Tennyson in the "Lotos-eaters,"
- "Death is the
end of
life; ah, why
- "Should life all labour
be?
- "Let us alone. Time driveth
onward fast,
- "And in a little while our
lips are
dumb.
- "Let us alone. What is it
that will last?
- "... Is there any
peace
- "In ever climbing up the
climbing wave?
- "All things have rest, and
ripen toward the grave
- "In silence; ripen, fall
and cease:
- "Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease.
"How sweet it were, hearing
the downward stream
- With half-shut eyes ever to
seem
- Falling asleep in a
half-dream!
- To dream and dream, like
yonder amber light
- Which will not leave the
myrrh-bush on the height;
- To hear each other's
whispered speech;
- Eating the Lotos, day by
day,
- To watch the crisping
ripples on the beach,
- And tender curving lines of
creamy spray:
- To lend our hearts and
spirits wholly
- To the influence of
mild-minded melancholy;
- To muse and brood and live again in memory,
- With those old faces of our
infancy
- Heaped over with a mound of
grass,
- Two handfuls of white
dust, shut in an urn of brass."
Harps Not For Playing By The
Living:
Again, of those
still on Earth (That's us): "The fact remains that
the persons depicted as approaching the deceased
on Greek oinment jars are never playing their
instruments... the person bearing the cithara is stretching out his
hands toward the
gravestone on which the dead man is sitting as if
he wished to offer the latter the instrument."
Why? "In
antiquity, singing and instrumental music, playing and dancing
were considered to be the chief occupation and pastime of the
blessed... The popular
religions of the time, especially Orphism
and the mystery
cults, portrayed the
life of the blessed as a continual banquet." (ibid. p. 156)
The musical instruments did not have to be
literal: they were signs or symbols of the life of the blessed. The
people still living clearly understood that they were not yet freed
from all human responsibility and coult therefore enjoy music as
their chief enjoyment. This is also the theme of those who had little
regard for the Word of God. See Job 21, Amos 5, 6, 8; Isaiah 5 and
Ezekiel 33.
John continued:
And they
sung as it were
a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song
but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. Revelation 14:3
These are they
which were not defiled
with women; for they
are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. These were redeemed
from among
men, being the firstfruits (dedicated like
the vestal virgins) unto God and to the Lamb. Revelation 14:4
The Apocalyptic Odes of Solomon written
around this time notes that there are only a few people who can
understand the revealed Spirit Word of God written is human language.
Click Here and then
read the whole article.
Psalm 71:who understood the classical Greek, knew that poetry is symbolic. On Psalm LXXI we understood that the instrument of psalmody does not mean a mechanical psaltery or harp.
Psaltery is from the Hebrew:
Keliy
(h3627) kel-ee'; from 3615; something prepared, i. e. any apparatus
(as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel or weapon): - armour
([-bearee]), artillery, bag, carriage, / furnish, furniture,
instrument, jewel, that is made of, * one from another, that which
pertaineth, pot, /
and way down the
list psaltery,
28. "For I will confess to Thee
in the vessels
of a Psalm
Thy truth"
(ver. 22). The vessels
of a Psalm are a Psaltery.
But what is a
Psaltery? An instrument of wood and strings.
What doth it signify? There is some difference between it and a harp:
...there seemeth to be signified by the Psaltery the Spirit, by the harp
the flesh.
And because he had
spoken of two bringings back of ours from the bottomless places of the
earth, one after the
Spirit in hope, the other after the
body in substance; hear thou of these two:
"For I will
confess to Thee in the vessels of a Psalm Thy truth." This after the Spirit: concerning the body what? "I
will psalm to Thee on a harp (flesh), Holy One of Israel."
29. Again hear this because of
that same "again" and "again." "My lips shall exult when I shall
psalm to Thee" (ver. 23). Because lips are wont to be spoken of both
belonging to the inner
and to the outward
man, it is uncertain in what sense lips have been used: there
followeth therefore, "And my soul which Thou hast redeemed."
Therefore regarding the inward lips having been saved in hope,
brought back from the bottomless places of the earth in faith and
love, still however waiting for the redemption of our body, we say
what? Already he hath said, "And my soul which Thou hast redeemed."
But lest thou shouldest think the soul alone redeemed, wherein now
thou hast heard one "again," "but still," he saith; why still? "but
still my tongue also:" therefore now the tongue of the body: "all day
long shall meditate of Thy righteousness" (ver. 24): that is, in
eternity without end.
29. Again hear this because of
that same "again" and "again." "My lips
shall exult when I shall
psalm to Thee" (ver. 23). Because lips
are wont to be spoken of both belonging to the inner and to the outward
man, it is uncertain in what sense lips have been used: there
followeth therefore, "And my soul which Thou hast redeemed."
Therefore regarding the inward
lips having been saved in hope, brought back
from the bottomless places of the earth in faith and love, still
however waiting for the redemption of our body, we say what? Already
he hath said, "And my soul which Thou hast redeemed." But lest thou
shouldest think the soul alone redeemed, wherein now thou hast heard
one "again," "but still," he saith; why still?
"but
still my tongue
also:" therefore now the tongue of the body:
"all day long
shall
meditate of Thy righteousness" (ver. 24): that is, in eternity without end.
Psalm CXLVII.
2. For a "Psalm" is a song,
not any kind of song, but a song to a psaltery. A psaltery is a kind of instrument of
music, like the lyre and the harp, and such kinds of instruments,
which were invented for
music.
He therefore who
singeth
Psalms,
........... not only singeth with his voice,
........... but with a certain
instrument besides, which is called a psaltery,
........... he accompanieth his voice with his hands.
Wilt thou then sing a Psalm?
Let not thy voice
alone sound the praises of God; but let thy works also be in harmony with thy voice. ...
To please then the ear, sing with thy voice;
but with thy heart
be not silent, with thy life be
not still.
Thou devisest no fraud in thy
heart: thou singest a Psalm to God. When thou eatest and drinkest,
sing a
Psalm:
not by
intermingling sweet sounds suited to the ear,
but by eating and drinking
moderately, frugally,
temperarely: for thus saith the Apostle, "whether ye eat or drink, or
whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ...
If by immoderate voracity thou
exceedest the due bounds of nature, and gluttest thyself in excess of
wine, however great praises of God thy tongue sound, yet thy life
blasphemeth Him. After food and drink thou liest down to sleep: in
thy bed neither commit any pollution, nor go beyond the license given
by the law of God: let thy marriage bed be kept chaste with thy wife:
and if thou desire to beget children, yet let there not be unbridled
sensuality of lust: in thy bed give honour to thy wife, for ye are
both members of Christ, both made by Him, both renewed by His Blood:
so doing thou praisest God, nor will thy praise be altogether silent.
