To lead, to oversee, to supervise (in music): natsakh, verb (Strong’s 5329); natsakhim, plural leaders/supervisors/overseers.
Root: נָצַח
Sounds like: na’tsaw’kheem
One of the many things I appreciate my Dad for, is my love for music. When I was little, he used to practise playing guitar in the room next to my bedroom, which means that everytime I hear the haunting notes of Stairway to Heaven, I think of my Dad plucking away on his guitar. Dad also instituted “dinner music” in our house. When the three of us would gather to eat supper time Dad would put on a record. As an only child, with introverted parents, this was the perfect way to enjoy a meal. We never felt forced to have a conversation, we could just sit there, enjoying Mom’s great food and Dad’s cool choice for entertainment. Dad’s dinner hour concert introduced me to a wide range of wonderful music, including the early blues masters (such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker), sixties protest music (Phil Ochs and Joan Baez), the classics (Chopin and Dvorak), guitar legends (Stevie Ray Vaughn & Gary Moore), great female rockers (Janis Joplin and Heart), poet geniuses (Leonard Cohen and Donovan), and some stand alone trail-blazers, such as the synthetic rock opera legend, Rick Wakeman, and the mystic folk metal sound of Led Zeppelin.
When I had to read the Hobbit for class in grade 8, I instinctively knew that the book could be made even more exciting (if that was possible) with music playing in the background. I went to Dad with my request and he handed me a vinyl LP of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. To me, that’s the quintessential Hobbit soundtrack! After that, the Hobbit became my favourite novel and Dvorak became my favourite composer.
Music is part of the human experience and it’s been that way since people gathered into communities. The first hint of music, in the Bible, is found in Genesis:
Genesis 4:20-21
Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and flute.
From the earliest days music had an important part to play in human culture. By the time we get to a united Israel, music has become a key part of Temple rituals.
The Psalms are the Bible’s primary musical playlist and fifty-five (out of one hundred and fifty) Psalms begin with the announcement “for the music director”. These music directors weren’t necessarily the writers of the lyrics or melody; instead, they chose the music, organized the musicians, and led the practises. They were the supervisors/leaders/overseers/conductors, who brought the music to the people.
The word natsakh is only found in the following Biblical books: 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Habukkuk, and (most predominantly) the Psalms. It’s important to acknowledge that natsakh wasn’t exclusive to music. In 2 Chronicles 2:2, and 2:18, Solomon enlisted many men to build the temple and he hired 3600 “supervisors” (m-nats’khim) to lead the workers. In 2 Chronicles 34:12-13, Josiah rededicated and rebuilt Jerusalem, hiring foremen to supervise (l-natsakh) the project. In Ezra 3:8-9, we read about men hired to supervise (l-natsakh) the workers of the Temple restoration. These supervisors were leaders in their craft of construction. Musical supervisors were given the same respectful title. They were the natsakhim (supervisors) of their craft.
Music Directors in the Psalms
In the Psalms (and once in Habakkuk) the natsakh were specifically identified as the musical overseers for ritual worship. Fifty-five Psalms include natsakhk in the introductory preamble. They are: Psalm 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 84, 85, 88, 109, 139, 140
We won’t go through each of these, but here are a few:
Psalm 4:1
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
Psalm 9:1-2
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]; on Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
I will give thanks to YHWH with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will rejoice and be jubilant in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Psalm 22:1
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my help are the words of my groaning.
Psalm 42:1
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, God.
Psalm 70:1
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
God, hurry to save me; YHWH, hurry to help me!
Psalm 81:1-4
For the music director [la-m-natseyakh]; on the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.
Sing for joy to God our strength; shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the tambourine, the sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
Unlike the Psalms, the passage in Habakkuk places the musical instructions at the end:
Habakkuk 3:19
The Lord YHWH is my strength, and He has made my feet like deer’s feet, and has me walk on my high places.
For the choir director [la-m-natseyakh], on my stringed instruments.
The Psalmic preambles and Habukkuk’s postamble, suggests that not that much has changed in the musical ensemble world. The orchestra always waits for the conductor’s lead, and those conductors undoubtedly appreciate the composer’s notes and suggestions. The Bible lets us know that it has been this way for centuries.
Jeduthun
There are so many musicians listed in the Bible; we would be here forever if we listed them all. One of these musicians, however, is uniquely connected to our word natsakh.
