TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
Where Did Music Come From?
Part 2
August 4, 2018
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Angels and humans are beings created by God, and each has free will. Angels have greater abilities than humans and like us, have eternal life. Some angels look more like humans than others do. Angels fall into the following categories: guardians; servants; heralds; warriors; worshippers and musicians. In last week’s Teen Tree, we learned how the Bible teaches us that angels actually make music!
Satan is the chief Fallen Angel and has many names throughout God’s Word. A few of his names are the Day-Star; The Son Of The Morning; The Anointed Cherub; The Messiah’s special angel; The Tempter; and The Ruler Of Demons. God says this about him: “You had everything going for you. You were in Eden, God’s garden. You were dressed in splendor, your robe studded with jewels: Carnelian, peridot, and moonstone, beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald, all in settings of engraved gold. A robe was prepared for you the same day you were created. You were the anointed cherub. I placed you on the mountain of God. You strolled in magnificence among the stones of fire. From the day of your creation you were sheer perfection …” (EZE 28:11-19 Message Bible) In The New American Standard Bible, EZE 28 11-12 is translated this way: “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” The “seal of perfection” means Satan was the most beautiful, the wisest, and the most personable creature ever created. And like the rest of the angels which God created, Satan also has innate musical ability.
Satan’s musical ability is mentioned in The King James Bible translation of EZE 28:13: Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Are you seeing how important it is to look at various translations of the original text of the Bible? If you haven’t realized it yet, this next piece of information will really allow you to see why! In The King James version of this verse, the words “tabrets” and “pipes” are included. In this verse, they refer to the sockets and grooves used as the settings for the precious stones talked about. But in most every other verse in which these words are used in the Bible, they are referring to musical instruments!!
A “tabret” is very similar to a timbrel, which is a Hebrew percussion instrument. (Simply put, it’s like a drum.) The phrase “thy pipes” comes from a root word – meaning something hollow; but it’s not the word used to describe the typical Hebrew pipes. So, we can easily conclude that the great cherub Lucifer was given musical talents. As we learned last week, God told Job the morning stars “sang together.” This means there was an ensemble of singers and as the greatest angel, Satan was among them.
After God created angels, He created the physical realm, which we call the universe. As you know, the universe is made of many millions of millions of stars and planets and enormous clouds of gas separated by a gigantic empty space. But did you know that music was built into the universe? The Hebrews have long understood an idea described as the “Harmony of The Spheres.” The spheres are the planets in the universe.
This harmony of the planets in the universe refers to the planets actually corresponding to each other as musical pitches. The Hebrews’ philosophy was that the planets’ distances held the same ratios as did pleasing musical intervals. They also knew that the planets literally resounded in actual tones. But historians don’t attribute these beliefs to the Hebrews. They give credit to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. He developed Pythagoreanism, which was basically a religious brotherhood, founded by him in southern Italy about 525 BCE. This religious brotherhood believed that music and astronomy, are, at its deepest level, mathematical in nature. They also believed in The “Harmony of The Spheres.” Aristotle said that, to the Pythagoreans, heaven was a musical scale and a number and that the spheres or planets were known to be spaced according to the same ratios that existed between frequencies in the musical scale.
Actually, King David expressed these beliefs long before Pythagoras when he wrote PSA 19:1-4: The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun… The word for “line” in this Psalm means rope or musical string. In fact, when the apostle Paul quotes this verse to the Romans, he uses a Greek word for “line” that actually translates into “musical sound” – But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound [line or musical sound] went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. (ROM 10:18 The King James Version)
The ancient Hebrews, who were well aware of this astronomical reality, undoubtedly applied it to their understanding of music theory. Mankind didn’t start with a one-, three- or five-note scale and slowly decide that seven tones work better together mathematically. God gave us the understanding in science, astronomy and the use of stringed instruments — along with a seven-tone scale whose relationships parallel the solar system! The Hebrews also believed, as the Bible indicates, that the movement of these celestial bodies produces certain sounds.
Today, modern science is finally supporting what the Hebrews believed. Sound can occur anywhere pressure waves can travel, meaning that sound waves can echo through the atmospheres of the planets. The universe contains the equivalent of rhythmic pulses, like the percussion section of an orchestra, as well as low drones, like a bass section.
The opening line, in an article on the website nbcnews.com (April 20, 2007), states: “Astronomers have recorded heavenly music bellowed out by the Sun’s atmosphere.” These frequencies are too low for human ears to hear but they exist! Let’s learn a bit more science! The corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. It’s usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun’s surface; but the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse. The Sun’s corona carries magnetic sound waves similar to those of musical instruments. According to this article, explosive events at the sun’s surface trigger acoustic waves that bounce back and forth. This is known as a standing wave. Standing waves are “exactly the same waves you see on a guitar string,” according to Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Center at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. By flying through space, celestial bodies are emitting sound. Deeper study of the heavens indicates that those sounds are working together much like a musical composition. So, you see science is finally attributing music to God’s creation – the universe!
The Bible teaches us that God created sound waves to emanate from everything He created. The verses show us that even nature makes music: Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. (1CHR 16:33 New International Version) The same idea is taught in ISA 55:12 (New international Version): You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
The other obvious natural music created by Our Heavenly Father is the music created by birds: Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. (SNG 2:12 New International Version) Another verse which includes music created by the birds God created is PSA 104:12 (New International Version): Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; They lift up their voices among the branches. God creations – even the smallest particles – are vibrating and resounding in beautiful music that He can hear and enjoy. The next time you hear birds singing on a beautiful spring morning, be thankful for the fact that He has shared them with us!
{to be continued}