CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1 Samuel 16:20. “An Ass,” etc. The Hebrew is an ass of bread. Reland adduces a great number of quotations from Greek writers, showing that the ancients used a bottle with two long handles, which, from their resemblance to asses’ ears, were called (όνοι) asses; and the Greek poet Sosibus says of one of his heroes, “He ate three times in the space of a single day three great asses of bread, which Casaubon understood to signify the lading of three asses, whereas the true meaning is the contents of three vases or jars called asses.” (Jamieson.) “These presents show how simple were the customs of Israel, and in the court of Saul at that time.” (Keil.)
1 Samuel 16:21. “His Armour-bearer.” “This choice, being an expression of the king’s partiality shows how honourable the office was held to be.” (Jamieson.)
1 Samuel 16:23. “Harp.” “The kuinor, not the large heavy instrument denoted by the word harp amongst us, but the lyre, a light, portable instrument resembling a bow in shape” (Jamieson). “Saul was refreshed,” etc. “Bochard has collected many passages from profane writers, which speak of the medicinal effects of music on the mind and body, especially as appeasing anger, and soothing and pacifying a troubled spirit,” (Biblical Dictionary.) “Did the music banish the demon! Not so, but the higher frame of mind into which the king was brought by it sufficed to limit at least the sphere of the operation of the evil spirit within him … Besides, the silent intercessions which David sent up to heaven on the wings of the music of his harp must have contributed not a little to the results with which his melodies were crowned” (Krummacher).
MAIN HOMILET1CS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 16:19-23
DAVID AT COURT
We here have—
I. Saul an instrument of good to David. David was one day to sit upon the throne of Israel, and although he already possessed many qualities of mind and heart which fitted him for such a position, the transition from the home at Bethlehem to the palace was a very great one, and the man who was to experience it needed some intervening training. It was expedient that he should have some experience of the life of the court before he became its head, and, in the providence of God, the man whom he was to succeed was the instrument by whom he gained that experience.
II. David a means of blessing to Saul. Saul, miserable and God-forsaken though he was, was not yet beyond the soothing power of sacred music, and it was ordained by God that David’s skill and piety should administer this passing comfort to his spirit. Music seems to have been left to us by God to remind us—
1. Of the moral harmony of the heavenly world. All the inhabitants of the city of God live in a state of concord as perfect and as morally beautiful as the most exquisite music. There creatures of various gifts and diverse dispositions so perfectly agree with each other that no note of discord is ever heard, and the diversity of each only heightens the harmony of the whole.
2. Of the harmony that once ruled in the human soul. The soul of man has not always been torn asunder by conflicting passions, or by the promptings of good on the one side and of evil on the other. Conscience did not always assume the position of a sentinel and stand with drawn sword to avenge the first transgression of the law written upon the human heart. There was a time when conscience had only one work to do—to approve of human deeds and so add to human happiness instead of being also compelled by human sinfulness to take the attitude of a reprover and a judge, and so increase the discord within the human soul. Music reminds us of what man’s inner life was when God first created him morally in His own image—when every faculty and feeling and desire was in perfect harmony with each other, and with all that is beautiful and good.
3. Of the harmony of the Divine nature. In proportion as the Christian’s heart and life approaches perfect conformity to the will of God, he finds a music within the soul which passeth all understanding. If he could look back upon all his past life and feel conscious that he had never wronged either himself, or his neighbour, or his God, and if he could feel confident that his whole future would be as perfect as his past, how blessed would be the harmony within! This is the experience of God—this makes Him ever and perfectly blessed—this makes His whole being perfectly free from any shadow of discord, and constitutes music a type of the harmonious blending of all the glorious attributes of His character.
