HARP
HARVEST
525
' the glassy sea mingled \vith fire ' and sing the the song of Moses, have ' harps of God ' to sing His praise (15-). In 18'-^ the angel who doomed the great city of Babylon declared that it would hear no more the voice of harpers (cf. Is 23^^).
When we attempt to describe exactly the design and manipulation of musical instruments in use throughout the Apostolic Age, we are met with almost insuperable difficulties. The apocalyptic character of the book, which, as we have seen, contains, with but one exception, the references to harps, turns one to Jewish music ; but, though there is much relevant information in Chronicles and other OT writings, it is lacking in precision. It is easier to describe the instruments of ancient Egypt and Assyria, for we are helped by sculptures and pictures, the like of which have not been found in Palestine. We must rely, therefore, on analogy guided by our inexact OT descriptions.
' To accompany singing, or at all events sacred singing, stringed instruments only were used, and never wind instruments' (Appendix to Wellhausen's ' Psalms ' [Haupt's PB, 1898]). It may be too much to say that they were the only accompanying in- struments, but they were certainly the principal. In the OT there is mention of only two stringed instruments (if we except the curious list which appears in Daniel), and these are the ni33 and V^j. The former is the older, and tradition points to Jubal as its inventor (Gn 4-i) ; while the second does not appear before 1 S 10*. These are trans- lated in the EV as 'harp' and ' psaltery ' respec- tively. From 1 K 10'^ we leam that their frame- work was made of almug or algum ; from 2 Ch 20^^ that both were portable, and from many OT passages that they Avere much used at religious and festive gatherings. It is difficult to determine with exactness the difference between these stringed instruments ; but, although later tradition con- fused them, they were certainly not identical, nor were their names used inditterently to denote the same instrument. There are several reasons, however, for the belief that the nii? resembled a lyre, and that the "^aj was a form of harp (the question is discussed in HDB iii. 458 f. ). Amongst these are (1) the fact that in the LXX Kiddpa, or its equivalent (ctyiJpa, is thealmost invariable translation of 1133 ; (2) the evidence of Jewish coins pointing to a decided similarity of "I'u? and Kiddpa (see F. W. Madden, Coins of 'the Jeiv^, 1885, pp. 231, 243); and (3) the distinction emphasized by earh' Chris- tian WTiters between instruments which had a resonance-frame beneath the strings and those which had it above (see St. Augustine on Ps 42). Josephus, who has a description of the frame-work andstrings of these instruments in Ant. Vlll. iii. 8, distinguished the Kivvpa as ten-stringed and struck with a plectrum from the va^Xa as twelve- stringed and played with the hand.*
The Kiddpa was the traditional instrument of psalmody, and the Ki6ap(ji56s, along with the oi^Xt;- TTjs, performed at the festive seasons of Hebrew life (cf. H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John^, 1907, pp. 80, 239). Being lighter in weight than the ^5J, the lyre w^as much played in processions, and, as we learn from Ps 137^ it could be hung on the poplar trees of Babylon when the Hebrew exiles were in no mood for songs of rejoicing. The KiOdpa was of Asiatic origin, and was probably introduced into Egypt by Semites. The earliest representation of a stringed instrument is that excavated at Telloh in South Babylonia, which in size resembles a harp but is shaped like a lyre, i.e. it has a resonance-body on which are set two almost perpendicular posts between which are the strings, upright and fastened to a cross-bar. A
* See S. B. Driver, Joel and Ajnos (Cambridge Bible, 1S9S), p. 234 S.
picture which better illustrates the ordinary lyre is that of three Semitic captives guarded by an Assy- rian warrior while they played ; but perhaps the best illustration is that on the Jewish coins mentioned above. Archibald Main.
HARVEST {eepur/idi, eepl^u).—!. Use of the word
in the NT.— The Gr. verb {depl^eiv) for 'to har%est' or ' to reap ' properly means ' to do summer work ' (from 64poi, 'summer'). In addition to the numer- ous allusions to sowing and reaping contained in the Gospels, there are several other references to harvest-time in the pages of the NT. Thus St. Paul, when finding it necessary to upbraid the Corinthian converts for their meanness in regard to this world's goods, sarcastically asks : ' If we to you did sow (i.e. when we planted the church in Corinth) spiritual things, is it a great matter if we of you should reap material things?' (1 Co 9"). The sower is entitled to expect a harvest of the particular crop which he sows — in this case a spiritual harvest ; how much more is he entitled to a mere worldly harvest as the compensation for his toil, inadequate though the compensation be. In 2 Co 9*^ St. Paul reverts to the same metaphor and in the same connexion. Niggardliness would appear to have been a besetting sin of the Corinthians, as seemingly also of the Galatians (cf. Lightfoot, Galatians^, p. 219). The proposi- tion here set forth is similar to that enunciated in Gal 6^ though the application is somewhat difler- ent. ' He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth 'bountifully shall reap also bountifully.' In Gal 6^ this is compressed into the single sentence : ' Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' The Apostle then proceeds to apply the truth embodied in the proverb to the subject to which he is devoting his particular attention : ' For he that soweth unto his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.' The proverlj itself is a common one, and is found not only in the Bible but also in the classical writers (cf. Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 219), and the aptness of the simile is too obvious to require any comment. Without abandoning his metaphor, the Apostle next addresses those who, though faithful up to a point, are apt to be faint- hearted : 'in well-doing, let us not lose heart, for at its proper time (i.e. at harvest-time) we shall reap if we faint not.'