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INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: BASIC OBJECTIONS
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. ~ EXOD. 15:20
OLD TESTAMENT CELEBRATIONS God ordained the use of trumpets in the stated worship of Israel through Moses (Num. 10:2, 10). God also ordained the use of cymbals, harps, and lyres through David (2 Chron. 29:25). As has been seen, these instruments had symbolic and typological significance. Their use in Old Testament temple worship is, therefore, no warrant for the use of musical instruments in New Testament church worship. What about the use of musical instruments in other Old Testament worship settings? That the Old Testament saints used musical instruments in celebrations of praise before God is clear. What prohibits contemporary believers doing the same? The following short study answers this question. One of the popular instruments in the Old Testament was the timbrel or tambourine. The first mention of tambourines is in Genesis 31:27.
Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, complains that he has not been given an opportunity to properly send away his daughters with a banquet. “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre?” Stereotypical banquets or wedding feasts of that time featured singing and dancing with timbrel and lyre.
Job 21:12 speaks similarly of the revelry of unbelievers. “They sing to the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the flute.” This text again pictures a secular celebration. Israel was prone to engage in such revelry and to ignore God. “Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine; but they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands” (Isa. 5:12). The contemporary culture of the time celebrated various events with banquets, singing, and playing various instruments. Banquets, singing, and playing musical instruments were not sinful in themselves. The problem in Israel was a failure to acknowledge God. The result was judgment.
When judgment comes, “The gaiety of tambourines ceases, / The noise of revelers stops, / The gaiety of the harp ceases” (Isa. 24:8). Judgment cuts off joy, celebration, banquet, and party. On the other hand, when Israel’s enemies face God’s judgment, it is time to celebrate. Israel will rejoice at the demise of Assyria. “Every blow of the rod of punishment, / Which the Lord will lay on him, / Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres” (Isa. 30:32). In like manner, the restoration of Israel from exile meant the restoration of banquet, joy, celebration, and party. “Again you will take up your tambourines, / And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers” (Jer. 31:4). These texts all make statements regarding culturally-conditioned, secular and occasional celebrations.
Given the common use of tambourines in the culture of the time, it is not surprising that Miriam took up the timbrel to celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptians. The people naturally would have celebrated a great occasion in this manner. “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing” (Exod. 15:20). In this case, Miriam gave thanks to the Lord. “Miriam answered them, ‘Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea’” (Exod. 15:21).
This celebration had a worshipful component. However, it differed from the tabernacle worship and temple worship later ordained by God. This difference is crucial. Regular worship, stated for each Sabbath or Lord’s Day, is God-ordained and heaven-directed. Miriam’s celebration occasioned by God’s deliverance was a one-time event and culturally-conditioned. It provides no warrant for us to use instrumental music in regular, stated New Testament worship today. The distinction is regular, weekly, stated, heaven-directed worship versus occasional, culturally-conditioned celebrations.
Continuing the discussion of culturally-conditioned, occasional celebrations, turn to Judges 11:34. “When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing.” Jephthah’s daughter celebrated his victory in battle over Ammon. Scripture records a similar circumstance regarding David. “It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments” (1 Sam. 18:6). As in the case of Miriam, this celebration involved special circumstances rather than regular, stated, weekly meetings established by God. Further, these celebrations were culturally-shaped. As argued in part one of this study, regular tabernacle and temple worship was God-directed and heaven-filled.
There are two other important incidents in the Old Testament manifesting an air of celebration and having a worshipful component. The first is 1 Chronicles 13:8, where David celebrated the return of the ark of God from the Philistines. “David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.” Again, this celebration is culturally-shaped. And, as in the case of Miriam, this celebration involved a special circumstance; it was occasional. It differed from the weekly, regular, stated meetings established by God. In addition, as a culturally-shaped celebration, it stood in sharp contrast to the regular, stated worship of God in the tabernacle and temple. The latter is specifically God-directed and heaven-imbued.
In 1 Samuel 10:5, Saul met a band of prophets prophesying and using tambourines and other instruments. Samuel made this prediction. “You will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.” The prophets were prophesying; “in a condition of ecstatic inspiration, in which singing or speaking, with accompaniment of music, they gave expression to the overflowing feeling with which their hearts were filled from above by the controlling Spirit.”1
These ministers of God were singing with musical accompaniment; they were doing so under the influence of the Spirit. On one hand, there was a combination of instruments and singing, as found later in the temple. However, as has been observed, the musical instruments are typological. They point to Spirit-empowered proclamation and praise, the exact circumstance of 1 Samuel 10:5. On the other hand, the celebratory activity of the prophets was clearly shaped by their contemporary culture. This again contrasted with the regulated, God-ordained, stated worship of the tabernacle and the temple.
The temple and its services, not the occasional celebrations of the Old Testament, form the basis for New Testament worship. The New Testament repeatedly compares the church with the temple (2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Pet. 2:5). The temple was the Old Testament designated place for regular, corporate, stated worship. Today, the church assembled is the designated place for regular, corporate, stated worship.
The celebrations of Miriam, Jephthah’s daughter, David, and Saul do not provide an apologetic for the use of instruments in the gatherings of God’s people for regular, stated, worship in the present era. These celebrations were culturally-conditioned and culturally-shaped. These celebrations involved special circumstances and not stated meetings. Scripture shows them to be distinct from regular, corporate, stated worship instituted by God in the tabernacle and temple.
Contemporary Christians have celebrations: patriotic remembrances, special banquets, and weddings, all of which are culturally-shaped. However, believers properly maintain that these celebrations are quite distinct from the regular worship of God, from which they properly exclude instrumental music.
1. David Erdmann, The Books of Samuel: Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, trans. C. H. Troy and John A. Broadus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960), 5:153.
2. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, trans. Joseph H. Thayer (New York: American Book Company, 1889), 675.
Prutow, Dennis. Public Worship 101: An Introduction to the Biblical Theology of Worship, the Elements of Worship, Exclusive Psalmody, and A Cappella Psalmody . Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary Press. Kindle Edition.
