Psaltery

The psaltery is one of the named stringed instruments of Israel's worship and court life, paired most often with the harp and the cymbals. It appears in prophetic processions, in the David-organized Levitical singer-guilds, in royal manufacture from imported timber, in the Solomonic temple dedication, in Hezekiah's burnt-offering reform, in the post-exilic dedication of the Jerusalem wall, in the lyric voice of the Psalter, and in the foreign court-orchestra of Nebuchadnezzar.

A Prophetic Instrument

The psaltery first enters the narrative in the band of prophets descending from the high place at Gibeah: "you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying" (1Sa 10:5). Saul will join them and prophesy in turn. The four-instrument file walks ahead of the prophets, and the psaltery is the first item named in the list.

David's Procession with the Ark

When David and the house of Israel bring the ark up, the psaltery is part of the full instrumental kit: "And David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all [instruments made of] fir-wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with castanets, and with cymbals" (2Sa 6:5). The Chronicler, narrating the same event, repeats and expands the inventory: "David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets" (1Ch 13:8). When the ark finally enters the city, David charges the Levite chiefs to "appoint their brothers the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy" (1Ch 15:16); some of those Levites play "with psalteries set to Alamoth" (1Ch 15:20), and the whole company comes up "with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps" (1Ch 15:28). After the ark is in place, Asaph the chief stands in front "with psalteries and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud" (1Ch 16:5).

The Levitical Service

The psaltery becomes a standing fixture of the Davidic Levitical organization. David and the captains "set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals" (1Ch 25:1). The complete Levitical roster is summarized: "All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king. And the number of them, with their brothers who were instructed in singing to Yahweh, even all who were skillful, was 288" (1Ch 25:6-7). The psaltery is thus an instrument of prophetic ministry, played in service of giving thanks and praising Yahweh under royal commission.

Royal Manufacture

The psaltery also belongs to Solomon's royal craftsmanship. From the almug-trees of Ophir "the king made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of Yahweh, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, to this day" (1Ki 10:12). The Chronicler's parallel notes the same outfit from algum-wood: "the king made of the algum-trees terraces for the house of Yahweh, and for the king's house, and harps and psalteries for the singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah" (2Ch 9:11). The instrument is named alongside the temple itself as a special-grade product of imported timber.

The Temple Dedication and the Jehoshaphat Homecoming

At the dedication of Solomon's temple the psaltery stands in the front rank of a fully staffed temple orchestra: "the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets" (2Ch 5:12). Generations later, when Jehoshaphat's army returns from the deliverance at En-gedi, the psaltery again leads the temple-approach: "they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of Yahweh" (2Ch 20:28).

Hezekiah's Reform

Hezekiah re-installs the Davidic instrument-pattern in his temple-cleansing: "he set the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Yahweh by his prophets" (2Ch 29:25). The psaltery here is treated as a divinely-commanded fixture of the worship system, restored along with the cymbal and harp on prophetic warrant.

Post-Exilic Dedication of the Wall

When the wall of Jerusalem is rededicated under Nehemiah, the psaltery is again gathered in: "at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps" (Ne 12:27). The cymbal-psaltery-harp triad reappears as the signature accompaniment of a national dedication.

The Psaltery in the Psalter

In the lyric voice of the Psalter the psaltery is the singer's praise-instrument addressed directly. It is paired with the harp ("Give thanks to Yahweh with the harp: Sing praises to him with the psaltery of ten strings," Ps 33:2). The singer rouses it at dawn ("Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake the dawn," Ps 57:8; almost word-for-word at Ps 108:2, "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake the dawn"). It is the instrument of truth-praise to the Holy One ("I will also praise you with the psaltery, [Even] your truth, O my God: To you I will sing praises with the harp, O you Holy One of Israel," Ps 71:22). It is brought into the festal call ("Raise a song, and bring here the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the psaltery," Ps 81:2). It is sounded in solemn measure ("With an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery; With a solemn sound on the harp," Ps 92:3). It accompanies the new song to God ("I will sing a new song to you, O God: On a psaltery of ten strings I will sing praises to you," Ps 144:9). And in the closing climax of the Psalter it stands in the praise-roll alongside trumpet and harp ("Praise him with trumpet sound: Praise him with psaltery and harp," Ps 150:3). Several of these texts specify the ten-string form, and the psaltery is consistently presented as the partner-instrument of the harp in Israel's lyric praise.

The Foreign Court Orchestra

In the Aramaic narrative of Daniel, the psaltery is named in the orchestra of Nebuchadnezzar before the golden image, repeated four times across the chapter: "at what time you⁺ hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you⁺ fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up" (Da 3:5); the response of the peoples ("when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image," Da 3:7); the accusers' formula ("every man who will hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, will fall down and worship the golden image," Da 3:10); and the king's threat to the three Hebrews ("if you⁺ are ready that at what time you⁺ hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you⁺ fall down and worship the image which I have made," Da 3:15). The psaltery, named in the preceding chapters as an instrument of Yahweh-praise, is here pressed into the service of an idol-summons; the three Hebrews refuse the music-cued worship, and the next scene is the furnace.