The various musical instruments mentioned in the Bible (Old and New Testaments). The nature and significance of the biblical instruments has been the subject of considerable discussion from the early Middle Ages onwards. The following article focusses on the meaning of the words as they appear in the original languages of the various biblical texts (Heb., Aramaic, Gk.), using archaeological evidence and other literary sources to establish as far as possible the identity of the individual terms; it also addresses the interpretation of other musical terminology in the Bible. (See also Jewish music, §II.)
References to particular biblical passages follow the Revised Standard Version and the abbreviation IAA is used for the Israel Antiquities Authority.
2. Attempts at classification.
JOACHIM BRAUN
The controversy surrounding the identity and significance of the ‘biblical instruments’ derives from the complexity of the original source. Even the term itself is ambiguous, since it may denote the instruments of the period described by any given text of the Bible, those of the period and environment in which the written tradition originated, or those that have remained in the memory of society from a certain stage of the oral tradition. Furthermore, should a reference to an instrument be regarded as a theological symbol or a historical document? Must it be placed in the relevant context by archaeological finds before it may be regarded as concrete fact? It is possible to discuss the subject only if an interdisciplinary approach is adopted involving ‘new and processual archaeology’, recent studies of the Pentateuch, and modern archaeomusicology. Although the organological information provided by the biblical texts themselves is scanty, the social and symbolic context of the music can often be established quite precisely (see Kolari, 1947).
Study of the significance, closeness to reality and symbolism of biblical musical instruments goes back to the first translations of the authentic text from its original language of Hebrew. Even the Septuagint, the Peshitta (Syriac translation), the Targum (Aramaic translation) and the Vulgate provide evidence of uncertainty on the part of the earliest translators: for example, kinnor and ‘uġav (Genesis iv.21) are translated in the Septuagint as psaltirion and kithara, in the Peshitta as kinnora and zimara, in the Targum as kinnora and ‘abbuba and in the Vulgate as cithara and organo. Various different translations are also given for the same instrument within these languages: for instance, kinnor appears in the Septuagint as kithara, kinira, psalterion and organon. The interpretation of nebel as ‘harp’, now refuted by archaeological evidence, is partly based on confusing translations of this kind. The etymology of the names of instruments, however, may be helpful in identification: the derivation of kinnor from the root knr, for instance, clearly indicates that it is an instrument of the lyre type (Ellermeier, 1970). Comparative approaches – textual, etymological, archaeological and ethnological – often complement and elucidate questions of biblical organology.
Secondary sources such as the post-biblical scriptures (the Mishnah, and the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds), the Apocrypha, the Qumran scrolls (1QM, 1QS), the writings of Jewish authors in the Roman period (Flavius Josephus, Philo of Alexandria) and of the Church Fathers (see McKinnon, 1987) – may also be used in biblical interpretation. The Middle Ages regarded the range of musical instruments that features in the Bible as allegorical: musica practica was ignored, and scientia musicae studied only for the theological significance of the instruments.
Modern biblical organology begins with two works that appeared at almost the same time, one by a Jewish author (Portaleone, 1612) and one by a Christian (PraetoriusSM, 1614–19/R). The former refers to contemporary instruments for the interpretation of the biblical text; the latter bases its discussion exclusively on textual material, on the grounds that there were no relevant musical antiquities in Israel/Palestine (vol.ii, f.4), a claim still being made as late as NOHM (Kraeling and Mowry, 1960, p.295). Since Praetorius, scarcely a work of general historical musicology has been written that does not include a chapter on biblical instruments. In the 17th and 18th centuries the landmarks on the subject were the writings of Hawkins (1776), Pfeiffer (1779) and Forkel (1788). From the 19th century to the early 20th, biblical organology was concentrated on Jewish antiquity studies (Jahn, 1817; Saalschütz, 1829; Wellhausen, 1898) but reached its peak in the work of Engel (1864), who emphasized the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach. With Sachs (1940), biblical musicology entered a new era. Although his work has not lost its importance, the outmoded equation of biblical texts with the musical history of ancient Israel/Palestine is dominant in Sachs and indeed in some writers up to the present day (Kraeling and Mowry, 1960; Sendrey, 1969; Werner, Grove6, and 1989; Seidel, 1989). The first study devoted to the archaeomusicological finds of ancient Israel/Palestine was Sellers, 1941. A series of studies from the second half of the 20th century (Bayer, 1963, 1968, and 1971; Keel, 1972; Beck, 1982; Mazar, 1976; Meshorer, 1982; Meyers, 1987; Braun, 1994, and 1999) consider archaeology to be the primary source for studying the musical instruments of ancient Israel/Palestine.
The text of the Old Testament suggests the possibility that there was an internal (‘culture-emerging/natural’, Kartomi, 1990) classification of biblical instruments, although it remains difficult to prove for certain. For example, the musical instruments of the priests (hasoserah) and the Levite guilds of musicians (kinnor, nebel, mesiltayim) appear as a group in Chronicles (1 Chronicles xvi.5–6). Gerson-Kiwi (1957), for instance, used such evidence to distinguish between ‘les instruments “sacerdotaux”’ (shofar, hasoserah), ‘les instruments lévitiques’ (kinnor, nebel) and ‘les instruments “laics”’ (‘uġav, halil, abuv, magrefah; the last is no longer considered to have been a musical instrument). Avenary (1958) attempted a socio-historical classification: magic sound-generating items of the Nomadic Period (shofar, hasoserah, mesiltayim); art music instruments of urban cultures (kinnor, nebel, halil); and Temple instruments (shofar, hasoserah, halil, kinnor, nebel, mesiltayim). Sachs (1940) preferred a classification based on the sequence of references to individual instruments in the Old Testament. The greater part of the literature on this subject is based on artificial patterns rooted in the contemporary musical culture of period in which it was written (‘observer-imposed/artificial’, Kartomi, 1990). The earliest such classifications are found in Portaleone as instruments designated as suitable and unsuitable for art music, and in PraetoriusSM as musical instruments mentioned in the texts of the Psalms, string instruments, cymbals and so on. Since Pfeiffer (1779) and Forkel (1788) a tripartite division into string, wind and percussion instruments has been accepted, and more recently has been equated with the Hornbostel and Sachs classification of 1914.
An internal classification clearly appears in the New Testament: the salpinx and kithara, both of which are identified with the voice of God, are sacred symbols, while the aulos and cymbals are secular instruments.
(xiii) The instruments of ‘Daniel’
(xv) The terminology of the ‘Psalms’, and unexplained terms.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(2 Samuel vi.5).