Jeduthun was often associated with Asaph and Heman as key musical leaders during the time of King David and King Solomon. Whereas Asaph and Heman were writers of Psalms, no specific Psalms were attributed to Jeduthun. However, Jeduthun has a unique connection to three of the Psalms that we have in our Bibles today (Psalm 39, 62, and 77). These Psalms say, “for the music director; according to Jeduthun.” [la-m-natseyakh al Yedutun].
What this means isn’t completely clear. Some Psalms (53, 56, 60, 69) also have “al —” meaning “according to” or “set to” and these will usually point to some known melody of the time. But we know that Jeduthun wasn’t a melody himself. It could be that these Psalms were to be played according to Jeduthun’s original wishes or Jeduthun’s original tune. Perhaps he wrote tunes, but did not write the lyrics (psalms) as his co-workers, Asaph and Heman did. For example, in the following passage we see that Asaph wrote the Psalm but the music director was to play the music “according to Jeduthun”:
Psalm 77:1, 12-13
For the music director; according to Jeduthun [la-m-natseyakh al Yedutun]. A Psalm of Asaph.
My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; my voice rises to God, and He will listen to me.
…I will meditate on all Your work, and on Your deeds with thanksgiving. Your way, God, is holy; what god is great like our God?
When David took the Ark from Gibeon to Jerusalem, he assigned Asaph to remain with the Ark and then he left a praise team, with Zadok the priest, in the Tabernacle at Gibeon. Heman and Jeduthun were the supervising musicians who stayed at the Tabernacle:
1 Chronicles 16:39-42
And David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of YHWH at the high place in Gibeon to regularly present burnt offerings to YHWH on the altar of burnt offerings, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the Law of YHWH, which He had commanded Israel to keep. With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to YHWH, for “His loving devotion endures forever.”
Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for the songs of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.
Later, the musicians of David’s court (which included Jeduthun) were highlighted in 1 Chronicles 25:
1 Chronicles 25:1a, 3, 6
Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals….
…Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six in all, under the direction of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising YHWH.
…All these were under the direction of their fathers for the music of the house of YHWH with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction of the king.
Jeduthun, Asaph and Heman were all there when the Ark was brought into Solomon’s newly built Temple:
2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (see also 2 Chronicles 35:15)
When the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions), and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify YHWH, and when they raised their voices accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, and when they praised YHWH saying, “He indeed is good for His kindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of YHWH, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH filled the house of God.
Jeduthun was a highly respected musician of his day. Along with his friends, he had the gift of music leadership, and he used it wisely.
Music in the New Testament
We know there were professional mourner musicians (Matthew 9:23-26) in first century Jewish culture but, besides the reference in Matthew, professional musicians don’t get any more attention in the B’rit Chadashah (New Testament).
However, we do know that praising God in song was a part of first century worship. Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55), Zechariah’s song (Luke 1:67-79), Simeon’s song (Luke 2:28-35) are all wonderful examples of melodic praise worship.
We are also told that Yeshua (Jesus) and His disciples sang a hymn together after the last supper:
Matthew 26:26-31
Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom.”
And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
What did Yeshua and the disciples sing that night? Our best guess would be something from Psalm 113-118, as these are the traditional Psalms sung at Passover.
People continued to sing hymns in the early years of the Christian church. In Acts 16 we read about Paul and Silas, in prison, praying and singing hymns:
Acts 16:25-31
Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”
And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas; and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Singing brought hope to the prisoners, and God heard their worship and took action. But it was compassion and kindness that saved the prison guard, not the singing. We are to sing to God, not to each other. We are to share God with others, not keep Him to ourselves.
Inspiring Music
The book of the Revelation makes a few references to music. In John’s vision of God’s throne room we read:
Revelation 14:2-3a
And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders…
I love that music plays where God resides!
John’s revelation highlighted Babylon as the symbolic anti-Eden. It was the place where God did not reside and where music, eventually, disappeared:
Revelation 18:21-22
Then a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again. And the sound of harpists, musicians [mousikon], flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again…”
For many of us, a world without music would be an apt description of a hellish realm.
Finally, it is interesting to note that in Greek the word for musician is mousikos, from the Greek mousa, meaning muse. A muse is something that inspires you. Music, therefore, is the definition of inspiration.
Music is a gift, a God given gift. Many of our worship gatherings are blessed with wonderful natsakhim (music leaders). Remember them in your prayers and share a word of encouragement, the next time you see them. They are doing the work of YHWH. And if you are that person… thank you! You are helping people lift their voices to God, inspiring them to get closer to their Creator who loves them. That is not a small thing; that’s a beautiful thing!
Next week: WORSHIP
Hebrew Word Lessons 
Thanks Richard! Good point!
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