Bible Explanations
14. Psalm Titles
The titles to the Psalms
are part of
inspired Scripture. However, their translation into English has
been much abused, particularly in the area of instrumental
music.
Firstly, it is obvious from
the title
"A Psalm" or "A Song" that
the Book of Psalms
is what is referred to in the phrase "Psalms, Hymns and
Spiritiual Songs" mentioned
in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16.
These passages therefore give no warrant for the use of uninspired
songs
in the worship of God. That is clear.
Secondly, we encounter
quite a few psalms
with the title "To the Chief Musician." Now far
from
this warranting instrumental music in the worship of God, this
could simply mean the "cantor," to use the language
of the synagogue, or "precentor" in our modern day language, i.e. the
man who leads the singing.
It does not mean the organist, or anyone leading the singing by
use of a musical instrument, which we can so easily think because of
our familiarity with such like.
The third type of psalm title are
those Hebrew words
which are not directly translated. There are only two of these,
namely "Maschil" and "Michtam."
These purely indicate the mood of
the psalm, and therefore the type of tune to sing it to. i.e.
"Maschil" means "song of contemplation" and "Michtam"
is
an uncertain term, but clearly indicates the mood of the psalm.
The fourth thing we may
encounter are the
Hebrewisms which occur in the titles of some of the psalms. In
some modern translations, these are translated as, for example,
"on stringed instruments" and "on the
flute"
etc. This of course is a blow to those of us who are convinced
that God does not wish musical instruments to be used in His worship
today.
How do we explain the psalm titles? Well, I tabulate all of them
below, indicating which psalm they belong to and the usual translation:
On
Neginoth [On
stringed instruments] Psalms: 41,
54, 55, 61, 67
Upon
Nehiloth [For
flutes] Psalm 5
Upon
Sheminith [On eight] Psalms: 6, 12
Upon
Gittith [For
the harp] Psalms:8, 81
Upon
Muthlabben [dying] Psalm 9
Upon Aijelath
Shahar [On
the
deer of the dawn] Psalm 22
Upon
Jonath-Elemrechokin [Concerning
the silent dove afar off] Psalm 56
Al Taschith
[Do not destroy] Psalms: 57, 58, 59, 75
Upon
Shoshannim [for
the lilies] Psalms: 45, 69
Upon
Shushan-Eduth [On the lily of the testimony]
Psalm 60
Upon
Shoshannim-Eduth [On
the
lily of the testimony] Psalm 80
Upon
Mahalath [on Mahalath (seems to be
the title of a popular
song)] Psalm 53
Upon
Mahalath-Leannath [On
mahalath, to make humble] Psalm 88
It is obvious from these that the vast majority do not refer to
musical
instruments at all, but seem to be simply the name of the tune.
If we take these out of the above list, only three remain:
On Neginoth:
This is
usually translated
"on stringed instruments," but whilst
it can have
the
meaning of plucking strings (like "psallo" in
Greek,
where we get our word "psalm" from), it can also have
the meaning simply of "a song."
On Nehiloth:
This is
usually translated
"for flutes" but the word means "nostril,"
so does not necessarily signify a musical instrument.
Upon Gittith:
This is
usually translated
"for the harp," but it can also mean an inhabitant
of
Gath, and could simply be a title of a tune.
This therefore solves the problem of
the psalm titles. People see the word "upon" or "on"
and immediately think of playing "on" or "upon"
a musical instrument. The Authorised Version of the Bible specifically
and
correctly avoids any reference to musical instruments in the psalm
titles, and prefers to keep the Hebrew word. This is correct,
as it is then obviously a tune title, rather than instruction for the
use of a musical instrument.