This instrument (pl. of ‘es berosh: ‘cypress tree’) is mentioned only once in the Bible (bekhol ‘asei beroshim: ‘all manner of instruments made of fir wood’); in the parallel passage (1 Chronicles xiii.8) it is replaced by the phrase bekhol-’oz uvshirim (‘with all their might, with song’), apparently to evade the instrument's secular and orgiastic aspect. Modern studies interpret it as a cypress-wood clapper (Avenary, MGG1). Evidence exists for the use of bone clappers in the shape of the head of the goddess Hathor in Canaan in the late Bronze Age, and it is probable that clappers made of the widespread local cypress were used for ritual and pararitual mass events during the period of the Kings (10th–8th centuries bce).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(1 Samuel x.5. 1 Kings i.40. Isaiah v.12; xxx.29. Jeremiah xlviii.36).
The root word hll (‘to hollow out’ or ‘to bore through’) is widely distributed throughout the Semitic language area (Gesenius, 17/1921, p.233b). The word also means ‘profane’, ‘reprehensible’ (Köhler, Baumgartner and Stamm, 1967–90, i, 305), and in the Old Testament usually signifies ‘to desecrate’ or ‘to profane’ (Botterweck, 1973–, iii, 972 and 981–2). The Septuagint translates it as aulos, the Vulgate as tibia, but the Peshitta and Targum present a very confused picture, variously making it a drum, cymbals, a string or wind instrument. Modern editions of the Bible usually translate it as ‘flute’, although the Septuagint and Vulgate provide grounds for interpreting it as a double- or single-reed instrument. The talmudic literature confirms this viewpoint (Mishnah, ‘Arakhin ii.3), and modern musicology is inclined to accept the interpretation (Sachs, 1940; Bayer, 1968; Marcuse, 1975). Other scholars, supported by the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 55b), prefer to see the word as a collective term for wind instruments (Gerson-Kiwi, 1957; Sendrey, 1969).
The halil is mentioned as being played at rejoicings for the anointing of the king (1 Kings i.40), at victory celebrations (Isaiah xxx.29) and in connection with prophetic ecstasy (1 Samuel x.5), but it is also a symbol of lamentation (Jeremiah xlviii.36) and an instrument of sinners (Isaiah v.12). The talmudic texts indicate that the halil was made of reed (Mishnah, ‘Arakhin ii.3) or bone (Mishnah, Kelim iii.6). Sometimes it was plated with copper or bronze, as is confirmed by archaeological finds from the Romano/Hellenistic Period, but this new technique was opposed by the religious establishment on the grounds that the halil then lost its sweetness of tone (Babylonian Talmud, ‘Arakhin 10b). The only Iron Age wind instrument in ancient Israel/Palestine for which archaeological evidence exists is the double reedpipe (fig.1), which is usually interpreted as an instrument of the clarinet or oboe type.
According to the Jerusalem Talmud, the halil was played before the altar on only 12 days in the year (Sukkah 55a) and the Temple orchestra was to contain no less than two and no more than 12 such instruments (Mishnah, ‘Arakhin ii.3). This, however, contradicts the Old Testament texts where none of the five passages where the halil is mentioned relates to liturgical or Temple music. It was often used on paraliturgical and secular occasions: an offering of fruits (Mishnah, Bikkurim iii.3–4; see Jewish music, §II, fig.13), at festivals of pilgrimage or rejoicing (Mishnah, ‘Arakhin ii.3), and at funerals (Mishnah, Ketubbot iv.4: ‘even the poorest man in Israel shall have no less than two halilim and a female mourner at his wife's funeral’). Archaeological and written sources confirm that the halil was an ecstatic and orgiastic instrument. The dualism whereby the halil is an instrument of both the Temple and sinners, of joy and lamentation alike, has been characteristic from ancient times to the present day (Avenary, 1971).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Numbers x.2 and 8–10; xxxi.6. 2 Kings xi.14; xii.13. Hosea v.8. Psalms xcviii.6. Ezra iii.10. Nehemiah xii.35 and 41. 1 Chronicles xiii.8; xv.24 and 28; xvi.6 and 42. 2 Chronicles v.12–13; xiii.12 and 14; xv.14; xx.28; xxiii.13; xxix.26–8).
The term, for which no clear etymology is known, is possibly linked to the Arabic verb hsr (‘to howl’, ‘to scream’). Translated in the Septuagint as salpinx and in the Vulgate as tuba, the hasoserah is generally understood to be a metal trumpet.
The hasoserah appears in the books written before the Babylonian Exile as an instrument of war and rejoicing, and was played by the people. After the Exile the instrument assumed a ritual and priestly status in the Temple (2 Kings xii.14), but was also played at assemblies of the community (Numbers x.2), on feast days (Numbers x.10), when the Ark was borne in procession (1 Chronicles xv.25), at the taking of an oath (2 Chronicles xv.14), in war (Numbers x.2), and on such solemn occasions as the king's accession to the throne (2 Chronicles xxiii.13) and the laying of the foundation stone of the Temple (Ezra iii.10). Two forms of sound production are mentioned (Numbers x.1–7): teqi‘ah, a long, strong note (for ‘the journeying of the camps’ and the assembly of army leaders); and teru‘ah, a blaring tone for an alarm warning of enemy attack or divine admonition.
This is the only instrument whose construction and material are mentioned in any real detail in the Old Testament: it was to be made of hammered silver (Numbers x.2), about an ell (40 cm) in length, with a narrow tube and a broad bell (Josephus, iii.12, 6; fig.2). The two pieces of archaeological evidence most frequently cited – the depictions of trumpets on the Arch of Titus in Rome and the Bar Kokhba coinage, however are not reliable sources. The widespread hypothesis that the hasoserah derived from such Egyptian instruments as the pair of trumpets found in the tomb of Tutankhamun has not been proven. Consequently, a Graeco-Roman or Philistine-Phoenician provenance should not be ruled out.
The Old Testament, and more particularly the post-biblical literature (Mishnah, Rosh ha-shanah iii.3) and the apocalyptic Qumran scroll ‘The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness’ (1QM ii.15–iii.11 and vii.1–ix.9), illustrate the many everyday, ritual and warlike functions of the hasoserah (Seidel, 1956–7). Here the signals of the hasoserah are further subdivided, for instance as a ‘long, drawn-out tone’, a ‘sharp, blaring tone’, and a ‘great warlike noise’. The instruments themselves had inscriptions engraved on them, probably invocations and descriptions of their functions (e.g. ‘called by God’, ‘trumpet of summons’, ‘trumpet of pursuit’). The shofar and hasoserah have often been confused in the interpretation of their significance and symbolism. Although there is a certain continuity in the function and symbolism of both instruments, the hasoserah was both a ritual instrument and a symbol of sanctioned and institutionalized secular autocratic power, while the shofar, had from ancient times been an instrument with magic and mystical theophanic connotations.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Genesis iv.21; xxxi.27. 1 Samuel x.5; xvi.16 and 23. 2 Samuel vi.5. 1 Kings x.12. Isaiah v.12; xvi.11; xxiii.16; xxiv.8; xxx.32. Ezekiel xxvi.13. Psalms xxxiii.2; xliii.4; xlix.4; lvii.8; lxxi.22; lxxxi.2; xcii.3; xcviii.5; cviii.2; cxxxvii.2; cxlvii.7; cl.3. Job xxi.12; xxx.31. Nehemiah xii.27. 1 Chronicles xiii.8; xv.16, 21 and 28; xvi.5; xxv.1, 3 and 6. 2 Chronicles v.12; ix.11; xx.28; xxix.25).
