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Musical Instruments in Worship
Introduction: What do you think about the subject of instruments of music in worship? Is it unimportant? Is it something we just do because it is our tradition? Were our forefathers just too picky? Can it be that we should actually call such a practice sinful? Or, should we conclude that it is really no big deal and that God does not care?
We live in a time in which such matters are considered inconsequential. How can anyone think that God cares one bit about whether His people worship with an instrument or not? It simply does not seem reasonable in our human mind.
So, let’s take an honest look at this subject.
The History of Musical Instruments in Worship in the OT
We begin with the first public/corporate worship with an instrument in the days of Moses & the tabernacle: Num. 10:1-10. The only musical instrument used in the public worship of the tabernacle was the trumpet.
Notice that the trumpet, including the number of trumpets, was the only authorized use of an instrument in tabernacle worship.
Further, notice that the priests were the only persons authorized to use the trumpets (10:8).
The exact occasion in which the trumpets were to be used was during the appointed feasts (10:10).
Consider:
It was not until the days of king David, 500 years later that any other musical instruments were authorized to be added into the public worship.
As with all the other elements of the Tabernacle worship, the use of instruments were regulated by divine command.
The ancient Egyptians were well known for their wide variety of musical instruments and the guilds of professional musicians. These instruments played a central role in the worship of the Egyptian gods. However, Moses was not at liberty to use an Egyptian trumpet or instrument. God even designated how the trumpet was to be made. (Cf. Acts 7:20 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.”)The change made in the days of David.
1 Chron. 16:1-6 Once the tabernacle was brought into Jerusalem, David began to make changes in the worship. Notice that some Levites were designated to be singers and others players of instruments. In 23:25-26, David acknowledges that part of the reason for this was that the Levites no longer had to concern themselves with transporting the tabernacle.
2 Chron. 29:25-27. The setting for this incident is the days of king Hezekiah when he restored temple worship after years of neglect. It is at this time that we learn that God had commanded David to establish the musical instruments and the Levites who were to play them in the worship.
It is interesting, David did not presume to add instruments without any authority from God. The text notes: “for the command was from the Lord through His prophets.”
Hezekiah limited the musical instruments to only those divinely authorized by David. Note, “And the Levites stood with the musical instruments of David.”
Also, notice the mention of the “priests with the trumpets.” Hezekiah realized both the authority of God through Moses for the trumpets and the authority of God through David for the other instruments.
Next, as David and the instruments, even this great king did not institute the musical instruments on his own accord. He did so because “the command was from the Lord.”
1 Chron. 28:11-13, 19 Notice here that David was given detailed instructions concerning all the details of building the temple just as Moses had been given all the details in the building of the tabernacle. These details including the designation of Levitical singers and those men specified to play on instruments.
Summed up: The use of musical instruments was never a matter of liberty for men to do as they pleased. The Lord not only placed the instrument in the worship, but even designated the specific instruments to be used. There were never any other instruments added into worship throughout the entire OT period.
The Restoration Principle in Regard to David
It is interesting that after the days of David Israel suffered numerous apostasies. But notice what happened every time a man of God decided bring worship back in line with God’s instructions.
2 Chron. 23:18 When Jehoida led a restoration after the death of Athalia, he restored the Levitical priests to their proper functions “according to the order of David.”
2 Chron. 29:25-29 We have already noted how Hezekiah restored the Levites to their proper position in singing and playing instruments “according to the command of David, and of Gad the seer, and Nathan the prophet.”
2 Chron. 35:4, 5 Again, after an apostasy, Josiah (380 years after David) restores worship according to the command of David.
Ezra 3:10 After the return out of Babylonian captivity, Zerubbabel restored temple worship “according to the ordinance of David.”
Neh. 12:24, 35, 45-46 Now 600 years after David, Nehemiah still goes back to the authority of David by the prophets and restored worship according to those commands. Notice the words, “the trumpets and the musical instruments of David the man of God.”
