1 Corinthians 13:1-2 - Sounding Brass Tinkling Cymbals

Sounding brass and tinkling cymbals: Peter warned against casual treatment of Paul's writings; Paul warned against speaking in tongues or pagan prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5) and prophetesses. In 1 Corinthians he equates the sounding to the Familiar Spirit which we first saw after Israel's rejection of God resulted in the musical prophesiers from the Philistine high places. We will look at the classical Greek writers to understand the connection between echoing or ringing musical instruments and the prophesying, often by women, as a way to be able to speak the language from the gods or from angels.  

We believe that Paul outlawed instrumental music as a worship device. He called them lifeless instruments and carnal weapons or instruments and associated them with the instruments of warfare. He as well defined away pagan styles of singing and removed external melody and put it in the heart.

We have no urge or power to be judgmentally exclusive or judgmentally inclusive. Rather, our goal to to try to understand the Word of God in its historical context.

Whatever your choice of worship activities it is a true act of worship to try to understand Paul's words in the context of 1 Corinthians 13.

The Meaning of to Corinthianize. Click for Strabo to define the paganism in Corinth from which they never recovered.

The Corinthians clearly understood the connection between LIFELESS INSTRUMENTS and singing and speaking in tongues. A prostitute or courtesan is a:

Korinthios , a, on, Corinthian, Hdt., etc.; K. korê courtesan, Pl.R. 404d; hetairai K. Ar.Pl.149; oinos K. Alex.290; K. kadoi Diph.61.3 . Adv. -iôs in Corinthian fashion, oikos (house, Temple) K. estegasmenos J.AJ8.5.2 :-- fem. Korinthias , ados, hê, St.Byz.:--also Korinthiakos , ê, on, X.HG6.2.9; K. gluphai Ph.1.666 : Korinthikos , AP6.40 (Maced.).

B. Korê.. the Daughter (of Demeter), name under which Persephone (Proserpine) was worshipped in Attica

Solomon's Temple was built after the Corinthian Order.

PL.Republic:

[404d] he said, "in that they know it and do abstain." "Then, my friend, if you think this is the right way, you apparently do not approve of a Syracusan table (Phaedrus) and Sicilian variety of made dishes." "I think not." "You would frown, then, on a little Corinthian maid as the chère amie of men who were to keep themselves fit?" "Most certainly." "And also on the seeming delights of Attic pastry?" "Inevitably." "In general, I take it, if we likened that kind of food and regimen to music and song expressed in the

pan-harmonic mode... [A. embracing all modes or scales, in neut. of a style of Music, ouk ara poluchordias, II. metaph., complex, elaborate, 2. harmonious, choros  [dance]
Organon , to, ( [ergon, erdô] ) I. an implement, instrument, engine of any kind (mostly post-Aug.), Col. 3, 13, 12.--Of military or architectonic engines (whereas machina denotes one of a larger size and more complicated construction)
A. instrument, implement, tool, for making or doing a thing
3.musical instrument,
2.organ of sense or apprehension, theaomai, gaze at, behold, mostly with a sense of wonder, 3.view as spectators, esp. in the theatre
Doing hard work in warfare or the shock and awe to cause fright in religious rituals.
Ergon  [Ergô] I.work, 1. in Il. mostly of deeds of war, polemêïa erga, 3.a hard piece of work, a hard task, Il.: also, a shocking deed or act,

Polemeios: warlike, aoida war-note, of the trumpet, B.17.4
aoid-ê  5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation

The flute-girls (prostitutes) often used WINE and beer. A courtesan is a hetaira is a harp-playing prostitute:

Hetaira
1. a companion, Il.; phorminx, hên daiti (feast) theoi (god) poiêsan (make) hetairên Od.; penia sphin hetaira Theocr.
2. opp. to a lawful wife, a concubine, a courtesan, Hdt., attic

Phorminx 1 the phorminx, a kind of lyre or harp, the oldest stringed instrument of the Greeks, esp. as the instrument of Apollo, Hom.; with seven strings (after Terpander's time), Pind. [Commonly referred to pherô, as if it were the portable lyre: better perh. from Root .phrem, Lat. fremo, to sound.]

Epic cannot be sung: the Bible is not metrical in the "tuneful" sense but in the accent or emphasis sense.  Lyric poetry was composed to be accompanied by the lyre: still not a "tuneful" sense.

Rhapsodus Epic verses were originally sung to musical accompaniment, but after the time of Terpander, as lyric poetry became more independently cultivated, the accompaniment of stringed instruments fell into disuse;  and then gradually, instead of a song-like recitation, a simple declamation, in which the rhapsodist held a branch of bay in his hand, came to be generally adopted. This had happened even before the time of Plato and Aristotle (see especially Plato's Ion). As in earlier times the singers moved from place to place, in order to get a hearing at the courts of princes or before festive gatherings, so the rhapsodists also led an unsettled and wandering life.

