Journey Through Psalms & Song of Songsনমুনা

Poetic Structures: Behind the Text

Have you ever wondered what Israel’s “orchestra” looked like? Take a look at some instruments that they used and then read a psalm that encourages the use of all of these—and more!

Instruments from the Ancient Near East

The images below portray various instruments used during ancient times throughout the Near East. The primary difference between a harp and a lyre is that the strings pass directly into the body of a harp but pass over a bridge in a lyre.

There are references to the Israelites using these instruments—and many more!—in various places in the Bible, especially in the Psalms. It is clear that worship in Israel was lively and musical (cf Psalm 150).

Lyre

Harp (Egyptian)

Harp (Egyptian)

Lyre (Egyptian)

Percussion instrument (Egyptian)

Tambourine (Canaanite)

Shepherd playing a flute

Musical Instruments in the Psalms

Musical instruments are mentioned throughout the Psalms, but the last chapter mentions a number of them in rapid sequence. This hymn has the role of a kind of crescendo at the end of the book, ramping up the pace and energy to close on a noisy note.

Read Psalm 150. Record all the different instruments listed in this chapter.

We might group these ancient instruments into categories: percussion (tambourine, cymbals), wind instruments (pipe, trumpet) and strings (lute, harp, strings). While we don’t have elaborate descriptions of different types of lyre in Psalms, many existed and were undoubtedly in use in Israel. Other horns and percussive instruments were used by the Israelites as well.

We might be inclined to think of the Psalms as spoken poems, but we can see in the texts above, along with other books of the Bible, that the Israelites would have used a variety of instruments and a wide range of sounds to complement these hymns.

Reference: C. Hassell Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms, 2001, pp. 30-33.