The kinnor is a central organological concept in the Old Testament. As a ‘cultural word that cannot be limited to a linguistic and geographical area … a word the origins of which cannot yet be defined’ (Botterweck, 1973–, iv, 212), the term appears in literary sources long before the Old Testament was written: kinaratim (pl. of kinaru: ‘lyre’) – are first mentioned in a document of the 18th century bce found at Mari (now Tell Hariri, Iraq; Ellermeier, 1970). The root knr appears in Canaanite, Phoenician and Cypriot names of deities (Kinyras, Kinnaras, Kuthar), in the Akkadian and Ugaritic languages (kinaru), in place names (Kinneret, i.e. the Sea of Galilee, Numbers xxxiv.11), as a description of wood (kunar: ‘lotus wood’) and as a Semitic loan word in the New Kingdom of Egypt (knwrw: ‘lyre’).
The kinnor was unusually versatile in its functions: in the first biblical mention of musical instruments (Genesis iv.21) it is a symbol of professional activity, and thereafter appears at festivals of rejoicing (Genesis xxxi.27), at times of mourning (Job xxx.31), in connection with magical cures (1 Samuel xvi.16) and prophecy (1 Samuel x.5), and played in praise of God (Psalm xliii.4) as well as by harlots (Isaiah xxiii.16). Although the Septuagint and the Vulgate show uncertainty regarding the translation of the term (see above, §1), and despite the centuries-old tradition of depicting, both in writing and iconography, the kinnor as the ‘harp of David’, modern scholars are in no doubt that the instrument was in fact a lyre. In the time of Solomon (c974–c937) ‘almug’ wood (perhaps sandalwood) was imported to Israel/Palestine from Lebanon and used in the making of string instruments (1 Kings x.11–12). Josephus (viii.3.8) mentions electrum, an alloy of gold and silver used for making the kinnor. Post-biblical literature provides information about the number of strings (ten in Josephus, vii.12.3; six in Jerome, PL xxvi, 969; seven in the Babylonian Talmud, ‘Arakhin 13b). All sources agree that the kinnor had fewer strings than the nebel (Josephus, op.cit.; Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah 55c). As a rule the kinnor was played with a plectrum (Josephus, op.cit.). It was struck with the hand only in order to achieve special expressive force in therapeutic treatment (1 Samuel xvi.23).
The identification of the kinnor as a lyre is confirmed by archaeological evidence: more than 30 depictions of lyres date from the period relevant to the biblical scriptures in ancient Israel/Palestine, while not a single find has been discovered relating to any other kind of string instrument. Depictions of lyres fall into four types: large asymmetrical box lyres with divergent side arms and a rectangular resonator (fig.3; see also Jewish music, §II, fig.5 and fig.7), asymmetrical lyres with parallel side arms and a rectangular resonator (Braun, MGG2, ‘Biblische Musikinstrumente’, Tafel 2, no.6), small symmetrical lyres with a round or rectangular resonator (ibid., no.11), and Hellenistic-Roman symmetrical lyres with rounded, horn-shaped side arms (fig.4). Important evidence for the Judaean kinnor also comes from Assyria, where a relief showing captive Judaean lyre players from Lakhish (701 bce; see Jewish music, §II, fig.8) was discovered at Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh.
Although all Middle Eastern lyres were clearly related (Lawergren, 1998; see Lyre (i), §2), the lyres of ancient Israel/Palestine constitute a distinct group within southern Levantine musical culture (see Dever, 1997) with regard to both social context and performing practice. Confirmed by iconographic sources and textual evidence, the social functions of the kinnor ranged from pagan ritual dance and the worship of Cybele to Canaanite and Israelite victory celebrations, and from its use in Judaean worship to its status as an attribute of Dionysus.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(2 Samuel vi.5).
Mentioned a single time in the Bible, this term is known only in the plural and is derived from the verb ni‘ana‘ (‘to shake’). Like the ‘asei beroshim (see above, §3(i)) the instrument has been omitted from the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles xiii.8. The Septuagint and Vulgate agree that it is an idiophone (kimbalon or sistra) and various interpretations have been suggested, but Bayer's identification of it (1964) as a pottery rattle is the most convincing. To date archaeological finds have provided over 70 intact specimens of such percussion instruments of Israelite/Palestinian origin (fig.5). Most have been found in tombs and can be regarded as ritual instruments.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Mesiltayim: Ezra iii.10. Nehemiah xii.27. 1 Chronicles xiii.8; xv.16, 19 and 28; xvi.5 and 42; xxv.1 and 6. 2 Chronicles v.12–13; xxix.25. Selselim: 2 Samuel vi.5. Psalms cl.5).
Onomatopoeic in nature (from Heb. slsl: ‘to clink’, ‘to jingle’), the word mesiltayim (an idiomatic Hebrew dual form) appears only in the post-Exile books of the Old Testament. All written sources confirm the interpretation of the instrument as cymbals (kimbalon in the Septuagint, cymbala in the Vulgate, mzlt in Ugaritic – a dual form). The function of the mesiltayim was that of a ceremonial cult instrument. In the Bible, it is never performed by women, but is a guild instrument of the Levites (Ezra iii.10; 1 Chronicles xv.19), played together with other ritual instruments to accompany exclusively religious occasions (e.g. the dedication of the Temple in 2 Chronicles v.13; an expiatory sacrifice in 2 Chronicles xxix.25). Two texts give a description of the instrument: made of copper with a bright sound (1 Chronicles xv.19); and ‘of metal, large and broad’ (Josephus, vii.12.3).
The selselim (pl.), possibly a metal rattling instrument, appear in the Old Testament long before mesiltayim in a scene imbued with pagan frenzy and describing the carrying of the Ark in procession (2 Samuel vi.5); the institutional mesiltayim replaces it in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles xiii.8. The instruments are also called silselei-shama‘ (‘sounding selselim’) and silselei teru‘ah (‘clashing selselim’) in the context of a paraliturgical mass ceremony of a syncretic nature (Psalm cl.5).
