2 Chronicles 29:25, King Hezekiah's Reform

In 2 Chronicles 29 Hezekiah's reform stopped a plague just as David's original sacrifice at the Jebusite fortress. This was neither the regular animal sacrifices which God had imposed when they fired Him. Nor does it define the synagogue which "civilian" attended each Sabbath (rest) day to rest, read and rehearse the Word of God. The Levites had been imposed to bear their sin and the burden of the Tabernacle. The King had been imposed to carry out the captivity and death sentence imposed because of musical idolatry and rejecting Him to rule over them under tribal leaders and Judges.

SUMMARY

2Chr. 29:10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel,
        that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
2Chr. 29:11 My sons, be not now negligent:
        for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him,
        and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

Notice that this was not a worship service.

2Chr. 29:15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves,
        and came, according to the commandment of the king,
        by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.

None of the Levites who made warfare music under the king could enter into the holy places. Because this was a type of the body or Church of Christ, no musician can perform in the church.

2Chr. 29:16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD,
        to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found
        in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD.
And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

They made animal sacrifices for Judah for the kingdom, temple and Judah. Then for Israel which had fallen back into the "musical idolatry" or Play from Mount Sinai and who were not present:

2Chr. 29:23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
2Chr. 29:24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

This was a CIVIL and RELIGIOUS ceremony.

2Chr. 29:25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps,
        according to the commandment of David,
and of Gad the king’s seer,
2Chr. 29:27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar.


and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.
And when the burnt offering began,

2Chr. 29:26 And the
Levites stood with the instruments of David, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets

        and the priests with the trumpets. and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.

In agreement with several other dedication or purification sacrifices, the instruments we call MUSIC were by the direct command of David and under the KING and commanders of the army. This is not an approved example of Christian worship but universal proof of the connection between psalms and warfare:

Payne insists that the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles 25:1 unambiguously identifies these leaders as military commanders, an interpretation favoured by several Bible translations. (Payne, p 423-4; NASB, NIV, NKJV, NRSV, Jerusalem Bible) If military commanders had a particular interest in the appointment of musicians, it suggests a strong link between music and warfare

HISTORICAL AND CONTEXTUAL RESOURCES

The civilian population was exiled from the presence of the Tabernacle and then Temple. Therefore, none of this can be used as authority for Christian practices without imposing the curse of the worship of the starry host (Acts 7).

BUILDING THE FOUNDATION: The people were Quarantined from Sacrificial System added as part of the worship of the starry host to which God had abandoned the nation.

Isreal fell fatally from Grace because of musical idolatry at Mount Sinai.

God turned them over to worship the starry host (Acts 7 and a dozen more passages)

God burdened them with The Book of The Law and the Levites to "bear the burdens of sin."

The Abrahamic Covenant was lost and the First Born sons replaced.

No one not of that tribe not specificially ordained could COME NEAR the Tabernacle without sinning.

Because the false teachers REST on the curse of the Law and the Monarchy, the elders, preachers and artistic performers would be executed.

No Levite, used as Warrior Noise makers and later under the king and commanders of the army could come near the holy places of the sactury or they would be executed. The patternism is that if a musician enter into the body of Christ as fulfilment of the Holy Place is worthy of death.

Num 18:2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister BEFORE the tabernacle of witness. [never IN]

H8334 sharath shaw-rath' A primitive root; to attend as a menial or worshipper; figuratively to contribute to:--minister (unto), (do) serve (-ant, -ice, -itor), wait on.

Num 18:3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle:
        only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar,
        that neither they, nor ye also, die.

All of the non-Levites were called STRANGERS: therefore, if you were not of the tribe of Levi and had the assignment to serve. Therefore, no member of the "church" could come near the Tabernacle.

"A stranger," that is, one, neither a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the sacred office, should incur the penalty of death. ROBERT JAMIESON

Num 18:4 And they shall be joined unto thee,
        and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation,
        for all the service of the tabernacle:
        and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

Num 18:5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar:
        that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.

