4. The Uses and Characteristics of Hebrew Music. — Sacred music, as in the above liturgical examples, was the most important application of the art among the Hebrews. The trumpets, which are mentioned among the instruments played before the ark (1 Chron. xiii, 8), appear to have been reserved for the priests alone (1 Chron. xv, 24; xvi, 6). As they were also used in royal proclamations (2 Kings xi, 14), they were prob- ably intended to set forth by way of symbol the royalty of Jehovah, the theocratic king of his people, as well as to sound the alarm against his enemies (2 Chron. xiii, 12). A hundred and twenty priests blew the trumpets in harmony with the choir of Levites at the dedication of Solomon's temple (2 Chron. v, 12, 13; vii, 6), as in the restoration of the worship under Hezekiah, in the description of which we find an indication of one of the uses of the Temple music : " And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering upon the altar. And when the burnt-offering began, the song of Jehovah began also, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David, king of Israel. And all the congregation wor- shipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all until the burnt-offering was finished" (2 Chron. xxix, 27, 28). The altar was the table of Je~ hovah (Mai. i, 7), and the sacrifices were his feasts (Exod. xxiii, 18) ; so the solemn music of the Levites corresponded to the melody by which the banquets of earthly monarchs were accompanied. The Temple was Jehovah's palace, and as the Levite sentries watched the gates by night they chanted the songs of Zion ; one of these it has been conjectured with probability is Psa. cxxxiv.
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In the private as well as in the religious life of the Hebrews music held a prominent place. The kings had their court musicians (Eccles. ii, 8), who bewailed their death (2 Chron. xxxv, 25) ; and in the luxurious times of the later monarchy the effeminate gallants of Israel, recking with perfumes and stretched upon their couches of ivory, were wont at their banquets to ac- company the song with the tinkling of the psaltery or guitar ( Amos vi, 4-G), and amused themselves with de- vising musical instruments while their nation was per- ishing, as Xero fiddled when Kome was in flames. Isaiah denounces a woe against those who sat till the morning twilight over their wine, to the sound of "the harp and the viol, the tabrot and pipe" (Isa. v, 11, 12). But while music was thus made to minister to debauch- ery and excess, it was the legitimate expression of mirth and gladness, and the indication of peace and prosper- ity. It was only when a curse was upon the land that the prophet could say, " The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth : they shall not drink wine with a song" (Isa. xxiv, 8, 9). In the sadness of captivity the harjis hung upon the willows of Babj-lon, and the voices of the singers refused to sing the songs of Jehovah at their foreign captors' bidding (Psa. cxxxvii). The bridal processions as they passed through the streets were accompanied with music and song (Jer. vii, 34), and these ceased only when the land was desolate (Ezek. xxvi, 13). The high value attached to music at banquets is indicated in the description given in Ecclus. xxxii of the duties of the master of a feast. "Pqur not out words where there is a musician, and shoAv not forth wisdom out of time. A concert of music in a banquet of wine is as a signet of carbuncle sjet in gold. As a signet of an emerald set in a work of gold, so is the melody of music with pleasant wine." And, again, the memory of the good king Josiah was "as music at a banquet of wine" (Ecclus. xlix, 1). The music of the banquets was accompanied with songs and dancing (Luke xv, 25). So at the royal banquets of Babylon were sung hymns of praise in honor of the gods (Dan. v, 4, 23), and perhaps on some such occasion as the feast of Belshazzar the Hebrew captives might have been brought in to sing the songs of their native land (Psa. cxxxvii). The triumphal processions which celebrated a victory were enlivened by minstrels and singers (Exod. xv, 1, 20; Judges v, 1 ; xi, 34; 1 Sam. xviii, C; xxi, 11; 2 Chron. xx, 28; Judges xv, 12, 13), and on extraordinary occasions they even accompanied armies to battle. Thus the Levites sang the chant of David before the army of Jehoshaphat as he went forth against the hosts of Ammon and Moab and ]Mount Seir (2 Chron. xx, 19, 21) ; and the victory of Abijah over Jeroboam is attributed to the encouragement given to Judah liy the ])riests sounding their trumpets before the ark (2 Chron. xiii, 12, 14). It is clear from the narrative of Elisha and the minstrel who by his Jilay- ing calmed the prophet's spirit till the hand of Jehovah was ujion him, that among the camp-followers of Je- hoshaphat's army on that occasion there were to be reckoned musicians who were probably Levites (2 Kings iii, 15). Besides songs of triumph, there were also religious songs (Isa. xxx, 29; Amos v, 23; James V, 13), "songs of the Temple" (Amos viii, 3), and songs which were sung in idolatrous worship (Exod. xxxii, 18). In like manner the use of music in the religious services of the Therapeutic of later times is described by Philo (De Vita confempl. p. 901 fed. Frankf.]). At a certain period in the service one of the worshippers rose and sang a song of praise to (iod, eitlier of his own composition or one from the older poets. He was fol- lowed by others in a regular order, the congregation remaining (piiet till the concluding prayer, in which all joined. After a simple meal the whole congregation arose and formed two choirs, one of men and one of women, with the most skilful singer of each for leader; and in this way sang hymns to God, sometimes with