What, when sleep has come over thee? Let not an evil conscience rouse
thee from rest: so doth the innocence of thy sleep praise God.
...
11. "Begin to the Lord in
confession" (ver. 7). Begin with this, if thou wouldest arrive at a
clear understanding of the truth. If thou wilt be brought from the
road of faith to the profession of the reality, "begin in
confession.
" First
accuse
thyself: accuse
thyself, praise God. What after confession? (adomonish self, Col 3:16)
Let good works follow. "Sing
unto our God upon the harp." What is, "Upon the harp"? As I have
already explained, just like the Psalm upon the psaltery, so also is
the "harp:" not with voice only, but with works.
Psalm CXLIX
4. "Let them praise His Name in
chorus" (ver. 3). What
meaneth "chorus"? Many
know what a "chorus" is: nay, as we are speaking in a town, almost
all know. A "chorus" is the union
of singers. If we sing "in chorus," let us sing in concord. If any
one's voice is out of harmony in a chorus of singers, it offendeth
the ear, and throweth the chorus into confusion.
If the voice of one
echoing discordantly troubleth the harmony of them who sing,
how doth the discord of
heresy throw into confusion the harmony of
them who praise.
The whole world is now the
chorus of Christ. The
chorus of Christ soundeth harmoniously from east to west. "Let them
sing a psalm unto Him with timbrel and psaltery."
Wherefore taketh he to him the
"timbrel and psalter)"? That not the voice alone may praise,
but the works
too. When timbrel and
psaltery are taken, the hands harmonize with the voice.
So too do thou,
whensoever thou singest "Halleluia,"
deal forth thy bread to the
hungry, clothe the naked, take in the stranger: then doth not only
thy voice sound, but thy hand soundeth in harmony with it, for thy
deeds agree with thy words.
Thou hast taken to thee an
instrument, and thy
fingers agree with thy tongue.
Nor must we keep back the
mystical meaning of the "timbrel and psaltery."
On the timbrel
leather is stretched, on the psaltery gut is stretched;
on either instrument the
flesh is
crucified.
How well did he "sing a psalm
on timbrel and psaltery," who said, "the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world"?
This psaltery or timbrel He
wishes thee to take up, who loveth a new song, who teacheth thee,
saying to thee, "Whosoever willeth to be My disciple,
let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Let him not set down his psaltery, let him not set down his timbrel,
let him stretch
himself out on the wood, and be dried from the lust of the flesh.
The more the strings are
stretched, the more sharply do they sound. The Apostle Paul then, in
order that his psaltery might sound sharply, what said he?
"Stretching forth
unto those things which are before," etc. He stretched himself:
Christ touched him; and the sweetness of truth sounded.
Athenagoras the trinity
If we satisfied
ourselves with advancing such considerations as these, our doctrines
might by some be looked upon as human. But, since the voices of the
prophets confirm our arguments-for I think that you also, with your
great zeal for knowledge, and your great attainments in learning,
cannot be ignorant of the writings either of Moses or of Isaiah and
Jeremiah,
and the other
prophets, who, lifted in ecstasy above the natural operations of
their minds by the
impulses of the Divine Spirit,
uttered the things with which
they were inspired,
the Spirit making use of them as a flute-player breathes into a flute ;-what, then, do these men say?
Quoted by Adam Clark
A most beautiful and chaste allusion to this
fact and fable is made by an eminent poet, while praying for his own
success as a Christian minister, who uses all his skill as a poet and
musician for the glory of God:-
Thy own musician, Lord,
inspire,
And may my consecrated lyre
Repeat the psalmist's part!
His Son and thine reveal in me,
And fill with sacred melody
The fibres of my heart.
So shall I charm the listening throng,
And draw the LIVING STONES
along By Jesus' tuneful name.
The living stones shall dance,
shall rise,
And FORM a CITY in the skies,
The New Jerusalem.
The Virgin Connection
First, take a look at the nature of the female
prophetesses who got their "inspiration" from some kind of gas from a
hole in the rocks. The oracles of these virgin prophetesses were
delivered in the divine language of poem and song with instrumental
accompaniment.
The practice spread and the contaminated
"virgin"
musical worshipers began leading people astray for their own fame and
fortune.
17) Diodorus Historical Library
[16.26.1] Since I have
mentioned the tripod, I think it not inopportune to recount the
ancient story which has been handed down about it. It is said that in
ancient times goats discovered the oracular shrine, on which account
even to this day the Delphians use goats
preferably when they consult the oracle. [16.26.2] They say that the
manner of its discovery was the following.
There is a
chasm at this place where now is situated
what is known as the "forbidden" sanctuary, and as goats had been
wont to feed about this because Delphi had not as yet been settled,
invariably any goat that
approached the chasm and peered into it would leap about in an extraordinary fashion and utter a sound quite different from what
it was formerly wont to emit.
[16.26.3] The herdsman in
charge of the goats marvelled at the strange phenomenon and having
approached the chasm (The pit) and peeped down it to discover what it
was, had the same experience as the goats, for the
goats began
to act like beings
possessed and the goatherd also began to foretell future events .
After this as the report was
bruited among the people of the vicinity concerning the experience of
those who approached the chasm, an increasing number of persons
visited the place and, as they all tested it because
of its miraculous character, whosoever approached the spot became
inspired
For these reasons the oracle
came to be regarded as a marvel and to be considered the
prophecy-giving shrine of Earth. [16.26.4]
For some time all
who wished to obtain a prophecy approached the chasm and made their
prophetic replies to one another; but later, since many were leaping
down into the chasm under the influence of their frenzy and all
disappeared,
it seemed best to the dwellers
in that region, in order to eliminate the risk, to station one woman
there as a single prophetess for all and to have the oracles told
through her.
And for her a contrivance was
devised which she could safely mount, then become inspired and give
prophecies to those who so desired. [16.26.5] And this contrivance
has three supports and hence was called a tripod, and, I dare say,
all the bronze tripods which are constructed even to this day are
made in imitation of this contrivance. In what manner, then, the
oracle was discovered and for what reasons the tripod was devised I
think I have told at sufficient length. [16.26.6]
It is said that in
ancient times virgins
delivered the oracles because virgins have their natural innocence intact and are in the same case as Artemis;
for indeed virgins were alleged to be well suited to guard the
secrecy of disclosures made by oracles.
