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10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
KEEPING HOUSE FOR
THE LORD
Written by H. Frank Fort
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LESSON #22
"Singing" No. 3
The New
Testament contains about 350 quotations from the Old Testament, and about 300 of
them are from the Septuagint version, of which number, is Rom. 15:9, which we considered last week. When the 70 scholars,
called the Septuagint, translated the Hebrew into the Greek, they translated
ZAMAR the Hebrew word of Ps. 18:49,
by PSALLO, the Greek equivalent. Paul, when he wrote to the saints in Rome,
quoted verbatim, the translation of the Septuagint in Rom. 15:9, and thus PSALLO meant, as Paul quoted it, what ZAMAR
meant when David wrote it, and no one questions that ZAMAR refers to the
instrument, alone: or with the voice. If PSALLO, at the time Paul quoted it, had
ceased to mean what it meant when David used it in prophecy, Paul would have
used a word to indicate this, but he didn't, yet he said, "as it is
written". A child can see that if ZAMAR, the Hebrew word which means,
"to play an instrument", or "to sing with instrumental
accompaniment", is translated by PSALLO, the latter must have the meaning
of the former, or it is not "as it is written". The Hebrew word "SHIR"
which means to sing, is never translated by the finite verb PSALLO. The Hebrew
word, ZAMAR is rendered by the Greek PSALLO, forty‑five times, and tile
Hebrew word NAGAN, which means only "to play an instrument" is
rendered by PSALLO, eleven times, by the Septuagint, which Paul quoted. In the
second Century, A. D., one of the oldest, if not the oldest, translations of the
New Testament was made, called the PESNITTA, or PESNITO‑SYRIAC. Said by
John T. Christian, A. M., D. D. to be "regarded by scholars as one of the
best translations of the New Testament ever made" (Immersion, P. 240). In
this translation, we have Rom. 15:9, as follows: "Therefore will I give praise unto thee
among the Gentiles, and play the harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name". Thus we have
·
Rom.
15:9 as it came in the HEBREW from God by
the hand of David Ps. 13:49,
"Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, and play the
harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name"
·
As found in the Greek epistle to Rome,
"Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, and play the
harp (PSALO) unto thy name"
·
"In the Pesnito‑Syriac, we
read, "Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles and play
the harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name". Thus we have the language of the East,
using "ZAMAR", and the message to the West, using "PSALO" as
a translation of it. And then the language of the West turning PSALO back to
ZAMAR, the original word, as it came from God, and meaning to "play an
instrument" or "to sing with instrumental accompaniment".
Now let us
consider another passage with PSALO in it. PSALO is future tense of PSALLO. Paul
said, I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the understanding
also" 1 Cor. 14:15. The word
"PSALO" here is rendered ZAMMAR by the PESNITO-SYRIAC, which always
involved a musical instrument. The same source translates James 5:13, "If he rejoices, let him MEZAMMAR. The Greek is
"let him (PSALLETO) strike the strings. " Notice that Paul says,
"I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the understanding
also". Whatever "PSALO" means, it is to be done "with the
spirit" and "with the understanding also". These are not,
however, the instruments by which the PSALO is done, but that by which the doing
is determined. Paul said, "I serve with my spirit" Rom.
1:9. No one understands Paul to I mean that the "spirit" (human
spirit, heart, or mind) is the instrument by which the service is rendered, but
rather, the mental determination in the thing done, as Jn.
4:24 requires. Paul said, "We…worship God in the spirit" Phil.
3:3. And thus showed that all acceptable worship springs from the spirit and
the acceptableness of it is determined by "as he thinketh in his
heart", thus "doing the will of God from the heart" Eph.
6:6, "in singleness of heart, as unto Christ" Eph
6:5. This is true in all that we do, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto men" Col.
3:23. The "spirit" determines the Lord's acceptance of the thing
done. The thing done may be "in truth", yet not "in spirit".
The condition of "the will" determines "the good pleasure"
of God in the "do" Phil. 2:13.
When Paul said, "I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the
understanding", Joseph Bryant Rothersham, in his "Emphasized
Bible" translated "PSALO" as follows, "I will strike the
strings (PSALO) with the spirit, and I will strike the strings also with the
mind"
1
Cor. 14:15. What does this mean? Simply this:
Whatever is signified by "PSALO", it was done "with the
spirit", in the sense that it was acceptable as "worship; “and
"with the understanding" in the sense that it was known what was
"harped". Look at 1 Cor. 14:7,
"and even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except
they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or
harped?" The "understanding" of 1
Cor. 14:15, is essential to this "distinction” of 1 Cor. 14:7.