Contrary to being a spiritual worship service, the sacrificial system had been imposed and if it were not performed it would bring down God wrath as punishment due for NOT performing what they had been abandoned to.

Num 18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel:
         to you they are given as a gift for the LORD,
       to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 18:7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar,

        and within the veil; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift:
        and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

"And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Numbers 18:21

H5656‛abodah ‛abodoh ab-o-daw', ab-o-daw' From H5647 ; work of any kind:--act, bondage, + bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try),

H5647‛abad aw-bad' keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute

"Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bearsin, and die. Numbers 18:22

The sacrificial system was imposed on the Levites as a curse or burden.

Num 18:23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,
        and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations,
        that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

That this was a curse is shown in many places:

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. Jeremiah 7:20

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
       Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. Jeremiah 7:21

For I spake NOT unto your fathers, nor commanded them
        in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
        concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: Jeremiah 7:22
But this thing commanded I them, saying,
       Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people:
       and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you,
       that it may be well unto you. Jeremiah 7:23
But they HEARKENED NOT, nor inclined their ear,
       but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart,
       and went backward, and not forward. Jeremiah 7:24

Furthermore, all of the performing arts are identified as the Hypocritic arts and because they produced nothing good and caused lots of destruction of morals they were called PARASITES.

Why are people so anxious to impose the CURSE of hypocrites and parasites.

In NONE of the examples used as proof does the "congregation" involve the righteous "civilian" population: the kings called the priests, warrior musicians, trumpet blowers, civil leaders and "representatives" from the tribes called stationary men.

Hezekiah looks back many years to find a precedent and then David did not use musical instruments because the Temple and its sacrifices were not practiced in David's lifetime.

c. 1048 B.C. The precedent: David made a deal with God to stop the plagues which he (David) had caused. God gave David a Jebusite High Place to construct an alternative altar because he never lost the fear of God and could not go to Gibeon again. When he built the temple, Solomon did not consult God at Jerusalem but returned to Gibeon.

c. 728 B.C. Hezekiah's use: The Jerusalem temple was so polluted that not even animal sacrifices could be made there. The priests had set up alternative altars outside of the city. A plague was on the nation, the city and the temple. To collect the people inside of the walls, Hezekiah made a deal with God to purify the temple so that the priests and therefore the people would be more collected inside of Jerusalem and able to withstand a certain attack. The "congregation" was never the common people but the king, commanders of the army, city officials and clergy participated in these rituals.

This does not establish PATTERNISM for Christian worship which is wholly in the new PLACE of the human spirit.

While David did not use instrumental music at the dedication of his alternative altar to STOP THE PLAGUE, Hezekiah looked back for authority for a PLAGUE STOPPING animal sacrifice. God never commanded David to WORSHIP Him with either singer or instruments.

c. 445 B.C We have to wait hundreds of years before Nehemiah used this same precedent to restore the temple and animal sacrifices. Nehemiah makes it clear that it was David who commanded instrument after the Jebusite center was intended to be the site of a better "house" for God. Of course, God promised David a family through Jesus Christ and not a "worship center."

God permitted David a tent
But, Solomon built God a house
But, God cannot be worshipped in houses built by human hands or by the works of human hands.

Conclusions: Therefore, to return to these purification rituals for authority for Christian worship is to repudiate the sacrifice of Christ and the purification of the human spirit as the new place where we "worship" in darkness and silenc: inside of our own spirit or closet.

Furthermore,

David's instruments were used only for the burnt and peace offerings for Israel to encourage a restored Passover. Israel, too, was scattered but most of Israel mocked Hezekiah's peace overture.

The trumpets were ordained by God to be blown for the animal sacrifices.

Therefore, animal sacrifices combined both CIVIL or POLITICAL ritual and animal sacrifices which had been added as a curse and not for "approved worship." Hezekiah's reform intended to centralize the religious cult in Jerusalem. That is because God limited the Gentile-like sacrifices with loud noise (not music) only in or around Jerusalem. That is why the non-cursed civilians never attended the temple for worship using "singing and loud noise."

