and with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by name, to give thanks to Jehovah, because his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever;
David had just brought the ark to Zion. But the tabernacle Moses made and the bronze altar still stood miles away at Gibeon, so worship ran in two places at once. Verse 41 names the men David set at Gibeon beside the sacrifices: Heman, Jeduthun and others, whose one task was to give thanks.
Verse 41 sits in a short section that sets up an order of worship for the years before the temple.
After this song, we find in verses 37-43 the temporary order of worship before the ark was finally set up in Solomon's temple. The tabernacle in the wilderness, with the bronze altar and the other vessels of the sanctuary, was at Gibeon. Burnt offerings were sacrificed there morning and evening. Here David sets up the people who would carry out these two functions: at Gibeon, the offering of the sacrifices; at Jerusalem, praise before the ark. This song was to sound out there too, and it will last as long as the Lord Himself: "Give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever" (v. 41).
Two sites did not mean two separate worships.
When the ark was being carried to Jerusalem he took care to link worship before the ark with the sacrifices upon the altar at Gibeon (1 Chr. 16:37-43), maintaining in this way the unity of worship. Each day the service went on before the ark and before the altar at Gibeon. So at the same moment, and "continually", these two parts of worship ran together, even though they were far apart.
Nothing in the law of Moses had asked for singers of thanks at the altar.
These services of praise are a completely new and very interesting part of these arrangements. We read nothing about them in the Books of Moses. They seem to be connected with the setting up of the throne. To come to God at all, every one of us must come by the Altar — that is, by the sacrifice of Christ. But once we are in God's presence on that ground, praise and thanksgiving are the fitting form of worship. Christianity sets this out perfectly. Here in the scene we are looking at, the two were separated. Since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high, they are never to be known apart.
David gave the singers one line to repeat. It sets God's mercy against Israel's whole record of failure.
Next we have this form of words: "His mercy endures for ever." It declares that despite all the faults, all the sins, and all the unfaithfulness of Israel, Jehovah's mercy has stood firm. This will be shown in full when the Lamb — the true ark of the covenant and the real David — is on Mount Zion, even before He takes up the character of Solomon.
Heman's family line made him a fitting voice for this song.
Heman is chosen to be in the central place of praise to God. He is spoken of as "Heman a singer," and his genealogy is traced through Korah to Levi. As a descendant of Korah, he had good cause to praise God for His rich mercy. Dathan and Abiram perished with their children, and Korah shared their fate. Yet it is recorded, "But the sons of Korah did not die" (Num. 26:11). They were spared in the sovereign mercy of God, so there were none more suited to sing of the goodness and mercy of God.
Jeduthun's part in the singing was thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving had its own place in the service of song under David, and it mingled with the praises of Jeduthun and his sons; and the giving of thanks should have a very real place in the praises of the saints today.
Singers used these same words centuries later, when everything around them had collapsed.
That chorus was sung in the bright day of David's success, when he brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem (1 Chron. 16:41). It sounded again in the days of Solomon, when the cloud and glory of His visible presence filled the house of the Lord at Jerusalem (2 Chron. 5:13). Then the glory and brightness and successes of those days passed away, and the failure and ruin of Israel was complete. Even so, the returned remnant could raise the very same old note of praise: "For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever toward Israel" (Ezra 3:11). They had been faithless, but He was faithful.
- Mercy is the cause. God's mercy held firm through every failure of the people. That is why there was anything to sing.
- Mercy chose the singers. Heman came from the line of Korah, spared when judgment fell. No one was better suited to lead a song about mercy.
- Mercy has an order. Access to God comes through the altar. Once there, thanks and praise are the fitting response. In Christ the two are never pulled apart.
- Mercy reaches both places. Sacrifice at Gibeon and praise before the ark ran at the same moment, day after day. Worship stayed one, though it was spread over two places.
- Mercy outlasts the ruin. The same words sounded in David's best day, in Solomon's glory, and in the rubble of the return — the setting changed, the song did not.
and with them, [with] Heman and Jeduthun, trumpets and cymbals for those that should sound aloud; and the musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were at the gate.
Here Israel worships in two places at once: the ark in a tent at Jerusalem, the old tabernacle and altar at Gibeon. This verse names the men who served, and raises two questions: why call the instruments God's, and why put singers at a gate?
David did not merge the two services; he staffed both. One commentator sets out who served where, and what they sang.
After this song, verses 37-43 give the temporary order of worship, before the ark came to rest at last in Solomon's temple… David placed the ark "under curtains," in a tent he had spread for it. The tabernacle from the wilderness stood at Gibeon, with the bronze altar and the other vessels of the sanctuary. Burnt offerings went up there morning and evening. Here David appoints the men who would carry out these two duties: at Gibeon, the offering of the sacrifices; at Jerusalem, praise before the ark. There, too, this song was to sound out, and it will last as long as the Lord Himself: "Give thanks to Jehovah, because His loving-kindness endures for ever."
The trumpets and cymbals came from ordinary materials. One writer traces both where they came from and the name they were given. Older translations read "the musical instruments of God" here, where the ESV has "instruments for sacred song."
So equipped, Israel — God called them "the Lord's people" — found a fitting way to express the praise of their nation on earth to the Lord. But this cannot be said too strongly: the music of praise was TO GOD, and not for the mere entertainment OF MEN!
Should Christians copy this pattern? One writer answers no, and says what marks Christian praise instead.
This is no warrant for Christians using such instruments in the worship of God. The distinctive feature of the Christian is, as the Apostle says, to "sing with the spirit and with the understanding also." But an earthly people would have an earthly form of expressing their praise. So everything fits. "So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel." And then we find the singers and others — the doorkeepers, even — everything appointed in the most orderly manner.
The same writer carries the picture forward. Now the material for music is people, not metal and wood.
The instruments of the old order had no life. A new creation in Christ has provided living instruments instead, with the living melodies of redemption rising up in the heart. True, they have been quarried from the hills of a world of sin, taken from the forests of darkness and unbelief, and brought out of death into life. They are born again. They have proved the Lord's goodness and pardoning grace. So they are fitted to offer up spiritual praise acceptable to God by Jesus Christ… They are both the priests of God and the instruments of God, through the redemption work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The verse ends with Jeduthun's sons at the gate. The job had two sides.
The doorkeepers had charge of all the gates of the temple. They had to be able to drive back any attack on the house of God. They also had to watch with constant energy, so that no defiled person entered the courts of the Lord. And they had to keep the doors open, so that no member of the priesthood who had the right to enter the temple was shut out.
- Place — David staffed two sanctuaries at once — sacrifice morning and evening at Gibeon, praise before the ark at Jerusalem. The plan was temporary, until Solomon's temple.
- Provision — Hills, forests and animals supplied the material for the cymbals and trumpets. David's order for God's service is what made them "instruments of God."
- Purpose — The music went upward, not outward. Praise was to God, never entertainment for men.
- People — The Christian sings with the spirit and with the mind. So lifeless instruments give way to living ones: hearts quarried out of a world of sin, now both priests and instruments of God.
- Protection — Jeduthun's sons at the gate show the double trust of every doorkeeper: shut out what defiles, and never shut out anyone with a right to be in.