PSALMS 81

1 (To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.) Sing aloud unto Elohim our strength: make a joyful noise unto the Elohim of Jacob.


2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

"Harpers harping with their harps."


Music is harmony, unity, beauty, and purposeful orderliness

of sound, and our God is a God of order and beauty.


Surely there is intended to be power and significance in this three-fold repetition of this joyful, worshipful word! A harp is an instrument of praise and thanksgiving and joy. The harp was the comfort, inspiration and instrument of expression of David, the man after God's own heart.

The Psalms are not mere poems, but songs. There is infinitely more feeling, depth and

expression in song than in mere recitation.

Psa. 81 speaks of the "pleasant harp "and Isa. 24 of the "joy of the harp." Conversely the symbol of mourning is to refrain from the harp's use and hang it on the weeping willows (Psa. 137:2).

In 1 Chr. 16, we read of David's arrangements for singing in the worship of God. We read there of "the musical instruments of God" (v. 42), and of the first Psalm David delivered into the hands of Asaph, the chief of the singers-

"Sing unto Yahweh, all the earth:

Show forth from day to day His salvation . . .

Worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness . . .

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice."

What are the "musical instruments of God?" In Rev. 15:2 the redeemed standing on the glassy sea have the "harps of God." What do these harps signify, for clearly they symbolize a much deeper and living reality-" Musical instruments are inanimate objects giving voice-like sounds of worship and praise. Their appeal and acceptability to God can only lie in their representation and symbolization and manifestation of the true heart-condition of the living

worshipper himself. This was Bro. Thomas' conclusion. He says:

"Every one of them has his harp, for he is himself a 'harp of the Deity,' and therefore an INSTRUMENT OF JOY."

Music is a very prominent aspect of Divine worship in Scripture. David's and Solomon's arrangements for the musical service are given in great detail, and with each reformation and restoration-Hezekiah, Josiah, Nehemiah-this aspect is much to the fore. It is a notable fact that in the Mosaic Tabernacle arrangement, there is no mention of music, while in the Temple it appears to be the principal aspect of the service.

This is not to indicate that our present Tabernacle and wilderness dispensation is without its joy and thanksgiving and praise, but it does teach that all our joy and desire has its roots in the future living Temple Age, and that we cannot in their fullness, sing the songs of Zion in a strange and captive land.

Our joy at present, though deep, and rooted in thankfulness and praise, is largely overlaid with passing sorrow, as we walk in mortal weakness through a dark vale of tears-

"Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psa. 30:5).

Bro Growcott - 144 000 on Mount Zion



3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the Elohim of Jacob.

5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9 There shall no strange El be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange El.

10 I am Yahweh thy Elohim, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of Yahweh should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.