- Rubric: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
- Title: The Sweet Psalmist of Israel
- Publication: Volume 1 Issue 8 (June 3, 2023)
David was the worship leader of Old Testament Israel. Listen to David’s own inspired declaration about himself and his place in the worship of Israel: “David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue” (II Sam. 23:1–2).
David was three things that are one thing. David was “the man who was raised up on high” with authority over men. David was “the anointed of the God of Jacob” to represent God among the people. And David was “the sweet psalmist of Israel” to bring and to sing psalms in Israel. These three things are one thing. David was the worship leader among God’s people—the God-authorized, God-representing, and God-praising worship leader.
Worship Leader
The truth of David as worship leader is a rich vein of theological gold for us to mine and to explore. Let us begin with the term itself: worship leader. What does that mean? Perhaps some stumble at the term. Who ever heard of a worship leader? The term sounds foreign to an ear attuned to the Reformed confessions and to the historic Reformed practice of worship. The term may even look suspicious to the gimlet-eyed observer of the worship teams and praise bands and slick productions of contemporary Christianity. What do the Reformed have to do with worship leaders?
Ah, but the Reformed faith is full of the truth of the worship leader. We Reformed just know the worship leader by other names: officebearer, head, mediator.
The fact is that the worship of Jehovah must be led. God’s people may not and cannot worship God without a leader. Man is dust; God’s throne is heaven. Man is of the earth earthy; God is a spirit. Man is fallen in Adam; God is righteous and holy. Man, who must worship God in spirit, is flesh. Man, who must worship God in truth, is blind. Such a one as man does not know how to worship such a one as God. Such a one as man must have a mighty leader to bring him into the presence of the holy God.
This truth is offensive to man’s flesh. Man will not suffer himself to be led. Man flatters himself that he is the ideal worshiper. Man makes himself the measure of acceptable worship. If man feels worshipful, if man is moved with devotion, then man concludes that his worship must be acceptable to the holy God. Man will not acknowledge that he is poor, blind, and naked in the matter of his worship. Man stampedes into God’s house, tramples upon the holy things, and congratulates himself on a job well done. Behold the folly of man.
If man is to worship God, man must have a leader. That leader is Jesus Christ. Christ is “the anointed of the God of Jacob” (II Sam. 23:1). Christ is the servant of the Lord (Isa. 42:1). Christ is the called of Jehovah (v. 6). As God’s anointed officebearer, Christ is the prophet, priest, and king who delivers his elect people from their sins and brings them into worshipful covenantal fellowship with their God. Oh, the Reformed reader might not recognize the term worship leader right away, but he certainly recognizes Christ, that is, anointed.
Q. 31. Why is he called Christ, that is, anointed?
A. Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and to be our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us, and makes continual intercession with the Father for us; and also to be our eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in (the enjoyment of) that salvation He has purchased for us. (Lord’s Day 12)
And although the Reformed reader might not recognize the term worship leader right away, he certainly recognizes mediator and advocate.
We believe that we have no access unto God but alone through the only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, who therefore became man, having united in one person the divine and human natures, that we men might have access to the divine Majesty, which access would otherwise be barred against us. But this Mediator, whom the Father hath appointed between Him and us, ought in no wise to affright us by His majesty, or cause us to seek another according to our fancy. For there is no creature either in heaven or on earth who loveth us more than Jesus Christ; who, though He was in the form of God, yet made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a man and of a servant for us, and was made like unto His brethren in all things. If, then, we should seek for another mediator, who would be well affected towards us, whom could we find who loved us more than He who laid down His life for us, even when we were His enemies? And if we seek for one who hath power and majesty, who is there that hath so much of both as He who sits at the right hand of His Father, and who hath all power in heaven and on earth? And who will sooner be heard than the own well-beloved Son of God?…
Therefore, according to the command of Christ, we call upon the heavenly Father through Jesus Christ our only Mediator, as we are taught in the Lord’s Prayer; being assured that whatever we ask of the Father in His name will be granted us. (Belgic Confession, Article 26)
Through Jesus Christ God brings his elect people into his presence and fellowship. Through Jesus Christ God leads his elect people in the worship of his holy name. Behold the grace of God.
In the Old Testament Christ was typified by David. David was the worship leader. God declared regarding David in Isaiah 55:4, “Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.” Those who sing the 1912 Psalter have often sung regarding David, God’s chosen servant, that he was “a mighty leader, true and brave, ordained, exalted, strong to save” (Psalter #243:1).
Although we often think of David’s leadership as his ruling and judging and warring on behalf of Israel, David’s leadership included his leading of worship. The king of Israel was not only a soldier, though he was that too. The king of Israel was not only a ruler, though he was that too. The king of Israel was not only a judge, though he was that too. But the king of Israel also presided over the worship of God’s people. As we will see a little later, the king of Israel commanded the priests and the Levites how to worship, where to worship, and when to worship. The king of Israel organized the Levites for their service to thank and praise the Lord.
David, as type of Christ, was the worship leader in Old Testament Israel. With regard to the psalms, now, what was the worship leader’s work? Three things: the worship leader was the provider of psalms, the prescriber of psalms, and the precentor of psalms. Let us take up the first this time.
Worship Leader: Provider
David’s first task as the king of worship in Israel was to provide the material for Israel’s worship. God did not send Israel forth to scrounge up her own material to bring to God in worship. Rather, God himself provided his people’s worship and all the material of their worship as a gift of his grace. The worship policy that requires people to bring their own material for divine service is not God’s policy but Pharaoh’s. Pharaoh’s policy was that Israel must serve Pharaoh with bricks, but that she must find her own straw to do so. “I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw” (Ex. 5:10–12). Pharaoh’s service policy was tyranny and cruelty. Men think that it is the pinnacle of their freedom and liberty to bring their own man-made material into the worship of Jehovah. But man soon finds that, at his best, he is nothing but emptiness and vanity. If man must provide his own material for worship, then he will soon wear himself out scrabbling for stubble. The policy that requires man to bring man’s material for the worship of Jehovah is never the zenith of liberty but is always the nadir of bondage.
God’s worship policy is much different. God provides his people with all the material for their worship. God is no cruel tyrant; he is a gracious and good God. He is the overflowing fountain of all good. God graciously gives his people his only begotten Son as their savior. God graciously gives his people the right to come into his house and sit at his table. God graciously brings his people into the body of Christ and draws them into his communion and fellowship. God graciously covers with the blood of Christ’s atonement all the sins of his wayward people. God graciously counts the perfect worship of Christ as the worship of his people. God graciously gives his people the Spirit of Christ so that they understand and believe the goodness and grace of God to them. And God graciously gives his people the material of their grateful worship. At no point must God’s people go scrounging to find their own stubble. At no point are God’s people left without the very material that God would have them bring to him in service of his holy name.
On behalf of Israel’s gracious God, David’s first task as the king of worship in Israel was to provide the material for Israel’s worship. Although this was ultimately true with regard to all Israel’s worship material, David especially called attention to the songs that Israel would sing. As the anointed king of worship, David was “the sweet Psalmist of Israel” (II Sam. 23:1).