorantly adopted by modern performing, excelling groups:
Halal (h1984) haw-lal'; a prim. root; to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; davch hence to make a show, to boast; and thus to be clamorously foolish; to rave; causat. to celebrate; also to stultify: - (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (- ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.
This word was used to define Lucifer himself who would use the king of Tyre and of Babylon as his musical change agents:
Heyel (h1966) hay-lale'; from 1984 (in the sense of brightness); the morning-star: - lucifer.
Later writers understood that it was David in connection with the temple and not the Law who commanded musical worship:
And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. Neh 12:45
For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief (ruler or captain) of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. Neh 12:46
Israel demanded a king to replace the direct rule of God. He gave them kings but prophesied that they would destroy the nation and He would not hear their prayers. Ezekiel and others make it clear that Israel, for much of their life, worshiped like the nations. It was logical therefore that David begin and Solomon construct a temple and worship like the nations. God would not tolerate it and within five years of Solomon's death, Shishak from Egypt came to get his Exodus gold.
The rise of the same Babylon mother goddess is prophesied in Revelation 17. She uses lusted after fruits (same as Amos) as speakers, singers and instrument players. John called the sorcerers and said that the lake of fire was prepared for them. So says Isaiah 30: the SOUNDS of God driving His enemies into hell are the wind, string and percussion instruments that Lucifer as the singing and harp playing prostitute brought into the garden of Eden to wholly seduce Eve but Adam submitted willingly.
Counter added 12.24.04 9:30a 2923 Rev 2.09.08 892 9.11.08 8.06.09 6,000