My Bible reading program has been taking me through parts of the Old Testament over the past few months. And, during this time I happened upon a quite unexpected discovery - God raised up prophets who prophesied through music. To my knowledge, the first mention of this is in 1 Chronicles 25:1-8:
25:1 David and the
chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph,
and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps,
and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their
duties was: 2 Of the
sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph,
under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the
king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,
Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father
Jeduthun, who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to
the Lord. 4 Of
Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and
Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer,
Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All
these were the sons of Heman the king's seer, according to the promise
of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three
daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord
with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God.
Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. 7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.
So, we see that the musicians appointed to service in the house of the Lord were of three families; sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Juduthun. Verse 1 indicates that all of them "prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals." In Heman's case it would appear his three daughters also prophesied since they were included in the same list of ministry responsibilities previously mentioned for those who prophesied. All of them were trained in "singing to the Lord."
My ESV Study Bible notes for this passage includes the following:
who prophesied with musical instruments, i.e., wrote songs. In some cases, their songs seem to have become part of OT Scripture, for Asaph is named in the titles of Psalms 50 and 73-83, and Jeduthun in the titles of Psalms 39, 62, and 77. In addition, Heman here may be the same person as Heman the Ezrahite named in the title of Psalm 88 (cf. also 1 Chron. 6:33). The verb "to prophesy" (Hb. naba) indicates that their songs were prompted or guided by the Spirit of God. This shows that "prophecy" is not always a direct announcement of God's plans; it indicates that the person is operating as God's authorized spokesman, here providing the right way for God's people to sing to him (they prophesied...in thanksgiving and priase to the Lord, 25:3).
I found two more references to these particular singers so far (I'm only as far as Nehemiah). The next is in 2 Chronicles 29. King Hezekia, who "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done" (that means he was a God-loving and worshiping king), undertook a spiritual cleansing of the people, the temple and everything associated with it, as they had all become corrupted by the actions of their fathers who had turned away from God to idolatry. When the cleansing offerings were completed Scripture says, "Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped" (29:30).
The next mention of the priestly singers is in Ezra 3. Ezra had been given permission by Cyrus king of Persia to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of the Lord. In chapter 3 the builders completed the foundation for the temple, and it was at this point that the singing priestly prophets stepped forward again:
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord" (Ezra 3:10-11).
We see that the musical expression of the prophetic word began under king David ("according to the directions of David king of Israel"). The primary function of the singing priestly prophets was to lead the people into worship of God. And, furthermore, some of these prophetic utterances of worship became Scripture in the form of psalms (Psalm 39, 50, 62, 73-80, and 88).
Is there an application for the NT church today? I'll let those more knowledgeable address the scriptural merits of that. But, my experience would lead me to believe we have musical prophets among us today, just as we have verbal prophets among us. No, we are not getting new revelation here, as the canon is closed. But, today's prophets speak powerful words, both through teaching-preaching and through specifically direct messages for holy guidance. I see no reason to think musical prophets operate any differently. And what a gift they are to the church! May God use our musical prophets to call believers hearts to worship and unbelievers hearts to repentance.
