Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Chronicles · About this commentary
Prophesying with Harps
1 Chronicles 25:1-31
1 Moreover, David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with harps, with stringed instruments, and with cymbals. The number of those who did the work according to their service was: · WEB
The temple musicians are described as prophesying, and their turns of duty are drawn by lot with teacher and pupil alike.
The singers are set apart to prophesy with harps, with stringed instruments, and with cymbals 1 Chronicles 25:1, and the verb is not a slip. It recurs through the paragraph. Asaph prophesied at the order of the king; Jeduthun prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh with the harp; Heman is called the king's seer in the words of God 1 Chronicles 25:2–5.
So music in this house is not an accompaniment to the ministry of the word. It is classed as an exercise of it. What the singers do with a harp is put in the same category as what a seer does with a message, and the three chiefs of the choir are described in the vocabulary of prophecy.
That has a consequence the chapter draws out. The material sung is thanksgiving and praise, and it is credited as prophetic — which is what a psalm actually is, a word about God spoken back to him in the hearing of everyone present.
Heman's fourteen sons and three daughters are described as God's gift to lift up the horn 1 Chronicles 25:5. A large family is entered as a provision for the choir.
The workforce is then counted: two hundred eighty-eight, instructed in singing and all who were skillful 1 Chronicles 25:7. Two qualifications are named, training and aptitude, and neither is descent — though the choir is organized by families. Skill was assumed to be teachable and was taught.
The assignment of turns is the sentence worth carrying away. They cast lots for their offices, all alike, the small as well as the great, the teacher as well as the student 1 Chronicles 25:8.
The teacher takes his chance beside the pupil he trained. Seniority buys no better week and no better position, and a man who had spent years instructing others could draw the twenty-fourth course while a beginner drew the first. In a service where the finest musicians are the most visible people in the building, the order in which they appear is settled by something nobody controls.
settled What this mark means