In Eph.
5:18,19, we read, "be filled with the spirit; speaking one to another
(the footnote reads, "to yourselves" as does the text of the King
James Version) in PSALMS and HYMNS and SPIRITUAL SONGS, SINGING and MAKING
MELODY with your heart to the Lord". Rotherham translates this passage as
follows: "But be getting filled in Spirit: Speaking to yourselves with
PSALMS (PSALMOIS) and HYMNS and SPIRITUAL SONGS (ODE) singing (ADONTES) and
striking the strings (PSALLONTES) with your heart unto the Lord". The word
"melody" in both the A.S.V. and the King James, is from "PSALLONTES"
meaning to "play on a stringed instrument" (Strong's Lexicon), and so
translated by Rotherham "striking the strings". The effort to get
around this, has adopted the idea that the word PSALLO did not have this meaning
during the apostolic times, or the other subterfuge, which is just as silly,
that the idea of "striking the strings". Which all admit the word
originally meant, was figurative at the time Eph.
5:19 was written, and simply referred to the "heart strings";
thus, "striking the strings" of the heart. The expression is "PSALLONTES
with your heart" Eph. 5:19. The
heart is the seat of thought Acts 8:22,
and just as the artist must first imagine, or think what he wishes to make
visible to the eye. So of him who sings or plays, he must first think the tone
in mind or heart before he produces it with voice or hand. To "PSALLONTES
with your heart" is to produce by skill of hand what the heart thinks. If
one cannot think melody in his heart, he cannot produce melody with his hand.
In
Ps. 15:2, we have the expression
"speaketh truth in his heart". On the principle that "those
things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart" Matt.
15:18, we understand how "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh" Matt. 12:34. As truth
originates in the heart and is expressed with the mouth, so melody originates in
the heart and is expressed by:
·
ADONTEE (sing) or
·
PSALLONTES (play) or both.
In Eph.
5:19, 1 Cor. 14:15, and Col. 3:16,
we see that it is once said, "I will PRAY with the spirit", and once
"with the understanding". Once "I will play (PSALO) with the
spirit", and once, "with the understanding". Once it is said,
"play (PSALLONTES) in your heart to the Lord", and twice "sing
(ADO) in your heart to the Lord". Whatever is said of playing is also said
of both singing and praying. If one is figurative, all three are. If "'in
your heart" is metaphoric, so is "with the spirit", and so is
"with the understanding". If one cannot actually play an instrument in
his heart, nor with his spirit, nor yet with his understanding, neither can one
pray, or sing in the heart, nor with the spirit, nor yet with the
understanding" (Instrumental Music is Scriptural, P. 96,97).
In closing
this part of our study, compare 2 Sam.
22:1‑51, with Ps. 18:1‑50,
and note that 2 Sam. 22:50, and Ps. 18:49 are quoted by Paul in Rom. 15:9. The word "sing" in 2 Sam. 22:50, is ZAMAR and is defined by Strong as "touching
with the fingers to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i.e., to
play upon it; t o make music accompanied by the voice". David prophesied
that this was to be done "among the heathen" (nations) Ps.
18:49 when they "trust" in Christ Rom.
15:12. Then "Rejoice ye Gentiles and laud him, all ye people" Rom.
15:11; thus, "Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people" (Rom.
15:10). It was at this tune that the worshippers were to "ZAMAR unto thy
name" 2 Sam. 22:50, Ps
18:49, according to prophecy, and according to Paul, were to "PSALO
unto thy name" Rom. 15:9. Paul quoted the Septuagint who had translated the Hebrew
ZAMAR by the Greek PSALO, and did it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, at
the same time affirming "AS IT IS WRITTEN" Rom. 15:9.
If the
Christian is to be found "singing (ADONTES) and making melody (PSALLONTES)
in your heart to the Lord" Eph. 5:19.
And it is objected that PSALLONTES could not be striking the strings of a
musical instrument, because it is "in your heart", singing, as an act
of worship would also be impossible, for singing involves the vocal cords,
tongue, and mouth. And we say if “singing…in your heart” will permit the
use of vocal cords, tongue, and mouth, that “PSALLONTES…in your” will
permit “striking the strings of a musical instrument”. That the word ZAMAR
meant this, no one denies, then PSALO means this let us practice in worship.
Prepared by:
H. Frank Fort, Minister,
Berean Baptist Church,
Houston TX,
Jan. 2, 1957.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"