Terpander flourished c. 647 BC, , Lesbos, Asia Minor [Greece]Greek poet and musician of the Aegean island of Lesbos. Terpander was proverbially famous as a singer to the accompaniment of the kithara, a seven-stringed instrument resembling a lyre, which he was said to have invented, and from the name of which the word "guitar" derives. He was also credited with important developments in music for that instrument and is said to have won a prize for music at the 26th Olympiad held in Sparta (676/672).

The word "melody" is melos or other words: Psallo is never translated as "melody" in the Greek Texts. The same Paul in Col 3:16 substitutes the word "grace." Simple melody points directly to Apollo or the Apollyon in Revelation.

Strabo Geography 9.3.10 through this melody  [melos] he means to celebrate the contest between Apollo and the dragon, setting forth the prelude [melous humnein] as anakrousis [anakrou-sis], the first onset of the contest as ampeira, the contest itself as katakeleusmos, the triumph following the victory as iambus and dactylus, the rhythms being in two measures, one of which, the dactyl, is appropriate to hymns of praise, whereas the other, the iamb, is suited to reproaches (compare the word "iambize"), and the expiration of the dragon as syringes, since with syringes (pipes) players imitated the dragon as breathing its last in hissings. (pipings) [surigmos]

Surig-mos , ho, A. shrill piping sound, hissing, as of serpents, Arist.HA536a6, Str.9.3.10 (pl.); in sign of derision, X.Smp.6.5; as a military signal, Aen. Tact.24.17; s. kai chleuasmoi Plb.30.29.6 ; s. kalôn the whistling of rigging, D.H.Comp.16; of the sound of sibilants, ib.14; hissing in the theatre, Plu.Cic.13; of the cry of elephants, Arr.An.5.17.7; singing in the ears, Dsc.2.78.

