curved neck and plucked with the fingers. There were two kinds. The larger kind was about the height of a man, elaborately carved and elegantly shaped and played with the fingers of both hands. The smaller or portable one was popular in Israel. It could be hung from the neck and carried about or stood on a stool to play. This was the instrument played by Jubal. David skillfully played it to soothe Saul during his fits of madness. It was the instrument the exiled Israelites, in their mourning, hung on the willows of Babylon.

“A similar instrument was the psaltery. The psaltery was tuned to the soprano register, the harp an octave lower; thus they harmonized excellently in orchestra. The strings were of gut and their number in one variety was ten. One authority describes the psaltery as triangular in shape; another describes it as having the sounding board above the strings.

“David was known as ‘the darling of the melodies of Israel.’ (2 Sam. 23:1) He brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city of David with the accompaniment of songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals. He composed many songs of praise and petition. They are recorded for us in the Psalms; they were sung to the accompaniment of the harp and psaltery. Surely no collection of songs has been more known and read. Translated into several hundred tongues, they have been sung during a period of over 3,000 years. They reveal as no others the deep emotions of the heart: faith and trust, sorrow and despair, hope and confidence, exultation and contrition. Nowhere else is Jehovah so revered and blessed, so supplicated and implored, so praised and worshiped.

“David was assisted in his work by Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, three masters of music. In David’s reign the choir of singers and musicians numbered 4,000 members. (1 Chron. 23:5) Of these, 288 were trained musicians, supported by a body of less skilled assistants. They were divided into twenty-four courses, containing twelve trained musicians each. The orchestra consisted of stringed instruments with cymbals. Little is known of the character of the music. The Hebrews had a scale of eight tones. Their sacred choirs probably sang the same simple melody, divided into two parts, the one an octave higher than the other, representing the male and female voices. Several Psalms were arranged for responsive singing.”

“It would have been interesting to witness one of the festivals in Israel, wouldn’t it, Grandma?”

“Yes, it must have been a soul-stirring experience. Imagine the inauguration of Solomon’s temple as recorded in 2 Chronicles chapter five. Why, all Israel is there! Most of the visiting worshipers would be resting at night in the open on the Mount of Olives and around the city. Dawn is breaking; the sound of the silver trumpets echoes around the hills. A thrill of anticipation and exultation surges through the awakening camp as the people rise and prepare for this memorable day. The Ark of the Covenant is to be carried into the Most Holy and this new temple dedicated. From all sides a great multitude converges to the temple site, probably singing in unison as they ascend, the women and girls with tambourines, many men with harps and lutes, with flutes and pipes.

“The orchestra and choir have taken up a position to the east of the altar, clothed in fine linen with cymbals and stringed instruments, zithers, psalteries, lyres and graceful harps. Supporting them are 120 priests impeccably groomed in their fine raiment, each holding a shining silver trumpet in readiness. Hush! The silver trumpets sound, silence descends on the waiting throng, the cymbals clash as the head musician sounds the opening chord. The mighty orchestra plays the leading refrain. The hundreds of Levite singers raise their voices in one glorious song of praise, ‘and as soon as they lifted up the sound with the trumpets and with the cymbals and with the instruments of song and with praising Jehovah . . . the house itself was filled with . . . the glory of Jehovah.’—2 Chron. 5:13, 14.

GLORIFYING JEHOVAH TODAY

“Jehovah’s witnesses glorify Jehovah today by singing ‘the new song,’ proclaiming from house to house the message of God’s established kingdom. So Jehovah’s witnesses recognize that carrying on pure worship is the all-essential thing and that it comes before trained choirs and music. They shun sanctimoniousness and sectarianism in their praise, keeping to the pure language of the Bible. In their congregation meetings and at larger assemblies they sing joyous songs of praise to Jehovah with enthusiasm and naturalness. At the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, held in New York city’s Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds in 1958, two orchestras were used, each consisting of more than a hundred professional musicians. Each was complete with strings, brasses, woodwinds and percussion instruments, including tympani and harp.

“Soon Jehovah through his King, Christ Jesus, will perform his act of deliverance in behalf of his people as in former days at the Red Sea. Emerging from the climactic showdown fight of Armageddon, the survivors will sing songs of triumphant praise and gratitude to their almighty Deliverer.”

“Such a vision makes every Christian effort worth while today, Grandma!”

“Doesn’t it! And as we see the name of our great God vindicated, we will shout for joy and sing with the psalmist: ‘Praise him with the blowing of the horn. Praise him with the stringed instrument and the harp. Praise him with the tambourine and the circle dance. Praise him with strings and the flute. Praise him with the cymbals of melodious sound. Praise him with the clashing cymbals. Every breathing thing—let it praise Jah. Praise Jah, you people!’”—Ps. 150:3-6.

A Non-Christian World

“The Christian Church seems to have lost . . . the capacity to speak about its beliefs in a manner which should convey the impression of something real and alive. The language of the theologians seems to have become so artificial, so self-centered and so remote from real life that one can only dream of the times when theology took the lead in the universities and was the most formative influence in the intellectual life of Western nations. . . . We do live, for all practical purposes, in a non-Christian world. . . . The mentality of modern man is colored by an all prevailing atheism, not anti-atheism. There is just no more room for the concept of God and, therefore, none for the Christian faith.”—Hanns Lilje, Lutheran Bishop of Hannover, as quoted in the New York Times.