Amos 5, Amos Five, Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Am.5:23Many Bible students love to excuse the nation of Israel by saying that there is nothing wrong with their worship: they just had a bad mental attitude. However, Stephen in Acts 7 knew better and connects the temple or house--not commanded by God--to the musical idolatry at Mount sinai and then to Amos the prophet guided by the spirit OF Christ. The fact is that God "turned them over to worship the starry host" and when they demanded a king to rule over them God gave them kings--in His anger--and warned that the kings would carry out the captivity and death sentence.
In contrast to the sacrificial system where, like all national temples, where the noise and not called music was really exorcism out of mortal fear, God had commanded the synagogue or "church in the wilderness" to rest, read and rehearse the Word. He specificially excluded vocal and instrumental rejoicing. Here are a few facts to prove that if you enable or if you perform music you would be subject to instant execution under the Sacrificial system which you use to command instruments and impose them on peaceable churches.
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),"Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bearsin, and die. Numbers 18:22
H5647‛abad aw-bad' keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute
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,That this was a curse: Women always the founders of "religionism"
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.
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Jeremiah 7:18
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Jeremiah 7:19
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
But this thing commanded I them, saying,
in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: Jeremiah 7:22
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 7:23But 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 7:24Furthermore, 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.
Making a loud, crashing noise while animals were being slaughtered as a carnal TYPE of what they would do to JESUS was not spiritul worship.
Click to see the sin of bringing instruments into the Holy Places.
Adam Clark on Instrumental music and Amos
Click for more mind control.
Click for David Lipscombs False Claims
See how Justin Martyr grasps the meaning of Amos.
Musical Worship Teams as Heresy
Musical Heresy Two
See the MUSIC connection to HERESY in the Greek language
See how Tertullian connects rituals to heresy.
See how Ezekiel agrees with Exodus and Amos
See Augustine's agreement from Psalm 106.All SINGING and MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TERMS in the Bible have destructive and even evil roots. Every "musical" event in the Old Testament is the MARK of saying to God: "We will not listen to YOUR words." In fact, most RELIGIONS hate the idea of a superior God and therefore make God in their own image. God's WORDS are part of a Discipline whereas all of the NATION'S were devoted to Religion.
This especially included musical instruments because of the superstitious belief among ALL people that the "gods" lived inside of the instrument. A twanging string or the echo of an empty, hollow WINESKIN could be peddled by witches and soothsayers and enchanters (like the serpent) as proof that the GOD MANIPULATOR had direct access to a gift- giving demon.
Flutes (meaning to pollute or prostitute) were made in the form of MALE and FEMALES.
All pagan music in a religious sense was performed by prostitutes or homosexuals. The temple had no MUSIC as worship. It was used only to aid the priests past the horrors of animal sacrifices as a type of their FUTURE musicl mocking and slaughter of Jesus Christ.
Music is considered supernatural because it has the power to produce goose pimples. However, this is manufactured endorphins (morphine- within). Therefore, music produces the effects of FIGHT, FLIGHT OR SEXUALITY. This is why MUSIC in the Bible is intimately related to prostitution and even involved trying to MAKE LOVE with God like a prostitute. The modern VINEYARD MOVEMENT, like most of the testimony from the ancient world, believes that the goal of musical performance is to PRODUCE a CLIMAX with God (just before "giving of means"). The ancient world was influenced by African music just as modern "churchy" music is influenced by Voodoo. This overtly intended to make the Spirit Come. In Egypt it was to produce a "visual" or "oral" climax.
In "The Plot Against Christianity," Elizabeth Dilling comments that demonism and their veneration in paganism, was the essence of Baal-worship: "Baal, meaning lord, or master; the demon-god of male procreative powers associated with the Sun in Biblical times and with a goddess of female procreation, called variously: Venus [Lucifer, Zoe], Astarte, Mylitta, etc.
It involved mass nudism, fornication, sodomy and mad knife-slashing rites, including the burning of children -- were all features of this so-called worship."
