David Used the Instrument -- So Can We

H. E. Phillips
11/20/11 - Worship

All those who want to do something in worship for which they have no divine authority will search in both the Old and New Testament for any passage that might provide the basis for an argument to approve their practice. This is true of both denominationalism and false brethren in the church who would bring us again into bondage. A typical example of this fact is the use of instrumental music in the worship to God. What may be said for the instrument in worship can be said for any other innovation in the work and worship of the church.

There are several classes of arguments for the use of the instrument in worship, one of which is that in the Old Testament David used the instrument to praise God, and since God did not forbid it in the New Testament, we may use it today in the church. To many this appears to be the most forceful argument of divine authority for the instrument. It naturally falls into two separate arguments:

By God's Authority

The first is that God, not David, commanded the use of the instrument in worship; but David, being a prophet of God, gave the authority for its use. The argument says that the instrument was in use before David's time. Jubal made the instruments (Gen. 4:21); Joseph used them in worship (Psalm 81:1-5); Moses used them (Num. 10:2); God said they were His and we should use them today. (1 Chron. 16:42; 2 Chron. 7:6, 29:25).

By reading Genesis 4:21 we find that Jubal did not invent the instruments for the purpose of worship. Thousands of things have been invented, some of which have been used in worship to God, which were never intended for that purpose when invented. Tubal-Cain, the half-brother of Jubal, invented the working of iron and brass, or was the father of such just as Jubal was the father of those who used the instruments. This work has been used to make idols which have been used in worship, but they were never authorized by God.

Psalms 81:1-5 is not proof that Joseph used the instrument in worship to God. It refers to the call to the feasts of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24), which was the beginning of the Jewish year. Joseph is used to refer to his children — Israel — after they came out of Egypt, because this feast was not ob served until long after Joseph was dead. The use Moses made of the instruments in Numbers 10:2 was to call to worship and not a part of the worship.

Under the Law of Moses God allowed some things which He did not command. Paul said: "And the times of this ig norance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). God permitted Israel to have a king, and even gave the commandments governing the kings, yet we know it was not His command to begin with. In fact, it was rebellion against God (1 Sam. 8:5-22). God permitted divorce for every cause, but it was not His will from the beginning. He granted this because of the hardness of their hearts (Mark 10:2-12). God gave commandments governing divorce for every cause under the law, even though He did not order it to begin with. The instructions governing divorce allowed under the law are found in Deuteronomy 24:1-5. God allowed polygamy under the law, even though He commanded them to be one man and one woman from the beginning (Mark 10:6).

It is also said that God commanded the use of the instrument in worship in 2 Chronicles 29:25: "And he (David) set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandments of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets." The same thing could be said for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. God gave the command for its use, even though He did not command it to begin with, just as in the case of the kings of Israel.

David The First To Use It

The second division of this argument concerning David is that he was the first to use the instrument, in praise to God, but he was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), therefore, what he did in worship was approved by God. Since there is no condemnation of the instrument in the New Testament, we may use it today like David did.

David used the instrument, not as an AID to the singing, but to actually PRAISE God. "Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith". (1 Chron. 23:5). "Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings" (Psalm 33:2). "Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea. Upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God." (Psalm 43:4)

David invented the instrument in the worship to God. There is no evidence that God commanded it before David's time. Such passages as these which follow would be senseless unless David initiated the instrumental praise. "And four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith" (1 Chron. 23:5). "And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy" (1 Chron. 15:16). "The Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord which David the king had made to praise the Lord" (2 Chron. 7:6). The "instruments of music of the Lord" refer to those used to praise the Lord rather than those the Lord had ordained, because the record does not show that the Lord authorized them before David brought them into the worship.

God ordained the singing under the law. (Deut. 31:19-22). But David ordained the use of the instruments in that praise. "And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David, king of Israel" (Ezra 3:10). It was David's own idea about the use of the instruments, else it could not have been said that he invented them. "… that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David" (Amos. 6:5).

But if we grant that David brought in the instrument by the authority of God, we still have no authority for it in the church today. We are to follow Christ and not David. Christ has all authority in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18), and Christ is head of all things to the church (Eph. 1:22,23; Col. 1:18). Peter says that God has given us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness," (2 Pet. 1:3), and it says nothing about the use of the instrument of music in praise to God. Christ has given us a "new and living way," which does not include the instrument like David used. (Heb. 10:20). Paul said the "priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Heb. 7:12). This new law does not include the instrument that David used under the Old.

David Did Other Things

But if we are to use the instrument because David did, we find ourselves obligated to do other things on the same basis. How are we to pick out one thing that David did under the law and bring it over into the church and at the same time keep out those other things which David did? Notice some of the things that David did which we would be ob ligated to do if we accepted the instrument by his authority:

1. We must use all the KINDS of instruments that David used and required. If David is the authority for the USE of the instruments, then he is also the authority for the KINDS of instruments to be used. He used cymbals, trumpets, harps, organs, flutes, drums, ten stringed instruments, etc. We have no right to substitute another instrument un known to David if he is our authority.
2. David danced in worship to God. "And David danced before the Lord with all his might: and David was girded with a linen ephod" (II Sam. 6:14). We have no right to refuse the kind of dancing David did in the worship to God. If a man wants to dance by David's authority as worship in the church, no man can complain who used David as the authority for the instrument.
3. David kept the Sabbath day in worship to God. One comes into the church and says, "I want to keep the Sabbath day holy just as David did," and the one who uses the instrument by David's authority cannot object.
4. David burned incense unto God as worship. "I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifice of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats" (Psalm 66:15). One has as much right to offer incense to God in worship as to use the instrument by David's authority.
5. David offered animal sacrifice unto God as worship. "I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows" (Psalm 66:13). "I will offer bullocks with goats" (verse 15). Can the man who uses the instrument because David did, object to one bringing animal sacrifice into the worship because David did?
6. David had several wives. "And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David" (2 Sam. 5:13). His son, Solomon, had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:13). Why cannot a man have a plural number of wives in the Church by David's authority as well as to have the instrument because David did?

We must either take all that David did as our authority, or take none. But we are not under the rule of David. He is not our example. Christ is our king and we are obligated to do His bidding, which does not include the instruments of music in praise to God. Every effort to prove the instrument by David fails unless we are willing to take all the other things David practiced in worship, and even then we will have to account for our taking David instead of Christ for authority.

— via Searching the Scriptures, January, 1962

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