"Early Christianity inherited its musical practices and attitudes from Judaism, especially from the Synagogue. Unlike the Temple the Synagogue employed no instruments in its services (Werner). The absence of instruments did not result from antagonism toward instruments, whether the instruments of the Temple or of the Hellenistic cults, but from the simple fact that instruments had no function in the unique services of the Synagogue
It was the synagogues that remained after AD.70, NOT the Temple! The original purpose of the synagogue was primarily for Scripture-reading and exposition of the passages read (Lk.4:16-22; Mt.13:54; Mk.1:21-22; Jn.6:59).
There was also prayer (Mt.6:5) and, although there is no specific mention in the literature of singing in the synagogue, it is considered most likely "that those parts of the Liturgy which were connected with Temple worship, like the recitation of psalms...were sung"
So long as one's idea of worship is rooted in the Temple concept, one will crave "celebrations" and big displays. The charismatic style of worship naturally arises out of this false concept of the O.T. Temple.
What about singing and other "acts of worship?"
Social functions such as singing were not in the synagogues but "at the places of watering" and not during the "assembly" time. Alfred Edersheim makes it clear: there was not a role for "praising the Lord" or singing in a celebrative sense in the synagogue. For this reason, there is no evidence of a "praise" service in the New Testament church.
No. This is not the "hole in the donut." This is not God's oversight which we must correct with secular like singing.
"Hallel, in Jewish ritual, selection from the Psalms, chanted as part of the liturgy during certain festivals. The more frequently used selection includes Psalms 113-118 and is known as the Egyptian Hallel, presumably because Psalm 114 begins, "When Israel went out of Egypt"
It is sung in synagogues on the first two days of Passover, on Shabuoth, on Sukkot, on each morning of the eight days of Hanukkah, and at the close of the Seder.
"The Hallel through the generations, on specific occasions: Pesachim 117a
"Hallel requires a full stomach and a satisfied spirit: Taanis 25b-26a
The reading is beloved to the people, and so they listen closely: Megillah 21b
"The Hallel as an Institution of the Prophets, to use to pray for salvation from danger: Pesachim 117a [2x] Saying the Hallel daily is blasphemous: Shabbos 118b
For instance, Deborah dwelled under palm tree to apply the Law. She was a Judge and not a worship leader. Because of failed male leadership she had to become the warrior chief of the nation.
And when they celebrated her victory as a warrior the NIV translates:
the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates. Judges 5:11NIV
Here is the Greek word the NIV translates singers:
Chacac (h2686) khaw-tsats'; a prim. root [comp. 2673 = split in half]; prop. to chop into, pierce or server; hence to curtail, to distribute (into ranks); as denom. from 2671, to shoot an arrow: - archer, * bands, cut off in the midst.
Therefore, there is nothing similar to singing or musicians in this passage. The KJv reads:
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. Judges 5:11KJV
"At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates. Judges 5:11NAS
All words related to "music" or instruments have the same roots in a destructive practice. For instance, to praise David meant that they ridiculed Saul and drove a wedge between the friendship.
The word psallo in Greek is related to singing with instruments in its original meaning. The word is related to the twanging of bowstrings to send a "singing" arrow to pierce the literal heart. The word is also related to the SOP Jesus fed Judas as a supernatural sign.
Jesus condemed praise as saying "Lord, Lord" and therefore praise always had an object. For instance, the Jews praised God by telling others how He saved the people at the Red Sea. God explicitly condemns the prophesiers (singers, chanters, deliverers of messages) because HIS Word was not in them.
Praising God or often the military leader was something done at any time or place but ritualized praise would embarass most humans. Albert Barnes notes of the daily rituals of Israel:
"An artificial, effeminate music which should relax the soul, frittering the melody, and displacing the power and majesty of divine harmony by tricks of art, and giddy, thoughtless, heartless, souless versifying would be meet company." (Barnes, Albert, Amos, p. 303).
"Jingling, banging, and rattling accompanied heathen cults, and the frenzying shawms of a dozen ecstatic cries intoxicated the masses. Amid this euphoric farewell feast of a dying civilization, the voices of nonconformists were emerging from places of Jewish and early Christian worship; Philo of Alexandria had already emphasized the ethical qualities of music, spurning the 'effeminate' art of his Gentile surroundings.
Similarly, early synagogue song intentionally foregoes artistic perfection, renounces the playing of instruments,
and attaches itself entirely to 'the word'--the TEXT of the Bible" (Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971 ed., s.v. "Music")
There was no praise service in the synagogue.
Churches moved into the synagogues
Therefore, there was no recorded praise service in the early churches.
The command is not to "sing" but to teach. The singing and melody is "in the heart." The word "speak" is identical to the word "preach."
The word mistranslated as "church" is the same as the Hebrew word for "synagogue. The early Christians patterned their meetings after the synagogue, not after the temple; so Christians would not have used musical instruments, since nothing is recorded about the Jews using instrumental music in their ancient synagogues.
"In his book Purity of Worship, the Presbyterian M. C. Ramsay writes: "Those who maintain that Jewish worship had associated with it instruments of music fail to appreciate the facts; and some of the facts are as follows:
"The ordinary worship of the Jew was that of the synagogue, and it was always unembellished.
"The men of Israel were commanded to attend the temple worship only thrice annually.
Throughout the remainder of the year, Sabbath by Sabbath, they met for worship in their synagogues.
Their wives and children attended regularly the synagogue where the services were marked by simplicity....
"Where there was congregational singing, there was no musical instrument. ... It is both interesting and informative to notice that the instruments of music were first used in synagogues at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that is,
about the same time as they began to be introduced into Protestant [i.e., Presbyterian] churches."
Zie :
http://www.piney.com/Synagogue1.html