Read 1 Chronicles 25:1-31
This was a fun passage for me to read being a musician involved in worship ministry for much of my adult life. You don’t have to be a musician to appreciate David’s intentions. He wanted the house of God to be filled with music! And most of our churches still today use music of one sort or another to accompany times of worship.
When I imagine the sound of these instruments, lyre, cymbals, and harp, it’s an interesting sound. I think of two of the instruments as more mellow sounding, and then comes the crash of the cymbals for effect. I wonder what those instruments were like back in David’s day.
Because of my curiosity, I did a little digging for us about instruments in the Bible. According to one source, the cymbals were probably hand-held, more like what we know today as castanets. That source is a blog called “The God Who Speaks,” and that article also speaks of the top ten instruments in the Bible, including the lyre and harp, too. I love how music has always been a part of showing our adoration to God.
Have you ever played an instrument? Maybe you still do, like me, but only now truly understand what a gift it is and how you can be transformed and energized from using that gift. If you’re not musical, you can still feel the thrill of using your gifts to honor God whatever they are! That’s the beauty of his gifts. We can each reap the reward of blessing.
David’s own worship team here would also experience that thrill of being used by God. Can you imagine having 288 skilled musicians on staff to lead worship? What a team! Again, David uses the system of casting lots to make the worship assignments fair. You probably noticed there were 24 lots of worship groups assigned. The same number (24) of lots was also how many priests were given assignments in our last reading. In a weekly rotation, each group and priest would serve roughly two weeks per year (although the text isn’t clear on the actual rotation schedule).
What does this passage say to you? If nothing else, we should be thrilled that David brought music into the church. If it hadn’t been him, I’m sure someone would have thought of it. But David’s background as composer/author of the majority of the psalms should tell us he was definitely a gifted artist. The poetic lyrics of his psalms have been used for centuries set to tunes and chants as part of worship.
Let’s pray. Lord, I love how you use just the right people to accomplish your will. How perfect that you would use King David, a gifted musician himself, to set the standards and expectations for worshipping you. Thank you for his example, and that you have chosen me to serve you in other ways to accomplish your will. Continue to fortify me and lead me in the direction you want me to go. I trust you have gone before me and are showing me the way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
