143 - Levitical Choirs and Music Development [C]

1Levitical Choirs and Music Development; Psalm 95:1

Psalm 95:1 ^NASB "O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation."

We have so far looked at the basic word for worship in both the Hebrew in the Old Testament and the Greek in the New Testament where two ideas stand out: submission and service. We are to submit to God's authority in every area of life and there is no area that is left out. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that we are to take every thought captive for Christ. That means every single area of life. Every single area of intellectual activity comes under the authority of God; there is nothing that is neutral, and that includes music.

The song of Moses tells us something about the quality of the lyrics that we should be singing in hymns to God, that these are not shallow, superficial words that are just spontaneously written, but there is thought that goes into this. The song of Deborah was a response to the new work of God as he intervened in the history of Israel when He gave them victory over the armies of their oppressors.

We need to note that in hymns the lyrics should be God-centred. The focus on what God did, and as we go through the Psalms we see they focus on who God is and what He does. Many of these hymns are hymns of joy, rejoicing on all of the things that God has done for us. These hymns are the outgrowth of experience and spiritual life, and they also show the deep reflection that has gone on in the writer's own spiritual life. As these songs are sung again and again in the corporate worship of Israel it causes the people to go back and reflect on what God has done in the past because God's work in the past is just as real today as if it had occurred yesterday.

We come to the next stage in rhe development of corporate worship and it takes place under David. It takes place under David for two reasons: a) because of the quality of David's own spiritual life and because of his genius and ability; b) because during the period preceding David there is such apostasy in the land that there is no cohesiveness in the nation and there not a theocentric focus. When David becomes king he is focused on God, he is theocentric in his thinking, a man after God's own heart.

When David came to transport the ark to Mount Zion there are a couple of Psalms describing this: Psalm 3:4; 9:11. But the main description of this transport is in 2 Samuel 6:12ff. ^NASB "Now it was told King David, saying, "The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God." David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness." The word "gladness is the Hebrew word that describes joy and rejoicing. [13] "And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling." This would have taken time and called for the slaughter of large numbers of animals but it was to recognise the fact that man cannot come into the presence of God without the shedding of blood. [14] "And David was dancing before the LORD with all {his} might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. [15] "So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet." So there is music, the singing of hymns, and there is tremendous pomp and circumstance associated with taking the ark up to Jerusalem in preparation for its eventual permanent location in the temple which would take place under Solomon.

While the ark was stored in Jerusalem there is a development that occurs in relationship to the corporate worship and music and singing. David begins to organise quires of Levites and musicians and training them to sing the hymns and the songs. 1 Chronicles 6:31, 32 ^NASB "Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song [singing] in the house of the LORD, after the ark rested {there.} They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem; and they served in their office according to their order." So he appoints leaders over this whole music ministry that is going to take place in the temple. This is regulated, planned, organised, structured, thought through. That shows the way in which we honour God. The word "served" in v. 32 isn't the word for worship that we saw earlier, it is a term to describe ministry as priests and their service of God. It is used in this context, it is used of servants, it is used in secular contexts, and it is used related to the Levites to speak of the ritual of Levitical service before the Lord. Cf. Exodus 28:35; 1 Kings 8:11; Numbers 3:6.

At the time they are organising this David is going to divide the whole dimension of singing and music into three basic groups, and he identifies three key leaders. They are mentioned in 1 Chronicles chapter six which is a genealogy related to the family of Levi. Chronicles was written after the Babylonian captivity and the purpose was to provide continuity between the post-exile and the pre-exile. The purpose was to match the worship in the Zerubbabel temple back to the formats that were established by David. So there is a sound biblical tradition here. The reason for making that point is that we hear in the chronological arrogance of contemporary Christian worship the idea that not only does the concept of a new song mean that every generation needs to write hymns according to their own music, but that it is somehow wrong to sing the hymns of past generations, and that we always have to do something new. What we see in numerous places in the Old Testament—Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29; Ezra, Nehemiah in the 5^th century BC when they return—is that they go back to the same forms and structures and hymns of David. They don't try to generate new things for their new generation of believers and try to make it relevant in a contemporary sense.

