Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

Did God’s People Sing in the Bible?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today marks our third week in the series on singing in the church. Today, we explore the use of song and music throughout the Scriptures.

As one writer notes,
“Yahweh described His creation in musical terms for Job: “The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). Just as we say, “The Lord spoke creation into being,” by reading the Scriptures through this musical lens, we could also say, “In the beginning God sang” (cf. Zephaniah 3:17).”

From the beginning of time, God not only made us to speak, but to sing.

In fact, if you were to read 2 Chronicles 5, you’d see how the people of Israel sang and chanted whenever they were in the temple, as it says, “the trumpeters and singers joined in unison… and sang: He is good; His love endures forever.”

But even beyond the temple, people learned to pray the Psalms and make them meaningful by singing them. As one of my seminary professors said, nearly half of the Psalms were written by David, a talented musician. One reason David writes the name “Asaph” at the start of many Psalms is that Asaph was the director of the temple musicians. David was composing the Psalms in such a way that they would be sung; just look at Psalm 33.

Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!

    Praise befits the upright.

Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;

    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!

Sing to him a new song;

    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. (Psalm 33:1-3)

And this theme persists throughout the New Testament, as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians.
“Be filled with the Spirit,   addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Ephesians 5:18b-19)

Can you see how this verse above can fill your mind with the image of the Divine Service?

But finally, as one reads the book of Revelation, we catch a glimpse of heaven as the four living creatures sing,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8)

In a wonderful way, the song of creation finds its fulfillment in the song of heaven. For this reason, the Scriptures are preparing us to sing with Jesus not only now but forevermore.

So let us gather, join together, and “sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:1)

In Christ,
Pastor Rogness

PS: If you want to see specific hymns of Scripture in our hymnal, one place to look is 925-941.