III. Music, by shadowing forth these moral truths, is intended to comfort and to elevate mankind. If, when the soul is cast down by sorrow or degraded by sin, it will yield itself to the influence of this gift of God, rays of light will penetrate the darkness, and a dew of hope will fall upon the scorched soul. If even Saul became for a season delivered from the bondage of evil, when he listened to the sweet sounds of David’s harp, music must be one agency to lift the soul of man into communion with the unseen world and the unseen God, and so to do something towards restoring it to its original harmony. That it has such a tendency we have abundant evidence from the testimony of experience. “Music,” says Luther, “is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God, to which Satan is a bitter enemy, for it removes from the heart the weight of sorrow and the fascinations of evil thought. Music is a kind and gentle sort of discipline, it refines the passion and improves the understanding.” And in most of the revivals of spiritual life in the Church of God, music has been one of the agencies employed. It follows therefore that redeemed men ought to cultivate a knowledge of music, and render thanks unto God for having left us this reminder of heaven and of Himself.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 1 Samuel 16:23
This remarkable instance of the power of music over the mind is in conformity with the experiments of physicians, and with various intimations which may be found in ancient authors … In the Mèmoires of the French Academy of Sciences for 1707, are recorded many accounts of diseases which, having obstinately resisted the remedies prescribed by the most able of the faculty, at length yielded to the powerful impressions of harmony. One of these is the case of a person who was seized with fever, which soon threw him into a very violent delirium, almost without any interval, accompanied by bitter cries, by tears, by terrors, and by an almost constant wakefulness. On the third day, a hint that fell from himself suggested the idea of trying the effect of music. Gradually, as the strain proceeded, his troubled visage relaxed into a most serene expression, his restless eyes became tranquil, his convulsions ceased, and the fever absolutely left him. It is true that when the music was discontinued his symptoms returned; but by frequent repetitions of the experiment, during which the delirium always ceased, the power of the disease was broken, and the habits of a sound mind re-established. Six days sufficed to accomplish a cure … More remarkable, as well as more truly parallel, is the case of Philip the Fifth of Spain and the musician Farinelli, in the last century. The king was seized with a total dejection of spirits, which made him refuse to be shaved, and incapable of appearing in council or of attending to any affairs. The queen, after all other methods had been essayed, thought of trying what might be effected by the influence of music, to which the king was known to be highly susceptible. We have no doubt that this experiment was suggested to her by this case of Saul and David. The celebrated musician Farinelli was invited to Spain, and it was contrived that there should be a concert in a room adjoining the king’s apartment, in which the artist should perform one of his captivating songs. The king appeared surprised at first, then greatly moved, and at the end of the second air he summoned the musician to his apartment and, loading him with compliments, asked him how he could reward such talents. Farinelli, previously tutored, answered that he desired nothing but that his majesty would permit his attendant to shave and dress him, and that he would endeavour to make his appearance in the council as usual. The king yielded, and from this time his disease gave way, and Farinelli had the honour of the cure. Kitto.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 16:19. While David followed the sheep he had ample time at his disposal, but instead of letting it go by in idleness, or frittering it away in spasmodic study, now of this thing now of that, he specially concentrated his attention on the art of music, until he acquired rare skill and excellence in playing upon the harp, and it was through this self-taught attainment that he was first called forth into public life. It is of immense consequence that the young people of these days should see the necessity of acting in a similar manner.… It is a preparation for future eminence. It is interesting to observe how many have passed through this very gate to usefulness and honour.—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
1 Samuel 16:23. There is a mystery and a meaning in music we can never either expound or explore; and it is felt that those natures which are the greatest burden and mystery to themselves find most the solace of song in the combinations of all sweet sounds; we have known this, it is not always that in joyfulness of heart we sing.… I have known a woman, disappointed and forsaken, flying to her piano; her fingers rushing over the keys have given liberation to her spirit, and the chords opened the sealed well of tears, and the rains descended and the floods came. And something like this is a very general experience. Hence we have poetry for all cultured people and hymns for holy people; and do we not know what it is to become happy while we sing?—Hood.
It was a song without words whose soothing melody fell upon the ear of the king. Words corresponding to the music would have produced the contrary result to that which was aimed at, and might even have increased the ill temper of the king. There are even yet men enough of this sort—persons without faith, yea, at variance both with God and the world—whom solemn music is able most powerfully to delight, and in whom it awakens, at least for the time, dispositions which border on devotion and piety, while yet the words which correspond to the sacred melody would produce in them the very opposite effect. What is manifest from this, but that in the soul of such persons the last point at which they may be touched by that which is sacred has not yet wholly decayed away?—Krummacher.
It was a mere foreshadow, on a comparatively low and earthly ground, of the wondrous way in which David, as the Psalmist, was afterwards to provide the true “oil of joy for the mourner,” and to become a guide to the downcast soul “from the horrible pit,” up to the third heaven of joy and peace.—Blaikie.
The music was more than a mere palliative. It brought back for a time the sense of a true order, a secret, inward harmony, an assurance that it is near to every man, and that he may enter into it. A wonderful message, no doubt, to a king or a common man, better than a great multitude of words, a continual prophecy that there is a deliverer who can take the vulture from the heart, and unbind the sufferer from the rock; but not (as many, I suppose, must bitterly know) the deliverer itself.—Maurice.