There is a great deal of archaeological evidence for cymbals: at least 28 finds, with diameters of 7–12 and 3–6 cm, have been discovered in 14 cities of ancient Israel/Palestine. The two sizes of these cymbals may correspond to the two descriptions of the selselim in the Psalms (see above). They are slightly vaulted discs with a small metal loop at the centre (fig.6) and give a loud and resonant sound. Such finds fall into two chronological groups: one from the late Canaanite period (14th–12th centuries bce) and the other from the late Hellenistic-Roman period (1st century bce – 3rd century ce). At present it is difficult to explain this wide archaeological gap; it is possible that the references in the Bible to cymbals in the service of God and the Temple are later interpolations.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(1 Samuel x.5. 2 Samuel vi.5. 1 Kings x.12. Isaiah v.12; xiv.11. Amos v.23; vi.5. Psalms lvii.8; lxx.22; lxxxi.2; xcii.3; cviii.2; cl.3. Nehemiah xii.27. 1 Chronicles xiii.8; xv.16, 20 and 28; xvi.5; xxv.1 and 6. 2 Chronicles v.12; ix.11; xx.28; xxix.25. Nebel ‘asor: Psalms xxxiii.2; xcii.3; cxliv.9).
The root nbl can be vocalized in two ways, nabal and nebel (Heb. and Akkadian nabal: ‘ritually unclean’, ‘godless’, ‘a rogue’, ‘a carcass’; Heb., Ugaritic and Syrian nebel: ‘pitcher’, ‘leather bag to contain liquids’, ‘string instrument’; Botterweck, 1973–, v, 185). The word is clearly of Semitic or Phoenician origin (Botterweck, 1973–, v, 186), which may indicate a local origin for this instrument. The translations given in the Septuagint and Vulgate are not consistent (nabla, psaltiron, organon, kinira, lyra, kithara).
The function of the nebel was similar to that of the kinnor (see above, fig.4b; significantly, the two instruments are nearly always mentioned together). A Levite guild instrument (1 Chronicles xv.16), it was played when the Ark was carried in procession (2 Samuel vi.5), at the dedication of the wall (Nehemiah xii.27), at victory celebrations (2 Chronicles xx.28) and as an accompaniment to prophecy (1 Samuel x.5). However, it was also an instrument of the hostile royal power of Babylon and associated with sacrilege (Isaiah v.12). It resembled the kinnor in being made of the wood of ‘almug trees’ (1 Kings x.12).
Unlike the kinnor, the nebel seems to have had 12 strings and was played with the fingers (Josephus, vii.12.3) rather than a plectrum. The Mishnah limits the numbers of nebel instruments used in divine worship (two to six) by comparision with the numbers of kinnor instruments (no less than nine, and with no upward limit; Mishnah, ‘Arakhin ii.5). The strings of the nebel were made of thick gut and those of the kinnor of thin gut (Mishnah, Qinnim iii.6); the sound of the nebel could be loud and noisy (Isaiah xiv.11). Although the instrument has been widely interpreted as a harp, this theory is not supported by archaeological finds as there is no evidence for any pre-Hellenistic harps in the territory of ancient Israel/Palestine. In the present state of research, the hypothesis put foward by Bayer (1968) is convicing: the nebel was a local form of lyre that underwent very little Hellenization, and had a resonator resembling the kind of leather bag used to hold fluids; it produced a loud sound, had more and thicker strings than the kinnor, was played without a plectrum and served as a tenor or bass instrument. The depiction of lyres on the Bar Kokhba coinage may be taken as iconographic evidence (see above, fig.4b). Recently, a crucial proof of the interpretation of the biblical nebel as a lyre has come to light: a stone carving of the Roman period was discovered at Dion in Greece, showing the first instance of text and image side by side: a relief of a lyre next to the carved wording of a hymn of praise on the nabla (see Pandermalis, 1998; Yannou and others, 1998, p.80).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Exodus xxviii.33–4; xxxix.25–6).
The Semitic root p‘m (Ugaritic, Phoenician, Heb.), meaning ‘foot’ or ‘step’, occurs frequently in Old Testament words, although less often with the sense of ‘to strike’, ‘make resound’ on which the identification of this instrument as a bell depends (Kolari, 1947). Translated in the Septuagint as kobon and in the Vulgate as tintinnabulum, these jingles and bells are mentioned in connection with the high priest's purple robe. The sound of the delicate little golden bells (Josephus, iii.7.4) ‘shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, lest he die’ (Exodus xxviii.35). Iconographic evidence dating from Assyria in the 15th century bce shows the use of little bells on priestly garments. The earliest finds of bells from ancient Israel/Palestine date from the 9th–8th centuries bce, and from this period onwards these instruments were an indispensable component of the musical sound of the area (fig.7). The Old Testament suggests that even in later centuries they had a prominent symbolic and protective function, sometimes being mentioned as items used in rites of exorcism. Archaeological finds confirm that bells were attached to cloth (see Braun, MGG2, ‘Biblische Musikinstrumente’, Abb.8b), and recently a depiction of bells on the robe of Aaron was discovered in a mosaic from the Sepphoris synagogue (5th century ce; Weiss and Netzer, 1996, p.20).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Joshua vi.5).
The Hebrew term qeren (‘animal's horn’) occurs only once in the sense of a musical instrument: in the mythical tale of the destruction of the Wall of Jericho at the blowing of the qeren ha-yovel (ram's horn). Indistinguishable in practice from the shofar ha-yovel. Its semantic field is amplified by the term yovel (‘jubilee’, ‘leader’).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Exodus xix.16 and 19; xx.18. Leviticus xv.9. Joshua vi.4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 16 and 20. Judges iii.27; vi.34; vii.8, 16, 18–20 and 22. 1 Samuel xiii.3. 2 Samuel ii.28; vi.15; xv.10; xviii.16; xx.1 and 22. 1 Kings i.34, 39 and 41. 2 Kings ix.13. Isaiah xviii.3; xxvii.13; lviii.1. Jeremiah iv.5, 19 and 21; vi.1 and 17; xlii.14; li.27. Ezekiel xxxiii.3–6. Hosea v.8; viii.1. Joel ii.1 and 15. Amos ii.2; iii.6. Zephaniah i.16. Zechariah ix.14. Psalms xlvii.5; lxxxi.3; xcviii.6; cl.3. Job xxxix.24–5. Nehemiah iv.18 and 20. 1 Chronicles xv.28. 2 Chronicles xv.14. Shoferot ha-yovelim: Joshua vi.4, 6, 8 and 13).
The shofar, mentioned more frequently than any other instrument in the Old Testament, is the only one to have retained its place unaltered in the Jewish liturgy from biblical times to the present day. The etymology of the word (Akkadian sapparu; West Sumerian SEG.BAR: ‘goat's horn’) is not clear (Köhler, Baumgartner and Stamm, 1967–90, iv, 1343). The instrument is recognized to be the horn of a goat or a ram, and translations such as salpinx (the Septuagint), tuba (the Vulgate) and such modern renderings as ‘trumpet’ are misunderstandings. Typologically, shoferot ha-yovelim (pl.) are the same as the shofar (see above, §3(ix)).
