Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Ver. 23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs] No more pleasing to me than the grunting of a hog or the braying of an ass, because hateless, heartless; for as every sound is not music, so neither is every musical sound melodious to God. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet to our ears as that which comes from the depth of the breast. "Sing with grace in your hearts," is the best tune to all the psalms; which are therefore called "spiritual songs," Colossians 3:16, both because they are indited by the Spirit, and are to be sung with the spirit, 1 Corinthians 14:15, and because they being so sung, do make us more spiritual in the use of them; while we sing David's Psalms with David's heart.
For I will not hear the melody of thy viols] Or of thine organ, harp, cittern, lute, bag pipe, for so some render it, with respect to the etymology of the word Nebel. The Greek rendereth it, Of the psalteries. What need we trouble ourselves much about those things whereof we can neither have proof nor profit, at least not profit enough to pay for the pains? God will not hear either their voice or instrument music, because the heart was wanting.
“ Non vex sed votum, non musica chordula, sed cor. ”
The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or viol is the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears. Think the same of God, and see how exceeding offensive to all his senses, yea, to his very soul, hypocrisy is, Isaiah 1:11,13 .