In more recent times, however,
people say that Echecrates the Thessalian, having arrived at the
shrine and beheld the virgin who uttered the oracle, became enamoured
of her because of her beauty, carried her away with him and violated
her; and that the Delphians because of this deplorable occurrence
passed a law that in future a virgin should no longer prophesy but
that an elderly woman of fifty should declare the oracles and
that she should be
dressed in the costume of a virgin, as a sort of reminder of the
prophetess of olden times.Such are the details of the legend
regarding this; and now we shall turn to the activities of
Philomelus.
Thomas Martin Overview of Archaic and
Classical Greek History notes that
people always want to sell free prophecy:
"The Greeks were
always careful to solicit approval from their gods before setting out from home,
whether for commercial voyages or colonization. The god most
frequently consulted about sending out a colony was Apollo in his
sanctuary at Delphi, a hauntingly beautiful spot in the mountains of
central Greece. The Delphic sanctuary began to be internationally
renowned in the eighth century B.C. because it housed an oracular
shrine in
which a prophetess,
the Pythia (Python or serpent), spoke the will of Apollo in response
to questions from visiting petitioners.
The Delphic oracle operated for
a limited number of days over nine months of the year, and demand for
its services was so high that
the operators of the sanctuary
rewarded generous
contributors with the
privilege of jumping to the head of the line
The great majority
of visitors to Delphi consulted the oracle about personal matters
such as marriage and having children.
Strabo in Geography notes the frenzy and poetic
inspiration (prophesying) on another mountain -- always loose
women:
But ye who left Mt.
Tmolus (a gold-producing mountain in Lydia, near Sardis) , fortress
of Lydia,
revel-band of
mine,
women whom I brought from the land of barbarians (Therefore, speaking foreign or unknown tongues or
"drunk on gas" gibberish which she interpreted for a price)
as my assistants
and travelling companions,
uplift the tambourines native to Phrygian cities, inventions of mine
and mother Rhea.
It didn't take long to discover that this
frenzied music and dance coupled with prostitution made the new
"virgins" the most important religious leaders in the world.
Therefore, we believe that Christ through John
is saying very clearly
(In Heaven) :that
"unknown" songs of revelation "music" is best left in the hands of
angels or real, genuine male virgins who have paid the price for the
sincere worship of God.
(On Earth): That frees the
messengers of the churches to preach the gospel while on earth. Click
For More Background Especially the Musid of the Dead:
It would seem that those who claim to be
mediators through song, tongues, instruments or dance probably should
undergo a gender and virginity test before they go further -- or
become angels.
The book of Revelation is highly symbolic, Like
the rest of the Bible, making great use of parables to hide the truth
from mercinaries according to Jesus (Matthew 13). The book of
Revelation was written to Christians living in a hostile world where
simple speech would give away the secret prophesied which were for
the benefit of the believers.
If we take the harps literally then we are
going to have a great waterfall creating a great roaring sound as a
worship aid. And the magical sound of thunders? Well an ancient drama
speaks volumes about women musical worship teams and the sound of
thunder.
These pretend magical sounds were created by
the false prophetesses. The "boom" of thunder and the "clang" of
lightning were made from physical musical devices. However, Christ
the Spirit uses material things to explain Spiritual ideas. If we
take the message literally then we fall under the condemnation of the
ancient scholars who said that adding instruments to God's songs was
adding the work of human hands.
THE Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto
his servant John: Revelation 1:1
A sign is the Greek semaino or semeion which is a sign,
token or wonder.
A sign is never a
sign of itself or it wouldn't be a
sign.
This means that songs, harps, bowls of incense
etc. are symbolic of something
spiritual.
Now, the harps, waters, and thunders and even
the "Lamb" are signs or symbols of something else. God in Christ is
not a literal lamb. If the harp is a sign it must be the sign of
something else. The ancients treated the "harps from God" (as opposed
to those from David) as the human heart and voice. Paul agreed and
demanded that the melody be in the heart.
We noted that John used the word "as" to
indicate that the sounds were like something physical even though
they were coming from a spiritual domain.
What John heard was a voice (speech) like that
of harpers harping with their harps. He could have said: "I heard
harps" but he didn't. He heard speech. This word is used of
artificial sounds only in connection with tongues and instruments in
1 Corinthians 14 and only to condemn the artificial or mechanical
sounds as having any teaching value.
In Heaven: In Revelation
6:9 John saw the souls of victorious saints. Souls don't need literal harps made by
the hands of men out of material. They need "harps from God" or the
ability to sing and speak. A precondition for the happiness of the
souls of
the dead was that while living they were so dedicated to
THE WORD OF GOD that they died to defend it:
And when he had
opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony which they held: Rev 6:9
And I fell at his feet to
worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy. Rev
19:10
Those with Earthly
Responsibilities and still alive
Meanwhile Back on the
Earth (where I
live)--Christ wants us to be busy teaching the whole Word to everyone
in every nation. That doesn't leave much time for worshipping
ourselves in songs with instruments and dance teams to call God down
to the big meeting:
And I saw another
angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people, Revelation 14:6
Saying with a loud
voice, Fear
God, and
give glory to
him; for the hour of
his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Revelation 14:7
Praising God is not saying
"Lord, Lord" but giving an account of His acts in His Words or
thinking about it -- worship in spirit or in mind:
Doca
(g1391) dox'-ah; from the base of 1380; glory (as very apparent), in
a wide application (lit. or fig., obj. or subj.): - dignity, glory
(-ious), honour, praise, worship.
Dokeo
(g1380) dok-eh'-o; a prol. form of a prim. verb (used only as an alt.
in certain tenses; comp. the base of 1166) of the same mean.;
to think; by impl. to seem (truthfully or uncertainly): - be accounted, (of own) please (-ure), be of reputation, seem
(good), suppose, think, trow
The actual worship
is:
Proskuneo (g4352) pros-koo-neh'-o; from 4314 and a prob. der.
of 2965 (mean. to kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand); to
fawn or crouch to, i.e. (lit. or fig.) prostrate oneself in homage
(do reverence to, adore): - worship.
You can do that by lifting
holy HANDS which means with the palms up as if reading the Word
written on the heart of flesh. However, you cannot do that WAVING
ARMS in the air.
John is demanding that we
worship the
God who created all
material things including the "sounds of rushing waters" and
not worship the "gas" from a hole in the
rock, human inventors or the mechanical devices they used to pretend
that it was the voice of God.
