12/27/2023
The Meaning of Zamar
The New Testament contains about 350 quotations from the Old Testament, and about 300 of them are from the Septuagint version, of which number, is Rom. 15:9, which we considered last week. When the 70 scholars, called the Septuagint, translated the Hebrew into the Greek, they translated ZAMAR the Hebrew word of Ps. 18:49, by PSALLO, the Greek equivalent. Paul, when he wrote to the saints in Rome, quoted verbatim, the translation of the Septuagint in Rom. 15:9, and thus PSALLO meant, as Paul quoted it, what ZAMAR meant when David wrote it, and no one questions that ZAMAR refers to the instrument, alone: or with the voice. If PSALLO, at the time Paul quoted it, had ceased to mean what it meant when David used it in prophecy, Paul would have used a word to indicate this, but he didn't, yet he said, "as it is written". A child can see that if ZAMAR, the Hebrew word which means, "to play an instrument", or "to sing with instrumental accompaniment", is translated by PSALLO, the latter must have the meaning of the former, or it is not "as it is written". The Hebrew word "SHIR" which means to sing, is never translated by the finite verb PSALLO. The Hebrew word, ZAMAR is rendered by the Greek PSALLO, fortyfive times, and tile Hebrew word NAGAN, which means only "to play an instrument" is rendered by PSALLO, eleven times, by the Septuagint, which Paul quoted. In the second Century, A. D., one of the oldest, if not the oldest, translations of the New Testament was made, called the PESNITTA, or PESNITOSYRIAC. Said by John T. Christian, A. M., D. D. to be "regarded by scholars as one of the best translations of the New Testament ever made" (Immersion, P. 240). In this translation, we have Rom. 15:9, as follows: "Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, and play the harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name". Thus we have
• Rom. 15:9 as it came in the HEBREW from God by the hand of David Ps. 13:49, "Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, and play the harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name"
• As found in the Greek epistle to Rome, "Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles, and play the harp (PSALO) unto thy name"
• "In the PesnitoSyriac, we read, "Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles and play the harp (ZAMAR) unto thy name". Thus we have the language of the East, using "ZAMAR", and the message to the West, using "PSALO" as a translation of it. And then the language of the West turning PSALO back to ZAMAR, the original word, as it came from God, and meaning to "play an instrument" or "to sing with instrumental accompaniment".
Now let us consider another passage with PSALO in it. PSALO is future tense of PSALLO. Paul said, I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the understanding also" 1 Cor. 14:15. The word "PSALO" here is rendered ZAMMAR by the PESNITO-SYRIAC, which always involved a musical instrument. The same source translates James 5:13, "If he rejoices, let him MEZAMMAR. The Greek is "let him (PSALLETO) strike the strings. " Notice that Paul says, "I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the understanding also". Whatever "PSALO" means, it is to be done "with the spirit" and "with the understanding also". These are not, however, the instruments by which the PSALO is done, but that by which the doing is determined. Paul said, "I serve with my spirit" Rom. 1:9. No one understands Paul to I mean that the "spirit" (human spirit, heart, or mind) is the instrument by which the service is rendered, but rather, the mental determination in the thing done, as Jn. 4:24 requires. Paul said, "We…worship God in the spirit" Phil. 3:3. And thus showed that all acceptable worship springs from the spirit and the acceptableness of it is determined by "as he thinketh in his heart", thus "doing the will of God from the heart" Eph. 6:6, "in singleness of heart, as unto Christ" Eph 6:5. This is true in all that we do, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" Col. 3:23. The "spirit" determines the Lord's acceptance of the thing done. The thing done may be "in truth", yet not "in spirit". The condition of "the will" determines "the good pleasure" of God in the "do" Phil. 2:13. When Paul said, "I will PSALO with the spirit, and I will PSALO with the understanding", Joseph Bryant Rothersham, in his "Emphasized Bible" translated "PSALO" as follows, "I will strike the strings (PSALO) with the spirit, and I will strike the strings also with the mind"
1 Cor. 14:15. What does this mean? Simply this: Whatever is signified by "PSALO", it was done "with the spirit", in the sense that it was acceptable as "worship; “and "with the understanding" in the sense that it was known what was "harped". Look at 1 Cor. 14:7, "and even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?" The "understanding" of 1 Cor. 14:15, is essential to this "distinction” of 1 Cor. 14:7.
