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Pop-Idiom Music
In Worship and Evangelism
by Dr Peter Masters
Dr Peter Masters is minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London,
England (C.H. Spurgeon's church) and has kindly granted us permission
to reproduce "Pop-Idiom Music" here. If you have any questions
or queries about this article, please feel free to write to Dr Masters
at the address given below, or
contact us at Freedom Ministries.
Section 11a
Restrictions in the Temple
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Beginning with Old Testament passages
which restrict the instruments to
be used in the Temple worship, we are
immediately struck by the very limited
range of instruments permitted and
the strict rules about who should play
them, and when.
In both 1 Chronicles 16.4-6 and
1 Chronicles 25 David, acting under
the inspiration of the Spirit of God
appointed those who would play in the
Temple orchestra. Please see
special note here. The instruments to
be used (and played only by certain
Levites) were the harp, the psaltery
(or lyre), the cymbals and the horn (or
trumpet).
These were the four instruments
which were approved for use in the
Temple, and they were only to be used
on certain specified occasions. No
other instruments were permitted.
At least eight different instruments
are referred to in the Old Testament as being commonly used, but
only these four were allowed for the worship of
God in the Temple.
The timbrel or tabret (which was a
tambourine) was not approved for use
in the Temple and neither was the
organ (AV word for pipe). Similarly
outlawed were all other flutes and dulcimers.
Why these particular instruments
were not permitted is not entirely
clear, for there was nothing unseemly
about thern as far as social use was concerned.
They are all mentioned in the Psalms as being perfectly legitimate
for making music outside the Temple.
Some scholars say that the 'banned'
instruments were kept out of
the Temple because they were associated
with pagan worship and culture, or because they were customarily played
by women. Whether this is correct or not, the fact remains that God set a
limit on the permitted musical 'helps' in the Temple worship, prohibiting
a number of instruments which were allowed outside the Temple for
national festivities and social pleasure. A restriction was placed on
the involvement of instrumentation and human art in the House of God.
It is clear that this restriction was
intended to be a binding rule because when King Hezekiah revived
the true pattern of worship in 715 BC, he meticulously followed the
arrangement as established by David.
We read in 2 Chronicles 29 how Hezekiah -set the Levites in
the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps,
according to the commandment of David... And the Levites stood with the
instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
The manner of their playing was
also very closely controlled (verses
27-30 give the full details).
The instruments only played during the burning of the offering, and
then the music ended and everyone bowed in silent worship. After that
the Levites, their instruments laid aside
(unless they kept the psalteries for accompaniment), sang psalms,
bowed down, and worshipped.
Thus, the orchestra had many
players but only four kinds of instruments
out of an available eight.
The instrumentalists were strictly selected from specified
families. The music was
only played for the new moons and the
special feasts. It had to be played in a
particular way, during specified times
in the 'service', and it was not allowed
to detract from or to dominate intelligent spiritual worship.
All this amounted to the most careful regulation of music and the
presence of discipline and order in the
worship of God - a far cry from the
scenes of frenzied, multi-instrumental
glee imagined by some writers who
want to justify modern practice from
the Old Testament.
It should be noted that in the two
further episodes of the restoration of
Temple worship under Ezra and
Nehemiah, the four-instrument-rule
was scrupulously adhered to (Ezra
3.10 and Nehemiah 12.27 and 36),
thus confirming over many centuries
that the rule was clear and binding.
The orchestra only related to the Temple
and was not for use in the ordinary
town and village synagogues.
These articles remain
© Copyright Dr Peter Masters 1983
The Metropolitan Tabernacle
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6SD
England, UK
who should be consulted before any further copying, storing or distribution, either
in whole or in part is made by any means.
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