In all of these incidents, every time worship was restored to following God, no one ever assumed that they had authority to order worship in any other way than the way God had instructed to Moses and to David. Even when they came out of Babylon, they did not use the instruments of Babylon, but only the instruments of David.
One other interesting note: there were incidents in which individuals worshiped with the instrument such as Miriam (Ex. 15:20) and in the days of Saul (1 Sam. 10:5). But on every such occasion, those who used the instruments for religious purposes were divinely inspired.
God Specified the Creation of the Instrument of Worship
We have already noted in Num. 10:2 that God actually told Moses how to make the trumpet used for calling assemblies to worship. We already know that trumpets were used in ancient Egypt and therefore Moses would have known how to make one. But God does not tell him to use a trumpet designed after Egypt, but to make it according to God’s pattern. Josephus says, “Moses was the inventor of the form of their trumpet, which was made of silver. Its description is this: in length it was little less than a cubit. It was composed of a narrow tube, somewhat thicker than a flute.”
The same was truth with David. Note Amos 6:1-6. Amos mentions David “inventing” musical instruments. These people had done the same, but not according to God’s command and not for the purpose of worshiping God. Instead, they used the instrument in luxury without caring for their own spiritual condition or that of the nation.
The Hebrew word (hashab) means, “to employ the mind in conceiving and devising new artistic productions. An ingenious creative activity that results in new or original artistic devices.” (Brown-Driver-Briggs).
The same word is used concerning Bezalel in “making” or “devising” artistic designs in the tabernacle (Ex. 31:3-5; 35:35). King Uzziah “made engines of way invented by skillful men…” (2 Chron. 26:15).
1 Chron. 23:4-5 refers to David referring to the “musical instruments which I made.” “Made” is a Hebrew word also suggesting that it was created by David by God’s instruction.
This is the reason that these instruments became known as “the musical instruments of David.” (2 Chron. 7:6; 29:26; Neh. 12:26).
Finally on this, note Deut. 12:30: “Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’”
Therefore, not only did God authorize the use of the instrument in the OT, not only did He specify who would use the instrument in worship, not only did He specify when and how the instrument was to be used, God also invented the exact design of the instrument to be used in worship.
Now I want to remind you of one thing. In Lev. 10:1-3, when Nadab and Abihu offered “common” fire, they were destroyed. God specified the kind of fire and they were killed when they did not use it because it was not “holy.” Everything concerning the instrument in the Old was also specified and when there was apostasy, it was all restored to the exact way that God had originally prescribed it. To do otherwise would have been sin.
Musical Instruments in the New Testament
When we come to the NT, we must ask the same questions that were asked by Hezekiah, Josiah, or Nehemiah.
Who gives the standard for worship? Is it David?
Is there authority for musical instruments in worship? If so, what specific instruments are authorized and who is to play them? Is it to be the priests and Levites as under the Law?
The Hebrew writer argues strongly that the Levitical priesthood and the physical temple has been abolished:
“For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” (7:12).
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (8:13).
“By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holiest of all is not yet opened as long as the first tabernacle is still standing…” (9:8)
From these passages we learn that since the priesthood is changed, so is the law. The first covenant is obsolete and ready to vanish away (and soon did). Salvation and the way into heaven were not opened while the first tabernacle was still standing. Therefore, with the priesthood gone, the old law changed, and the tabernacle no longer standing, there is no way anything revealed in the OT concerning the use of musical instruments is applicable today.
A few other notable points:
In the lists of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12), there is no gift concerning musical instruments. And yet, those were gifts under the OT.
If musical instruments of the temple are to continue, why do we not find the apostles instituting their use or any NT church practicing it? Instead,
Notice that in the OT the Holy Spirit spoke profusely and very specifically about the use of instruments. But in the NT there is nothing but silence.
Finally, the instruments of David were never separated from the temple or the sacrificial system. Therefore, as John Calvin said, “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law.”
Berry Kercheville