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Sing to Jehovah!The Watchtower—2010 | December 15
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After he became king of Israel, David arranged for the tabernacle services to include beautiful music. More than one tenth of all the active Levites—some 4,000 of them—were assigned as “givers of praise,” with 288 being “trained in song to Jehovah, all experts.”—1 Chron. 23:3, 5; 25:7.
4 David himself composed many of the songs that the Levites performed. Any Israelites who were privileged to be present on the occasions when David’s psalms were sung must have been deeply moved by what they heard. Later, when the ark of the covenant was brought up to Jerusalem, “David . . . said to the chiefs of the Levites to station their brothers the singers with the instruments of song, stringed instruments and harps and cymbals, playing aloud to cause a sound of rejoicing to arise.”—1 Chron. 15:16.
5, 6. (a) Why was so much attention given to music during David’s reign? (b) How do we know that music was considered to have an important place in worship in ancient Israel?
5 Why was so much attention given to music in David’s day? Was it just because the king was a musician? No, there was another reason, which was revealed centuries later when righteous King Hezekiah revived the services at the temple. At 2 Chronicles 29:25, we read: “He [that is, Hezekiah] had the Levites stationed at the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, with stringed instruments and with harps, by the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s visionary and of Nathan the prophet, for it was by the hand of Jehovah that the commandment was by means of his prophets.”
6 Yes, through his prophets, Jehovah directed his worshippers to praise him with song. Singers from the priestly tribe were even exempted from duties that other Levites were required to perform so that they could devote sufficient time to composition and, most likely, to rehearsal.—1 Chron. 9:33.
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Sing to Jehovah!The Watchtower—2010 | December 15
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9. Describe what you might have seen and heard if you had attended the inauguration of the temple during Solomon’s reign.
9 During Solomon’s reign, music was featured in pure worship in a large way. At the inauguration of the temple, there was a full-scale orchestra, with a brass section composed of 120 trumpets. (Read 2 Chronicles 5:12.) The Bible tells us that “the trumpeters [who were all priests] and the singers were as one in causing one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah, . . . ‘for he is good, for to time indefinite is his loving-kindness.’” As soon as that joyful sound had gone up, “the house itself was filled with a cloud,” indicating Jehovah’s approval. How thrilling, how awe-inspiring it must have been to hear the sound of all those trumpets along with thousands of singers blending as one!—2 Chron. 5:13.
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