Archaeological Views: Performing Psalms in Biblical Times
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The Bible does not tell us much about how psalms were originally performed. Archaeology and extra-Biblical texts, however, can shed some light on the music and dance that accompanied psalms in Biblical times.
When the Book of Psalms was compiled, disparate pieces of information got integrated into the psalms’ superscripts or subscripts. These contain rubrics—comments and directions introducing or following a psalm. In these notes, ancient scribes indicated the genre and alleged authorship of individual psalms and their association with King David; they also provided instructions on how to perform the psalms.
Every Bible reader recognizes sentences such as “To the leader: with stringed instruments. A psalm of David” (Psalm 4:1). Similar verses are usually not read aloud—and rightly so, because they are not part of the hymn. Rather, they are remarks of the editors. As such, they are commonly printed as headings, or superscripts, introducing individual psalms—but this arrangement is by no means certain. In antiquity, subscripts were much more common than superscripts. When read as subscripts, these “headings” suddenly make more sense.
One example is Psalm 46, which praises God for his defense of a city and its people. The superscript reads, “According to the maiden. A song.” That sounds odd. But if considered a subscript instead, the note relates to the preceding Psalm 45, which is a song for the royal wedding and contains verses such as “in many-colored robes she is led to the king; behind her the virgins, her companions, follow” (Psalm 45:14). The instruction then fits perfectly the content of the hymn.
Most psalm rubrics in the first three books of the psalter are addressed “to the leader.” This seems to indicate that they were sung by a chorister alternating with a choir, which would explain the switching between the first and third person we find in many of these psalms.
Rubrics to Psalm 45, Psalm 60, Psalm 69, and Psalm 80 contain the expression “according to lotuses.” An adequate interpretation of this instruction had until recently been obscured by the fact that the Hebrew al-shoshannim was translated as “according to lilies,” while in fact shushan is an Egyptian loan-word for the lotus flower. Lotus was an important decorative element in both Egypt and the Levant, and it even featured prominently in the Jerusalem Temple. How is this relevant to a musical performance?
The shape of a lotus plant reminded the ancient Egyptians of a trumpet. And indeed, in the tomb of King Tutankhamun (14th century B.C.E.) a copper trumpet was found with its wooden insert designed to protect the soft sheet of metal from accidental deformation when not used; this insert is characteristically decorated with a lotus flower, a symbol of rebirth and long life.1 It is possible that also the silver trumpets made by Moses (Numbers 10:2) bore a lotus décor. If so, the instruction in Psalm 45, Psalm 60, Psalm 69, and Psalm 80 would refer to the use of trumpets. And if, further still, the alleged psalm superscripts are in fact subscripts, “according to lotuses” would belong to Psalm 44, Psalm 59, Psalm 68, and Psalm 79. Two of these psalms (Psalm 59 and Psalm 79) are psalms of vengeance, expressing this plea to God: “Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name” (Psalm 79:6). Psalm 44 is a desperate lament to God: “Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O LORD? Awake, do not cast us off forever!” 063(Psalm 44:23). Finally, in Psalm 68 God is called upon to demonstrate his power: “Summon your might, O God; show your strength, O God, as you have done for us before” (Psalm 68:28). In all four psalms, people are trying to awaken God, who seems to be absent or sleeping. In these cases, a trumpet would help to bring the people’s concerns to God’s ear. “According to lotuses” must then be a euphemism for the noise of trumpets aimed at awaking God and making him attentive to the words of the psalmist.
Among the Levantine parallels to the Biblical psalms is the famous text corpus from Ugarit on the northern coast of modern Syria. This collection contains cultic hymns from the 14th century B.C.E. While the Book of Psalms in its final form is the result of much later editorial work, the oldest psalms probably originated in the same period—around 1400 B.C.E. It is then not surprising that the southern Levantine music of the Bible shared many aspects with the northern Levantine cult music. In the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic texts, musical forms and instruments are called by the same West Semitic words. Like the Ugarites, the Israelites of Jerusalem celebrated their chief god as king. The image of Yahweh as a king residing on Zion is in fact one of the most important in the psalter (e.g., Psalm 24 and Psalm 47).
An element missing from psalms, but present in a Ugaritic hymn for the enthronement of Baal, is a praise of the god as a lover—like in love poetry.2 In the Biblical psalms, the link between love songs and cult songs is less apparent, but not entirely absent. Erotic aspects of the Israelite cult transpire in the festive translation of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, at which King David is portrayed dancing almost naked. A dance—including erotic moves and pantomime—was part of the Levantine cultic tradition. But as the episode of Michal daughter of Saul shows, those rural Canaanite customs were not appreciated by everybody: “Michal … looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart” (2 Samuel 6:16).
Little is known about the personal use of psalms. Festive processions—mentioned in the Psalms, in some Biblical stories, and in the Books of Chronicles—are better documented. Several psalms suggest that the most significant place for festive performances of hymns was a gate (Psalm 15; Psalm 24; Psalm 87; Psalm 118). Large gates decorated with music scenes have been excavated in the northern Levant, especially in the southern Hittite or northern Aramean region. The reliefs on orthostats (base stones of public buildings) from the late Hittite cities display showily dressed musicians with instruments that correspond perfectly to the musical instruments we know from the Bible.
What can archaeology tell us about how ancient musicians performed? Their habitus on the reliefs is varied. Musicians are sometimes marching gravely, as the orchestra on the Karatepe relief, or are static, as on the above relief from Samal. Different reliefs, however, render scenes with playful and even ecstatic elements. Consider also the following Biblical description: “David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres (kinnorot) and bass lyres (nevalim) and tambourines and castanets and cymbals” (2 Samuel 6:5).
Even outside the Bible, Yahweh was seen as a music lover. Next to the famous invocation of Yahweh and his Asherah on a pithos from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, there appears a depiction of a lyre player.a And a fourth-century B.C.E. Aramaic papyrus from Egypt contains the following exhortation: “Drink, LORD (YHW[H]), from the bounty of a thousand basins; be sated/inebriated, Adonai, from the bounty of men. Musicians stand in attendance upon Lord (Mar): a player of the bass lyre (nevel), a player of the lyre (kinnor). ‘Here is the music of the bass lyre (neve[l]). You have caused me to listen to the music of the lyre (kinnor) and to other things sweet to my ears at the banquets of men.’”3
To fully appreciate the effect and relevance of music in the ancient Levant, we would have to imagine a world devoid of modern noises—a place without cars, airplanes, and any sort of machinery. In such an environment, every sound was a strong sensation. The human voice was a physical expression of one’s life; musical instruments were artful means of amplifying the range of human sounds in order to make joyful noises for the gods. With this in mind, we can better understand the significance of hymns in the Bible.
The Bible does not tell us much about how psalms were originally performed. Archaeology and extra-Biblical texts, however, can shed some light on the music and dance that accompanied psalms in Biblical times.
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Footnotes
1. Hershel Shanks, “The Persisting Uncertainties of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud,” BAR, 38:06.
Endnotes
1.
The BBC recorded this and another trumpet in 1939 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt9AyV3hnlc).