The sounding brass was, in effect, a Pipe Organ which reproduced certain pitches of speech or music. The "wind" of the speaker "blew" across the theater into the "pipe" with the same effect of a modern instrument. 1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Q. Horatius Flaccus, Odes 1.17 The pleasures of Lucretilis Tempt Faunus from his Grecian seat; He keeps my little goats in bliss [capellis=She Goats] Apart from wind, and rain, and heat. In safety rambling o'er the sward For arbutes and for thyme they peer, The ladies of the unfragrant lord, Nor vipers, green with venom, fear, Nor savage wolves, of Mars' own breed, My Tyndaris, while Ustica's dell Is vocal with the silvan reed, And music thrills the limestone fell. Heaven is my guardian; heaven approves A blameless life, by song made sweet; Come hither, and the fields and groves Their horn shall empty at your feet. Here, shelter'd by a friendiy tree, In Teian measures you shall sing         Bright Circe and Penelope,         Love-smitten both by one sharp sting. Here shall you quaff beneath the shade Sweet Lesbian draughts that injure none, Nor fear lest Mars the realm invade Of Semele's Thyonian son, Lest Cyrus on a foe too weak Lay the rude hand of wild excess, His passion on your chaplet wreak, Or spoil your undeserving dress. 1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Iamblichus 1. For to those who are divinely possessed inaccessible places become accessible: they are thrown into the fire; they go through fire they pass through rivers like the holy maids in Kastabalis.13 From these examples it is shown that they who are enthusiasts do not have any thought of themselves, and that they do not live a human or an animal life so far as relates to sense or natural impulse, but that they exchange it for another more divine life by which they are inspired and by which they are held fast. 11. This is probably an allusion to the mutilations practiced at Rites like the orgies of the Great Mother. Similar suspensions of sensibility are reported in cases of burning alive and the tortures inflicted upon religious devotees. The enthusiasm or mental ecstasy overcomes the corporeal sensation. 1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, For the literate Paul points to all forms of musical "religion" as pagan. EVEN if you could do all of those things and had no love it would have no value. Paul DOES NOT commend any of them. Remember: We finally gotta tell 'em that we gonna make this church a THEATER FOR HOLY ENTERTAINMEN. Fine, Just in time to fulfill prophecy. I have been waiting for GOD'S spectacle! THEATRUM The acoustic properties of a Greek theatre would be naturally good, since the actors had a high wall behind them and a rising slope in front. Vitruvius, indeed, says that artificial aid was sought from brazen vessels, which the Greeks call êcheia, so placed in the auditorium as to reverberate the voices of the actors. He even speaks of these resonators as being nicely adapted to the required musical pitch (ii. 1, 9). The theatre at Aizani in Cilicia has a series of niches above the diazôma: and similar niches exist elsewhere. According to one view, these niches held the êcheia, while another connects them merely with the substructions of seats. The statement of Vitruvius leaves no doubt that êcheia were used, at least sometimes, in the theatres of his own day: but it remains uncertain whether such a device was employed by the Greeks of an earlier time. The Cymbal or Sistrum was the BADGE of the prophetess of Hathor and was used by Miriam as the MARK that Israel's FIRST sin was to SING God's praise just across the dead sea with no intention of obeying God's Will CY´MBALUM The cymbal was a very ancient instrument, and unquestionably came from the East, where among other nations it was familiar to the Jews (see Dict. of Bible, s. v.). It is represented in a Phoenician bronze from Cyprus, now in the Cesnola collection at New York (D. and S. i. 1697 a). We find sacred trees depicted with cymbals hung on them as votive offerings, so as to be blown about by the wind (Guhl and Koner, p. 5, fig. 1). Among the Greeks and Romans they were especially used in orgiastic rites of Eastern origin, like those of Cybele (Pind. fragm. 48 = 79 Bergk4; Lucret. ii. 618; Catull. lxiii. 29; Verg. Georg. iv. 64; Propert. iv. 7, 61; Ov. Fast. iv. 213) and Dionysus (Aesch. fragm. cit.; Liv. xxxix 8 fin., 10), as well as in the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter and Cora (Pind. Isthm. vi. 3; Clem. Alex. Protrept. 2, § 15, p. 14; Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 708). It will be noticed how constantly, in these passages, the cymbal and the tympanum are coupled together. Art monuments tell the same tale as literature, both as to the joint use of the two instruments and the deities in whose worship they occur. A cymbal figured in Daremberg and Saglio (i. 1697 b) is a votive offering to Cora. As with the crotalum, the performers represented on works of art are mostly females. As with the crotalum, the performers represented on works of art are mostly females. Verg. Georg. iv. 64; The Georgics IV Virgil For then 'tis ever the fresh springs they seek And bowery shelter: hither must you bring The savoury sweets I bid, and sprinkle them, Bruised balsam and the wax-flower's lowly weed, And wake and shake the tinkling cymbals heard By the great Mother: on the anointed spots Themselves will settle, and in wonted wise Seek of themselves the cradle's inmost depth.   But if to battle they have hied them forth- For oft 'twixt king and king with uproar dire Fierce feud arises, and at once from far You may discern what passion sways the mob, And how their hearts are throbbing for the strife; Hark! the hoarse brazen note that warriors know Chides on the loiterers, and the ear may catch A sound that mocks the war-trump's broken blasts; Echeion , to, ( [êchos] ) drum, gong, Plu.Crass.23, Apollod. ap. Sch. Theoc.2.36, Procop.Gaz.Ecphr.p.153B.; tambourine, as head-dress, Herm.Trism.in Rev.Phil.32.254; used for stage-thunder, Sch.Ar. Nu.292; as sounding-boards in the theatre, Vitr.5.5.2. II. in the lyre, = chalkôma, apptly. a metallic sounding-plate, Hsch.; so of the palate, Gal.UP7.5. 