On a side note, the musical abilities of man made in the image of God, coupled with the Bible’s teaching that God sings (Zephaniah 3:17), remind us of the possibility that God did not create music but rather that music is a part of His very being. The Chinese philosopher Confucius said, “If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.” David Tame said, “Because of the power for good or evil inherent within the tonal arts, the moral effect of music was considered so important by the Chinese as to rank as the most important test of a music’s worth.”1 One must not relegate to obscurity this representation of music’s power. The elements of David’s music were able to render the spirit unable or unwilling to continue its oppression of Saul. Both possibilities direct us to the same conclusion. The point here is that the music created by David evidenced the unique ability to either directly remove the distressing spirit or indirectly create an atmosphere whereby the spirit could no longer distress Saul. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ contains that atoning power (cf. The text is not implying, by any stretch of the imagination, that music has the power to deliver men from their sin. The implications here are important for the discussion of the morality of music because the ability of David’s music to interrupt spiritual oppression qualifies its moral substance. Whatever one believes concerning the identity and/or scope of the “evil, distressing spirit,” this much is clear: the music had the power to cause the spirit to depart from Saul. First, Saul benefited from temporary spiritual deliverance. The cure for Saul’s affliction came through David’s music, and it was two-fold. The Cure for King Saul’s Affliction: Spiritual Deliverance Even laying aside other conservative, literal interpretive tendencies, one would surmise that Samuel intended to narrate how David’s music benefited Saul. The preposition attached to the beginning of the second sentence in verse 23 promotes the idea that “one action caused a reaction.” David played his harp and then Saul felt better. A number of commentaries say that David’s music had little if anything to do with Saul’s recovery this interpretation, however, ignores the language employed by Samuel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In this article, we will investigate the ability of David’s music to bring about a two-fold deliverance for King Saul’s affliction, but, first, some interpretive issues are appropriate to consider. In part one we looked at three topics relating to 1 Samuel 16:14–23: The problem of evil, the identity of the evil spirit, and the solution for King Saul’s affliction. October 2006 David’s Musical Therapy, I Samuel 16:14-23, Part 2 Troy Lohmeyer, M.Div.

Mirror Man by Samuel King