The text BEFORE chapter five and after help show that we are not mistaken in God's condemnation of the FORM of Israel's worship and not just the mental attitude:
Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight; they will experience disaster, not prosperity." Amos 9:4
The sovereign Lord who leads armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves; all who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the River Nile, and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt. Amos 9:5
"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. Amos 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
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Re.11:8
The Judas Bag was for "carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." The word is made up of 'SPEAKING IN TONGUES' AND "OF THE WORLD." The word in the GREEK is often pictured on vases so that you can see a real picture of a JUDAS TYPE which Psalm 41 prophesied would try to TRIUMPH OVER Jesus meaning "to blow wind instruments and make a joyful noise before the Lord" as the Warrior's Chant. The BAG is ALWAYS attached to a flute case carried by the fellow on the left. The harp is the BARBATON carried by the BARBARIANS while their "music" was like speaking in tongues.
The chorus or choral dance the MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS try to seduce Jesus into in his "PIPING" hoping that others would sing and dance. The clergy also hoped that John wore SOFT clothing of the king's CATAMITE.
Aldus Huxley equates all theatrical performance as emotional masturbation and insists that musical performers are perverted by their own art."Abused as we abuse it at present, dramatic art is in no sense cathartic; it is merely a form of emotional masturbation. It is the rarest thing to find a player who has not had his character affected for the worse by the practice of his profession.
Nobody can make a habit of self-exhibition, nobody can exploit his personality for the sake of exercising a kind of hypnotic power over others, and remain untouched by the process. From Source
A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls. Bertolt Brecht
"And Euripides does likewise, in his Bacchae, citing the Lydian usages at the same time with those of Phrygia, because of their similarity:
But ye who left Mt. Tmolus (Sardis was on this mt.), fortress of Lydia,
revel-band of mine, women whom I brought from the land of barbarians as my assistants and travelling companions,There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. 1 Corinthians 14:10
Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. 1 Corinthians 14:11
uplift the tambourines native to Phrygian cities, inventions of mine and mother Rhea. (ZOE)
And again, happy he who, blest man, initiated in the mystic rites, is pure in his life, . . . who, preserving the righteous orgies of the great mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus on high, and wreathed with ivy, doth worship Dionysus.
Come, ye Bacchae, come, ye Bacchae, bringing down (double entendre) Bromius, (boisterous one) god the child of god, out of the Phrygian mountains into the broad highways of Greece.
"Come Holy Spirit, come, make us truly new creatures in Christ"
"Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians. The understanding of this service was universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." (End of Quasten Click to see Music and the Feminine connection)
Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Job and others make it abundantly clear that to make professional musicians STAND IN THE HOLY PLACE deliberately PICTURES Lord Jesus Christ as homosexual just as the Jewish Clergy PIPED to try to get Jesus into the song and dance of Dionysus or Bacchus--the New Wineskin God.
HEAR ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. Amos 5:1When God "sings" to people you had better watch out. In Isaiah 5 God compared Israel to a VINEYARD which He had built and posted guards. However, the nation turned to wine, women and song to DELIBERATELY hide the Word of God from themselves. As a result the people hungered and thirsted to deat for the WORD and could never find it among the priests or prophets or elders. Therefore, He SANG to Israel.
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. Amos 5:2
For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. Amos 5:3
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: Amos 5:4
But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. Amos 5:5
Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Amos 5:6
SEEK or GIVE HEED to God through His Word is Paul's most important WORSHIP WORD. This was also true in Amos 5. If the people sought God and obeyed His Words then He would be with them and they would have to attempt to SEND ACROSS THE SEA or ASCEND or DESCEND with music through the GATES OF HELL to find Him.
Seek is:
Darash (h1875) daw-rash'; a prim. root; prop. to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by impl. to seek or ask; spec. to worship: - ask, * at all, care for, * diligently, inquire, make inquisition, [necro-] mancer, question, require, search, seek [for, out], * surely.
It is a Biblical fact that MUSICAL IDOLATRY was what Israel "prayed for" at Mount Sinai.
God "turned them over" to worship the Starry host. God conditionally sentenced the entire nation to captivity and death and refused to go with them "personally" into Canaan lest He destroy them. As Intercessor He sent his "angel" which was Jesus Christ as the Rock, Water, Manna, Pillar etc.
Because they would never repent they were sentenced to go back to their "motherland" beyond Babylon or "beyond redemption."
