Articles
THEN ISRAEL SANG A SONG…!
From the earliest days of God’s people as a nation, they sang! The first recording of
Israel singing was as they crossed the Red Sea and witnessed the end of their task masters at the
hand of God (Exodus 15). They sang songs to remember the works of God’s hands (Numbers
21; Judges 5). They sang in praise to God as they moved the ark of the convenant from Kiriath-
jearim to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15). They lifted their voice in song when Solomon completed
the building of the temple (2 Chronicles 5). And they sang songs of praise when the temple was
rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 2, 3; Nehemiah 12). As Jesus faced his most
difficult night of trial and punishment, He and His apostles sang a song on the way to the Garden
of Gethsemane (Mark 14:26). Today, the saints are commanded to sing as a means of teaching
(Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12), and as a way of expressing joy (James 5:13)
and praise to God (Hebrews 13:15).
Hidden away in the Old Testament Scriptures are names of song leaders or music
directors. The obvious directors of music wrote many of the psalms sung by the nation of Israel:
David, Moses and Solomon. But there were also directors who “organized” the Israelites in their
praise to God: Chenaniah (1 Chronicles 15:22) and Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun (2 Chronicles
5:12). We also know that in the early worship of the church, individuals “led” in worship (1
Corinthians 14:26). No doubt, the worship of the early church would be far different than ours
today, but they did sing and had leaders!
It is not an easy task to stand before a group and lead all the saints in worship to God, yet
that is what we ask our leaders to do each time they lead: select songs we can sing (and like?),
pitch the song so we can sing them, all in the hopes that we as an “audience” will join together
with lips of praise to our heavenly Father (Hebrews 13:15). May we be quick to lift our voices in
reverent praise to God.
We are truly blessed here with so many capable (and willing!) men to help lead in our
singing from week to week. As I get to travel from time to time, I find that we are the envy of
many congregations because of the number of men we have serving as song leaders. Be sure to
lift up these men in prayer to the Lord as they prepare each week. But we also need to be ready
to sing along with them. Nothing is more discouraging to a song leader than seeing folks NOT
singing, but they will also be quick to agree how encouraging it is when everyone is engaged in
singing praise to God. Let the spiritual Israel today sing songs of praise to God! ~P. Mowrer
