Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
MUS'IC. 1 Sam 18:6. This was an important part of the festivities and religious services of the Jews. In their annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem their march was thus enlivened. Isa 30:29. This is still the custom in Oriental pilgrimages. The practice of music was not restricted to anv one class of persons. 1 Chr 13:8; 1 Chr 15:16. The sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were set apart by David for the musical service, and "the number of them, with
their brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord" was two hundred and eighty-eight. They were divided, like the priests, into twenty-four courses, which are enumerated. 1 Chr 25. Of the 38,000 Levites, "four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments," 1 Chr 23:5, being more than one in ten of the whole available members of the tribe of Levi. Each of the courses or classes had one hundred and fifty-four Stringed Instruments,
Cymbals, etc. musicians and three leaders, and all were under the general direction of Asaph and his brethren. Each course served for a week, but upon the festivals all were required to be present, or four thousand musicians. Heman, with one of his leaders, directed the central choir, Wind Instruments and Sistrum. Asaph the right, and Jeduthun the left wing. These several choirs answered one another, as is generally supposed, in that kind of
alternate singing which is called "antiphonal," or responsive. The priests, in the mean time, performed upon the silver trumpets. 2 Chr 5:11-14; Num 10:2. It is necessary to suppose that, to ensure harmony from such a number of voices as this, some musical notes were used. This truly regal direction of sacred music continued after the death of David until the Captivity; for though under the impious reign of some kings the whole of these
solemnities fell into disuse, they were revived by Hezekiah and Josiah. And although during the Exile the sweet singers of Israel hanged their harps upon the willows by the waters of Babylon, yet two hundred musicians returned with Ezra to the Holy Land. Ezr 2:65. Musical Instruments. Eccl 2:8. They were invented by Jubal, the son of Lamech, Gen 4:21, and had appropriate names. Gen 31:27. They may be divided into three classes - stringed
instruments, wind instruments, and such as gave their sounds on being struck. Of stringed instruments were the harp, the instrument of ten strings, the sackbut, and the psaltery. They are described under their proper names. The instruments of music mentioned in 1 Sam 18:6 as used by women are supposed to have been metallic triangles, as the name indicates. The instrument of ten strings resembled a modern guitar, having its strings stretched over
something not unlike a drum; and it was played with the fingers. See separate titles.