By analogy, when we
see a great painting do we honor the canvas or the artist!
John continues the symbolic message in
chapter 15. As It Were defines the SYMBOLIC in the whole
passage.
AND I saw (present
tense!) another sign in
heaven, great and
marvellous, seven
angels having the
seven last
plagues; for in them is
filled up the wrath of God. Re 15:1
And I saw
as it
were a sea of
glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the
beast, and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, (as it
were) having the harps of God. Revelation 15:2
And they
sing the song of Moses the servant of God,
........... and the song of the Lamb,
saying (3004), Great and marvellous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints. Revelation 15:3
The word SING is the Greek word
ADO. This does not inculde instruments. It is used in Ephesiahd 5:19
to be a way to SPEAK the revealed word with the singing in the heart
and directed to God and not the audience:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing
and making melody in
your heart to the Lord;
Ep.5:19
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with
grace in your hearts to
the Lord. Col.3:16
Both melody and grace are
qualities of SPEECH and not music.
"In the first place,
it will be noticed from the account of the triumphant
rejoicing on the shore of the Red Sea that the men sang only: 'Then sang Moses and the children of
Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake saying.'" (Girardeau,
George, p. 33)
"In the second
place, it was Miriam and the women who used instruments of
music on the occasion: 'And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand;
and all the women went
after her with timbrels
and with dances." (Girardeau, p.
33).
Of the Bacchus worship which the Jews tried to force upon Jesus as a
"mark" to identify Him as their hoped-for god of wine and war, and those alluded to by Paul to the Ephesians
(Chapter 5) when he demanded the sober use of the Word of
God as the preaching material while the "singing and melody"
remain in the heart, Livy wrote of a continual warfare to
put down this "marking" religion even in his day:
"The making of inquisition concerning
clandestine meetings was decreed to both the consuls. A
Greek of mean condition came, first, into Etruria,
- not with one of the many trades
which his nation, of all others the most skillful in the
cultivation of the mind and body, has introduced among
us,
- but a low
operator in sacrifices,
and a soothsayer;
- nor was he one who, by open religious rites,
- and by publicly professing
his calling and teaching,
- imbued the minds of his followers with terror,
- but a priest of secret and
nocturnal
rites.
- These mysterious rites were, at
first, imparted to a few,
but afterwards communicated to
great numbers, both men and women.
To their religious performances were
added the pleasures of wine and
feasting,
to
allure a greater number of proselytes.
- When wine,
lascivious discourse, night, and the intercourse of the
sexes had extinguished every sentiment of modesty, then
debaucheries of every kind began to be practiced, as
every person found at hand that sort of enjoyment to
which he was disposed by the passion predominant in his
nature.
Nor were they confined to one species
of vice---the promiscuous intercourse of free-born men and
women;
but from this store-house
of villainy proceeded false witnesses,
counterfeit
seals (marks),
false evidences, and pretended
discoveries.
From the same place, too, proceeded
poison and secret
murders, so that in some
cases, not even the bodies could be found for burial.
(Ac 19:19; Rev
9:21; 18:23; Rev 21:8. Rev 18 connects this to the musicians
of the end-time Babylonian Whore religion)
Many of their audacious
deeds were brought about by treachery, but
most of them by force;
- it served to conceal the violence,
that, on account of the loud
shouting, and the noise of
drums and cymbals,
-
- none of the
cries
uttered by the persons suffering violence (sodomy)or
murder could be heard abroad.
Music is still used to
silence the voice of those suffering violence by the
introduction of neo-Bacchus or Dionysus "wineskin" worship.
See the attempt to "Mark" Jesus with the
Seal of Dionysus to
"triumph over" Him with Music.
|
How can you literally stand on a literal
sea of molten glass or mixed with fire and hold literal
harps?
Paul uses Isaiah 28 to warn of
those in Corinth who were speaking barbarian languages but not
teaching. He also associates this singing of secular songs an their
own dialect with warfare and lifeless musical instruments:
For with
stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. Isa
28:11
Laeg
(h3934) law-ayg'; from 3932; a buffoon; also a foreigner: - mocker,
stammering.
Laag (h3933) lah'-ag; from 3932; derision,
scoffing: - derision, scorn (-ing).
Leag (h3932) law-ag'; a prim. root; to
deride; by impl. (as if imitating a foreigner) to speak
unintelligibly: - have in derision, laugh (to scorn), mock (on),
stammering.
To play instruments while
Christ is speaking to us is to laugh Him to scorn or mock
Him.
Throughout the Old Testament,
songs were
"recited" as revealed
discourses from God. Those who sing the song of Moses are no
different. When they sing the song of Moses they do what Moses
did--they "recite"
the song to instruct the leaders so they could remember and repeat it.
lego
(g3004) leg'-o; a prim.
verb; prop. to "lay" forth, i.e. (fig.) relate (in words [usually of
systematic or set discourse; whereas 2036 and 5346 generally refer to
an individual expression or speech respectively; while 4482 is prop.
to break silence merely, and 2980 means an extended or random
harangue]); by impl. to mean: - ask, bid, boast, call, describe, give
out, name, put forth, say (- ing, on), shew, speak, tell, utter.
This word is used by Paul to
exclude speaking in tongues (negatively
compared to musical instruments 13:1)--
Else, when thou
shalt
bless with the spirit,
how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy
giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? 1
Corinthians 14:16
If God wanted us to stimulate frenzy (mild or
severe) in our worship with instruments or loud "melody" He would
have commanded it. Because the Bible is so loaded with negative
images of the instrument as a change agent to silence the gospel
words spoken to the lost, it is logical that those who will do it
anyway try to find any "authority" they can find. The search for
"authority" is proof-positive that most want to follow Christ's steps
for their lives. It simply is not possible to find the steps of Jesus
-- Incarnate God of the Universe -- leading to religious musical
festivals where music is a powerful agent of change away from the
simple Word.
No. The book of Revelation and what goes on in
heaven is not authority for what we do on earth where our orders to speak the
word to the world is clear and not subject to scholarly
gainsaying.
To the contrary, doesn't this symbolic language
using Orphic practices warn us that we should be about the business
of teaching the words of Christ (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16)
and let the dead bury the
dead?
The
Prophecy: The Testament
of Judah As Punishment for His Mingling with A Canaanite
Woman
22.
And the Lord shall bring upon them divisions one against another, and there shall be continual wars in Israel;
and among men of other race
shall my kingdom be brought to an end, until the salvation of Israel
shall come, until the appearing of the God of righteousness, that
Jacob and all the Gentiles may rest in peace.