Details of the instrument's construction are known only from post-biblical writings, mainly the tracts of the Talmud (Mishnah, Rosh ha-shanah; Babylonian Talmud, Sabbath). Two forms of the shofar are mentioned: a straight horn with a bell (piyyah) covered in gold and played at the New Year (Rosh hashanah), and a curved horn with a bell covered in silver for festive occasions (Mishnah, Rosh ha-shanah iii.3–4). Pictorial representations from the Roman period show a separate mouthpiece. In making the instrument the utmost care was taken to preserve its natural tone (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh ha-shanah 27a–b).
Iconographic evidence of natural horns in the Middle East dates back to the 2nd millennium bce. In the Israelite and Judaean contexts, depictions of the shofar do not appear before the Roman period, and then only in the context of a group of Jewish symbols, supplemented first by the menorah (seven-branched candelabrum) and the mahtah (a small incense scoop), later by the lulav and etrog (palm branch and citrus fruit). This symbolic group may be found as an architectural element (mosaic floors in synagogues – fig.8 – and public buildings, on pedestals, sarcophagi and tombstones) and on such small items as oil lamps, seals and amulets. A survey of these finds shows that it was a symbol of ethnic and national identity used in both sacred and secular contexts (Braun, 1999, Abb.V/8).
The two to three notes (with 2nd and 3rd overtones) produced by the shofar have an alarming tremolo horn sound described in the Old Testament as qol (‘voice’), teqi‘ah (‘blowing of the trumpet’), teru‘ah (‘rejoicing’) and yevavah (‘sobbing’, ‘groaning’). The Mishnah describes the notes as long, short, calm and agitated; the Qumran Scroll of War speaks of the ‘great noise of war’ (1QM viii.10). Rabbinical writings of around the 4th century employ the terms teqi‘ah (‘long tone’), teru‘ah (‘agitated’ or ‘tremolo tone’) and shevarim (‘broken tone’; Babylonian Talmud, Rosh ha-shanah xxxiii.2). The Talmud gives information about the three kinds of signals: ‘The order of the blowing of the trumpet is by three times three. The length of the teqi‘ah is like three teru‘ot (pl. of teru‘ah). The length of the teru‘ah is like three yevavot … ’ or shevarim (Mishnah, Rosh ha-shanah iv.9). Sachs (1940, p.110) sees a relationship with the modus perfectum of the Middle Ages here. Some idea of the shofar signals of the Roman period may be gleaned from the oldest known depictions of a shofar signal in the prayer book of Sa‘adyah Gaon (10th century; fig.9) and the 13th-century Adler Codex (USA-NYjts 932, f.21b; see MGG2, ‘Biblische Musikinstrumente’, Abb.10). Modern shofar signals in synagogues correspond to these written sources (ex.1).
In the Old Testament the shofar is mentioned in both sacred and secular contexts: as the omen of transcendental powers (Exodus xix.13), at Yom kippur (Day of Atonement; Leviticus xv.9), at the festival of the new moon (Psalm lxxxi.3), on a day of penitence (Joel ii.1), at the carrying of the Ark in procession (2 Samuel vi.15), in war (Judges iii.27; Joshua vi.4), at victory celebrations (1 Samuel xiii.3) and during a coup d'état at court (2 Samuel xv.10). The dual function of the shofar as an instrument of communication and of divine worship may be followed in the Old Testament; the former function came to an end with the destruction of the Second Temple (70 ce) and the beginning of the Exile, the latter continues to the present day. In Israel the shofar is sometimes blown at state or secular political events
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Genesis xxxi.27. Exodus xv.20. Judges xi.34. 1 Samuel x.5; xviii.6. 2 Samuel vi.5. Isaiah v.12; xxiv.8; xxx.32. Jeremiah xxxi.4. Psalms lxviii.25; lxxxi.2; cxlix.3; cl.4. Job xxi.12. 1 Chronicles xiii.8).
The Ugaritic word tp (‘drum’, recorded in the 14th century bce), probably onomatopoeic in origin, is a widely distributed root and verbum denominatum (drum–drummer–to drum) found in almost all Middle Eastern languages, from the Sumerian DUB and Akkadian dadpu to the Egyptian tbu and Arabic daff (see Köhler, Baumgartner and Stamm, 1967–90). Translated as timpanon in the Septuagint and as tympanum in the Vulgate, tof (pl. tupim) is generally understood to be a drum.
The tof was usually played by women (Judges xi.34; Jeremiah xxxi.4; Psalm lxviii.25). A classic example is the women's dance with tof and singing after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus xv.20), a tradition preserved to this day among Yemenite women of Jewish descent. The solo drum was played only by women, but when combined in an ensemble with other instruments could be struck by men as well. Although it is never mentioned as part of the music of the Temple, the tof was always played for ritual dances (Exodus xv.20; 1 Samuel xvii.6 etc.), for paraliturgical songs of praise (Psalm cl.4), at festivals (Psalm lxxxi.2) and processions (2 Samuel vi.5). In Psalm lxviii.25 the position of the women players of the tof at liturgical processions is described: the singers went first, followed by the women drummers, with all the other instrumentalists bringing up the rear. The secular function of the tof as an instrument of joy (Genesis xxxi.27) and ecstasy (1 Samuel x.5) seems to belong to an older tradition.
The tof is usually described as a round wooden frame drum with a diameter of 25–30 cm, without any attached jingles. However, other forms of drum (hourglass and rectangular drums) might also have been used. The Mishnah (Qinnim iii.6) indicates that the material of the head of the drum was ram's leather. Archaeological finds of round frame drums from ancient Israel/Palestine are uniform in structure, and appear as a distinct iconographic subject particular to the region in two types of pottery: (a) a statue of a female form in a long dress without any ornamentation, holding her drum upright against her breast, and (b) the relief of a half-naked female form, richly ornamented, wearing a head-dress or wig and holding the membrane of the drum flat against her breast (fig.10).
The synthesis of the sacred and the secular in these figures reflects the situation as it appears in the Old Testament texts: they may be domestic icons or amulets (cf terafim, Genesis xxxi.19), but attempts at interpretation have ranged from identifying them as deities to supposing that they were toys (Winter, 1983, p.127; Meyers, 1987). As in many other ancient musical cultures, in the Old Testament the drum functions as a sexual symbol: in Judges xi.34, Jephthah's daughter mourns her virginity by playing the drum. The eroticism of the naked female forms of the Israelite period is clear, and conflicts with the official orthodox faith of the time. In later books of the Old Testament the sexual aspect is sublimated in the metaphor of the ‘virgin of Israel’: ‘O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels’ (Jeremiah xxxi.4).
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Genesis iv.21. Psalms cl.4. Job xxi.12; xxx.31).
The name of this instrument is controversial, and its etymology has not been entirely explained. The root ‘gv is related to the Hebrew and Arabic ‘agava: ‘the ecstasy of love’, ‘sensual longing’, ‘desire’ (see also Ezekiel xxiii.5; Köhler, Baumgartner and Stamm, 1967–90, iii, 740). As early as the Septuagint and the Peshitta, translations are inconsistent (see above, §1). The Targum, however, which gives abbuba (double- or single-reed instrument) and the Vulgate, with organum, are clearer. The possibility that a banned instrument was disguised in translation should not be excluded.
