+Israel © MEA-20180124 (V101) Historical Icons of Israel -King David’s Harp
Historical Icons of Israel -King David’s Harp
In this picture we see two dedicated musicians playing their harps in two different places in Jerusalem. The musician on the left is playing within the City of David, currently an archaeological site, while the other musician is playing her harp in an alcove within the walls of the ancient Old City.
The most famous harp in history is the Harp of David. There is much speculation as to the actual shape of this harp. However, what is generally accepted is that it was symmetrical with perhaps 10 strings and known as the Kinnor Harp. What we know from the sages, is that David was not only an expert harpist and psalms composer, who used harp therapy in the royal court of King Saul, but also a recognized musicologist and builder of classical harp designs.
Mention of the harp goes back to about 4004 BC, where in Genesis 2:40, the Bible credits the House of Jubal as the maker and players of harps and flutes. The oldest physical harp to be discovered comes from ancient Sumerian and Egyptian societies. The kinnor is mentioned 42 times in the Old Testament, in relation to “divine worship… prophecy… secular festivals.” Sages record that a minimum number of nine kinnor were to be played in the Temple at any one time.
The Bible says that David also made 1,000 lyres and 7,000 harps to atone for the sins of Israel. As well, cymbals and other instruments were used for singing and praising the God of Israel, of which some were even handed down from the time of Moses with the inscription, “Under his feet was something like a sapphire stone pavement in the essence of heaven’s clarity” from Exodus 24:10. Interestingly, one etymology viewpoint of the Hebrew word ‘Kinneret’, as in Lake Kinneret’ (Sea of Galilee), is that the shape of the lake resembled that of the kinnor harp, as its name implies.
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