The Harper Foreshadowing the Psalmist
W. G. Blaikie, M. A. 1 Samuel 16:17-18 And Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.… The nature of the malady that afflicted Saul, and that was overcome for a time by the soothing influence of David's harp, has been copiously illustrated from history. A whole book was written on the subject by a learned professor at, Wittemberg. illustrating the remarkable power of music in soothing both mental and bodily ailments. Kitto and other writers have added more recent instances, One is a case mentioned, among many others, in the Memoires of the French Royal Academy of Sciences for 1707 — that of a person seized with a fever which threw him into a violent and raging delirium, and for which music proved an effectual remedy. When the music was discontinued, the symptoms returned; but by frequent repetitions of the experiment, during which the delirium always ceased, the power of the disease was broken, and the habits of a sound mind reestablished. Six days sufficed to accomplish the cure. Another case is that of Charles IX of France, of whom it is said that after the massacre of St. Bartholomew his sleep was wont to be disturbed by nightly horrors, and he could only be composed to rest by a symphony of singing boys. Still more striking and more like that of Saul, is the case of another royal personage, Philip V of Spain. He was seized with deep dejection of spirits, which totally indisposed and unfitted him for all public duty and appearances. A celebrated musician, Farinelli, was invited to Spain; and on his arrival it was contrived that there should be a concert in a room adjoining the king's apartment, in which the artist should perform one of his most captivating songs. The king, says Kitto, appeared surprised at first, then greatly moved; and at the end of the second air, he summoned the musician to his apartment, and loading him with compliments and caresses, asked him how he could reward such talents, assuring him that he could refuse him nothing. The musician answered that he desired only that his Majesty would allow himself to be shaved and dressed (which hitherto he had obstinately refused to be), and that he would endeavour to make his appearance in the council as usual. The king yielded; from this time his disease gave way, and the musician had all the honour of the cure. We may readily believe that that harp in its soothing power was not inferior to any of the other instruments to which allusion has been made. Still, with all its temporary success, it was but a humble and ineffective method of soothing a troubled spirit, compared to the methods which David was afterwards to employ. It dealt chiefly, if not exclusively, with man's animal nature. It did not deal with man as an intellectual and moral being; it did not strike at the root of all trouble — alienation from God; it did not attempt to apply the only permanent and effectual remedy for trouble — restoration to His favour and fellowship. It was a mere foreshadow, on a comparatively low and earthly ground, of the wondrous way in which David, as the Psalmist, was afterwards to provide the true "oil of joy for the mourner," and to become a guide to the downcast, soul from "an horrible pit and the miry clay," up to the third heaven of joy and peace. The temporary calm which the soft notes of David's harp spread over the stormy soul of Saul was but a superficial emotion compared to the holy rest, on the bosom of their God, to which the Psalms have guided many an anxious and weary sinner. It was like the passing emotion of an Oratorio, compared to the deep peace of the Gospel. Nor is the contrast less striking between the results of the two kinds of repose. Under the soothing influence of David's harp, Saul might have calmness enough to plan a few useful measures, or to execute a few needed reforms; but under the influence of the holy rest into which many a believer has been guided by the Psalmist, some of the greatest victories have been gained over sinful tendencies, and some of the highest achievements of the new nature have been realised. The prisoner, soothed to patience and contentment in his dismal dungeon; the tortured confessor nerved in the hour of fiery trial to regardlessness of man; the martyr, elevated to a sublime contempt alike of worldly pains and worldly joys; have all, in these great victories, exemplified the influence of the tranquillising yet elevating spirit that breathes out from the Psalms, and seems to say, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee!" (W. G. Blaikie, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. WEB: Saul said to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me."