And he shall guard the
might of my kingdom for
ever: for the Lord sware to me with an
oath that the kingdom should never fail from me, and from my seed for
all days, even for ever.
23. Now I have
much grief, my children, because of your lewdness, and
witchcrafts, and idolatries,
which ye will work against the
kingdom,
following them that have familiar
spirits
ye will make your daughters singing
girls and harlots for divinations and
demons of error,
and ye will be mingled in the pollutions of the
Gentiles:
for which things' sake the Lord shall bring
upon you famine and pestilence, death and the sword, avenging siege,
and dogs
for the rending in pieces of enemies,
and revilings of
friends, destruction and blighting of
eyes, children slaughtered, wives carried off, possessions plundered,
temple of God in flames, your land desolated, your own selves enslaved among
the Gentiles,
and they shall make some of
you eunuchs for their wives; and whenever ye will
return to the Lord with humility of heart, repenting and walking in
all the commandments of God, then will the Lord visit you in mercy
and in love, bringing you from out of the bondage of your enemies.
24. And after
these things shall a Star
arise to you from Jacob in peace, and a
Man shall rise from my seed, like the Sun of righteousness, walking
with the sons of men in meekness and
righteousness, and no sin shall be found in Him.
And the heavens shall be
opened above Him, to shed forth the blessing of the Spirit
from the Holy Father; and
He shall shed forth a spirit of
grace upon you, and ye shall be unto
Him sons in truth,
and ye shall walk in His commandments, the first and the last.
This is the Branch of God Most High, and this
the Well-spring unto life for all flesh. Then shall the sceptre of my
kingdom shine forth, and from your root shall arise a stem; and in it
shall arise a rod of
righteousness to the Gentiles, to judge
and to save all that call upon the Lord.
The
Branch of the terrible ones was a song with instrumental
accompaniment. This is also the Abominable branch.
Attempting to Bring The
Lives of the Living Back Among The Spiritually Dead
Lamenting for
Tammuz and Ishtar worship in
Ezekiel and elsewhere in the Old Testament is a powerful image. In
fact, early Christians began to worship Tammuz or Adonis. Some even
planted shrubs at the tomb of Jesus to honor him as the
second incarnation of Tammuz. This worship moved easily into the early
church and continues in Easter and other instrumental musical arousal
rituals.
"Ezekiel
in describing the necromantic ritual of the witches, says they fastened 'magic bands' (kesatot) on their wrists and with them
'trapped souls like birds' (Ezekiel 13:20). This
rare word is related to the Sumerian KI-ShU,
meaning some kind of magical imprisonment, but we have to look to
Greek for its precise significance. In the form kiste, Latin cista, it appears as a container used in certain mystery rituals of the Dionysiac cult, supposedly for the carrying of secret
implements.
In fact, wherever the
cista is graphically represented it is shown as a
basket from which a snake is emerging.
Thus on sarcophagi inscribed with Bacchic scenes, the
cista is shown being kicked open by Pan and the snake raising itself from the half-opened
lid.
The snake is an important feature of the Dionysiac cult and
imagery. The Maenads of Euripides' Bacchae
have serpents entwined
in their hair and round their limbs, and the snake was the particular
emblem of the Phyrigian Sabazios (Sabadius) with whom Dionysos is identified." - John M. Allegro,
The Sacred Mushroom and
the Cross (Click for more
Background)
Reverse:
Two coiled serpents, heads erect; between them, kerykeion; in right
field, long torch
The Britannica Notes: The Dionysiac
reliefs are numerous. They show symbols of the religion, such as the
shepherd's staff, the winnow (an ancient device for separating chaff
from grain), and the phallus; they depict the gay (yes,
literally) life of
satyrs and maenads, shepherds and shepherdesses; and they represent the
"golden age" of the gods with tame and wild animals enjoying a peace that the god had instituted. A great
silver dish dating from about the 4th century AD and found at
Mildenhall, England, shows the swift and elegant dance of the maenads. Dionysiac sarcophagi represented Bacchic revels and the pastime of the Erotes and Psyches
in
afterlife. Many reliefs
of the Isis Mysteries also survive. They display the mystical cista (a receptacle for carrying sacred
objects) with the snake
of Horus, the priest
carrying holy
water in a procession,
female attendants with a ladle, and a man in a dog's mask, who represents Anubis
(the guardian god of the underworld). Other Isiac reliefs show Isis
riding on a dog,
symbolic of her position
as goddess of Sirius
(the Dog Star).
"And in observing the funeral festivities where the food
and music
was offered to the dead
but enjoyed by the living, perhaps we should see the Book of
Revelation warning aginst attempting to commingle Christian "in
spirit" or "in mind" worship with the external sense-appeal suitable
for the dead or the spirituall dead.
But she that liveth
in pleasure is
dead while she liveth.
2 Tim 5:6
"However, you will grant that
nothing can be more ridiculous than to be well anointed
and crowned with roses but perishing of hunger and
thirst. Thus it is at a
funeral
meal when the
gravestone of one recently deceased is anointed and crowned,
while the funeral
guests keep the wine and
meal for themselves.
(Lucian, De merced conductis 28, 687)
It was the same with regard to
music at the meal of the
dead. When at the end
of the meal the funeral guests would resort to their own pleasures, to playing and dancing,
it was because
music was originally supposed to have offered comfort to the
dead.
"In Egypt it was "eat, drink
and be merry" as the mourners are eating drinking, watching the
dancers and listening to the song of the harpist, who addresses the
dead man himself:
"Celebrate the
beautiful day! Set forth ointments and fine oil for your nostrils and
wreaths and lotus
blossoms for the body of your dear sister, who
is seated at your side.
Let there be
singing and music
before you cast everything sad behind you and think only of joy." (Quasten, p. 154)
"A similar situation existed
among the Greeks, the Etruscans and the Romans. A Greek relief of a
meal of the
dead, dating from the
fifth century before Christ and presently in the Museo Baracco in
Rome, depicts a husband and wife reclinig at a meal, looking at a Iyrist
who attends them with his playing. The portrayals of banquets on
Etruscan sepulchral monuments are well known, and music is rarely
missing on them. The upper relief of a gravestone in the museum in Fiesole shows a meal of the
dead, while the lower
relief portrays a flutist
and two dancing
figures. The museum's inscription notes that this is a representation
of the actifities of the blessed in Elysium. On the upper relief the
figure who is eating is pictured in a reclining position.