The ‘uġav appears in the very first mention of musical instruments in the Bible (Genesis iv.21), and only three times thereafter: as an instrument of mourning; as a sacrilegious instrument played outside the Temple; and associated with the tof and dancing in the doxology of the Psalms. In the Hebrew variant of the apocryphal Psalm cli (1st century ce), which links an Orphaic and a Christian David – the instrument maker – with the kinnor and ‘uġav, the meaning of ‘organ’ given to the ‘uġav seems plausible. Iconographical evidence confirms the existence of this instrument during the 2nd and 3rd centuries ce in ancient Israel/Palestine, and the ‘uġav is also interpreted as a ‘hydraulis’ in the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 55c). In the Aramaic of the Targum, the ‘uġav is equated with the abuva, the instrument of the Roman ambubiae – prostitutes who performed music (Horace, Satires i.2.1). In the Mishnah (‘Arakhin ii.3) the abuva is equated with the halil.
Interpretations of the word ‘uġav range from a term denoting a musical instrument in general to identification as a pipe, bagpipe, lute or harp, none of which can be supported on either historical or etymological grounds. Sachs (1940, p.106) offers what is currently the only plausible interpretation: the onomatopoeic effect of the word (u-u), typical of flutes, and the connotations of love attached to the instrument suggest that it was a long end-blown flute of the kind found in neighbouring cultures (the ma’tof Egypt and the Sumerian TI.GI), and later distributed over a wide area of Israel/Palestine as the nāy.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Daniel iii.5, 7, 10 and 15).
The Book of Daniel (written 167–164 bce) contains a recurring phrase listing a group of musical instruments, often called the ‘Nebuchadnezzar orchestra’, whose playing served as a signal for the worship of an idol to begin. This part of the text is written in Aramaic, and the names of the musical instruments are given in a mixture of Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew.
Qarna derives from qeren (Heb.: ‘natural horn’), although a metal or pottery trumpet is more likely in the Babylonian kingdom. The mashroqita, from the Hebrew root shrq (‘to pipe’), was often used for apotropaic effects and at the mass events described in Daniel iii; it should most likely be identified with a tongued instrument (of the zmr type). The qaytros (from Gk. kithara) belongs to the tradition of Babylonian military bands (lyres accompanied by drums and cymbals) and could have suited a mass ceremony of adoration. Sabbekha is a term of Greek origin (cognate with Gk. sambukē); its etymology indicates a Phoenician provenance. Although this instrument is often identified as a lyre, Sachs's suggestion that it was a vertically-held angular harp (1940, p.84) seems better founded: there are written mentions of a type of harp of Phoenician origin in ancient Palestine (sambucinae of the whores; McKinnon, 1987, p.50). The pesanterin, from Greek psaltyrion, has been seen as deriving from an ancient Greek harp-type instrument (Sachs, 1940, p.83), although Kolari (1947, p.78) suggests that it was possibly a zither. Sumponyah is a much disputed term from the Greek, interpreted mainly as a bagpipe until the middle of the 20th century, but since Sachs (1940, p.84) it has been generally understood as a term meaning ‘the whole ensemble’; Mitchel and Joyce (1965, p.56), however, suggest it refers to a drum.
The phrase ve-khol zenei zemara, which occurs at the end of the recurring passage, is translated as ‘all kinds of music’. Kol zenei means literally ‘all kinds’, while zemara, from the Akkadian root zmr, is a widely distributed term in the Middle East and appears in the Old Testament in the sense of musicians, singers, song of praise, singing and instrumental playing, in particular of wind instruments (the last-named on the basis of a single find combining text and image from ancient Palestine in the Roman period; see Braun, 1999, Abb.V/3), allowing a strict translation of the verse from Daniel as ‘the whole ensemble, and other kinds of singing/songs of praise with instrumental music’.
The author of Daniel was describing a distinctively Seleucid group of musicians, and these are the only names of musical instruments in the Old Testament that belong to a non-Israelite tradition. At a time when Jewish and Hellenistic confrontation was becoming more acute, these enigmatic instruments, recurring four times as an ominous ostinato, symbolize an alien and hostile musical culture.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
(Kelim: 1 Chronicles xxiii.5. Klei-david: 2 Chronicles xxix.26–7. Keli-nebel and klei-nebalim: Psalms lxxi.22; 1 Chronicles xvi.5. Klei-‘oz: 2 Chronicles xxx.21. Klei-shir: Amos vi.5; 1 Chronicles xv.16; xvi.42; 2 Chronicles v.13; vii.6, xxiii.13, xxxiv.12; Nehemiah xii.36. Minnim: Psalms xl.8; cl.4).
Keli (pl. kelim) is used in the Old Testament primarily to denote an implement, vessel, weapon or art object. In texts concerned with worship in the Temple (e.g. Exodus xxv.9), keli is understood to be a ritual utensil. As a musical instrument the word is used only in the plural as a descriptive part of a compound: klei-david, ‘instruments of David’; klei-nebel, ‘nebel instruments’; klei-’oz, ‘loud instruments’; klei-shir, ‘instruments for song’. These nouns appear 11 times as Temple instruments of the Levites, and three times in connection with other activities.
Minnim (pl.), from the Syrian mina and Akkadian manani (‘hair’, ‘string’), has been interpreted since Pfeiffer (1779) as a collective term for string instruments. Organological names for types of instruments occur only in the post-Exile books, indicating a radical change in the cultural and musical life of the country that represents a new stage in rationalization.
Biblical instruments, §3: Old Testament instruments
The 117 superscriptions in the Psalms, most of which have musical implications, are among the most difficult lines to interpret in the Old Testament. There is a rich history of research into their meaning (e.g. Sachs, 1940; Sendrey, 1969; Bayer, 1982; Werner, 1989). They are principally of significance for the study of performing practice and contribute little to organology.
Foxvog and Kilmer (1980) treat the psalm titles in a section headed ‘Musical Performance’, which divides the material into functional or social titles, indications of the manner of performance and the incipits of songs. It is possible that there is a parallel with Arabic maqām or Indian rāga names. The diversity of variants given in the earliest translations shows that the meaning of these texts had already been forgotten in Antiquity, as even the most frequently mentioned words are not consistently interpreted. Lamnasseah (from nissahon: ‘victory’) – variously translated as ‘to the end’ (the Septuagint and Vulgate), ‘for the master of victory’ (Aquila translation), ‘to sing publicly’ (Luther), ‘for the choirmaster’ (New Jerusalem Bible) – seems to have little musical significance. On the other hand, mizmor (from the root zmr; see above, §3(xiii)), understood as a song with instrumental accompaniment, has a decisive meaning in the context of actual performance.
