Nevin Schools of the Prophets
James Dodson
INSTRUMENTS IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS.
Instrumental music was cultivated in the schools of the prophets. There is no reason to question this as a matter of fact. When Samuel had anointed Saul to be King he told him that, on his way home, he should “meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them; and they shall prophesy. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”—1 Sam. x. 5, 6. As Samuel predicted so it came to pass: hence the proverb in Israel, “Is Saul also among the prophets? But when Professor Wallace founds on this passage the statement, “They seem to have been coming from some public service at the ‘high place,’ and to have been engaged in an exercise of psalmody” (p. 16), this is a mere exercise of fancy on his part, coming to a conclusion which there is no circumstance in the record to warrant. And when he extends his observations to all the schools of the prophets, in a more dogmatic tone, founding still on this single passage—he has no other to found on—telling us, “It is evident that those young men were instructed in
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music, both vocal and instrumental, and that both were employed in the worship of God before David was born”—this is only a further stretch of fancy. Of the Professor’s very peculiar notion anent prophesying, namely, that it sometimes—that is, when it suits the purpose of his argument to take it so—signifies simply to sing with an instrumental accompaniment, we shall have more to say. Does anyone imagine that, when we are told the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he prophesied, this means no more than that the Spirit moved him or enabled him to sing and play? One would think that, according to the Professor’s own theory, he must have been accustomed to this in his father’s house from his boyhood. At present, however, we are only pursuing the line of historic evidence, as regards Old Testament times. We note, then, that there is not a word or a syllable in the record to indicate that, in the schools of the prophets, instruments were ever used in the worship of God. If not for this purpose, then for what was the use of them cultivated? Professor Wallace asks this question, and he is entitled to an answer, although we may be pardoned for thinking that one so well acquainted with his Bible as he is should have been at no loss for an answer other than that which his fancy has suggested. In those days there was a connection, mysterious to us, and which must have been quite as inexplicable then, between the use of instruments of music and the descent of the Spirit on the prophets enabling them to prophesy. We have an illustration of this in the case of Elisha, when the King of Moab rebelled against the King of Israel, and the three Kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom united their forces to reduce Moab to subjection again. The confederate host was in danger of perishing for want of water. The three kings went to consult the prophet. Elisha protested that but for the presence of Jehoshaphat he would have nothing to say to Jehoram. “But now,” said he, “bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.”—2 Ki. iii. 15. This is quite sufficient to account for the cultivation of instrumental music in the schools of the prophets. Dr. Lorimer, in the very interesting and instructive article on the “Music of the Hebrews,” contributed to the Imperial Bible Dictionary, mentions three uses to which music was put, besides its use in the temple worship, respecting which there can be no dispute—namely, “its inspirational, sanative, and festive uses.” The festive requires no explanation. The sanatory is exemplified in David’s harp, on more than one occasion, “restoring tranquillity to the moody mind of Saul.” The instances adduced of the inspirational are 1 Sam. x. 5—13, with “the parallel incident in 1 Sam. xix 19—24.”* The reader will observe that in this latter instance there is no mention made of instruments, but their presence and use may be inferred from the former instance.
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* Imp. Bib. Dict., vol. II., p. 303.
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Dr Lorimer, however, denounces as “absurd” the notion that the “prophesying” in these instances was no more than “an exercise” of sacred music, and we think few except full-blown Rationalists will differ from that opinion. Professor Wallace himself says, on page 19, “It is to be observed that it is only instrumental music that is spoken of in the days of Samuel, and it is only an inference that when there was instrumental music there was also song in the worship of God.” We must be permitted to observe, in the way of modifying this, that it is less than an inference, it is only a conjecture, that instruments were used in the worship of God, in the days of Samuel or at any period before.