2. Adj. êcheion organon sounding instrument, Ph.1.588, cj.ib.444,510. Organon, 3. musical instrument, Simon.31, f.l. in A.Fr.57.1 ; ho men di' organôn ekêlei anthrôpous, of Marsyas, Pl.Smp.215c ; aneu organôn psilois logois ibid., cf. Plt.268b ; o. poluchorda Id.R.399c , al.; met' ôidês kai tinôn organôn Phld.Mus.p.98K. ; of the pipe, Melanipp.2, Telest.1.2. Echetês , ou, ho, Ep. êcheta^ , Dor. achetas , acheta, ( [êcheô] ) A. clear-sounding, musical, shrill, donax achetas A.Pr.575 (lyr.); kuknos E.El.151 (lyr.); epith. of the cicada, chirping, êcheta tettix Hes.Op.582 , AP 7.201 (Pamphil.); achetat. ib.213 (Arch.): abs., achetas, ho, the chirper, i.e. the male cicada, Anan.5.6, Ar.Pax1159 (lyr.), Av.1095 (lyr.), cf. Arist.HA532b16,556a20: Orph.A.1250 has Ep.acc. êcheta porthmon the sounding strait. Donax n1 n2 n3 [from doneô, "a reed shaken by the wind, " cf. rhips from rhiptô]   Luke 7:24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?   don-eô, A. shake, of the effects of the wind, to de te pnoiai doneousin they shake the young tree kardian to agitate one's mind, hêmas edonêsen hê mousikê, II. of sound, murmur, buzz, of bees, prob. in h.Merc.563; d. throon humnôn rouse the voice of song, Pi.N.7.81:--also in Med. or Pass., luran te boai kanachai t' aulôn doneontai Id.P.10.39 ; of bees, Choeril.2; rhoizêmasin aithêr doneitai Ar.Av.1183 .--Poet. word, used in Ion., X.Smp.2.8, and late Prose; of medical percussion, Aret.SD2.1   "Yobal (Jubal). (Note: Jubilee or "a blast of trumpets" is from Jubal which means "to lead with triumph or pomp.") and Tobalkin (Tubal-Cain), the two brethren, the sons of Lamech, the blind man, who killed Cain, invented and made all kinds of instruments (or metal weapons) of music.   Hippolytus V   "Yobal made reed instruments, and harps, and flutes, and whistles,          <>and the devils went and dwelt inside them.         When men blew into the pipes, the devils sang inside them, <>  And Satan had been made ruler (or prince) of that camp          Fol. 12b, col. 2. And when the men and women were  stirred up to lascivious frenzy by the devilish playing of the reeds which emitted musical sounds, and by the harps which the men played through the operation of the power of the devils, and by the sounds of the tambourines and of the sistra which were beaten and rattled through the agency of evil spirits, the sounds of their laughter were heard in the air above them, and ascended to that holy mountain. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft (clothes of a Catamite=male prostitute) raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately (effeminate), are in kings courts. Luke 7:25   They expected that the "prophesiers" would be male prostitutes who would help you locate a goat or serve your needs. Jesus identifies the HYPOCRITES by point to Isaiah and Ezekiel 33 to point directly to the "love" songs and well played instruments.   Luke 7:26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.   Pi.N.7.81 Pindar, Nemean Odes 7   [9] For he lives in a city that loves music, the city of the Aeacidae with their clashing spears; [10] and they very much want to foster a spirit familiar with contests. If someone is successful in his deeds, he casts a cause for sweet thoughts into the streams of the Muses. For those great acts of prowess dwell in deep darkness, if they lack songs, and we know of only one way to hold a mirror up to fine deeds   [15] if, by the grace of Mnemosyne with her splendid headdress, one finds a recompense for toils in glorious song. [17] Skillful men know the wind that will come on the day after tomorrow, and they do not suffer loss through the love of gain. The rich man and the poor man alike travel together to the boundary of death. [20] And I expect that the story of Odysseus came to exceed his experiences, through the sweet songs of Homer, [22] since there is a certain solemnity in his lies and winged artfulness, and poetic skill deceives, seducing us with stories, and the heart of the mass of men is blind.   Strike up the song! The Muse welds together gold and white ivory with coral, the lily she has stolen from beneath the ocean's dew. [80] But in remembrance of Zeus and in honor of Nemea, whirl a far-famed strain of song, softly. On this spot it is fitting to sing with a gentle voice of the king of gods. To plough the same ground three or four times [105] is poverty of thought, like babbling "Corinth of Zeus" to children. Id.P.10.39 Pindar.Neaman 10. [31] Once Perseus, the leader of his people, entered their homes and feasted among them, when he found them sacrificing glorious hecatombs of donkeys to the god. In the festivities of those people [35] and in their praises Apollo rejoices most, and he laughs when he sees the erect arrogance of the beasts. [37] The Muse is not absent from their customs; all around swirl the dances of girls, the lyres loud chords and the cries of flutes. [40] They wreathe their hair with golden laurel branches and revel joyfully. <>No sickness or ruinous old age is mixed into that sacred race; without toil or battles [43] they live without fear of strict Nemesis. The Muses work for Apollo, Abaddon or Apollyon. The Muses are identified as the LOCUSTS who werel to be unleashed by Apollo the "having fallen star." Tettix cicala, Cicada plebeia or allied species, a winged insect fond of basking on trees, when the male makes a chirping or clicking noise by means of certain drums or 'tymbals' underneath the wings, a prov. for garrulity, Plato calls them hoi Mousôn prophêtai,   Musical prophesying is defined by John in Revelation as SORCERERS.   Usually used with:   Aeidô [compare the morphological problems with aeirô] I. to sing, Il., etc.:--then of any sound, to twang, of the bowstring, Od.; to whistle, of the wind, Mosch.; to ring, of a stone struck, Theocr. II. trans., 1. c. acc. rei, to sing, chant, mênin, paiêona, klea andrôn Hom.:--absol., aeidein amphi tinos to sing in one's praise, Od.:--Pass., of songs, to be sung, Hdt.; aisma kalôs aisthen Xen. 2. c. acc. pers. to sing, praise, attic These are the LOCUSTS or musical performers under Apollo who is the Apollyon or Abaddon of John. In Revelation 17 they SERVE the Babylon Harlot and the singers and musicians in Revelation 18:22 are called SORCERERS by which they deceived the world. Sounding brass intends to DECEIVE and overpower the paying audience. That is why when Moses heard idolaltry at Mount Sinai he said: "It is SINGING that I heard." Paul put the SPEAK or SAY in the human spirit and said nothing about external MUSIC.