However, if you understand this passage to AUTHORIZE instrumental music to accompany singing, you must grasp that NOT in Jerusalem nor in the VILEST PAGAN TEMPLE did the singers OR musicians ever enter into the holy places. In the temple as a CARNAL type, the Holy Place was typical of the church of Christ. This Holy Place has no musical role to play but represents the synagogue as SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE. The Most Holy Place represents the human SPIRIT which is the ONLY place where we worship God. The new spiritual place is the human spirit or mind.

Any singer or musician who entered into the TYPE of the church of Christ would be worthy of death.

The Temple Was the Capital of Israel: Bank, etc
The Temple Was Not for People's Worship
Animal Sacrifices at the Temple were Identical to All National Capitol Buildings
The Jerusalem was "Capitol Hill" and Not "Church."

Remembering that God abandoned them to have a king and worship "like the nations" because they had already been sentenced to captivity and death, if you use this period of Monarchy as authority for the "synagogue" you not only violate the clear direct commands regulating the synagogue AND you participate in Babylonian style "ritual."

"Each of the important deities had, in one or more of the Babylonian cities, a large temple in which he or she was worshiped. Temple services were generally conducted in open courts containing fountains for ablution and altars for sacrifices.

Only the high priest and other privileged members of the clergy and court were permitted
to enter the cella, or inner part of the temple, which held the special statue of the deity.

The needs of the deity were provided for in accordance with impressive ceremonies carried out by a vast institutionalized clergy that included priests, musicians, magicians, soothsayers, dream interpreters, astrologers, and hierodules (temple slaves or prostitutes). Sacrifices of food, drink, or incense were offered daily. Numerous festivals were held, the most important of which was the celebration of the new year at the spring equinox. [Encarta Encyclopedia]

"An Egyptian temple was not a place of public worship. It was the shrine for the neter (wrongly translated as god), who represented some specific aspect of the One God.

Only the priesthood had access to the inner sanctuaries, where the sacred rites and ceremonies were performed. In some instances, only the King himself or his authorized substitute had permission to enter.

"The ancient Egyptian temple was built to facilitate the meeting

between a specific supernatural/metaphysical force (neter/netert),
and the physical/human, for the benefit of the people, land, and the universe.

"It was not intended to be an art gallery for academicians and tourists. Only a small part of it was open to the ancient Egyptian public, on annual festivities. Therefore, every ancient Egyptian temple had/has a specific function.

By analogy, Washington Cathedral is used for "National Religious Rituals." Their authorities will tell you that these are not for your worship: you are just a spectator to the national events. So was all national temples of all nations. In fact, any time the loud noise marked the burning of animal sacrifices you as a civilian were forced to leave by the instruments used as signals.

If you, not a member of the Civil-Priestly-Sacrificial system even got close to these rituals you would be executed.

Paul uses this to warn that when we meet Jesus we must go OUTSIDE THE CAMP or city or the massed multitute. There, we will find Jesus and suffer reproaches being performed in the pagan-like musical rituals. However, that is the only place Jesus invites us to come "Rest and learn of Me." The church or ekklesia replaces the synagogue and not the temple. Therefore, the Spirit of Christ ordained the synagogue to exclude both vocal and instrumental rejoicing; common sense when you attend to REST and lear.

Even if you see God commanding something for these plague stopping animal burnings, it is proof that God has turned you over to worship the starry hosts (Acts 7). The Jews understood Stephen and therefore murdered him.

Flashback

At Mount Sinai, Israel repudiated The Book of The Covenant and returned to the musical idolatry they had practiced for over 400 years in Egypt. God gave The Book of the Law because of this transgression and assigned the Levites to stand between the common people, now called "strangers," and the Tabernacle as His symbolic presence. Any common Israelite would be executed if he attempted to go past the gate.

Stephen in Acts 7 says that God TURNED THEM OVER to worship the Starry Host. This was ultimately fulfilled when the elders rejected God. The "goyiim" or nations means that the sacrifices of the new temple state followed the pattern of the worship of the astrial deities such as Saturn whose number is 666.

God spared them in the wilderness to protect His own name...