Since the
living usually
sat while the
deceased were thought to
recline, this clearly
represents a meal of the
dead. The music and
dancing portrayed on the lower relief, like the meal, serve to
refresh the dead person.
The music of the living in Amos 5, 6 and 8
was God's sign to them that they were condemned to captivity and
death. Of this festival with and for the dead, King and Heaton
note:
"These five
elements are: (1) reclining or relaxing, (2) eating a meat meal, (3) singing
with harp or other musical accompaniment, (4) drinking wine and (5)
anointing oneself with oil." (King, p. Biblical Archaeological
Review, Aug, 1988, p. 37).
"With the
wine-drinking (which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew for
feasting), went music
and dancing." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life in Old Testament times,
Scribners, p. 93)
"From the Roman circle of culture there are
sarcophagi with scenes of meals of the
dead which portray the deceased at table, as they
had been in life, accompanied by elaborate musical entertainment. A sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum in Rome shows a
meal of the dead in which the dead man is at table. From both sides
food is being brought to him. To the left, at the foot of the couch
on which he reclines, a lutenist and, in the background, a flutist
proffer him a musical instrument. "(Ibid p. 154)
However, we repeat:
However, of
those still on Earth (That's us):
"The fact remains that the
persons depicted as approaching the deceased on Greek oinment jars are never playing their instruments... the person
bearing the cithara is stretching out his hands toward the gravestone on which the dead man is
sitting as if he wis hed to offer the latter
the instrument."
Why? "In antiquity, singing and
instrumental music, playing
and dancing
were considered to be the chief occupation and pastime of the
blessed...
In the story of Wen Amon in the area of Tyre as the prince was trying to
steal his cedar wood. They were, in effect, treating him as a dead
man because they intended to, like the king of Tyre, have him
murdered after lulling him with song and music:
"He went and told
it to the prince. The prince began to weep at the evil words which
they spoke to him. He sent out his letter-scribe to me and brought me
two jars of wine and a ram. He sent to me, Tento, an Egyptian singer (feminine), who was with him, saying:
'Sing
for him; let not his
heart feel apprehension.' He sent to me, saying:
'Eat, drink, and let not they
heart feel apprehension. Thou shalt hear all that I have to say unto
thee in the morning." (Barton, George A., Archaeology and the Bible,
p. 452)
The phrase "eat, drink, and
be merry" was part of a religious ritual common throughout the
region--
"The traditional
founder of Tarsus was Sardanapalus, who was worshipped, along with Semiramis, with licentious rites which resembled those of the
Feast of Tabernacles. Paul had probably witnessed this feastival, and
had seen, at the neighboring town of Anchiale, the statue of
Sardanapalus, represented as snapping his fingers, and with the
inscription upon the pedestal,
'Eat,
drink, enjoy thyself. The rest is nothing." (Vincent, New Testament
Word Studies, p. 278)
"If I fought wild beasts in
Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are
not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 1 Cor
15:32
In the book of Revelation the
symbolism and the actual setting in heaven and on earth shows that
musical instruments offered on the tombstones or carved on them was
to supply harps to the departed who had no earthly responsibilities.
Back on earth, the obligation of the living was to teach.
Quasten notes that the
tambourine:
"had already
occupied an important position in the cult of the Egyptians, for its
sound, which was deep
and hollow,
expelled the demons.
The rhythmic musical character of the tambourine was highly
suited to induce psychic
stimulation." p.
37)
Lucian noted that in observing
the funeral festivities where the food and music was offered to the
dead but enjoyed by the living. The "gods" or demons were often
departed ancestors who had to be appeased or entertained with food,
drink, dancing and music.
"Why do you crown
the gravestone there and anoint it? Others also erect a funeral pile
before the grave, dig a hole and burn these costly means and seem to
pour out wine and a mixture of honey into the hole.
Hermes replies:
I do not know, ferryman,
how this benefits the
one who is in Hades.
Nonetheless, they are convinced that the smoke and incense swirl
about the soul that are below
and that as many as possible of them eat of it and drink the
mixture of honey from
out of the hole.
Charon 22,
219
(See Homer's Hymn to Hermes)
Hosea has God warned against
rising above any message from God. Again, these "funeral" practices
are symbolic of the spiritual destruction of the nation:
I wrote for them
the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something alien. Hosea 8:12
They offer
sacrifices given to me and they eat the meat, but the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will
remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
Hosea 8:13
Lucian notes that while they
heaped the food and entertainment on themselves, only the
crumbs which fell to the dead was burned.
Quasten notes that "It was the same with regard to music
at the meal of the
dead. When at the end
of the meal the funeral guests would resort to their own pleasures,
to playing and
dancing, it was because
music was originally supposed to have offered comfort to the dead."
Lucian describes a journey
to the Isle of the Blessed, speaks of hearing from afar the music
which was being played at their banquet:
Now and then one
could also hear very
clearly different sounds -- not noisy, but such as would come from a
banquet when a few people are playing the flute or the
cithara." Lucian, True
History II. 5. 108
Those who had enjoyed
Orphism and the mystery cults could now wal free and perfected, head crowned,
celebrating his feasts. Music portrays the life of the blessed -- but
the dead.
"The custom of
offering a lyre or
tambourine to the
dead by placing it on his grave was meant to
express the conviction of his relatives that the deceased had attained a happy fate... the
instruments made their
life easier in Hades since they would be able to join the blessed in
singing and playing." (Quasten p. 157)
Because the Babylonian religion
will be common in the end and the musicians will cease (Revelation
18), it is interesting that of the graves in Ur:
"The girl harpists'
skeleton hands were still resting on the harp strings--or where the
harp strings once had been. And the instruments themselves suggested
in form the body of a bull, with its beautiful golden bull's head
(engravings) bearing a rich lapis-lazuli beard (settings). For this
was a mythological
bull: the
divine lunar bull whose
song of destiny had
summoned these two willing companies--first of the buried king, then of his lady--to rebirth through death. And we
know the name of the god of whom this bull was the animal vehicle. It
was the great Near Eastern legendary, god-king and universal savior
Tammuz, the dates of whose annual
death-and-resurrection festival are now assigned in our own mythic
and ritual calendar, by the Synagogue to Passover, and by the Church to Good Friday and Easter." (Campbell, Myths, p. 62-63)
"The graves of the
kings of Ur... were veritable treasure chests, for they were filled
with all the costly
things that Ur in its
heyday possessed. Golden drinking cups and goblets, wonderfully
shaped jugs and vases, bronze tableware, mother of pearl mosaics,
lapis lazuli, and silver surrounded these bodies which had molded
into dust. Harps
and lyres
rested against the walls." Keller, p. 27
The Sirens
In the Book of Enoch called
The Watchers, Chapter
19
1 And Uriel
said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have
connected themselves with
women, and their spirits assuming many
different forms are defiling
mankind and shall lead them astray into
sacrificing to demons as
gods, (here shall they stand,) till the
day of the great judgement in
2 which
they shall be judged till they are made
an end of. And the women also of the
angels who
3
went astray shall become sirens.'