Summary:

Paul had just listed all of the spiritual gifts in First Corinthians chapter 12 and defined their use.

<>Then he described "a better way" where love forbids imposing legalistic or pagan forms of worship.
Because the Corinthian church was still "carnal" and not spiritual, and could not solve their least problem, Paul used common irony to ridicule the whole church.

For instance, if Pavarotti comes into our church and says: "I see that you are all singing opera; I wish that you could all sing opera." Do we foolishly take this as a compliment and a recommendation that we all sing opera in church assembly each week? Or, are we just a bit skeptical and understand Pavarotti, like Paul, to say, "But, you don't all have the gift of opera, do you?" Oh, how crushing Jesus and Paul could be but those who have already wounded their souls will think that they are kidding.

If we understand his "hard to understand writing" we see Paul's comments about singing and speaking non-Biblical messages as just making fun of Corinth as a parable-like warning. According to Jesus' definition of parables "to fool the insincere," Paul uses key words which point directly back to the idolatry of Israel and pagan, Babylon-type worship rituals. They didn't like the Words of Christ and were just looking for a better deal direct from the heavens or the gas vent at Delphi.

Furthermore, by the "hard to be understood" symbols used by Paul, we understand that he is directly connecting their music and speaking in tongues to the old Greek paganism out of which many had just come, bringing along their musical instruments which was the key weapon to bring on charismatic prophesying or madness. This is the understanding that a well-informed Corinthian would have had. This is why secular history records no instrumental music after Paul had "cleaned their plow."

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul had warned against the musical worship of Apis at Mount Sinai.

"From time immorial music had been especially valued in the service of prophecy. Pliny the Elder gives us a report of the cult of Apis:

"In Egypt an ox is honored in place of the god. He is called Apis and he lives in isolation. If he ever goes among the people he stalks along while the lictors make way for him and throngs of boys accompany him, singing songs in his honor.

<>He appears to understand what is happening and seems to wish to be adored.
The throngs [of boys] suddenly become inspired and prophesy the future. (Pliny, Natural History)
Consequently Apollo was god of prophets and musicians and Pan was god of medicine, music and divination. Also recorded by Heredotus..

Origen Book VI, Chapter XLI.

In the next place, as if he had forgotten that it was his object to write against the Christians, he says that, "having become acquainted with one Dionysus, an Egyptian musician,

<>the latter told him, with respect to magic arts, that it was only over the uneducated and men of corrupt morals that they had any power,
while on philosophers they were unable to produce any effect, because they were careful to observe a healthy manner of life."

<>Click Here for more on Egyptian worship with music adopted by Israel at Mount Sinai.
Click Here to see what "rising up to Play meant."
Click Here to see how Israel lost the Covenant and was cursed with the Law.

The Out of Assembly Uncovered Prophesying 1 Corinthians 11

"The Hithpa'el of nb', in the ancient texts, refers to ecstasy and delirium rather than to the emission of a 'prophecy'." (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, p. 243, Doubleday)

"Maniac inspirations, the violent possession which threw sibyls and priestesses into contortions--the foaming lip and streaming hair and glazed or glaring eyes--

have no place in the self-controlling dignity of Christian inspiration. Even Jewish prophets, in the paroxysm of emotion, might lie naked on the ground and rave (1 Sam. xix. 24);

but the genuine inspiration in Christian ages never obliterates the self-consciousness or overpowers the reason. It abhors the hysteria and stimulation and frenzy which have sometimes disgraced revivalism and filled lunatic asylums." (Pulpit Commentary, 1 Cor., p. 460).

David's praise was often a form of madness:

Halal (h1984) haw-lal'; a prim. root; to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causat. to celebrate; also to stultify: - (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (- ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.

"In the environment in which Christianity arose was surcharged with such phenomena (raving prophecy). In the Greek oracles messages were uttered by priests or priestesses in a state of ecstasy,

consciousness being in abeyance, and it was necessary to interpret them to the laity, as both Plutarch and Heraclitus testify... In the orgies of the cult of Dionysus music, dancing, drink, and other means were employed to supereninduce the ecstatic state, in which the devotees ate raw flesh, disported themselves with frenzied enthusiasm in the forests, and indulged in wild phallic excesses.

The ecstatic person was 'in the divinity' and out of normal consciousness. Cicero makes prophecy and madness practically synonymous." (Clark, Elmer T., The Small Sects in America, p. 86, Abingdon)

"The religious ecstasy induced by music expressed itself either in an outburst of emotions,
        thus giving rise to religious catharsis,
        or in a transfer to the state of prophecy.

In this way music became an important factor in divination. In the mysteries of the Magna Mater this relationship between music and divination is particularly clear.

Through the din of tambourines, cymbals and flutes the ecstatic worshiper of the goddess prophesied the future to those present.

Bronze cymbals from Luristan (Iran), 9th-7th centuries B.C.

In Aeschylus Agamemnon:

Cassandra

And now, no more shall my prophecy peer forth from behind a veil like a new-wedded bride; but it will rush upon me clear as a fresh wind blowing against the sun's uprising so as to dash against its rays, like a wave, a woe far mightier than mine.

<>No more by riddles will I instruct you. And bear me witness, as, running close behind, ] I scent the track of crimes done long ago.
For from this roof never departs a choir chanting in unison, but singing no harmonious tune; for it tells not of good. And so, gorged on human blood, so as to be the more emboldened, a revel-rout of kindred Furies haunts the house, hard to be drive away.

Lodged within its halls they chant their chant, the primal sin; and, each in turn, they spurn with loathing a brother's bed, for they bitterly spurn the one who defiled it. Have I missed the mark, or, like a true archer, do I strike my quarry?

Or am I prophet of lies, a door-to-door babbler? Bear witness upon your oath that I know the deeds of sin, ancient in story, of this house.

Chorus

How could an oath, a pledge although given in honor, effect any cure? Yet I marvel at you that, though bred beyond the sea, you speak truth of a foreign city, even as if you had been present there.

"In Greek ritual the sacrifice was accompanied by the invocatory cries of women.
        Their purpose was to call the good gods so that they cound enjoy the sacrifice.
        Music had the same character of epiclesis. It was understood to "call down" the good gods.