Under the judges the nation was UP and Down until the fatal day that the ELDERS demanded a human king "like the nations" or GUTIM which means like the nation of BABYLON.
God solemnly warned them but turned them over to a religion of the external body.
The Temple created civil war and is never said to have any spiritual significance. Even David worshiped God in his spirit and was never a worship leader.
Israel restored the religion of Mount Sinai with at least two bull images worshiped with the same musical idolatry or "play" of Mount Sinai. They were truly TURNED OVER to worship the starry host and Amos and Stephen tells us their NAMES.
So, it makes no sense to say THERE'S NOTHING WORNG: they just had a bad mental attitude. They PRAYED at Sinai to worship the musical gods, God turned them over to SATURN (666) and other wandering stars, the ELDERS rejected God and demanded a king, God gave them kings to carry out their captivity and death sentence imposed at Mount Sinai.
The Bible and all scholarship acknowledges that the "gods" worshiped by Israel and Judah was RARELY Jehovah which was the One and Only Elohim.
The METHOD of their worship proved that they were NOT even attempting to worship the Jehovah of the wilderness who is now Jehovah- Saved:
Hos 8:1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
Hos 8:5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
Hos 8:2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Hos 8:3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
Hos 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
Hos 8: 6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
Hos 8: 7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Hos 8: 8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
- The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. Ho.10:8
The "nations" are the Gentiles:
- Gowry (h1471) go'ee; rarely (short.) goy go'-ee; appar. from the same root as 1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence a Gentile; also (fig.) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts: - Gentile, heathen, nation, people.
A vessel wherein there is no pleasure speaks of that of music which replaced the Word.
- Keliy (h3627) kel-ee'; from 3615; something prepared, i. e. any apparatus (as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel or weapon): - armour ([-bearee]), artillery, bag, carriage, / furnish, furniture, instrument, jewel, that is made of, * one from another, that which pertaineth, pot, / psaltery, sack, stuff, thing, tool, vessel, ware, weapon, / whatsoever.
These people are now TRAMPLING THE COURTS.
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers. Hos 8: 9Yea, though they have hired (harlots) among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. Hos 8: 10
Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin,
altars shall be unto him to sin . Hos 8: 11I have written to him the great things of my law,
but they were counted as a strange thing. Hos 8: 12They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it;
but the Lord accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity,
and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. Hos 8: 13For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples;
and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities:
but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. Hos 8: 14
- I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Ho.13:11
Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.Eze.46:20Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, Amos 5:7
Being acceptable to God can be boiled down to "practicing righteousness and social justice." God does not need to be fed, clothed, housed, entertained or sexually KNOWN by perverted worship rituals.
"Awed by the mysteries of his own spirit no less than by those of nature, primitive man was likely to attribute to divine influence
any abnormal emotional state, whether above or below the usual level. Medicine men customarily went into states of trance in which they were believed to be in communication with the gods,
and many tribes supposed lunatics and sexual deviants to be divinely possessed.
"At the end of the United Kingdom, the ten tribes or Israel adopted pagan idolatry which is soundly condemned by Amos. Parks notes that:
"This tradition seems to have been stronger in the northern kingdom, where the ORGIASTIC fertility cults were more deeply rooted;
"its rulers apparently maintained large bodies of HIRED ecstatics to encourage their subjects with suitably propitious oracles on the eve of a war or some other moral crisis.
"Among more sophisticated persons it was recognized that many of the prophets were merely lunatics (H. Bamfort Parks, Of Gods and Men, P. 106)
The DEATH SENTENCE pronounced at Mount Sinai when Israel rose up in PLAY or musical idolatry was the worship of PHYSICAL THINGS. However, this always led to ignoring the MAKER of these things. If the SUN is wonderful to behond and the giver of physical life, how much more is God Who CREATED the entire universe. It has been asked "why should you applaud the flute and boo the flute player"?
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: Amos 5:8
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. Amos 5:9
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amos 5:10
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. Mi.3:9
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat:
Treading is:
Bashac (h1318) baw-shas'; a prim. root; to trample down: - tread.
Taking:
Laqac (h3947) law-kakh'; a prim. root; to take (in the widest variety of applications): - accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, * many, mingle, place, receive (-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.