And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no
man shall see as I have seen.
In chapter1, verse 9:
9 And behold!
He cometh with ten thousands of His holy
ones
- To execute judgement upon all,
- And to destroy all the ungodly:
- And to convict all flesh
- Of all the works of their ungodliness which
they have ungodly committed,
- And of all the hard things which ungodly
sinners have spoken against Him.
In
Fourth Maccabees chapter 15, the writer
desceibes the people who were tortured on a device called the
"Tyre-Timana" or cross-like wheel. The skins were literally stretched
and the person who refused to eat pork were "drummed" to death with a
"baton."
20
- When you saw the flesh of children burned upon the flesh of other
children, severed hands upon hands, scalped heads upon heads, and
corpses fallen on other corpses and when you saw the place filled
with many spectators of the torturings, you did not shed
tears.
21 - Neither
the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the
attention of their hearers as did the voices
of the children in
torture calling to their mother.
22 - How great
and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were
tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons! (The wheel was like a drum
frame. They stretched your "hide" on it and
beat you to death with a "baton.")
23 - But
devout reason, giving her heart a man's courage in the very midst of
her emotions, strengthened her to disregard her temporal love for her
children.
HELEN by Euripides speaks of
the relationship with the DEAD.
Ah me! what piteous dirge shall I strive to
utter, now that I am beginning my strain of bitter lamentation? What
Muse shall
I approach with tears or songs of death
or woe?
Ah me! ye Sirens, Earth's
virgin daughters, winged maids, come, oh! come to aid my mourning,
bringing with you the Libyan flute or
pipe, to waft to Persephone's ear a
tearful
plaint,
the echo of my sorrow, with grief for grief, and mournful chant for
chant,
with songs of death and doom to match my lamentation, that in return she
may receive from me,
besides my tears, dirges for the
departed dead beneath her gloomy roof!
Clement of Alexandria notes of the
Sirens:
Chapter XII.-Exhortation to
Abandon Their Old Errors and Listen to the Instructions of Christ.
Let us then
avoid
custom as we would a
dangerous headland, or the threatening Charybdis, or the mythic
sirens. It chokes man,
turns him away
from truth, leads him
away from life:
custom is a snare, a
gulf, a pit, a mischievous winnowing fan.
"Urge the ship beyond that smoke and billow." (Odyss., xii. 219.)
Let us shun, fellow-mariners,
let us shun this billow; it vomits forth fire: it is a wicked island, heaped with bones and
corpses,
and in it
sings a fair
courtesan, Pleasure,
delighting with
music for the
common ear.
"Hie thee hither, far-famed Ulysses, great glory of the
Achaeans;
Moor the ship, that
thou mayest hears diviner voice." (Odyss., xii. 184.)
She praises thee, O mariner,
and calls thee illustrious; and the courtesan tries to win to herself the glory of the Greeks.
- Leave her to
prey on the
dead;
- a heavenly spirit comes
to thy help:
- pass by
Pleasure, she
beguiles.
- "Let not a woman with
flowing train cheat you of your senses,
- With her flattering prattle
seeking your hurt."
- Sail past the song;
it works death.
Exert your will
only, and you have
overcome ruin; bound to the wood of
the cross,
thou shalt be freed from destruction:
the word of
God will be thy pilot,
and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven.
Then shalt thou see my God, and
be initiated into the sacred mysteries, and come to the fruition of those things which are
laid up in heaven
reserved for me, which "ear hath not heard, nor have they entered
into the heart of any." (1 Cor. ii. 9.)
At length his companions
recalled him to nobler sentiments, and he received their admonition
gratefully. Circe aided their departure, and instructed them
how to pass safely by
the coast of the Sirens. The Sirens were sea-nymphs who had the power of
charming by their song
all who heard them, so
that the unhappy mariners were irresistibly impelled to cast themselves into the sea to their
destruction.
Circe directed Ulysses to
fill the
ears of his seamen with
wax, so that they should not hear the
strain; and to cause himself to be bound to the mast, and his people
to be strictly enjoined, whatever he might say or do, by no means to
release him till they should have passed the Sirens' island.
Ulysses obeyed these
directions. He filled the ears of his people with wax, and suffered them to bind him with cords firmly to the
mast.
As they approached the Sirens'
island, the sea was calm, and over the waters came the
notes of music so
ravishing and
attractive that Ulysses struggled to get loose, and by cries and
signs to his people begged to be released; but they, obedient to his
previous orders, sprang forward and bound him still faster.
They held on their course, and the music grew fainter till it ceased to be
heard, when with joy
Ulysses gave his companions the signal to unseal their ears, and they
relieved him from his bonds. Bullfinch
from Jerome: Letter LIV. To Furia.
resource
13. Avoid the
company of young men. Let long baited youths
dandified and wanton never be seen under your roof.
Repel a
singer as you would
some
bane.
Hurry from your house
women who live by
playing and singing,
the devil's choir whose songs are the fatal ones of sirens.
Do not
arrogate to yourself a
widow's license and
appear in
public preceded by a
host of
eunuchs. It is a most
mischievous thing for those who are weak owing to their sex and youth
to misuse their own
discretion
and to suppose that things are lawful because they are pleasant.
Oh! that you could see your
sister (sent to Bethelem) and that it might be yours to hear the
eloquence of her holy lips and to behold the mighty spirit which
animates her diminutive frame.
You might hear the
whole contents of the
old and new
testaments come
bubbling up out of her
heart. Fasting is her
sport, and prayer she makes her pastime.
Like Miriam after the drowning
Pharaoh she takes up her timbrel and sings
to the virgin
choir, "Let us sing to
the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown
into the sea."
She teaches her
companions to be music
girls but music girls
for
Christ, to be
luteplayers but luteplayers for the Saviour.
In this occupation she passes
both day and night and with oil
ready to put in the lamps she waits the coming of the Bridegroom. Do
you therefore imitate your kinswoman. Let Rome have in you what a
grander city than Rome, I mean Bethlehem, has in her.