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers idols. Eze 20:24

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; Eze 20:25

Sirach. 48 or Ecclesiasticus:

1. Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, and his word burned like a torch.
2. He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal he made them few in number.
3. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens, and also three times brought down fire.
4. How glorious you were, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! And who has the right to boast which you have?
5. You who raised a corpse from death and from Hades, by the word of the Most High;
6. who brought kings down to destruction, and famous men from their beds;
7. who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb;
8. who anointed kings to inflict retribution,
........... and prophets to succeed you.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. Hosea 13:9

I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? Hosea 13:10

I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:11

When Israel's elders demanded a human king "like the nations" it was so that they could worship like the nations. God then began to carry out the captivity and death sentence imposed because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai because the never repented:

And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 1 Samuel 8:7

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 1 Samuel 8:8

This was repeated when David repudiated God by the census. He was so fearful and estranged that he could never return to Gibeon which, to him, was like the Tabernacle or the garden of Eden guarded by sword-bearing angels.

Therefore, as a concession, God permitted an alternate altar at the Jebusite stronghold to stop a plague which David brought on the people. But, Jerusalem was a NATIONS area of the Jebusites and God would permit David to plan a NATIONAL temple in which God would not dwell. There is testimony that the human kings would lead the nation into captivity and death. After all, God had "turned them over to worship the starry host" because of the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai.

Gad was not a "prophet of God" but the king's seer. What is a seer? Seers are often grouped with prophets but Gad was to advise the king.

Chozeh (h2374) kho-zeh'; act. part. of 2372; a beholder in vision; also a compact (as looked upon with approval): - agreement, prophet, see that, seer, stargazer.

COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Isa 47:1

Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Is.47:2

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. Isa 47:3

As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Isa 47:4

Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness (ignorance) , O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. Isa 47:5

I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. Isa 47:6

The Hebrew word for POLLUTE shows HOW God will take their inheritance:

Chalal (h2490) khaw-lal'; a prim. root [comp. 2470]; prop. to bore, i. e. (by impl.) to wound, fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485) to play (the flute): ... gather the grape thereof, take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute,

The word HALAL has much the same meaning to include "making people vile." The word LUCIFER has the meaning of HALAL.

But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. Isa 47:9

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Isa 47:10

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Isa 47:12

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Isa 47:13

Gad who conveyed the way to STOP THE PLAGUE To David was not a true prophet but a STARGAZER.

Therefore, what did God command through Gad?

And the Lord spake unto Gad, Davids seer, saying, 1 Chronicles 21:9 [David was not God's religious leader]
Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 1 Chronicles 21:10

So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee 1 Chronicles 21: 11

Either three years famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel.

Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. 1 Chronicles 21: 12

Whatever Gad gave David as God's message has no relationship to "spiritual worship" which never has value unless it is free will: one does not go to the electric chair as a spiritual act of worship.

Whatever value this has as a proof-text, I don't want to go through the plague just to get to burn animals and make a loud noise with instruments.

David didn't want to lose power so he choose a plague. In time, God put up his sword and the destroying angel:

Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that

David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 1 Chronicles 21: 18
........... > And David went up at the saying of Gad,
........... > which he spake in the name of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 21: 19

And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. 1 Chronicles 21: 26

And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. 1 Chronicles 21: 27

And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my fathers house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. 1 Chron 21:17

Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up,
........... and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 1 Chron 21:18
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. 1 Chron 21:19
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 1 Chron 21:20

"By taking over and adapting Jerusalem's ancient cult, David provided Israel with a new worship, one that featured his own status and its sacral significance. Britannica

"The process by which David achieved this status for himself, his house, and his city may be traced in II Samuel 5--8. When David took Jerusalem, he assumed the rule over its inhabitants and their religious institutions with the cult centred on Mt. Zion. The previous (Jebusite) ruler had been both king and high priest, and played the role of mediator between the city and its deity.

There was no precedent for such a mediative and priestly role of kings in Israelite religion, nor of walled cities as the seat of government and worship.