Words with organological implications are always used in a prepositional sense, prefixed by bi-, ‘al- or el- (‘with, to, on, in accordance with’). ‘Al-‘alamot (Psalm xlvi.1; sing. ‘almah: ‘maiden’) is interpreted in several ways as having musical significance: bi-nvalim ‘al-‘alamot (1 Chronicles xv.20) has been variously understood as a high-pitched string instrument with a soprano register, as a wind instrument, as a female drummer (on the basis of Psalm lxviii.25: ‘alamot tofefot), as a specially trained female musician or as the playing of an octave. ‘Al-ha-gittit: (Psalms viii.1; lxxxiv.1), has been translated as ‘of the city of Gath, where David was’ (cf 1 Samuel xxvii.2), ‘in the style of Gath’, ‘on the instrument of Gath’ and, assuming the word to derive from gat (‘winepress’ in the Septuagint and Vulgate), as ‘song of the wine pressers’ or ‘song of the wine merchants’. Al-mahalat (Psalms liii.1; lxxxviii.1) was interpreted in two different ways as early as the period of the first translations: as ‘dance’ and as ‘pipe’ (from hll). In the 18th and 19th centuries a syncretic interpretation of the word covering music, poetry and dance was favoured, and in modern times such translations as ‘wind instrument accompaniment’, ‘round dance’ or ‘quiet, muted performance’ (Foxvog and Kilmer, 1980, p.48) have been suggested.
Bi-nginot, ‘al-neginati (Psalms iv.1; vi.1; liv.1; lv.1; lxi.1; lxvii.1; lxxvi.1), with its root ngn, was already interpreted as meaning instrumentalists, musicians and song in the early translations; other meanings (‘skilled player of the kinnor’, 1 Samuel xvi.16; ‘professional instrumentalists’, Psalm lxviii.26) point to a meaning connected with instrumental playing; Sachs (1940, p.126) sees neginah as an early form of the later nigun (Heb.: ‘melody’, ‘melodic formula’, ‘tune’).
El-ha-nehilot (Psalm v.1) is translated with some consistency by modern authors, relating it to hll, halil as ‘for playing on flutes’. This interpretation, however, contradicts the early translations, which exclude any musical context and link the word to the meaning of ‘inheritance’.
‘Al-ha-sheminit (Psalms vi.1; xii.1) means ‘on the sheminit’ (sheminit: ‘one eighth’) and with the article ha is interpreted as an instrument with eight strings, or an instrument an octave distant from the fundmental tone. In Psalm vi.1, ‘al-ha-sheminit is linked to bi-nginot (see above), and in 1 Chronicles xv.20 David arranges his Levites in accordance with various groups of instruments, including bi-nvalim ‘al-‘alamot (see above) and be-kinnorot ‘al-ha-sheminit. This may indicate a system of playing in octaves in ancient Israel; the heptatonic system was known in Ugarit (Foxvog and Kilmer, 1980, p.446). making it possible that octaves were also part of ancient Israelite music.
‘Al-shushan (Psalms xlv.1; lx.1, lxix.1; lxxx.1) derives from shushan (‘lily’; also translated as ‘water lily’ and ‘lotus’). Early translations made no connection with any musical meaning, but the majority of theologians and musicologists now think that this is the incipit of another song; many other such references in the psalm superscriptions are also thought to indicate contrafacta of texts once well known but now long forgotten (Werner, 1989, p.91).
Shalishim (pl.), mentioned only once in the Bible (1 Samuel xviii.6), has been called ‘the most disputed musical term of the Hebrew language’ (Sachs, 1940, p.123). Using the root shlsh (‘three’) as a starting point, interpretations have dwelt on the number three as the characteristic of a musical instrument (e.g. a sistrum with three bars, a three-string lute, a triangle etc.). Taking an onomatopoeic angle, cymbals could be plausible (cf the kimbala of the Septuagint). Sachs cites the Latin tripudium, a dance in three measures, in understanding the term to mean ‘dance’, a sense that the text itself could easily support: be-tupin be-simhah u-vshalishim (‘with drums, with joy and dancing’).
U-nqavekha (Ezekiel xxviii.13) ‘and your neqavim’ (pl. of neqev: ‘hole’, ‘perforation’) has been translated only since Luther as ‘pipes’, probably on the grounds of the sequence of tupim and neqavim in the enumeration of decorative items in the text here. There is no real support for this interpretation, and the verse remains obscure.
(Matthew vi.2; ix.23; xi.17; xxiv.31. Luke vii.32; xv.25. 1 Corinthians i.1; xiv.7 and 8; xv.52. 1 Thessalonians iv.16. Hebrews xii.19. Revelation i.10; iv.1; v.8; viii.2, 6–8, 10 and 12–13; ix.1 and 13–14; x.7; xi.15; xiv.2; xv.2; xviii.22).
Interest in references to musical instruments in the New Testament is limited for two reasons: there are not many of them, and their organological value is relatively small. The Greek names of instruments are contemporary with the authorship of the texts. In addition to mentions of particular instruments (see below), two verses (1 Corinthians xiv.7–8) are of particular significance for their emphasis on the clarity of the music: ‘If even lifeless instruments, such as the [aulos] or the [kithara], do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the [salpinx] gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?’. This repeated reference to clarity in performance, which is compared with the intelligibility of the spoken word, suggests the development of a new musical aesthetic and a new kind of musical practice striving to concretize the meaning of the music. To some extent it may be possible to see the beginnings of modern Western performing practice in these words.
(Lat. tibia). This occurs as both the name of an instrument (1 Corinthians xiv.7) and a term for an instrumentalist (Matthew ix.23). The reference is to the single or double aulos of the Roman period, for which there are several items of archaeological evidence in Roman Palestine (the best is the Sepphoris mosaic, see Jewish music, §II, fig.13). In the New Testament, as in the Old, this reed instrument was played in mourning for the dead (Matthew ix.23) and at weddings (Matthew xi.17).
(Lat. cithara). Like aulos this terms occurs as both the name of an instrument (1 Corinthians xiv. 7) and to describe an instrumentalist (Revelation xiv.2). The kithara is an instrument of God and the ‘voice from heaven’ (Revelation xiv.2 and xv.2). The passage from Revelation contains the unusual comparison of the kithara to ‘the voice of many waters, and … the voice of a great thunder’ (ibid.). In two cases (Revelation v.8 and xiv.2–3) the instrumentalists are performing ‘a new song’. The kithara – a large lyre – may have acquired a new tonal quality at around this time as a result of changes in instrument-making, producing an effect that overwhelmed listeners with its dynamic power. However, a more likely interpretation is that the instrument of God symbolizes the spiritual force of Christianity in this passage. It is plausible that in the New Testament names of instruments ‘like aulos, kithara may have been used loosely to refer to more instruments of a general class’ (Smith, 1962).
