The God-Ordained Hymnal: The Psalms
It appears as though God does have a say in what text and tune should be used by God's people for worship. God did provide his people with a hymnal of his own choosing and arrangement. He provided his people a 150 page (chapter) hymnal. I can just imagine trying to do this today with a scroll. The worship/song leaders stands up and says, "Please roll your scroll to Psalm 118." Can you imagine how long that would take? Imagine a synagogue full of people rolling their scrolls. Praise the Lord for the invention of codex.
Just consider a standard page found in an English text Bible. I turn to a Psalm, let's say Psalm four (150 to choose from). As you quickly glance at the text you see several things. First, a title in bold font Psalm 4 or perhaps Psalm Four (most likely it says Psalm 4). But look right below that title for Psalm 4. There's some more information provided for us. Second, we have the person or sometimes the group for which this psalm was written. Not on that but many psalms (like this one) include either the musical instrument intended for it, the musical tune, or perhaps even the mood by which it is to be sang or played. Lastly, many psalms include the human author who wrote under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in this psalm specifically it is called a psalm of David, perhaps Asaph, or maybe we don't no specifically who wrote it.
Perhaps your thinking well that was just added by the translators or by a publishing house. Think something similar to reading the gospels and the two color font used by some publishers. The color red denotes the publishers aid to the reader in distinguishing when Jesus is speaking and when his is not. Here's a point of similarity. The font whether red or black in an English translation is based on an underlying Greek text. Question: is there any underlying Hebrew text for these titles and related introductory information? Check out a Hebrew Old Testament text or find and interlinear. When you look at the text in Hebrew where is verse one? Do you translate this way, "Hear men when I call"? Or do you translate it, "to the chief musician on Neginoth"? Where is verse one and verse two? Is there an interesting change occurring between Hebrew and English?
This not the only place in the Old Testament where this concept appears. Consider also a text like Habakkuk chapter three. Verse one, "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth." Sounds like many of the psalms. But look also how chapter three ends, "To the chief singer on my stringed instruments " (v. 19). Oh, and by the way, there is Hebrew text underlying both of these verses.
One more little piece of evidence remains. The little word Selah. The meaning at present is not as important as when it appears. It occurs to my knowledge 74 times in the Old Testament. The number itself is not that important either. When and where does it appear? Only two books in the entire Old Testament. Three times in Habakkuk chapter three and guess where else? The book of Psalms, the God-ordained hymnal.
Perhaps there is more evidence for God determined text and tunes than you might have imagined. What happens when we sing the Psalms? Are we singing a text and tune which God chose? Do you you think God would have chosen tunes that are described as worldly or flesh-arousing? Let us also remind ourselves historically, that many within church history rejected and opposed the creation of hymns (and a hymnal for that matter).
Here's where another battle begins. This is apart from the God doesn't care about the tune crowd. Or God consider's all cultures neutral crowd. Even to suggest otherwise to many evangelicalism smacks of a warped definition of cultural superiority or racism. We don't have the exact tune preserved in the text for us. What do you think a holy and reverent God would choose?
Hope this helps some in this matter. Comments and questions encouraged.
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