Apparently, David simply took over the Jebusite cult on Zion and adapted it to his own (and Israelite) use. Beginning with David and throughout the entire period of the monarchy, for about four centuries, Israel's worship on Zion gave a central place to the king, not simply as officiant but substantively, as the figure who in his office and person embodied the relationship between God and the nation.

In contrast, the premonarchic worship of Israel, at Shechem and elsewhere, had featured a Covenant between God and the people, through their tribal heads, as the bond in the relationship. By taking over and adapting Jerusalem's ancient cult, David provided Israel with a new worship, one that featured his own status and its sacral significance.

Having adopted the ancient cult of Jerusalem as a means of giving sacral significance to his royal status and having renamed it the cult of Yahweh, by whose power he had conquered, David also made an important move to make the new shrine and its worship relate to the premonarchic experience of Israel. He brought the ark to Jerusalem and established it as the central object of the cult. According to tradition, it had travelled with Israel in the wilderness and led the way into the land. It was a rectangular wooden box, originally without a cover, that established and located the presence of Yahweh with the people of Israel. So close was the connection that the ark could be addressed as Yahweh. The ark was carried into battle to demonstrate that Yahweh fought for Israel; and it was carried in the wilderness, to show that he travelled with his people. In worship, it was apparently carried in procession in the pilgrimages that were features of the annual feasts. It was a sign and even the embodiment of Yahweh's presence. David could have chosen no better way of making premonarchic Israelites accept the royal cult on Zion than by incorporating the ark, with all its ancient associations, into the new ceremonial.

David's adaptation of the Zion cult, with its understanding of kingship as the substance and means of the presence of God on earth, was to have momentous consequences for the religious history of mankind, notably for the experience of the entire Western world. Because of it Jerusalem became the Holy City and David became the prototype of an awaited messiah. As symbol of the Messiah, the return of David, or the coming of David's "son" stood for the reassertion of the divine rule and presence in history: to judge it, to redeem it, to renew it. David thus became the symbol of a fulfillment in the future, final peace. Britannica Online

"In the kingdom of Judah... there developed a conception of the covenant that was fundamentally at odds with the northerm Mosaic tradition. David, the architect of the United Kingdom, had tried to unify the twelve tribes under his rule by taking over the religious traditions and symbols of the old Tribal Confederacy. But in the circle of the Davidic court a new theology developed, one that in the long run all but eclipsed the covenant faith that had been inherited from the Mosaic period. According to this view, Yahweh bound himself by a covenant oath to David, promising to preserve the Davidic line and to spare the Davidic kingdom 'for the sake of my servant David,' as Isaiah is reported to have said (Isa. 37:35; see II Sam. 7). In short, Yahweh's sovereignty was limited by the covenant, for he was no longer free to choose or reject Israel, as Amos maintained, but was obligated to preserve her." (Anderson, Theol O.T. p. 333).

David purchased the threshing floor from Ornan:

And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. 1 Chron 21:26

And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. 1 Chron 21:27

At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 1 Chron 21:28

For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. 1 Chron 21:29

But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. 1 Chron 21:30

This "plague stopping" animal sacrifice does not include musical instruments. However, David planned instruments from the NATIONAL temple because all of the nations used musical noise makers. However, this was always OUTSIDE the holy precincts. Therefore, only the Abomination of Desolation in the Jerusalem temple allowed singers, musicians, prostitutes and Sodomites into the holy places.

The evidence and scholarly opinion is that David radically changed the Mosaic system to a nationals system because that is what the elders "prayed" for and that is what God turned them over to but warning that the kings, given in anger, would destroy the nation conditionally sentenced to destruction at Sinai.

We should understand that God does not cause people to be lost without hope of redemption. However, when they make that choice on their own God sends strong delusions that they believe a lie and accept the damnation they have chosen for themselves.

"David succeeded in transferring the traditions of the Confederacy to Jerusalem: the Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthod.

"But in this change something happened to the character of 'Israel,' to the structure of the community.
"No longer was Israel, the people of God, bound together on the basis of covenant allegiance to Yahweh at the central sanctuary;
"Israel was now bound together politically, on the basis of a contract between king and people (II Sam. 5:3).

