David selects singers and musicians to minister before Yahveh

The events leading up to the inclusion by David of a formal musical system by the non-priest Levites in conjunction with rituals of the Levite priest centered around the Tabernacle and its central artifact, the Ark of the Covenant. Just around the time David was born, the Philistines and 'bad boys' of the Bible enter into a fierce battle with Israel, causing great causalities to Israel's army. Believing that the Ark was some sort of magic charm that would turn the tide and bring them victory over the Philistines, some of the Israelite troupes go to the Tabernacle at Shiloh and inappropriately remove the Ark from the Holy compartment, taking it to the battlefield where it is shortly captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-11). It would only be a short time until the Philistines began to experience some unexplained sicknesses and incidents that many of them attributed to the Ark being in their possession. At the end of seven months in their possession they reluctantly returned the Ark to Israel (1 Samuel 4:12 - 6:18).
     Once in the territories of Israel, the Ark was moved around a few more times until it was finally placed in storage in the home of Abinadab where it would remain for the next twenty years until the time of David (1 Samuel 6:19 - 7:2). This particular event posses a very important question, "why wasn't the Ark returned to the Most Holy compartment of the Tabernacle?" The texts do not say, but some have speculated that the Tabernacle structure, now over four-hundred years old, may have been compromised or damaged in some manner during the wars with the Philistines. For whatever the reason, the Ark would never be returned to its original place within the Most Holy compartment of the Tabernacle.
     During the next twenty years, the nation of Israel would undergo a major change in their governmental system. Prior to this time period, Israel was primarily a theocracy with the affairs of the people being directly governed by Yahveh. Carrying out these directives were certain men and women known as the Judges. These Judges, who were more facilitators of God's direction than independent individuals carrying their own agendas or the agendas of the people, attempted to keep the balance between the religious and secular affairs of the people in check. The last of these Judges, whose name was Samuel (also a Levite and a prophet), would become a major player in the events leading up to the time of David and the Levite musical system.
     Towards the end of the twenty years Samuel, who was getting along in years and looking to retire, appoints his two sons Abijah and Joel as Judges on behalf of the people. Unlike their father, the two sons proceeded to abuse their positions by engaging in less than honorable activities (1 Samuel 8:1-3). Seizing on this opportunity, the leaders of the individual families approach Samuel and demand that a king be appointed over them "like all the other nations." After warning the people of the seriousness of this change in direction, Samuel (under God's direction) anoints Saul as the first king over the collective nation of Israel (1 Samuel 8:1 - 10:25).
     Saul, who was a bit on the bipolar side and easily swayed by the whims of his troupes and the elders of the people, eventually makes some serious errors in judgment and is removed as king over Israel, at least in the eyes of God (1 Samuel 15:1-35). In his stead, a young shepherd named David would be anointed as the future king of Israel. It would however be many years before David would actually begin his former ruling over Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
     Saul in the meantime, puts the religious affairs of the people on the back burner and uses his remaining years in office primarily for political and military agendas. Throughout the next years, the allegiance of the people became polarized between the families who followed Saul and those David, splitting the nation in two. Finally Saul in a major battle with the Philistines, commits suicide and David, now thirty years old, is made king over the family of Judah in Hebron where he would rule for seven and one-half years (1 Samuel 31:1-13). During the later years in Hebron, David convinces the leaders of the families who had been aligned with Saul that it was in their best interest to once again form a united kingdom under his rule and is made king over the consolidated families of Israel (2 Samuel 2:1-7). Moving his headquarters to what is now called Jerusalem, David as one of his first official acts as king over the collective nation of Israel elects to have the Ark moved to his headquarters Jerusalem from Kiriath-Jearim where it had been in storage for twenty years during the reign of Saul.
     Initially attempting to move the Ark with his troupes, he is quickly stopped when the cart on which the Ark had been placed falters and one of his men is killed (2 Samuel 6:3-4; 1 Chronicles 13:7) (2 Samuel 6:6-7; 1 Chronicles 13:9-10). Fearing more deaths, he has the Ark quickly moved to house of a nearby Levite named Obed-Edom where it remains for another three months. Rethinking his actions, David eventually makes a second attempt to relocate the Ark, only this time on the shoulders of the Levites as Moses had ordered according to the word of Yahveh (Numbers 7:9, 2 Samuel 6:12-15; 1 Chronicles 15:1-15).
     Calling the priests together with other leaders of the Levites, David not only instructs them to ritually prepare themselves to move the Ark as prescribed by Moses, but goes on to direct them to assemble a ceremonial marching band to accompany the Ark from Gath to Jerusalem. Right out of the blue we have a fully functional musical marching ensemble from the Levite community complete with singers, musicians, instruments and music ready to play. From this fact alone, we must conclude that the Levites had a sophisticated musical system in place at this time. A musical system, as we shall see, as advanced as our present musical system. It was a system from which David would use as a platform for his unique way of worshiping God through not only his words, but also his music.
     It is at this juncture that David not only reestablishes the functions of the priests at the Tabernacle that had apparently been neglected during the reign of Saul, but also assigns select singers and musicians from the non-priest Levites to participate in a formal service-of-song that would be incorporated side-by-side with the functions of the priests. An aspect of the Hebrew religious culture that would outlive the functions of the priests and would continue into our day with the use of music and song as an integral part of the worship services that evolved in both the Jewish and Christian communities.
     In the following chapters, we will proceed to unravel and uncover some of the secrets of this sophisticated musical system of the Levites. We shall see what the instruments they used looked like and how they were tuned. We will discover how the Hebrew language and the language of music are directly interrelated. We will not only find the keys that will enable us to unlock and decipher the music of the Psalm manuscripts, but also uncover the unique compositional devices employed by David within his compositions to praise the Name of Yahveh. In order to begin this exciting journey of exploration, let us first examine how the Hebrew language of the Bible handles key words relating to various aspects of music.

Songs and Singers, Melodies and Musicians