However, in Jerome's work
against Pelagius he accused him of winning the favor of his amazons:
"Who does not know
that women should sing
the praises of the Lord
--
in their own
chambers,
far removed from the meetings of men and the assemblies of the
multitude?
But you permit what is not permissible, namely,
that they do what
should be performed by
them secretly and
without any witnesses
as though they were lawfully constituted teachers."
In a cultural sense, music
was the last resort of a dying civilization:
"In the Roman ritual for the dead music
was performed at the wake and, in fact, very shortly after death. A
relief in the Museo delle Terme in Rome, which was found on the Via
Latina, is of special interest here. A woman with the expression of death lies upon a bed. At the foot of the bed two musicians are
portrayed, one of whom blows a flute and the other a
curved horn. Under the scene is the inscription, MORITUR,
which leads one to conclude that
the moment of death itself is shown here. This portrayal recalls the Roman
proverb,
"to send for the
trumpeters," which was used to
indicate approaching
death. (Quasten, p. 151)
"In the year 1847 several reliefs were found on
the Via Labicana in the vicinity of Rome. They come from the
mausoleum of the Haterii and belong to about the first century after
Christ. One of the reliefs, presently in the Lateran Museum, gives a
remarkably clear depiction of the lamentation in the
presence of the corpse. A dead women lies in solemn state on her bier. The man
at the head of the bier, who is bringing a garland to adorn the
deceased, may be the pollinctor, whose duty it was to prepare the
corpse.
The other people standing about the bier are
striking their breasts with their hands as a sign of mourning. To the left at
the foot of the bed is a woman flutest, seated on a
stool, accompanying the mourning with the double flute.
"Although music was essential in
mourning at home
it played an even more important role in the funeral procession.
In Egypt the sistrum accompanied the
dirges of the solemn procession to the grave. In Greece Solon had to
speak out against too great an expenditure for burials; he abolished
the libations and sacrifices of propitiation before the funeral or at
the place of interment. However, the dirges with flute accompaniment remained, as Luciian of Samosata bears witness. The funeral
procession began to the sound of flutes. (Quasten, p. 151)
See how Miriam (an Egyptian princess and therefore prophetess) may
have been a DEATH CHANT for the nation of Israel which would soon
fall back into Egyptian, musical idolatry.
"Jingling, banging, and rattling
accompanied heathen cults, and the frenzying shawms of a dozen
ecstatic cries intoxicated the masses. Amid this euphoric farewell
feast of a dying civilization, the voices of nonconformists were
emerging from places of Jewish and early Christian worship ..."
(Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971 ed., s.v. "Music")
This is clearly illustrated as the nation of
Israel was dying and going into captivity and death:
-
Speaking of the
Instrumental music in
worship
condemned by Amos and others we note that:
- ---- "The marzeah had an extremely long
history extending at least from the 14th century B.C.
through the Roman period. In the 14th century B.C., it
was prominently associated with the ancient Canaanite
city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), on the coast of
Syria... The marzeah was a pagan ritual that took the form of a social
and religious association... Some scholars regard the
funerary marzeah as a feast for--and with--deceased
ancestors (or Rephaim, a proper name in the Bible
for the inhabitants of Sheol)." (King, Biblical Archaeological
Review, Aug, 1988, p. 35, 36)
- ----"These five elements are:
(1) reclining or relaxing, (2) eating a meat meal, (3)
singing with harp or other musical accompaniment, (4)
drinking wine and (5) anointing oneself with oil." (King,
p. 37).
-
- "Amos may have
referred to sacred vessels at the marzeah to underscore
its sacrilegious nature. At the same time, he may be
emphasizing their unusually large capacity, in order to
condemn the inordinate drinking that was an integral part
of the marzeah." (King, p. 42, 43).
-
- "The effect of
this demoralizing religion upon Hebrew society was seen
in the corruption of justice, in wanton and luxurious
living, and in the decay of social unity." (Living Bible
Ency., p. 87).
The Battle of Baal and Yahm
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Aloud they [summon the assembly of
the gods/ do cry to those near]. They invite
- the distant ones/ those far away,
to the assembly of `El
- they summon/do cry: "`El remains
seated
[in his marzeah/banqueting hall//among his cult-guests
(dM)] . . .
- The shame of the Eternal One/The
shameful conduct of the usurper . . .
- O gods, (to) the house of your
lord . . .
- [Who surely travels (S)/lest he go
(D/G) quickly/the Runner will not walk (dM)] through the
land, . . .
- who goes in the dust (of) destruction/a mess of mud on the ground . . .
Comments: Smith believes lines 7-8 should be
interpreted "Either literally, as
`El
walking through the underworld, or an allusion to `El being "dead drunk,"
or both metaphorical, and ironic, as the
marzeah serves as the setting for
feasts for the
dead and for the
living mourning the
dead (p. 145).
-
- ----"With the wine-drinking
(which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew for
feasting), went music and dancing." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday
Life in Old Testament times, Scribners, p. 93)
- ----"Worship was form more than
substance; consequently, conduct in the marketplace was
totally unaffected by worship in the holy place. Amos
spoke from the conviction that social justice is an integral part of the
Mosaic covenant, which regulates relations not only
between God and people, but also among people." (King, p.
44).
- ----"In pagan traditions,
musical instruments are invented by gods or demi-gods, such as titans. In the Bible, credit is
assigned to antediluvian patriarchs, for example, the
descendants of Cain in Genesis 4:21. There is no other biblical
tradition
about the invention of musical instruments." (Freedman,
David Noel, Bible Review, Summer 1985, p. 51).
(Proof Here).
- ---- Those whose assigned task is
to "take away the keys to
knowledge" (Luke 11:52) should be aware that the
literate of the world understand that the entire Bible
treats instrumental music as a way to take away the Words
of Christ. That is a self-evident fact.
|
And I saw another angel fly in the midst
of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people, Revelation 14:6
Saying
with a loud voice, Fear
God, and
give glory to
him; for the hour of
his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Revelation 14:7
The book of Revelation is
prophetic: when we see the living people turn from the Word to music
we can be assured that it is a sign from heaven. The message to the
world is that the state, institution or church is dead and perhaps
God celebrates the fact as He removes their candlestick.
Music is very often a sign
of STAR WORSHIP and the MARK which declares that a people have turned
from worshiping the Creator to worshiping the Creature.
Kenneth Sublett
Musical Worship
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