03.13. The Minstrel

The Minstrel

Elisha having thus addressed Jehoram, a scene opens, which at its commencement must have appeared strange and unaccountable. Elisha, without assigning any reason, desires a minstrel to be brought before him. A minstrel is conducted into his presence, probably from among the military. At Elisha’s bidding he tunes his instrument, strikes the chords, and plays before the prophet in the solitary wilderness. Elisha and the kings listen to the sweet minstrelsy in profound silence; the latter in anxious doubt as to what was to ensue; the former, soaring with the melodious harmony into higher regions. Of the kind of music which the minstrel played we are not informed. A trifling air, or a martial song, it is not likely to have been. The awful seriousness of the moment, and the presence of the man of God, on which the hopes of the whole army depended, must have sufficiently intimated to the musician what was proper for the occasion. Probably it was one of the well-known songs of Zion, which we may suppose were sometimes played and sung in the army.

Though music is one of the gifts of God, it is not to be numbered with those of the first order, such as our daily bread, his holy word, and many similar blessings. It must rather be classed with the flowers that shed their fragrance around us, and with the various delicious fruits that ripen for our enjoyment. It is intended to redound to the glory of His name, and to contribute to adorn, to cheer, and to soothe our existence. It is the universal dialect of feeling, and constitutes the appropriate medium of a sensibility too refined for common language. As giving expression to some of the tenderest susceptibilities of the soul, it is the most wonderful of the arts; and sometimes acts with very powerful influence. Hence it is a dangerous art, when employed in the service of the world, of vanity, and sin. But when applied to the uses for which it was originally intended, to the praise of the Lord, and the glory of his holy name, to celebrate the works of his hands in the beautiful objects of nature, and the goodness of his ways of providence and grace, and thus to give utterance and emphasis to the nobler and better feelings of the heart, how much of genuine beauty and blessing does it serve to diffuse over our personal and social existence in the life that now is! Luther, our great reformer, who is even celebrated to this day for his sublime compositions in sacred music, has feelingly expressed in some of his writings, his own experience of the truth of the preceding remarks.

Music was in frequent use among the ancient prophets, and was sedulously cultivated in their school. Saul met at the hill of God a company of prophets with psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, to the sound of which they sang their inspired songs, 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 10:10. Music was here put to its legitimate use; for it was employed in the service of holiness. Its inspiration was the love of God, its breathings were raised by the Spirit of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord was its end and object. Thus consecrated from on high, and allied to the harmony of heaven, it ministered to peace and serenity around; to dispelling of discontent and care, to the suggestion and exercise of thought upon the highest subjects, and to the preparation of the mind for every gracious impression. To show how music, applied to holy purposes, can be the means of direct salutary influence upon the soul, it is not necessary to adduce the example of David with his harp playing before Saul. Many of us have experienced it ourselves, and Elisha, who was a man of like passions as we are, was evidently not insensible of it. His spirit, which had been agitated with holy indignation against the son of Ahab, required immediate calming to its wonted equanimity, that it might be a fit mirror of heavenly and oracular light. And now, at the moment of recovered composure and self-possession, Jehovah approaches his prophet in the power of inspiration, as it is written, "The hand of the Lord came upon him." The Spirit of Christ, which was in him, did then signify what he was to declare, advise, and do.