Over the past few weeks, I’ve been engaged in three separate discussions on the use of instrumental music in worship. One of the folks I am conversing with asked me to consider Psalm 87 and a possible application to the church. I am confident that his inquiry is honest. I am equally confident, having studied the text, that it does not authorized the church to use instrumental music. Let’s consider the text here.
First, may I suggest that you read through Psalm 87. It will take just a minute or so, since it is only 7 verses long. Keep your Bible open so you can refer back to the content of the Psalm. I’ll reference it verse by verse as we study.
Now that you have read the text, let’s proceed. If you’ve not read it, stop reading this, and read the Bible text!
Psalm 87:1-2
We often think of David when we read a Psalm, since he wrote the bulk of them. This Psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah, Levites who served at the temple.
Jerusalem, here labelled “the gates of Zion” was situated on a Judean mountain range in which Zion was a principle mount. The Lord loved Zion (Jerusalem) more than all the dwellings of Jacob (the rest of the land of Canaan), for it was the place He established His name (Psalm 78:67-69; Deuteronomy 12:11; 14:23; 16:6, 11).
Psalm 87:3
Glorious things are spoken of Jerusalem throughout the Old Testament. It was the great city of God; the place where God’s name was established. The city is mentioned by name in the Old Testament 626 times. For a sample of the great things spoken of her, consider Psalm 122; 147; Isaiah 31:5; 33:20; etc.).
Psalm 87:4-6
Do not mistake the Rahab mentioned here with the harlot saved when Jericho fell. Her name was רחב (H7343); Psalm 87 speaks of רהב (H7294). They look very similar, but there’s a slight difference (see the middle character).
This Rahab (רהב, H7294) means proud or strength (Strong’s), and is used to refer to Egypt (see Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 30:7; 41:9-10). In Psalm 87:4, Rahab (Egypt) is listed next to Babylon. These are the two nations by whom God’s people of the Old Testament were held captive. God freed His people from both. Israel came out of the captivity in Egypt to receive a land, a good land, promised to them by God. Many years later, after Judah had been unfaithful and thus kept bound in Babylon for seventy years, God again freed His people, bringing them back to their land.
The historical context of the Psalm is established in verse 4. It was written after, perhaps even in the midst of the return from the Babylonian captivity.
Their triumphant release from captivity is the focus of this Psalm. It was not kept secret, but declared proudly to the neighbours (Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia). What was the evidence of God’s great love for Zion? The Psalm declares, “This one was born there,” and again, “This one and that one were born in her,” and yet once more, “This one was born there” (Psalm 87:4, 5, 6). After seventy years in captivity, most if not all of the Jews who “returned” to Judah would have been born in Babylon or a province of Babylon. The writer gives glory to God that more and more, their people were Judean born. The shame of their captivity was being replaced with the pride of their calling as the people of God, the residents of Zion, the city of God (Deuteronomy 4:7-8; Psalm 147:19-20; Romans 2:18).
The same pride can be seen in the Jews of Jesus’ day (Matthew 3:9; John 8:33, 39), however, they, unlike those who saw the increasing goodness of God in the years after the return from Babylon, did not concern themselves with keeping God’s will (Matthew 15:3-9; cf. Nehemiah 8:1-18; 9:34-38; 10:28-29).
Psalm 87:7
Being richly blessed by God, and thankful for His goodness to them in the land of their forefathers, the Psalmist mentions the worship of the singers and the players of instruments. The combination of singers and players can be found elsewhere in the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 13:8; 15:16; 2 Chronicles 5:12-13; 23:13; Psalm 68:25; etc.). It was right that God be praised, and He was praised in the very manner prescribed by God (2 Chronicles 29:25-28), with singers and instruments.
What was their song? “All my springs are in you.” It was a song of origins; an exaltation of God as their מעינה (H4599, fountain, source). It was God who had brought them back to the land, and it was His doing that they once more had Zion as their possession.
Music in the Church?
Did you see the church mentioned anywhere in the Psalm? I didn’t. Yet almost every commentary on Psalm 87 indicates that it is about the church. The text makes perfect sense as a psalm of praise to God for reestablishing His people around Zion, the city of God, following the captivity in Babylon. A good rule of Bible study is that if the common sense makes good sense, seek no other sense.
I would suggest that no one simply picking up the Bible and reading Psalm 87 will conclude that it is about the church. There is nothing in the text to lead one to that idea. Ambitious commentators, looking for foreshadows of the church throughout the Old Testament have read into this text something that is not there.
Those who justify the use of instruments in worship today see this text as evidence of such. But, if we permit a figurative approach to the text, turning it into a prophetic allegory about the Lord establishing the church, is it consistent to demand a literal interpretation of verse 7? We cannot set aside a literal approach for the whole, but then demand that the final verse be understood in a literal sense.
There are plenty of prophecies about the Lord’s church in the Old Testament. Psalm 87 is not one of them. We would do well to pay more attention to what God’s word says than to what uninspired men have said about it.
Psalm 87 praises God for returning the people of Judah to their land, and thus reestablishing their roots there. It speaks nothing of the New Testament church, nor of the worship to be engaged in by those who are in the church.
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