Cunning Musicians ”Every minister should be able to manifest the power of God when needed. If they can’t, they should not be ministering.” Curry Blake Skillful musicians are a dime a dozen. Almost any skillful musician can play praise and worship songs in the house of God. But to truly be a ministering musician in the assembly of believers requires much more than a skillful musician. It requires a cunning musician and even a musician who can prophesy on his or her instrument. David required cunning musicians and musicians who could prophesy on their musical instruments for service in the Tabernacle of David, the house of God. 1Chronicles 25:1 What is a cunning musician? When we think of the word “cunning” we think of shrewdness, subtlety, slyness or wiliness. Noah Webster defines the word as skilled, experienced or well instructed because that is how the Word of God defines it most often. Exodus 38:23 And with him [was] Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. The above verse is one of many that defines the word “cunning” as “skilled” and even denotes being highly artistic. The Hebrew word(s) translated as cunning in the following verses have these definitions: to be discerning, to know, to perceive, to have keen insight, to be understanding and even to know that which is divinely imparted to men. 1 Samuel 16:16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 1 Samuel 16:18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him. I Samuel 16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. 1 Chronicles 25:1 Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals…. 1 Chronicles 25:3 Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD. 1 Chronicles 25: 7 So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight. Saul servants looked for more than a skilled harp player, they looked for a “cunning” harp player. They knew beforehand that cunningly played music would cause the evil spirit to leave. The language is quite clear that the cunning quality was necessary. Why did the evil spirit depart from Saul when David played the harp cunningly? 1) A careful study of Ezekiel 28 reveals why the devil and his minions hate music played unto the Lord. 2) David played cunningly on his harp as he was a prophet not only vocally but musically. To play cunningly meant to play prophetically with discernment and insight as to the state of Saul. 3) David understood that playing cunningly on his harp was spiritual warfare as did even Saul’s servants. David apparently didn’t mindlessly play whatever popped into his mind or just play a few of his favorite riffs, runs and tunes. He depended upon the Lord, the Spirit of prophecy to guide his mind, his fingers and his hands to play the music that the Lord gave him. Psalms 137:5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Psalms 144:1 <<A Psalm of David.>> Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: So David was actually prophesying on his harp. How do we prophesy on musical instruments? The Bible doesn’t specifically tell us how to do this, but we know that it tells us how a prophet prophesied verbally. He spoke the words verbally that God gave him to speak. Likewise a musician would prophesy musically on his instrument the music that God gives him to play. If God can give a person words to say, he can also give a person notes to play. What purpose does God have for prophesying on musical instruments? Consider that the highest being ever created by God was Lucifer. Lucifer was created as a living musical instrument according to Ezekiel 28. This should signify to us that God placed the highest importance on music. Music accompanies the creation of the earth, the coming of the Messiah, the end of time, the gathering of the saints, the day of the Lord, and is continually around the throne of God. Music is a powerful means to touch the heart of God and to commune with him. It is also commanded of believers to not only minister to God with music but to minister to one another with music. 1 Chronicles 16:9 Psalms 105:2 Ephesians 5:19 Colossians 3:16 James 5:13 Why does God require cunning musicians in the service of the house of God? Because only a cunning musician, who by the power of the Holy Spirit, can discern, perceive and have the keen insight to know how to prophetically minister in the house of God. God requires a skillful cunning musician serving in the house of God to be instructed in the songs of the Lord. This requires that such a musician be in the Word of God and know the Word of God. It is impossible to prophesy without knowing the Word of God. Even as David knew, music, praise and worship is spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness along with prayer.
phenomenon that should be handled with the greatest of skill and discernment. In actuality, being a cunning musician can be as simple as knowing when or when not to play or simply being submitted to the leadership and in unity enough to know how to musically follow the leader of the worship team. |