“Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.” (Ps. 63:4, NKJV)
The seventh myth concerning the contemporary church is about one of the most important attributes of the church service: formal praise and worship, with singing and music. In this teaching we want to deconstruct the myth that organised praise and worship in the ecclesia is of central importance when praising God.
Walk into any church service, and you will find that the music plays an integral role in the event – whether it is the organ that plays whilst the congregation finds their seats, the choir who sings at specific times during the service, or the church that is led by a group of (semi-) professional musicians in praise and worship songs, the frequent occurrence of the ministering song, the background music playing during the collection of offerings, or during the altar call. There is often either an organist, or a worship leader, or a choir leader; sometimes the pastor or spiritual leader will lead the musical activities himself. Before the service a decision is made about what will be sung; this is professionally practised to perfection, and it is decided when what will be sung, and by whom. They also decide how many times the song will be repeated. The church is led by the praise and worship leaders, or their equivalent in more traditional churches, as if it is a spontaneous occurrence of worship, whilst it is actually devoid of any instance of “the wind blows where it wishes” (John 3:8).
To a great extent the music found in contemporary churches has in this way created a spiritual-emotional atmosphere of worship. This is so part of our experience of church that we cannot imagine a service without it. The problem, however, is that the focus falls more and more on worship in itself, and not on “the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom. 1:25).
Obviously personal and collective worship at all times and during all covenants is part of the believer’s relationship with God. But let us first look at the spectrum of worship in the Old Testament.
As early as Gen. 4:21 we learn of a person named Jubal. “He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute”, thus the father of worship. Then we read of Mahalalel in Gen. 5:12, the third generation since Seth, whose name means “giving praise to God”. We read of “joy and songs, with timbrel and harp” (in Gen. 31:27), and in Job 21:12: “They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute.” The Israelites joined Moses in proclaiming their victory over the Egyptians in song (Ex. 15:1). Miriam and the women, with tambourines and dancing, sang the refrain of the songs (Ex. 15:21).
It is clear that singing and music was also used by other tribes and nations in their worship of their gods, and in celebrating their victories. Moses for instance came upon perverted music and strange dancing when he found the Israelites worshipping the golden calf: “But he said: ‘It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear.’ So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot …” (Ex. 32:18-19). One could easily liken this to Lam. 2:7, where the noise of the idolators is a sorry imitation of the earlier “noise in the house of the Lord”. The instruments which King Nebuchadnezzar required for the worship of his image, in Dan. 3:4, lists as “the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music”.
The prophetic schools had musical education to spiritually orientate the young prophets (1 Sam. 10:5; 19:19-20). In 2 Kings 3:15 we read of how Elisha asked for a siter player, “Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.”
David is perhaps the most important prototype of the worship leader and poet that we find in the Old Testament. In 2 Sam. 6:5 we read: “Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.”
Neh. 12:46-47 offers a very important statement about collective worship: “For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.”
In 1 Chr. 25:1-8 we find an extensive report about the organisation thereof: “Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals. And the number of the skilled men performing their service was: Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to exalt his horn. For God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these were under the direction of their father for the music in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the authority of the king. So the number of them, with their brethren who were instructed in the songs of the Lord, all who were skillful, was two hundred and eighty-eight. And they cast lots for their duty, the small as well as the great, the teacher with the student.”
Also look at what 1 Chr. 23:4-5 has to say about this: “Of these, twenty-four thousand were to look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were officers and judges, our thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand praised the Lord with musical instruments, ‘which I made,’ said David, ‘for giving praise.’”
Organised worship was thus a legitimate matter in the time of David. As there were, in his day, “the voice of singing men and singing women” (2 Sam. 19:35), there were also in the day of his son Solomon (Ecc. 2:8). Just like his father, Solomon was also a productive lyric writer: “He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.” (1 Kings 4:32)!
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia beautifully writes: “the spirit of praise is a social spirit calling for social utterance. The man who praises God desires to praise Him in the hearing of other men (Ps. 40:10), and desires also that their praises should be joined with his own (Ps. 34:3). Further, the spirit of praise is a spirit of song.” The entire Old Testament lives according to the principle found in 2 Sam. 22:4: “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.”
- Selah: Ponder the nature of worship in the New Covenant.
- Read: 56; Ps. 120; Ps. 140-142;1 Sam. 25-27.
- Memorise: 141:2.
