St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
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Music in the Bible Psalm 150 July 31, 2005
1. Have you ever wondered why we have music during worship? You may be as surprised as I was to discover the answer. It has to do with the second commandment. It’s in Exodus 20:4, and it reads: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." The reason we have that commandment is that every religion on the face of the earth, except the religion of the Hebrew people, had a god they could see. So everything that could be said about that god was limited to that image. Since the God of the Hebrew people (and the God we worship) is limitless, God said "Don’t even try to carve a statue of me, because it won’t be accurate. I am more, much more, than any picture." 2. So what are the Hebrew people to do, with this great need to use their creative imaginations to express their love for God, and a commandment forbidding making something they can see? You’ve probably already guessed it! They created music! When a child went away from home, pagan families gave their children a statue of a god for a housewarming present, but the Hebrew people sang a song for them, and played musical instruments (Genesis 31:27-28). If a new building was to be dedicated, their pagan neighbors put a statue of a cow on a platform in front of it, but the Hebrew people sang a song (Ezra 3:10, 11). Whether the occasion was crowning a new king, entertaining a king and his court, celebrating a victory over their enemies, mourning the death of a king, or simply praising and thanking God, our ancestors in the faith used music. No statues, no drawings, no shape of any sort. Just music. 3. The whole Book of Psalms is music – it is the hymn book of God’s people. The word "psalm" means "to make music by singing or playing an instrument." The Hebrew people used it exclusively to describe the way they praised God. We see the first "psalm" in Exodus 15, where Moses celebrates the victory over the Egyptians at the Red Sea. At first, there were no written notes or words – only sounds. As time went on, they figured out a way to write it down so it could be passed on and on and on. However, none of the notes remain – only the words. And no pictures of those early instruments remain, either. We have only the most skillful and intelligent guesses, made by dedicated people after years of study. In the long run, I suppose, it doesn’t really matter – what matters most is that we continue to keep the second commandment, and use our music to tell people about God. Our Presbyterian Hymnal has a whole section devoted to those very Psalms. 4. But Paul has the last words about music: "Be filled with the Spirit as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18b-20)" and "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:15-17). |
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