(Lat. tuba). In the New Testament the salpinx, the long, straight Roman trumpet, is an instrument of communication and for the giving of signals; it is also credited with supernatural power, usually of an apocalyptic nature – the ‘trump of God’ (1 Thessalonians iv.16), the salpinges of the seven angels (Revelation viii–xi), and the tuba mirum/terribilis (1 Corinthians xv.52). The theophany of the sound of the salpinx, already indicated in the Old Testament (Exodus xx.19) and its eschatological significance are taken to extremes in the New Testament, where the instrument becomes a symbol of supremacy in the praise of God, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment (Giesel, 1978, p.101).
(Lat. cymbalum). These are the familiar Graeco-Roman cymbals. The instrument is mentioned only once, in 1 Corinthians xiii.1, together with ‘sounding brass’, a term which may denote a gong (Montagu, 1965) or signify not a musical instrument but a resonating device at the back of a stage to amplify the voice of a singer or actor (Harris, 1982). This interpretation explains the real sense of Paul's metaphor when he compares speaking without love and deeper understanding to the noise of ‘tinkling cymbals’ and artificial sound amplification.
(Lat. symphoniam). This word, used only once (Luke xv.25), is a collective term for the playing of musical instruments, in this case at a merry feast with dancing.
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J. Drechsler: ‘De cithara Davidica: dissertatio’, Thesaurus antiquitarum sacrarum, ed. B. Ugolino, xxxii (Venice, 1767), 171–206
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A.D. Kilmer, R.L. Crocker and R.R. Brown: Sounds from the Silence: Recent Discoveries in Ancient Near Eastern Music, Bīt Enki Records BTNK 101 (Berkeley, CA, 1976) [disc notes and LP]
B. Mazar: ‘The “Orpheus” Jug from Megiddo’, Magdalia Deis: Essays on the Bible and Archaeology in Memory of Ernest Wright, ed. F.M. Cross and others (New York, 1976), 187–92
H. Giesel: Studien zur Symbolik der Musikinstrumente im Schrifttum der alten und mittelatlerlichen Kirche (Regensburg, 1978)
H. Avenary: Encounters of East and West in Music (Tel-Aviv, 1979)
D.A. Foxvog and A.D. Kilmer: ‘Music’, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. J. Nuelsen and others, iii (Grand Rapids, MI, rev.edn. 1980), 436–49
E. Gerson-Kiwi: Migrations and Mutations of the Music in East and West (Tel-Aviv, 1980)
B. Bayer: ‘The Titles of the Psalms’, Yuval, no.4 (1982), 28–123
P. Beck: ‘The Drawings from Hor at Teiman (Kuntillet Ajrud)’, Tel Aviv, ix/1 (1982), 3–68
W. Harris: ‘“Sounding Brass” and Hellenistic Technology’, Biblical Archaeological Review, viii/1 (1982), 38–41
Y. Meshorer: Ancient Jewish Coinage, i–ii (New York, 1982)
M. Pfanner: Der Titusbogen (Mainz, 1983)
U. Winter: Frau and Göttin (Fribourg, 1983)
E. Pöthig: The Victory Song Tradition of the Women in Israel (diss., Union Seminary, New York, 1985)
A. Caubet: ‘La musique à Ougarit: nouveaux aperçus’, Comptes rendus des séances [Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres] (1987), 731–53
C. Meyers: ‘A Terracotta at the Harvard Semitic Museum and Disc-holding Female Figures Reconsidered’, Israel Exploration Journal, xxxvii/2–3 (1987), 116–122
E.J. Bikermann: The Jews in the Greek Age (London, 1988)
R. Eichmann: ‘Zur Konstruktion und Spielhaltung der Altorientalischen Spiesslauten: von den Anfangen bis in die seleukidisch-parthische Zeit’, Baghdader Mitteilungen, xix (Berlin, 1988), 583–625
H. Weippert: Palästina in vorhellenistischer Zeit (Munich, 1988)
H. Seidel: Musik in Altisrael (Frankfurt, 1989)
E. Werner: ‘Die Musik im Alten Israel’, Neues Handbuch der Musikgeschichte, i (1989), 76–112
M.J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classification of Musical Instruments (Chicago, 1990)
P.J. van Dyk: ‘Current Trends in Pentateuch Criticism’, Old Testament Essays, iii (1990), 191–202
D.V. Edelman, ed.: The Fabric of History: Text, Artifact and Israel's Past (Sheffield, 1991)
T. Staubli: Das Image der Nomaden im alten Israel und in der Ikonographie seiner sesshaften Nachbaren (Fribourg, 1991)
L. Yarden: The Spoils of Jerusalem on the Arch of Titus (Stockholm, 1991)
O. Keel and C. Ühlinger: Göttinnen, Götter und Gottessymbole (Freiburg, 1992)
J. Braun: ‘Archaeo-musicology and some of its Problems: Considerations on State of the Art in Israel’, La pluridisciplinarité en archéologie musicale, ed. C. Homo-Lechner (Paris, 1994), 139–48
A. Caubet: ‘La musique du Levant au bronze récent’, ibid., 129–35
A.D. Kilmer, D. Collon and S. Martino: ‘Musik’, Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie, viii, ed. D.O. Edzard (Berlin, 1995–6), 463–91
J. Montagu: Musical Instruments of the Bible (Oxford, 1996)
Z. Weiss and E. Netzer: Promise and Redemption: a Synagogue Mosaic from Sepphoris, (Jerusalem, 1996)
J. Braun: ‘Musical Instruments’, Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, ed. E.M. Meyers, iv (New York, 1997), 70–79
W.G. Dever: ‘Levant’, ibid., iii, 350–51
B. Lawergren: ‘Distinctions among Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite Lyres, and their Global Lyrical Contexts’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, ccix (1998), 41–68
D. Yannou, A. Goulaki-Voutira and D. Themelis, eds.: Greek and European Music: Thessaloniki 1998 (Thessaloniki, 1998) [in Gk.]
J. Braun: Die Musikkultur Altisraels/Palästinas: Studien zu archäolgischen, schriflichen und vergleichenden Quellen (Fribourg, 1999)
W. Bachmann: ‘Das mit Glocken oder Schellen bestzte Priestergewand’, Archaeology and Iconography ICTM Study Group: Jerusalem and Ramat Gan 1994–5 (forthcoming)
J. Braun: ‘Remarks on Music History in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Written and Archaelogical Evidence’, Studien zur Musikarchäologie, i: Orient Archäologie, vi, ed. E. Hickmann and R. Eichmann (forthcoming)
E. Hickmann and R. Eichmann, eds.: Studien zur Musikarchäologie, ii: Orient Archäologie, vii (Rahden, forthcoming)
D. Pandermalis: ‘The Nablum of Dion’, Study Group of Musical Iconography IX: Dion, Greece 1998 (forthcoming)