(lute or guitar) the strings were drawn over the sounding-board, while in the Kinnor they

stood out free, as in our harps. Of wind-instruments we know that, besides their silver

trumpets, the priests also blew the Shophar or horn, notably at the new moon, on the

Feast of the New Year (Psa 81:3), and to proclaim the Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:9), which,

indeed, thence derived its name. Originally the Shophar was probably a ram's horn (Jos.,

Ant. v. 5, 6.), but afterwards it was also made of metal. The Shophar was chiefly used for

its loud and far-sounding tones (Exo 19:16,19; 20:18; Isa 58:1). At the Feast of the New

Year, one priest with a Shophar was placed between those who blew the trumpets; while

on fast-days a priest with a Shophar stood on each side of them--the tones of the

Shophar being prolonged beyond those of the trumpets. In the synagogues out of

Jerusalem the Shophar alone was blown at the New Year, and on fast-days only

The flute (or reed pipe) was played in the Temple on twelve special festivities. 26

These were: the day of killing the first, and that of killing the second Passover, the first

day of unleavened bread, Pentecost, and the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Quite in accordance with the social character of these feasts, the flute was also used by

the festive pilgrim-bands on their journey to Jerusalem, to accompany 'the Psalms of

Degrees,' or rather of 'Ascent' (Isa 30:29), sung on such occasions. It was also

customary to play it at marriage feasts and at funerals (Matt 9:23); for according to

Rabbinical law every Jew was bound to provide at least two flutes and one mourning

woman at the funeral of his wife. In the Temple, not less than two nor more than twelv e

flutes were allowed, and the melody was on such occasions to close with the notes of

one flute alone. Lastly, we have sufficient evidence that there was a kind of organ used

in the Temple (the Magrephah), but whether merely for giving signals or not, cannot be

clearly determined.

As already stated, the service of praise was mainly sustained by the human voice. A

good voice was the one qualification needful for a Levite. In the second Temple female

singers seem at one time to have been employed (Ezra 2:65; Neh 7:67). In the Temple of

Herod their place was supplied by Levite boys. Nor did the worshippers any more take

part in the praise, except by a responsive Amen. It was otherwise in the first Temple, as

we gather from 1 Chronicles 16:36, from the allusion in Jeremiah 33:11, and also from

such Psalms as 26:12; 68:26. At the laying of the foundation of the second Temple, and

at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the singing seems to have been antiphonal, or

in responses (Ezra 3:10,11; Neh 12:27,40), the two choirs afterwards apparently

combining, and singing in unison in the Temple itself. Something of the same kind was

probably also the practice in the first Temple. What the melodies were to which the

Psalms had been sung, it is, unfortunately, now impossible to ascertain. Some of the

music still used in the synagogue must date from those times, and there is no reason to

doubt that in the so-called Gregorian tones we have also preserved to us a close

approximation to the ancient hymnody of the Temple, though certainly not without

considerable alterations.

But how solemn must have been the scene when, at the dedication of Solomon's Temple

during the service of praise, 'the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of

Jehovah; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the

glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God'! (2 Chron 5:13,14) Such music, and such

responsive singing, might well serve, in the Book of Revelation, as imagery of heavenly

realities (Rev 4:8,11; 5:9,12; 7:10-12), especially in that description of the final act of