Brian Hedrick

We have established that there are abundant references to instrumental music in the Old Testament, specifically in the Psalms and under the Davidic tradition of worship, but what about the New Testament? Some denominations claim that there are no references to worship with instruments in the New Testament, and since we are under the New Covenant, we should not use instruments in Christian worship, but is this really true? Let’s look closer, by examining two familiar New Testament worship...

King David is called “the sweet psalmist of Israel” in 2 Samuel 23:1. On top of that, he is the most frequently mentioned individual in the psalm headings throughout the book of Psalms. David is also largely responsible for the Old Testament tradition of instrumental music in worship, which began as he ascended the throne of Israel, and extended to the time of Christ. Prior to King David, worship in ancient Israel was relatively silent, largely without the use of instruments. Beginning with...

The first pillar in the Biblical foundations of instrumental music in worship is the Psalms. When considering the Psalms and instrumental music, most instrumentalists think of Psalm 150, but there are actually a total of twenty-four psalms that mention the use of instruments in worship, either in the psalm heading or in the text itself. We won’t take the time to examine all those psalms, but let’s take a closer look at two of the more familiar psalms that mention musical instruments, Psalm...