"As citizens of the state, the people of Israel owed allegiance to a king who could take a census, exact forced labor, and require submission to his power... As Israel became a state modeled after other oriental monarchies, more and more she lost her distinctive character and faced the danger of being swallowed up in the power struggle and cultural stream of the Near East." (Bernard Anderson, p. 188).

"The king thereby produced two main centers of worship--Jerusalem, the city of God (Ps. 46:5; 48:3), with reference especially to Mount Zion, which was Yahweh's 'holy hill' (9:11; 3:5), and Gibeon, the significance of which was centrated in its high place, where the old Tabernacle was by this time located (I Chron. 16:39) (Theology of the OT, p. 365)

After the processional with music in which the ark was brought to Jerusalem it is said:

"The ancient Tabernacle was now divided; the ark was brought into Zion, whereas the brazen altar at least, and probably the vessels of the holy place (ex. 25:23-40; 37:10-28; 40:22-27), were established in the high place at Gibeon.

Asaph and the singers (1 Chron. 6:31-47; 15:16-19; 16:5; 25:6) were left before the ark,
while the priests ministered in Gibeon before the Tabernacle (16:39)." (Schofield Bible, p. 478-479).

When the Ark was brought to Jerusalem, the dedicatory and purification animal sacrifices were two-fold: the civil under the kings and commanders of the army and the religious under the priests.

Of course, under Saul the people believed and proclaimed that they had God in a BOX. The Phillistines refused to be bluffed. When David did his naked dance while "rising up to play" he BELIEVED that he was dancing before the "lord." However, he confessed that he would be honored by the SLAVE GIRLS who normally did the playing and dancing until David. He confessed also that he made himself VILE which is the meaning of his PRAISE word which is the source of the word for lucifer.

David was given a concession according to Stephen to set up the new capital in Jerusalem. However, God does not dwell in temples but, according to Jesus, is worshiped in spirit and in truth. Therefore, the "congregation" of Israel worshiped God out in their own homes with prayer and learning the Word of God and right living. Religion consisted of "personal righteousness and the practice of social justice."

"The original altar of Burnt-offering continued at Gibeon with the Tabernacle (2 Chr. 1:3, 5). David must have erected a new altar for sacrifice at Jerusalem.

> The sacrifices commanded by the Law were, it appears, offered at the former place (Gibeon);
> at the latter were offered voluntary additional sacrifices." (Albert Barnes, 1 Chron, p. 347).

"The book of Psalms contain new doctrine after the Law of Moses. And after the writing of Moses, it is the second book of doctrine... (David) first gave to the Hebrews a new style of psalmody, by which he abrogates the ordinances established by Moses with respect to sacrifices, and introduces the new hymn and a new style of jubilant praise in the worship of God; and throughout his whole ministry he teaches very many other things that went beyond the law of Moses." (Fragment of Commentary by Hippolytus, bishop of Rome, Ante-Nicene, V, p. 170)

The truly greak kings always sought to restore the worship commanded by God through Moses. This musical worship would have been private devotion and:

"The absence of instrumental music from the services of the tabernacle continued not only during the wandering of the Israelites in the desert, but after their entrance into the promised land, throughout the protracted period of the Judges, the reign of Saul, and a part of David's. This is a noteworthy fact. Although David was a lover of instrumental music, and himself a performer upon the harp, it was not until some time after his reign had begun that this order of things was changed." (Girardeau, George, Instrumental Music, p. 29).

God's View of the Kings whom He chose

Of Elijah, Sirach notes of Israel:

"who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb; Ecclesiasticus 48: 7.
........... who anointed kings to inflict retribution, and prophets to succeed you. Ecclesiasticus 48: 8.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. Hosea 13:9

I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? Hosea 13:10
........... I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:11

God's view of Jerusalem among the nations

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not Luke 13:34

Jerusalem, which was taken over by the Amorites in Abraham's time, later became a citadel of control by the aristocracy of rulers and court priests. These are the ones who killed the true prophets as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 23. The prophet Jeremiah refers to Jerusalem as the harlot in Jeremiah 3:1. Ezekiel refers to Jerusalem as the harlot in Ezekiel 16:15 and 16:35. When Jesus pronounced God's judgement upon Jerusalem, he said there are days of vengeance and great wrath upon it (Luke 21:22.)

