Scripture shows that all kinds of music—singing solo or choral, instrumental, congregational, and professional performance—can and should have its place in worship. We need to move beyond our disagreements about our stylistic preferences and look for good quality music and words that properly recognize God’s glory and greatness and incorporate these regularly into our spiritual lives.

Music is, or should be, a vital part of the Christian life.

I suspect most Christians have never considered how big a role music plays in Scripture. Our ideas of “Christian music” tend to focus in on the particular genres of music that we like, whether classical (for example, Handel’s Messiah), Psalms, hymns, or contemporary. These preferences have led to the “worship wars” of the past decades in American Evangelicalism, as advocates of one style of music are pitted against others over what is the “proper” or “best” way to worship.

That in itself betrays several misunderstandings: music is not the same as worship; it isn’t about us and our preferences; we are to treat others with respect and due humility; etc. While there is much to be said about biblical worship and liturgics, I am not going to discuss that here. Instead, this article will focus on surveying music’s place in the biblical story to help us appreciate just how important it should be in our lives.

Let’s start with music in worship.

Music in Old Testament Worship

1 Chronicles contains several passages that discuss the role of musicians in worship. The first of these discusses the provisions for bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem:

David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. The singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth; but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith. Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it. Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, should blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. (1 Chron. 15:16-24)

Here we see singers under a director singing and accompanied by cymbals, harps, lyres, and trumpets.

Later, David appointed some of these same men to perform music at the sanctuary prior to the building of the Temple (1 Chron. 25). The text tells us that individual singers, large choirs, and an orchestra were all part of the worship at the king’s sanctuary. Solomon continued these arrangements when he built the Temple.

David did not only organize the musicians for worship, he also wrote songs, as did several of the men he appointed to lead worship.

The book of Psalms—a Greek word that means “Songs”—is the largest book in the Bible. The Psalms include not only “worship songs,” but laments, reflections on life, complaints, expressions of repentance, even curses on enemies. The full range of human emotions is expressed in the Psalms.

The Psalms have been sung from time out of mind in Jewish worship, and many were clearly written to be performed responsively as part of the worship in the Temple (e.g. Ps. 136). The Psalter also became both the hymnbook and prayer book of Christians. Singing the Psalms was part of the regular liturgy of the monasteries and was the heart of the devotional life of many great saints over the centuries. Although St. Augustine didn’t actually say it, the maxim attributed to him, “He who sings prays twice,” is a distillation of early Christian ideas about sung prayer.

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