Menander attests to the attribution of this significance to music. According to Plutarch,

the inhabiants of Argos blew trumpets on the feast of Dionysos so as to call the god up from the depths of the river Lerne for the sacrifice.

Because song and music increased the efficacy of the epiclesis the words of epiclesis were nearly always sung to instrumental accompaniment.

Thus the Dionysian fellowship used the ritual of women in order to obtain the appearance of their god.

Arnobius alludes to such songs of the pagans performed to flute accompaniment, and he mockingly asks whether the sleeping deities will be awakened by them." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 17)

Euripides Iphigeneia in Taurus 1123

And you, lady, the Argive penteconter will bear you home; [1125] the wax-bound reed of the

mountain god Pan, piping, will shout to the oars,
and Phoebus the prophet, with the ring of his seven-stringed lyre,
singing, will guide you well to the gleaming land of the Athenians. Leaving me here, you will go with splashing oars. In the breeze, the forestays of the ship that carries you swiftly will spread out over the front beyond the prow.

May I come to the bright race-course, where the sun's fire goes; [1140] over the chambers of my home, may I cease to flutter the wings on my back.

May I take my stand in the dances of glorious marriages, where I stood as a maiden, [1145]

twirling about in the dancing bands of other girls, away from my dear mother; rushing on to the contest of charms, the luxuriant strife of hair, I covered my cheeks with the multi-colored veil [1150] and shadowed them with the locks of my hair.

"I saw in Byblos a great temple of Aphrodite of Byblos, in which they perform ceremonies in memory of Adonis, and I was told about the ceremonies. They say that the story of Adonis and the boar actually took place in their country, and in memory of this unhappy incident, they beat their breasts each year and wail and perform certain rites, and hold a great funeral ceremony throughout the whole land. When they have given their breasts a good beating and done enough weeping, they first bring presents to Adonis as though to a dead man;

but then, the morning after, they say that he is alive and up in the air.

Then they shave their heads as the Egyptians do at the death of Apis. As for the women, all those who do not wish to be shaved pay the following forfeit: for one day, they must put their beauty on sale, but the market is open only to strangers, and the price is used for a sacrifice to Aphrodite." (de Vaux, p. 224-225)

"Singing served as a means of inducing ecstatic prophecy (speaking in tongues).

Thus the essential relationship between music and prophecy can be clearly seen.
This relationship also explains why the expression for "making music" and "prophesying" was often identical in the ancient tongues. origen contra celsum 8.67.The Hebrew word Naba signifies not only "to prophesy" but also "to make music." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 39)

The other form of prophecy could be truly revealing a message from God by a unique designated prophet. There were no true prophets in Corinth. In addition, one becomes a "prophet" when they deliver a previously-inspired message.

Paul begins 1 Corinthians chapter 13:1

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding , or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

Tongues are from the Greek:
Glossa (g1100) gloce-sah'; of uncert. affin.; the tongue; by impl. a language (spec. one naturally unacquired): - tongue.

We should understand that the Judas bag was the:

Glossokomon (g1101) gloce-sok'-om-on; from 1100 and the base of 2889; prop. a case (to keep mouthpieces of wind-instruments in), i.e. (by extens.) a casket or (spec.) purse: - bag.

Speaking to the end-time horde of plague bringers restricted to a small tribe, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes:

"It seems that in addition to the public and official cult of the "twelve great gods" and their subordinate divinities, the Assyrians had a more sacred and secret religion,

a religion of mystery and magic and sorcery.

These "religious" texts, moreover, together with a mass of talismanic inscriptions on cylinders and amulets, prove the presence of an exceedingly rich demonology. Below the greater and lesser gods there was a vast host of spirits, some of them good and beneficent and some of them evil and hurtful. And these spirits were described and classified with an exactness

which leads some to liken the arrangement to that of the choirs and orders of our own angelic hierarchy.

The antiquity and importance of this secret religion, with its magic and incantations of the good spirits or evil demons, may be gathered from the fact that by order of King Assurbanipal his scribes made several copies (songbooks) of a great magical work according to a pattern which had been preserved from a remote antiquity in the priestly school of Erech in Chaldea.

Paul used a word similar to the FAMILIAR SPIRIT of the Witch of Endor: an old wineskin from its hollow sound. Paul was speaking of the sorcerers which included rhetoricians, sOPHISts (serpents), singers and musicians:

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Cor 13:1

Chalkos (g5475) khal-kos'; perh. from 5465 through the idea of hollowing out as a vessel (this metal being chiefly used for that purpose); copper (the substance, or some implement or coin made of it): - brass, money.

Chaldaios (g5466) khal-dah'-yos; prob. of Heb. or. [3778]; a Chaldoean (i.e. Kasdi), or native or the region of the lower Euphrates: - Chaldaean.

