288
The Voice in Speech and Song
King. Then a burst of song demanded of the watchers upon the walls
that the gates of the holy city should be thrown open: “Lift up your
heads, O ye gates; And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; And
the King of glory shall come in.” A band of singers and players an-
swered, “Who is this King of glory?” From another company came the
response, “The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.”
Then hundreds of voices, uniting, swelled the triumphal chorus,
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; Even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors; And the King of glory shall come in.”
Again the joyful interrogation was heard, “Who is this King of
glory?” And the voice of the great multitude, “like the sound of many
waters,” was heard in the rapturous reply, “The Lord of hosts, He is
the King of glory.”—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 707, 708
.
[451]
Songs of David’s Experience—The fifty-first psalm is an expres-
sion of David’s repentance, when the message of reproof came to him
from God.... Thus in a sacred song to be sung in the public assemblies
of his people, in the presence of the court—priests and judges, princes
and men of war—and which would preserve to the latest generation the
knowledge of his fall, the king of Israel recounted his sin, his repen-
tance, and his hope of pardon through the mercy of God.—
Patriarchs
and Prophets, 724, 725
.
Music a Means of Freedom From Idolatry—The service of
song was made a regular part of religious worship, and David com-
posed psalms, not only for the use of the priests in the sanctuary
service, but also to be sung by the people in their journeys to the
national altar at the annual feasts. The influence thus exerted was
far-reaching, and it resulted in freeing the nation from idolatry. Many
of the surrounding peoples, beholding the prosperity of Israel, were
led to think favorably of Israel’s God, who had done such great things
for His people.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 711
.
Songs for Deep Trial—What were the feelings of the father and
king, so cruelly wronged, in this terrible peril [the rebellion of Ab-
salom]? “A mighty valiant man,” a man of war, a king, whose word
was law, betrayed by his son whom he had loved and indulged and un-
wisely trusted, wronged and deserted by subjects bound to him by the
strongest ties of honor and fealty—in what words did David pour out
the feelings of his soul? In the hour of his darkest trial, David’s heart
[452]