Today’s concept of music and particularly worship music is narrow in comparison to the concept of music in the ancient Middle East. Music was part of everything that they did from education (by the use of songs and rhymes to remember stories and lessons)[1], to entertainment, work (the use of work chanting is still popular in some cultures.) and of course religious ceremony. The harp is the instrument most commonly associated with the bible. “The harp was the national instrument of Israel, and was used constantly, as an instrument to praise God by and to declare his goodness, faithfulness and mercy”. [2] Music and, it appears, stringed instruments played a large part in the recitation of the Scriptures both in bible times and in contemporary Jewish worship. “Vocal melodies and instrumental accompaniment at that time were commonly conducted using gestures of the hands and fingers. Apparently the Hebrews Scriptures were sung to melodies conducted by a gestural system, for a transcription of such gestures is still found in the Hebrew Masoretic text. All Scriptures, not just the Psalms and songs, could in principle have been accompanied by kinnorot, nevalim, (Plural for kinnor and nevel) for “Thy statutes have been my zemirot (songs accompanied by plucked stringed instruments) in the house of my pilgrimage” (Psalm 119:54, KJV) “The vocal melodies preserved by biblical notation, then, would naturally have been accompanied by the biblical stringed instruments, as tuned to compatible scales and modes.” [3] “More than any other musical instrument, the harp is employed in Scripture in direct praise and worship of God” [4] At some stage though, instrumental accompaniment was excluded from use in synagogues has not returned in some parts of Judaism. It has been difficult to trace where and when this took place or began or for what reasons. The bible gives a greater scope for the use of music than we experience. Some of those uses of the harp in these musical expressions include: 1. The Harp was used by prophets when prophesying. 1 Samuel 10:5, “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 1 Chronicles 25:3, “As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD.Isaiah 23;16 “Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered.” There appears to have been a link between prophesy and music, not only the harp but music in general. These passages indicate that the cultic prophets utilized music to either communicate their prophetic words or to put themselves into a state of receptance to Yahweh. 2. The Harp was used to combat evil spirits. 1 Samuel 16:16-23. “Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better. So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me. One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him. Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.”“David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armour-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him. Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” It has long been recognized that music has some affect on our mental state. How it works is not well understood but many religions have used music as part of their health regulating program and today music is recognized as assisting in many areas of health management. Music therapy and its relaxation forms has gained great acceptance from the medical fraternity and Harp therapy is a field and study of its own due to the suitability of the harp to that kind of therapy. 3. The harp was used by people to accompany the singing of praises to God. Psalm 33:1-3, Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy. Psalm 147:7, Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Make music to our God on the harp. Isaiah 24;8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. The list of verses describing the harp being used in worship is long and exhaustive. While there is not room to list all references here from these verses we see the popularity of the instrument for its place in worship. Part of this reason is the harp’s popularity as an instrument at that time. Much like the guitar or the piano are the predominant instruments today. Some people assign the harp to a mystical place in worship – though there is no scriptural basis for one instrument to be of more importance than another. 4. The Harp was used by the Psalmist to accompany the recitation of Psalms. Psalm 4, 6, 43;1-4,55, 61, 67, 76, as well as many of the Psalms of David probably had Harp accompaniment due to the Harp being his favoured instrument. PSALM 43:1-4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.This is the traditional use of the harp in worship – accompanying Psalms. 5. The harp was used for narrating wisdom by. Psalm 49:4 I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle:An extension of accompanying Psalms, this would have perhaps also included the harp in many educational processes. The use of music as a background tool to aid the retention of information has been investigated by a number of Universities with remarkable results. The use of it in scriptural times may be a pre-empting of this concept. The Mozart Effect (Campbell) [5] is widely accepted as an aid to learning and its principles have to do with opening up the thought processes to more than one thing at a time. Music and words fall into this category. 6. The harp was appreciated just for it’s sound. Psalm 81:2 Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. Lets face it, the harp sounds good! There must be some validity in appreciating sound that God has allowed us to hear. God has created within us the capacity to enjoy music as well as to be emotionally effected by music. Appreciating what God has created within us to enjoy is partially an act of worship. 7. The Harp was used for declaring God’s work by Psalm 92:1- It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. This principle is not limited to the harp but includes all of our lives. Worship should be a whole life, whole body all the time declaration. Even today we take notice of God’s word put to music, we declare God’s goodness in anthems and songs in a way that we don’t in our everyday language. Music gives us an opportunity to express song of our beliefs that perhaps are not as easy to say. Perhaps they should be as easy to say as they are to sing, but at least we can express them in some way. 8. The harp was used to raise and express joy. I Chronicles 15:16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals. Music is often celebration. God has given us those emotions and allows us to express them. The Jews certainly had this concept in their worship. The Jewish culture used music as an expression of emotion much more freely than our present western culture. 9. The harp was / will be used to indicate victory in eternity. Revelation 15:2-4 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Harps will be (maybe “are being used”) used to worship God in heaven. When all is said and done, worship is what the instrument seems to have been designed for. Perhaps all instruments are designed for use in worship. Any instrument is at its best worshipping God, just as any person is at his or her best worshipping God.
[1] An example of this is Psalm 37 which is an acrostic poem starting with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
[2] Warner, Denny. 2000, Biblical Harps Australia by Denwar Harps.
[3] Wheeler, John, 1999, King David’s Harp (Abridged) Harp Spectrum www.
[4] Thomas, Robert L, 1992, Revelation 1-7: An Exegetical Commentary, Moody Press, Chicago.
[5] Campbell, The Mozart Effect,
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