Song
Song in Scripture is not ornament but testimony — the voice with which Israel and the church answer Yahweh's acts. The shape of the canon's songs is consistent: a deliverance is given, and a song follows. Moses sings after the sea; Deborah and Barak sing after the river Kishon; David sings after the hand of Saul; Hannah sings when her barrenness is undone; the Levites sing as the foundation of the second temple is laid; the redeemed sing before the throne. Solomon's thousand and five (1 Ki 4:32) and the Psalter stand behind two New Testament commands — to address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16) — and behind the new song that the Apocalypse places in the mouths of the purchased (Rev 5:9; 14:3).
Songs of Deliverance at the Sea and the River
The first canonical song follows the destruction of Pharaoh's army. "Then sang Moses and the sons of Israel this song to Yahweh, and spoke, saying, I will sing to Yahweh, for [by his Speech] he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea" (Ex 15:1). The opening lines name Yahweh as the song's subject and its source: "Yah is my strength and song, And [by his Speech] he has become my salvation" (Ex 15:2). The song closes its incomparability strophe with "Who is like you, O Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?" (Ex 15:11). Miriam takes up a timbrel and the women answer with timbrels and dances (Ex 15:20).
Deborah and Barak follow the same pattern after Sisera's defeat. "Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying," (Jud 5:1) — and the song that follows opens with the willingness of the people and a summons to kings: "For the leaders took the lead in Israel, For the people offered themselves willingly, Bless you⁺ Yahweh" (Jud 5:2); "Hear, O you⁺ kings; give ear, O you⁺ princes; I, [even] I, will sing to Yahweh; I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel" (Jud 5:3).
David's song in 2 Sa 22 — preserved a second time as Ps 18 — is sung "in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul" (2Sa 22:1). Its opening lines name Yahweh under a chain of titles: "Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine" (2Sa 22:2); "God, my rock, in him [his Speech] I will take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My savior, you save me from violence" (2Sa 22:3); "I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So I will be saved from my enemies" (2Sa 22:4).
A smaller wilderness song belongs to the same family. "Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well; you⁺ sing to it" (Nu 21:17), with the well "which the princes dug, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the scepter, [and] with their poles" (Nu 21:18). The proverb-song against Heshbon and Moab in Nu 21:27-30 is also reckoned among Israel's war songs (Nu 21:27-29).
Hannah's Song
Before the monarchy, the canon places another song — Hannah's, sung when her childlessness is reversed. Its opening repeats the verb of exultation: "And Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exults in Yahweh; My horn is exalted in Yahweh; My mouth is enlarged over my enemies; Because I rejoice in your salvation" (1Sa 2:1). The praise is grounded in Yahweh's incomparability: "There is none holy like Yahweh; For there is none besides you, Neither is there any rock like our God" (1Sa 2:2). Its middle reverses the social order: "The bows of the mighty men are broken; And those who stumbled are girded with strength" (1Sa 2:4); "Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, he also lifts up" (1Sa 2:7); "He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, And inherit the throne of glory" (1Sa 2:8). It ends prophetically, looking forward to a king and an anointed: "Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth; And he will give strength to his king, And exalt the horn of his anointed" (1Sa 2:10).
David's Lament
Not every song in Scripture is praise. David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is also classed among the songs of war. Its refrain frames the dirge: "Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places! How are the mighty fallen!" (2Sa 1:19). "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided: They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions" (2Sa 1:23). "You⁺ daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you⁺ in scarlet delicately, Who put ornaments of gold on your⁺ apparel" (2Sa 1:24). "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places" (2Sa 1:25).
The Didactic Song of Moses
The didactic song of Moses (De 32) is given as a witness against the people. Its opening invokes heaven and earth as hearers: "Give ear, you⁺ heavens, and I will speak; And let the earth hear [the Speech] of my mouth" (De 32:1). "My doctrine will drop as the rain; My speech will distill as the dew, As the small rain on the tender grass, And as the showers on the herb" (De 32:2). The song proclaims the Name and the Rock: "For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh: Ascribe⁺ greatness to our God" (De 32:3); "The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he" (De 32:4).
