EXCELLENT article!! This needs to be required reading by every church musician, and specifically by those who lead the music ministry.

I offer these items for your consideration.
1. PRIESTS only, those directly in Aaron’s lineage, were allowed to blow the trumpets. Numb. 10:8, Josh 6:4, 2 Chron. 5:12, etc.
2. While I assume “priests” could be among the Singers (after all, Aaron’s descendants were from the tribe of Levi!), the Choirs were chosen from among the Levites, not the priestly family. 2 Chron. 5:12, I Chron. 22-25- note the clear distinction between Aaron’s PRIESTLY line, and the Singers’ lineage from LEVI.
3. The LEVITE’S instruments were the cymbal, lyre and harp, not trumpets. Small point, but this distinction is consistent throughout Scripture.
4. To support your comment: The work of the Levitical Singers was to ‘prophecy’ (I Chron. 25:1-3, etc.; ). Please allow me to copy-and-paste a comment I made on another site discussing the NT “gift of prophecy”:
“I would not connect the NT ‘gift of prophecy’ (GOP- no political reference intended! ) with music. As I understand the first century ‘GOP,’ it was used to complete the canon; thus it is different- in some respects – than today’s public proclamation of the completed Word of God done by those ‘pastors (and) teachers’ in Eph. 4:11 [, whose primary role seems to be more along the lines of ‘commentary’].

“That music DOES fulfil a prophetic function (in that latter sense of proclaiming God’s Word) is clearly taught in the I Chron. 25:1-3 reference you noted. (With the repetition of terms in each of the vss, is God being too subtle for us?? Sadly, listening to some preachers, yes!) One could attribute that function only to the OT Levitical musicians if it weren’t for the very obvious connection between Paul’s mission statement in Col. 1:28, and the Music Minister’s mission statement in Col. 3:16. Again, is God being too subtle for us? How many times does He have to say it: The Minister of Music and the Teaching Elder have the same role and goal. The only difference is that the musician has the harder and ‘takes-longer’ job because he has to use music rather than ‘just’ words.”
http://sharperiron.org/forum/thread-music-as-prophecy

Thanks, as always, for your posts. They are challenging, and help keep me (and, I’m sure, others) out of ditches.

Jim Lowery, Minister of Music
Richmond, VA

One of my favorite sayings these days is, “I’m so glad God allows for growth.”

Thanks for this series, and its humble, biblical- (rather than ‘common’) -sense approach. Thank you for focussing on the Lord Jesus.

Jim Lowery (Richmond, VA)
Minister of Music since 1981