This is what drives so much in contemporary church practice today, the idea that we have to be relevant, that we have to somehow learn the beat and the movement of the contemporary generation of teenagers so that we can reach them; that if we don't put it in the form that they like we are going to lose the next generation. This is cultural relevance. It is ultimately destructive to spirituality and destructive of the church.

So David is going to establish the basis for worship and he sets up these three groups under Heman, Asaph, and Ethan. They are Levites and each represent a different son of Levi. Three clans became the three basic clans of Levitical priests and they are divided into various orders and each clan is given different responsibilities in taking care of the furniture of the tabernacle, the transportation of the tabernacle, all of the different things that would be involved in moving the tabernacle through the wilderness. Heman is a musician and he is also called a seer which means his ministry is related to prophecy. There is a connection between being a prophet and music. It is only mentioned in about three passages and it is never fully described, but we see indications of this with Deborah who is called a prophetess, Miriam who is called a prophetess, and what they did was sing hymns. So there is an element of that word "prophet" that doesn't have anything to do with prosecuting the Law or foretelling the future, but it has to do with the writing and singing of music. 1 Chronicles 15:17 ^NASB "So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah." 2 Chronicles 5:12 ^NASB "and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets." Heman also wrote the 88^th Psalm.

Asaph is the second one mentioned. He is also appointed by David as one of the chief leaders in the music ministry of the temple. He was a descendant of Gershon, the son of Levi. He was responsible for the percussion section in terms of the bronze cymbals. He was responsible for the ministry at temporary resting place of the tabernacle at Gibeon. He is also said to have ministered before the ark of God in 1 Chronicles 16:5. He had four sons and they were also among those appointed to work with him in the great chorus that was developed by the Levites. The term "the sons of Asaph" could refer to literal progeny or it could be a term related to those who trained in the musical guild down through the centuries and were prominent in temple worship, especially as singers. Cf. 1 Chronicles 25:1ff. Asaph is also known because he composed a number of Psalms—Ps. 50, 73 through 83.

Ethan is also called in some passages Jeduthun. He is a Levite from the family of Merari. So each of the clans of Levi are represented by a musical leader. He is called in 1 Chronicles 35:15 the king's seer, so he also has this prophetic role related to his singing.

These three men are used by David to organise and train those who would sing in the worship of God. The principle that we learn from that is that singing isn't just something that is an adjunct to worship. Chronicles reveals that this was done according to the instructions of Nathan and Gad, and God revealed it to them. That is all it says, so there is unrecorded revelation from God through Nathan the prophet and Gad the prophet to David for how to set all of this up. So it isn't something that has developed from David's own initiative but it is according to a divine revelation.

As they were preparing to move the ark up they composed several hymns related to this. Psalm 24:7-10 ^NASB "Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift {them} up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! O Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah."

Psalm 47:5 reflects on this as well. ^NASB "God has ascended with a shout, The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet. [6] Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises.  [7] For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful [with understanding] psalm." We don't just slip into a sort of mindless thing and sing the familiar hymns, we are to sing them because the purpose of the words is to cause our thinking to focus on who God is and what he has done.

Another thing we learn in relation to the moving of the ark is that in 2 Samuel 6:5 David is using various musicians in this who procession of bringing the ark into Jerusalem. ^NASB "Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of {instruments made of} fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals." The word translated "celebrate" is a word related to happiness or joy. Worship is celebration of what God has done. Cf. 1 Chronicles 15:22 ^NASB "Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was {in charge of} the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skilful [capable]."

2 Chronicles 29:25-30 takes place in a period when there is a restoration of temple worship under Hezekiah. His father was evil and apostate and when Hezekiah comes in there is a major overhaul, a restoration of the temple, and he restores the temple worship. ^NASB "He then stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with harps and with lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the LORD through His prophets. The Levites stood with the {musical} instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD also began with the trumpets, {accompanied} by the instruments of David, king of Israel. While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this {continued} until the burnt offering was finished. Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped."

Music

1. Music, like every other aspect of creation, began in the mind of God. Music isn't something that man developed, it was something originally in the mind of God.
2. Music preceded the creation of man and was an integral aspect of the worship of the angels. Job 38:4, 7 ^NASB "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell {Me,} if you have understanding …. When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted [sang] for joy?" So there was this heavenly chorus.  

Illustrations