Burdens:
Maseth (h4864) mas-ayth'; from 5375; prop. (abstr.) a raising (as of the hands in prayer), or rising (of flame); fig. an utterance; concr. a beacon (as raised); a present (as taken), mess, or tribute; fig. a reproach (as a burden): - burden, collection, sign of fire, (great) flame, gift, lifting up, mess, oblation, reward.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Ps.141:2
Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. Lam.2:14
Nasa (h5375) naw-saw'; or nacah, naw- saw'; a prim. root; to lift, in a great variety of applications, lit. and fig., absol. and rel. (as follows): - accept, advance, arise, (able to, [armour], suffer to) bear (-er, up), bring (forth), burn, carry (away), exalt (self), extol..
ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. Amos 5:11
For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Amos 5:12
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. Amos 5:13
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Amos 5:14
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:15
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. Amos 5:16
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. Amos 5:17
Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. Amos 5:18
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? Mal 2:17
BEHOLD, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Mal 3:1
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap: Mal 3:2
Seek is:
Baqash (h1245) baw-kash'; a prim. root; to search out (by any method, spececially in worship or prayer); by impl. to strive after: - ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).
Amos told Israel that they should SEEK God. However, they "rose up to play" with wine, women and music. They "dried up" the Word and the children died of hunger and thirst for the Word when they were taken captive by the Assyrians (i.e. Babylons) to be made captive to the eternal "entertainment" religion.
This was one of the many cycles for which God will come with ten thousand of his saints for those who know not God.
That is what Paul told Timothy to do: give attendance to the public reading of the Word. And those who "worshiped" God "gave heed" to His word. That is the meaning of worship in spirit. That is my mind as the new PLACE of worship. And it is in Truth which is the Words of Christ which He defined as spirit and life (John 6:63). That is the meaning of the passages erroneously interpreted as "musical" worship. Plato notes that:
"I say, to produce this effect, chants appear to have been invented, which really enchant, and are designed to implant that harmony of which we speak.
........And, because the mind of the child is incapable of enduring serious training,
........ ........ they are called plays and songs, and are performed in play;just as when men are sick and ailing in their bodies,
........ their attendants give them wholesome diet in pleasant meats and drinks,
........ but unwholesome diet in disagreeable things,
........ ........ in order that they may learn, as they ought, to like the one, and to dislike the other.And similarly the true legislator will persuade, and, if he cannot persuade,
........ will compel the poet to express, as he ought, by fair and noble words, in his rhythms..Cleinias But do you really imagine, Stranger, that this is the way in which poets generally compose in States at the present day?
As far as I can observe, except among us and among the Lacedaemonians, there are no regulations like those of which you speak;
........ in other places novelties are always being introduced in dancing and in music,
........ ........ generally not under the authority of any law,
........ ........ but at the instigation of lawless pleasures;and these pleasures are so far from being the same, as you describe the Egyptian to be, or having the same principles, that they are never the same.
Again: Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. Amos 5:18
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Amos 5:19
Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:20
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21
God imposed animal sacrifices because the people loved to have great assemblies with sacrifices. As punishment this means that they were self-willed or self imposed when god "turned them over to worship the starry host" which was devoted to sacrifices. Isaiah fills in some blanks about Judah which was little different:
Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Isa 1:9
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:10
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Isaiah 1: 11
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Isaiah 1: 12
Again, it is important to understand that Amos did not address the MENTAL ATTITUDE but many, many specific sins.
That chant (scatter words, hum) to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; Amos 6:5
David would have recited a stanza first and then strummed down as few as three strings and then recited the second stanza. Chanting a person's poem and making a SOUND on the harp at the same time was, among the Classical writers, a vile thing to do.