Kasdiy (h3778) kas-dee' (occasionally with enclitic kasdymah, kas-dee'-maw; towards the Kasdites: -into Chaldea), patron. from 3777 (only in the plur.); a Kasdite, or desc. of Kesed; by impl. a Chaldoean (as if so descended); also an astrologer (as if proverbial of that people: - Chaldeans, Chaldees, inhabitants of Chaldea

Dodona: ancient sanctuary of the chief Greek god, Zeus, in Epirus, Greece; the ceremonies held there had many remarkable and abnormal features. The earliest mention of it is in the Iliad (xvi, 234), where its priests are called the Selloi (or Helloi) and are described as "of unwashen feet, sleeping on the ground." The description suggests worshipers or servants of an earth goddess or of some chthonian power with whom they kept in continual contact, day and night. Homer (Odyssey, xiv, 327) was also the first to mention the oracle at Dodona.

A tree (or trees) was reputed to give oracles, presumably through the rustling of its leaves and other sounds. Herodotus, but no earlier writer, mentions priestesses, whom he describes as the givers of the oracles, doubtless under some kind of inspiration from the god.

A further peculiarity of Dodona was the "bronze," a large gong set vibrating at every breeze by a scourge held in the hand of a figure standing over it;

the persistent ringing passed into a Greek proverbial phrase--Khalkos Dodones ("Brass of Dodona")-- for a continuous talker who has nothing to say. Britannica Members

"A famous oracle in Epi'ros, and the most ancient of Greece. It was dedicated to Zeus (Jupiter), and situate in the village of Dodna.

The tale is, that Jupiter presented his daughter Theb with two black pigeons which had the gift of human speech. Lemprière tells us that the Greek word peleiai (pigeons) means, in the dialect of the Eprots, old women; so that the two black doves with human voice were two black or African women. One went to Libya, in Africa, and founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon; the other went to Eprus and founded the oracle of Dodna. We are also told that plates of brass were suspended on the oak trees of Dodona, which being struck by thongs when the wind blew, gave various sounds from which the responses were concocted. It appears that this suggested to the Greeks the phrase Kalkos Dod ns (brass of Dodona), meaning a babbler, or one who talks an infinite deal of nothing. Bartleby

Our goal is not to convert you; it is to try to fill in the lacking information when people use evidence like "it might have been" as authority. See how scholars link Psalms (psalloing) with the spiritual world and singing to the earthly realm or KOSMOS:

"Psallo is best translated by chant, not sing. The Greeks sharply distinguish chanting (psalmodia) from singling (tragoudi). The first is a sacred activity; the second, a secular one. In English, unfortunately, the distinction is not sharp, and the word singing is frequently employed to refer to the sacred activity of chanting. A Greek would never, never say tragoudo (I sing), instead of psallo; the two terms have connotations and associations which are worlds apart --

the first is related to the earthly realm, 1 13:,
the second to the heavenly."

(Letter to James D. Bales of Harding University, September 22, 1959, from Constantine Cavarnos, of the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 113 Gilbert Road, Belmont 78, Massachusetts.)

This is really speaking in tongues of the Kosmos or world. And this effeminate principle was involved in the worship the Corinthians brought with them past the "waters of baptism" just as Israel brought "Egyptian, musical worship and female prophesying with instruments" past the baptismal waters of the Red Sea. Paul directly connects the two in 1 Corinthians 10:20 and Romans 10:5. The following illustration is common in the pagan use of music to bring on charismatic speaking in tongues. Remember that Paul said, "Don't get drunk on wine?" Well, the fellow on the right is carrying the crooked stick to keep from falling down during his dance which the Jewish clergy tried to induce into Jesus with "piping" trying to force Him to dance. They even accused Him of drinking alcohol!

"A fourth-century BC hymn in honor of Dionysus contains the invocation: 'Come to us, King Dithyramb, Bacchus, god of the holy chant.'" Dithurambos, Dithyramb "comes to be used of a Dionysiac song which possessed some infectious quality that led his votaries to take it up as a ritual chant. Later it became the subject for competition at Dionysiac festivals, and with its formalization it lost any spontaneity it may have possessed originally." "At the beginning of the fifth century BC tragedy formed part of the Great Dionysia, the Spring festival of Dionysus Eluethereus. Three poets completed, each contributing three tragedies and one satyric play. The latter was performed by choruses of fifty singers in a circle, dressed as satyrs, part human, part bestial, and bearing before them huge replicas of the erect penis, as they sang dithyrambs." - John M. Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross Psalm 41 prophesied that Judas would not "triumph over Messiah." (with wind instruments). The clergy tried to get Jesus involved in an identical affair. You don't have to strip naked to expose yourself.

Sketch from vase:. The fawn or leapord-skin flute bag is to the right and the square box is the Judas Bag. The kings from the East or Babylon are coming to your neighborhood (Revelation 16:12) but their instruments and musicians will be lost (Rev 18) as those things which the Babylonian church "lusts after": And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs (quack messages) come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Rev 16:13 For they are the spirits of devils (demons or evil angels who distributes fortunes), working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Rev 16:14 Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully (homosexual) exposed." Rev 16:15 And he gathered them at a place called Armageddon.

The Voice of Angels and the Mysteries 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

The good angels sent by God were always able to speak Hebrew to a Hebrew and I am sure they could speak English to us if God wanted them to. Therefore, there is no spiritual "voice of angels." However, as Paul used the generic word for "gods" he also used the world or kosmos principle of having angels come to you and speak angelic tongues. Not even the best performer would have value in the church assembly. Paul had read the Greek writers who spoke of the tongues of angels to send messages.