In Eph. 5:18,19, we read, "be filled with the spirit; speaking one to another (the footnote reads, "to yourselves" as does the text of the King James Version) in PSALMS and HYMNS and SPIRITUAL SONGS, SINGING and MAKING MELODY with your heart to the Lord". Rotherham translates this passage as follows: "But be getting filled in Spirit: Speaking to yourselves with PSALMS (PSALMOIS) and HYMNS and SPIRITUAL SONGS (ODE) singing (ADONTES) and striking the strings (PSALLONTES) with your heart unto the Lord". The word "melody" in both the A.S.V. and the King James, is from "PSALLONTES" meaning to "play on a stringed instrument" (Strong's Lexicon), and so translated by Rotherham "striking the strings". The effort to get around this, has adopted the idea that the word PSALLO did not have this meaning during the apostolic times, or the other subterfuge, which is just as silly, that the idea of "striking the strings". Which all admit the word originally meant, was figurative at the time Eph. 5:19 was written, and simply referred to the "heart strings"; thus, "striking the strings" of the heart. The expression is "PSALLONTES with your heart" Eph. 5:19. The heart is the seat of thought Acts 8:22, and just as the artist must first imagine, or think what he wishes to make visible to the eye. So of him who sings or plays, he must first think the tone in mind or heart before he produces it with voice or hand. To "PSALLONTES with your heart" is to produce by skill of hand what the heart thinks. If one cannot think melody in his heart, he cannot produce melody with his hand.
In Ps. 15:2, we have the expression "speaketh truth in his heart". On the principle that "those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart" Matt. 15:18, we understand how "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" Matt. 12:34. As truth originates in the heart and is expressed with the mouth, so melody originates in the heart and is expressed by:
• ADONTEE (sing) or
• PSALLONTES (play) or both.
In Eph. 5:19, 1 Cor. 14:15, and Col. 3:16, we see that it is once said, "I will PRAY with the spirit", and once "with the understanding". Once "I will play (PSALO) with the spirit", and once, "with the understanding". Once it is said, "play (PSALLONTES) in your heart to the Lord", and twice "sing (ADO) in your heart to the Lord". Whatever is said of playing is also said of both singing and praying. If one is figurative, all three are. If "'in your heart" is metaphoric, so is "with the spirit", and so is "with the understanding". If one cannot actually play an instrument in his heart, nor with his spirit, nor yet with his understanding, neither can one pray, or sing in the heart, nor with the spirit, nor yet with the understanding" (Instrumental Music is Scriptural, P. 96,97).
In closing this part of our study, compare 2 Sam. 22:151, with Ps. 18:150, and note that 2 Sam. 22:50, and Ps. 18:49 are quoted by Paul in Rom. 15:9. The word "sing" in 2 Sam. 22:50, is ZAMAR and is defined by Strong as "touching with the fingers to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i.e., to play upon it; t o make music accompanied by the voice". David prophesied that this was to be done "among the heathen" (nations) Ps. 18:49 when they "trust" in Christ Rom. 15:12. Then "Rejoice ye Gentiles and laud him, all ye people" Rom. 15:11; thus, "Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people" (Rom. 15:10). It was at this tune that the worshippers were to "ZAMAR unto thy name" 2 Sam. 22:50, Ps 18:49, according to prophecy, and according to Paul, were to "PSALO unto thy name" Rom. 15:9. Paul quoted the Septuagint who had translated the Hebrew ZAMAR by the Greek PSALO, and did it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, at the same time affirming "AS IT IS WRITTEN" Rom. 15:9.
If the Christian is to be found "singing (ADONTES) and making melody (PSALLONTES) in your heart to the Lord" Eph. 5:19. And it is objected that PSALLONTES could not be striking the strings of a musical instrument, because it is "in your heart", singing, as an act of worship would also be impossible, for singing involves the vocal cords, tongue, and mouth. And we say if “singing…in your heart” will permit the use of vocal cords, tongue, and mouth, that “PSALLONTES…in your” will permit “striking the strings of a musical instrument”. That the word ZAMAR meant this, no one denies, then PSALO means this let us practice in worship.