That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Amos 6:6
Pinô I. pinein krêtêras oinoio to drink bowls of wine, , pin' epi sumphorais Ar.; didonai piein to give to drink, Hdt.; piein aitein Xen.:-- in perf. pepôka, to be drunk, Eur.; but, pinonta te kai pepôkota drinking and having finished drinking,
The Sumphora or symposium was the place where they ate, drank and made merry. They used flute girls and the result was homosexuality. James A. Towle, Commentary on Plato: ProtagorasSumposiois: this custom is followed in Xen. Symp. 2. 1 erchetai tis autois epi kômon (revel) Surakosios anthrôpos, echôn te aulêtrida [flute-girls] agathên kai orchêstrida [dancing-girl] tôn ta thaumata dunamenôn poiein kai paida ]panu ge hôraion kai panu kalôs kitharizonta [harp of Apollo] kai orchoumenon. [dancing] These show their skill during the whole banquet. Plato, however, has the same view as the one here, when he says Symp. 176 e eisêgoumai tên men arti eiselthousan aulêtrida chairein ean, aulousan heautêi, ê an boulêtai tais gunaixi tais endon, hêmas de dia logôn allêlois suneinai to têmeron
II. metaph. to drink up, as the earth does rain, Hdt.; piousa konis melan haima Aesch.,
Protagoras was the first who called himself a Sophist, and taught for PAY; and he practised his profession for the space of forty years. He says exactly what Jesus exampled, Paul commanded and the historic church practiced before the apostasy:
[347a] But as it is, since you LIE so grievously about the GREATEST matters with an air of speaking the truth, on this score I reproach you."
Such is my view, Prodicus and Protagoras, I said, of Simonides' INTENTION in composing this ode.
[347c] But if he does not mind, let us talk no more of POEMS and VERSES but consider the points on which I questioned you at first, Protagoras, and on which I should be glad to reach, with your help, a conclusion.
PAUL DIDN'T PREACH like a vulgar fella in the churches: the word is DIALOG used here by Plato only possible when you CAST OUT the poets and the FLUTE PLAYER who always had a HIDDEN AGENDA.
Poems are Poiêsis A. FABRICATION, creation, production, mimêsis [acting, MARK of homosexuality] 2. of Poetry, hê tôn dithurambôn <p., tês tragôidias [Goat singers, Capella is the goat and STAR] tôn epôn III. method of procedure, in MAGIC
In Athenian Law it was not lawful to send out a philosopher of poet as a kerusso, herald or preacher.
For it seems to me that arguing about POETRY
is comparable to the WINE-parties of common MARKET-folk.
These people, owing to their INABILITYto carry on a familiar conversation OVER THEIR WINE by means of their own voices and discussions--Euripides in Ion, "O you, who cause a voice to sing from your seven-stringed lyre, a voice that lets lovely-sounding hymns peal forth in the rustic lifeless horn, son of Leto... you led me to the bed in the cave, hearing me call on my mother, god and consort, shamelessly paying homage to Aphrodite. I, the unhappy one, bore you a son... Alas! and now my son and yours, oh cruel one, is gone, torn apart, a feast for birds;
but you are singing to the lyre, chanting hymns.
A man and his son could not go into the same temple prostitute IF they had a good mental attitude. Singing and Playing at the same time as WORSHIP where David's musicians were under the KING and COMMANDERS of the army misapplied the NOISE MAKING sounds of holocaust. Singing (connected with prostitution) and playing (connecting with prostitution or STEALING one's food) was GROUPED ALONG with too many EVIL things to single out INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC as WHOLESOME WORSHIP. It is never said to be connected with anything spiritual.
- "They forsook all the Laws of Jahwah their Father.They made an Asherah Pole; The Sacred Pole forsetting their feasts by the sun, and worshipped all the host of heaven (i.e. the sun, the moon, and the fiveplanets), and they worshipped Baal; Lord."
- Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 2 Kings 17: 13
- Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. 2 Kings 17: 14
- And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain,
- and went after the heathen that were round about them, (Nations, Gowy, Babylon pantheon of gods) concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. 2 Kings 17: 15
- Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Acts 7:42
- Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: Psalm 106:26
- To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. Psalm 106: 27
- They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and
- ate the sacrifices of the dead. Psalm 106: 28
God didn't say "I hate your mental attitude." In chapter 8 the RESULT of the musical festivals was that the people were deprived of the WORD. Therefore,I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. Am.8:10
Acarah ((h6116) ats-aw-raw'; or acereth ats-eh'-reth; from 6113; an assembly, espec. on a festival or holiday: - (solemn) assembly (meeting)
Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Jl.2:15
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Is.1:13
Feasts are
Chag (h2282) khag; or 2283 khawg; from 2287; a festival, or a victim therefor: - (solemn) feast (day), sacrifice, solemnity.
Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. Is.29:1
In some of the festivals God intended the first day and seventh day as HOLY CONVOCATIONS. That word is:
Miqra (h4744) mik-raw'; from 7121; something called out, i. e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal: - assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
God instituted the sabbath as a way to quarantine the people away from the WORSHIP RITUALS. They were caused to REST and give themselves to hearing the Words of the Lord. This was a synagogue or school of the Bible and was the church in the wilderness. In Numbers 10:7 the triumph or alarm was "blowing instruments and 'making a joyful noise before the Lord'." This was not worship but the warrior's panic "music." Therefore, in the Septuagint God asks why they had a musical festival when REHEARSING or READING the Word was the ONLY thing considered as worship on the Sabbath.
Must ye always rejoice, and go into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must ye go with a pipe, as those that rejoice into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel Isaiah 30:29 LXX
"The ritual observances at the Hebrew and at a Canaanite sanctuary were so similar that to the mass of the people Jehovah worship and Baal worship were not separated by any well-marked line...
A sacrifice was a public ceremony of a township or clan... Then the crowds streamed into the sanctuary from all sides, dressed in their gayest attire, marching joyfully to the sound of music, and bearing with them not only the victims appointed for sacrifice, but store of bread and wine set forth the feast... Universal hilarity prevailed." (Gurney, O.R., Some Aspects of Hittite Religion, p. 37, Oxford University Press, 1977)
"Many of the Psalms are expressive of the parade dance, or dance procession, in a way which show it to have been the characteristic form of the festival (Psalms 30:12, 87:7, 149:3, 150:4; Is. 30:29) and that this was where many of the Psalms were used." ( W. O. E. Osterley, The Sacred Dance (Cambridge: N. P., 1923), p. 94)
See these processionals condemned by Isaiah.
Strabo, Geography: Fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty,
for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others,
yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music;
for, if music is perverted when musicians turn their art to sensual delights
at symposiums and in orchestric and scenic performances and the like,
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling (dancing) because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 1S.30:16
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Amos 5:22
Sacrifices were made mandatory only after Israel ROSE UP TO PLAY in musical idolatry. See the Summary by John Chrysostom to prove that sacrifice and temple were, like the law, added because of transgression.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Amos 5:23
For why is a woe pronounced upon the rich who have received their consolation? (Luke 6: 24,) who are full, who laugh now, who "lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches;" "join house to house," and "lay field to field;" "and the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts," (Amos 6: 6; Isa. 5: 8, 10.)
Certainly ivory and gold, and riches, are the good creatures of God, permitted, nay destined, by divine providence for the use of man; nor was it ever forbidden to laugh, or to be full, or to add new to old and hereditary possessions, or to be delighted with music, or to drink wine.
This is true, but when the means are supplied to roll and wallow in luxury, to intoxicate the mind and soul with present and be always hunting after new pleasures,
........ is very far from a legitimate use of the gifts of God.JFB notes: 23. Take . . . away from me--literally, "Take away, from upon Me"; the idea being that of a burden pressing upon the bearer. So Isa 1:14, "They are a trouble unto Me (literally, 'a burden upon Me'): I am weary to bear them.
"the noise of thy songs--The hymns and instrumental music on sacred occasions are to Me nothing but a disagreeable noise.
I will not hear--Isaiah substitutes "prayers" (Isa 1:15) for the "songs" and "melody" here; but, like Amos, closes with "I will not hear.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
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Isaiah 1: 15
In 6:5 they CHANT:
Chant is: Parat (h6527) paw-rat'; a prim. root; to scatter words, i. e. prate (or hum): - chant.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Ge.11:9
1. The NOISE which always defines singing is the Hebrew::
Hamown (h1995) haw-mone'; or hamon (Ezek. 5:7), haw-mone'; from 1993; a noise, tumult, crowd; also disquietude, wealth: - abundance, company, many, multitude, multiply, noise, riches, rumbling, sounding, store, tumult
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Ezek 5:7
2. Why would God LOVE the sound or noise of HARPS? I am going to take a detour to parallel passages so I will put it into a box so you don't get lost!
The word for PRUNING- HOOK
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