See that Paul was speaking of the 70 DIALECTS or TONGUES. Most of the people at Corinth--probably meeting at Cenchrea--were travellers. Therefore, in the common dialog of a REAL church or ekklesia or school of the Bible people would attempt to sing, pray or preach in their native dialect. Because most could understand the commercial language, Koine, Paul wanted them to speak in the SPIRIT and then INTERPRET or have someone interpret into the language of the majority. Then they must speak about Scripture which is "prophesying" if in your Amen you can say "Thus Saith the Lord."

If, as in the synagogue which Paul promotes to allow unity in diversity, they spoke with one mind and one voice "that which was written" they could glorify God. Diverse backgrounds of the Dionysiacs and Orphics would not be DIVISIVE because it wasn't allowed in the synagogue or church.

Tertullian, Apology:

Chapter XXIII.

Moreover, if sorcerers call forth ghosts, and even make what seem the souls of the dead to appear; if they put boys to death, in order to get a response from the oracle; if, with their juggling illusions, they make a pretense of doing various miracles;

if they put dreams into people's minds by the power of the angels and demons whose aid they have invited, by whose influence, too, goats and tables are made to divine,-

how much more likely is this power of evil to be zealous in doing with all its might, of its own inclination, and for its own objects, what it does to serve the ends of others! Or if both angels and demons do just what your gods do, where in that case is the preeminence of deity, which we must surely think to be above all in might?

Will it not then be more reasonable to hold that these spirits make themselves gods, giving as they do the very proofs which raise your gods to godhead, than that the gods are the equals of angels and demons?

You make a distinction of places, I suppose, regarding as gods in their temple those whose divinity you do not recognize elsewhere; counting the madness which leads one man to leap from the sacred houses, to be something different from

that which leads another to leap from an adjoining house; looking on one who cuts his arms and secret pans as under a different furor from another who cuts his throat.

The result of the frenzy is the same, and the manner of instigation is one.

Aristotle Poetics 1456a identifies the NEW STYLE WORSHIP defined by Fred Peatross which is quite identical to the ancient worship where the SORCERER manipulates the people into RELIGION whereas the ekklesia is a synagogue or school of the Bible.

The fourth element is spectacle, like the Phorcides and Prometheus, and all scenes laid in Hades. One should ideally try to include all these elements or, failing that, the most important and as many as possible, especially since it is the modern fashion to carp at poets, and,

because there have been good poets in each style, to demand that a single author should surpass the peculiar merits of each.

Note: The text is obscure, and our ignorance of the play or rhapsody adds to the darkness,
but the reference may be to the ruse, common in detective stories,
        of misleading the audience by false clues in order to make the final revelation more effective.

Of the Essenes, it is demanded of one initiated into the mysteries: "that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though anyone should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life.

(Note: Those given to mysteries in music and speaking in tongues used language which hid their "trade secrets" from the people {as did the Levites}. They had no interest in teaching you how to live but to impress you that they had a direct connection to the gods)

Moreover, he swears to communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels or messengers.

These are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes to themselves.

(Note: They, of course, pretended that the "tongues of angels" revealed a secret message to them which should never, never be "preached" into all the world. It, like speaking in tongues, was for self edification and had no real spiritual value):

Translators Note 58: This mention of the "names of angels," so particularly preserved by the Essenes, (if it means more than those "messengers"

which were employed to bring them the peculiar books of their Sect, looks like a prelude to that "worshiping of angels," blamed by St. Paul, as superstitious and unlawful, in some such sort of people as these Essense were, Colossians 2:8; as is the prayer to or towards the sun for his rising every morning, mentioned before, very like those not much later observances made mention of in the preaching of Peter, Authent. Rec. Part II. p. 669,

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Col 2:8

and regarding a kind of worship of angels, of the month, and of the moon, and not celebrating the new moons, or other festivals, unless the moon appeared.

Which, indeed, seems to me the earliest mention of any regard to the phases in fixing the Jewish calendar, of which the Talmud and later Rabbins talk so much, and upon so very little ancient foundation.) Flavius Josephus The Jewish War 2.137, Whiston)

Remember that Paul has equated musical instruments not used for the proper military signals but for creating a pagan form of religion, to speaking in tongues. There was always music and speaking in tongues in contrast to filling up with the Word of Christ and then letting the overflow be used to teach one another so that the melody will be in the heart and directed to God who is Lord Jesus Christ. Trying to get a message from the Holy Spirit while bypassing the Words of Christ was and is an overwhelming temptation for those who would hide the Words from you and substitute as singing the hollow philosophy using the Judas-Bag principle of the Kosmos or the adorning world (the effeminate principle in the classics).

As Josephus' translator connects the voices of angels and the worship of angels to Colossians 2:8 it may help to compare the context with Paul's restatement in Colossians 3 as he speaks of singing contrasted to the music from the traditions of the world or from Jewish traditions: