IVIUSICAL INSTRUMENTS (mri'zi-kal tn' stru-ments).
It is less difficult to determine the general char acter of the Hebrew instruments of music, than to identify the particular instruments which are named in the Hebrew Scriptures. We see certain instruments different from our own in use among the modern Orientals, and we infer that the He brew instruments are probably not unlike these. When, however, we endeavor to identify with these a particular instrument named by the He brews, our difficulty begins: because the IIebrew names are seldom to he recognized in those which thcy now bear, and because the Scripturc affords us little information respecting the form of the instruments which it mentions.
The matter naturally arranges itself under the following heads I. Stringcd Instruments.
II. Wind Instruments.
III. Instruments of Percussion.
1. Stringed Instruments. At the head of the stringed instruments we must place the -.14 norc', which is rendered 'harp' in thc Authorized Version.
(1) The Harp. The invention and first use of this instrument are ascribed to Jubal (Gcn. iv: 21) ; and Lahti names it among the instruments which should have celebrated the departure of his son-in-law (Gen. xxxi :27). In the first ages the kinnor was consecrated to joy and exultation; hence the frequency of its use by David and others in praise of the Divine Majesty. It is thought probable that the instrument received some im provements from David (comp. Amos vi:5). In bringing back the ark of the covenant (1 Citron. xvi :5), as well as afterwards, at the consecration of the temple, the kinnor was assigned to players of known eminence, chiefly of the family of Jedu thun (i Chron. xxv:3).
The sorrowing Jews of the captivity, far re moved from their own land and the shadow of the sanctuary, hung their kin-nores upon the willows by the waters of Babylon, and refused to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land (Ps. cxxxvii :2). Many other passages of siznilar purport might be adduced in order to fix the uses of an instrument, the name of which occurs so often in the Hcbrew Scriptures. They mostly indicate occasions of joy, such as jubilees and festivals. Of the instru
ment itself the Scripture affords us little further information than that it was composed of the sounding parts of good wood, and furnished with strings. David made it of the berosh wood (see B2nosti) ; Solomon of the more costly algum (2 Sam. vi :5; Kings x:12) ; and Josephus men tions some composed of the mixed metal called electrum. He also asserts that it was furnished with ten strings, and played with a plectrum (Antiq. Vii :12, 3) ; which, however, is not under stood to imply that it never had any other number of strings, or was always played with the plectrum. David cer tainly played it with the hand (I Sam. xvi :23; xviii:zo; xix:9), and it was probably used in both ways, according to its size.
That this instrument was really a harp is now very generally denied: and Pfeiffer, Winer, and other writers on the sub ject conclude that it was a kind of guitar, and there is therefore little room to doubt that the guitar was known to the Hebrews and probably in use among them. Not withstanding this kind of evidence, the editor of the Pictorial Bible (on Ps. xliii:4) ventured to suggest the greater probability that the lyre, in some of its various kinds, was denoted by the word kin-nore; and subsequent inquiry has tended to establish this conclusion as firmly perhaps as the nature of the subject admits.t, (2) Psaltery. NaY-bel (Hcb. is the next instrument which requires notice. The word is rendered 'psaltery' in the Authorized Version. As ro when this instrinnent was invented, and when it came into use among the Hebrews, nothing can be determined with certainty. The first mention of it is in the reign of Saul (r Sam. x:5), and from that time forward we continue to meet with it in the Old Testament. The use of the instrument prevailed particularlyin the public worship of God. David's own instrument was the kin-nore; but he neglected not the 2,1(231-bd. It was played upon by several persons in the grand procession at the removal of the ark (r Chron. xv :r6; xvi :5) ; and in the final organization of the temple music it was entrusted to the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (1 Chron. xxv :1-7).