A musical people : the role of music in Biblical life

Abstract

This thesis aims to uncover music’s important role in shaping and defining the selfidentity of ancient Israel. Functional music was integrated into Israel’s daily life, accompanying activities as diverse as manual labor and royal processionals. At key junctures and in core institutions, musical tones were used to formulate and deliver messages, convey and heighten emotions, assert and strengthen communal bonds, and establish and intensify human-divine contact. The intricate and multi-faceted nature of this music will be demonstrated through a detailed look into four main episodes and genres: the Song of the Sea (Exod. 15), King Saul and David’s harp (1 Sam. 16), the use of music in prophecy, and the Book of Psalms. Specifically, it will be argued that Israel’s birth as a free nation was marked by the Song of the Sea, its monarchic system was defined by the archetypical musician-king David, it depended on God’s word delivered through the often musical messages of prophecy, and its appointed institution for mediating worship was designed and officiated by a class of priestly musicians. Moreover, three of these four areas involve the main leadership categories of Old Testament society—king, prophet and priest—giving added support to the view that music held a prominent place and played a defining role within that civilization. The conception of music as a central element of biblical society will be developed using an interdisciplinary approach, wherein pertinent information from an array of specializations and sources is put into conversation and Old Testament passages are analyzed through a modern-scientific lens. Rather than relying on a single methodology, this study is rooted in the premise that by applying a variety of contemporary theoretical tools to selected Old Testament passages, essential functions of music in biblical life can be illuminated. Such an endeavour requires tools from a number of fields, including but not limited to theology, sociology, anthropology, musicology, cognitive science and music therapy, as well as the classification of musical references into four primary functions: cohesive, therapeutic, emotive/spiritual and didactic. The result is a thesis that identifies reasons for—and not just the existence of—music in biblical life, and, most centrally, shows significant ways music informed Israel’s understanding of itself.