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 2 Kings 17:7

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 2 Kings 17:8

And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 2 Kings 17:9

And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 2 Kings 17:10

At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger. 2 Kings 17:11

Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. Ezekiel 5:4

See how God uses musical instruments to establish the beat as He destroys (allows to be destroyed) in the same way the Israelites burned babies in the arms of Red Hot Molech.

Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. Ezekiel 5:5

And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Ezekiel 5:6

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws.
........... You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. Ezekiel 5:7

You say, "We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone." But what you have in mind will never happen. Ezekiel 20:32 (It would happen but they would not get away with it)

"You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight," says the Lord. "Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Amos 9:7

Look, the sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob," says the Lord. Amos 9:8

"For look, I am giving a command and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations. It will resemble a sieve being shaken, when not even a pebble falls to the ground. Amos 9:9

All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, the ones who say, 'Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.' Amos 9:10

Sodom is not the word translated in the KJV as sodomite but is a word which identifies a city on the Dead Sea:

Cedom (h5467) sed-ome'; from an unused root mean, to scorch; burnt (i. e. volcanic or bituminous) district; Sedom, a place near the Dead Sea: - Sodom.

It is a fact that Sodom was more evil than others and may represent the "land of the slime pits" out of which Babylonian and Canaanite homosexuality dominated, God uses Sodom AS an example. In Amos 4 he equates Israel to Sodom and in chapters 5 and 6 implicates MUSICAL FESTIVALS as the cause of their lostness:

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Am.4:11

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Je.23:14

Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Zep.2:9

Toward the end:

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Isaiah 1:12

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Isaiah 1:13

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. Isaiah 1:14

But this was NOT from the beginning:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. Jer 7:21

For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: Jer 7:22

But this thing commanded I them, saying,

> Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people:
> and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. Jer 7:23

But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Jer 7:24

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Jer 7:25

Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Jer 7:26

THUS saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? Isa 66:1

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Isa 66: 2

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dogs neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swines blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol.

Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. Isa 66: 3

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. Isai 66:4

Modern Religionists Eyes are Still Blinded About "Music" which is NEVER used as a WORSHIP word in the Bible

The Israelites had turned from the Words of God and had their eyes veiled and ears deafened. Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 notes that the Jews continued for their entire history blinded and deaf and this would not change until they turned to Christ.

But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 2 Cor 3:14

Jesus knew that they were self-blinded and He refused to speak to the multitudes without the symbolic language of parables. This, He said, was to prevent them from hearing after they had witnessed their expected Messiah and turned away and decided to murder Him. The prediction in Psalm 41 was that they would try to "triumph over" Jesus with the music of the warrior Levites. Judas would be the agent of Satan and his "bag" was for "carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." It was a part of a flute case.

Jesus turned the Jews over to the Romans and the Abomination of Desolation again stood in the holy place claiming to be God.

It is still possible to be a baptized person but never have turned away from self reliance and turned to the Word and asked God for a "clear conscience" at baptism. This word often means a "clear consciousness." It has the meaning of "co-perception" and is a gift of the Spirit of open eyes and ears. Without that "bowing" to Christ's Word this is not going to make much sense. It is commentary and not a novel.

After the conditionally-terminal musical idolatry at Sinai, God promised that He would still listen although He would not go with them in a "personal" way into Canaan lest He destroy them. In the second law "in addition to the covenant" the command is:

And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations. Numbers 10:8

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm (shouting, clapping, rejoicing to panic the enemy) with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Numbers 10:9

Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the Lord your God. Numbers 10:10

This was a CIVIL and RELIGIOUS ceremony.
2Chr. 29:25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer,	2Chr. 29:27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar.
and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.	And when the burnt offering began,
2Chr. 29:26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David,	the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets
and the priests with the trumpets.	and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.