The Psalter and the New Song
Solomon's productivity is briefly noted — "And he spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five" (1Ki 4:32) — and the Song of Solomon stands at the head of one of those collections: "The Song of songs, which is Solomon's" (So 1:1). Within the Psalter the recurring command is to sing a new song. "Sing to him a new song; Play skillfully with a loud noise" (Ps 33:3). The same phrase belongs to a song of deliverance: "He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet on a rock, and established my goings" (Ps 40:2); "And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God: Many will see it, and fear, And will trust in [the Speech of] Yahweh" (Ps 40:3). The summons is corporate — "Oh come, let us sing to Yahweh; Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation" (Ps 95:1) — and it has a night register: "[Yet] Yahweh will command his loving-kindness in the daytime; And in the night his song will be with me, [Even] a prayer to the God of my life" (Ps 42:8); "I sang in the night: With my own heart I meditate; And my spirit makes diligent search" (Ps 77:6); "Let the saints exult in glory: Let them sing for joy on their beds" (Ps 149:5). Job names the same source — "Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night" (Job 35:10) — and Isaiah retains the figure for festival: "You⁺ will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept" (Is 30:29).
When song falls silent it is exile. "On the willows in the midst of it We hung up our harps" (Ps 137:2). When it returns, it returns at the foundation of the rebuilt house: "And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, [saying,] For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endures] forever toward Israel" (Ezr 3:11).
Songs in War and Worship
Singing accompanies Israel's battle order as well as its sacrifice. Jehoshaphat goes out before his army with appointed singers: "And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Yahweh, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Yahweh; for his loving-kindness [endures] forever" (2Ch 20:21); "And when they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck" (2Ch 20:22). At Hezekiah's restoration of temple worship, "when the burnt-offering began, the song of Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel" (2Ch 29:27). David's processional with the ark plays "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), and the Levitical guilds Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun are set "for songs of God" (1Ch 16:42).
Songs of Mourning and Songs of Idleness
The prophets reckon two perversions of song. One is its silencing in judgment — "And I will turn your⁺ feasts into mourning, and all your⁺ songs into lamentation" (Am 8:10). The other is its hollowing out into self-pleasing noise — "Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols" (Am 5:23); "who sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David" (Am 6:5). Job knows the same inversion: "Therefore my harp is [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep" (Job 30:31).
Sirach makes the moral case at table — that song belongs to its season and its company. "[As] music in time of mourning, [so is] unseasonable talk; But stripes and correction are at all times wisdom" (Sir 22:6). "When the music begins do not pour forth talk, And do not display your wisdom when it is not wanted" (Sir 32:4); "As a ruby signet in a work of gold, So is good music at a banquet of wine" (Sir 32:5). Among the worthies the same writer numbers "Arrangers of psalms according to rule, And authors of written proverbs" (Sir 44:5), and David is praised because "Stringed instruments and song before the altar [he ordained], To make sweet melody with their music" (Sir 47:9). When Simon's high priesthood ends a sacrifice, "the song then gave its voice, And over the multitude they made sweet melody" (Sir 50:18).
The Maccabean histories preserve the same instinct. After the victory at Beth-zur, "returning home they sung a hymn, And blessed toward heaven, For he is good, For his mercy endures forever" (1Ma 4:24). At the cleansing of the sanctuary, "it was dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals" (1Ma 4:54). At the surrender of the citadel under Simon, the people enter "with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and harps, and cymbals, and stringed instruments, and hymns, and songs, because the great enemy was destroyed out of Israel" (1Ma 13:51).
The Hymn at the Passover
The earliest New Testament reference to congregational song is at the Passover meal: "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives" (Mr 14:26).
Sing Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs
The two epistolary commands hold the same threefold vocabulary. "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your⁺ heart to the Lord" (Eph 5:19); "Let the word of Christ dwell in you⁺ richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with grace in your⁺ hearts to God" (Col 3:16). James gives the personal counterpart: "Is any among you⁺ suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise" (Jas 5:13).
The New Song of the Redeemed
The Apocalypse gathers the older patterns into one register. The four living creatures and the elders sing a new song to the Lamb: "And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were slain, and purchased to God with your blood out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Re 5:9); "and made them [to be] to our God a kingdom and priests; and they will reign on the earth" (Re 5:10).
The hundred and forty-four thousand on Mount Zion have their own song: "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard [was] as [the voice] of harpers harping with their harps" (Re 14:2); "and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song except the hundred and forty and four thousand, [even] those who had been purchased out of the earth" (Re 14:3). They are described as "those who follow the Lamb wherever he may go. These were purchased from among men, [to be] the first fruits to God and to the Lamb" (Re 14:4); "And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish" (Re 14:5).
The final canonical song closes the circle Moses opened at the sea. Those who "come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God" (Re 15:2) sing both songs at once. "And they sing the song of Moses the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Yahweh, the God of hosts; righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations" (Re 15:3); "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before you; for your righteous acts have been made manifest" (Re 15:4).