Did women ever sing publicly with men present, other than their close family, in Bible history?
Upvote:3
In addition to the specific examples of women singing in public already mentioned, there are several references to singers that pair masculine and feminine Hebrew nouns together:
Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women (כָֽל־הַשָּׁרִ֣ים וְ֠הַשָּׁרוֹת) have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. (2 Chronicles 35:25, NRSV)
The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male and female singers (מְשֹׁרְרִ֥ים וּֽמְשֹׁרְר֖וֹת). (Ezra 2:64-65, NRSV)
I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women (שָׁרִ֣ים וְשָׁר֗וֹת), and delights of the flesh, and many concubines. (Ecclesiastes 2:8, NRSV)
Particularly significant to the question of whether women sang with men present is this quote from Barzillai the Gileadite:
Today I am eighty years old; can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women (שָׁרִ֣ים וְשָׁר֑וֹת)? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? (2 Samuel 19:35, NRSV)
Barzillai implies that he used to listen to singing men and singing women, but now he is too hard of hearing to be able to enjoy their singing like he used to.
Upvote:10
Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
2Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
Judges 5
And so on for the rest of the chapter.
It is clear from the repetition of 'I' in verse 2 that it is a duet.
I have put the whole of this song into verse (from the KJV) if anyone is interested and it is available (free of charge) as a download from my website in the book entitled 'Songs of the Witnesses'.
Song 10 Deborah’s Duet
1 Praise ye the LORD who did avenge
his people Israel.
When willingly themselves did give,
‘twas then they did prevail.
2 Give ear O kings and princes, hear;
I, I, a song will raise,
unto the LORD. To Isr’el’s God,
the LORD, will I sing praise
And so on . . . . .
Upvote:12
Exodus 15:19-21 (NIV)
19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and hors*m*n[e] went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”
The other women appear to be the immediate audience, but as this happens immediately after crossing the Red Sea, it seems pretty certain that there would have been men present too.
Upvote:13
The answer seems simple. The bible directly speaks of women singing in public.
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres.
-- 1 Samuel 18:6 NIV
More post
- 📝 Why is it hard for a rich man to go to heaven?
- 📝 Do people of different denominations think that the others are going to go to hell for holding false views?
- 📝 Christening - what exactly does a Godparent have to promise to do / be?
- 📝 Issues with legal documents and marriage
- 📝 According to Calvinism, if Catholicism might lead to salvation, why to remain a Calvinist? (Henry IV story)
- 📝 Are there any Protestant beliefs which have their roots in Mormon doctrines?
- 📝 Why did Clement of Alexandria say that the name of Jesus, Iesous, has a Greek origin, not a Hebrew one?
- 📝 What are some situations documented outside of the Bible in which God intervened in human affairs?
- 📝 How old was Timothy when he became a Christian?
- 📝 What did the early Christian twice weekly fasts consist of?
- 📝 What are the teachings of Catholic Church on the implications of gender-change by individuals, in their life-after-life?
- 📝 What was Van Til's view on the use and validity of historical proofs for the resurrection?
- 📝 Is it a sin or forbidden to follow any of the parts of the Law of Moses?
- 📝 What is the Catholic view on frozen embryos
- 📝 Where in the Bible did God tell Adam and Eve that they have sinned?
- 📝 Is there any reference to Abraham building a house of worship? Where is Bakkah?
- 📝 What differences are there between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox understanding of the sacrament of marriage?
- 📝 Was there a transformation in the artistic depiction of the Crucifixion after the 12th century?
- 📝 How do people in Hell survive?
- 📝 Why is the use of certain common words offensive?
- 📝 Why First Epistle to St. John by St. Ignatius of Antioch is considered to be spurious?
- 📝 How did the tree of life in the Garden of Eden serve its purpose? (Roman Catholic perspective)
- 📝 Can a secular government ever be a moral authority?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for interpreting "born again", "baptized in the Holy Spirit" and "filled with the Holy Spirit" as different experiences?
- 📝 Are Christians socialists because they are commanded to share their wealth?
- 📝 What is the significance of "seventy times seven"?
- 📝 What was Pelagius' view of Hell?
- 📝 Creed, Encyclical, Decretal, Canon, Bull, etc - What's the difference?
- 📝 What plausible explanation can we find for the points of contact between Moses in the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Enoch?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses differentiate Jesus' role in creation from that of a Demiurge?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Did women ever sing publicly with men present, other than their close family, in Bible history?
- 📝 Do any Church Fathers directly connect "speaking in tongues" with anything other than existing human languages?
- 📝 When and how did men and women start sitting together in church?
- 📝 Did any early church fathers, other than Augustine, condemn or write about numerology?
- 📝 Did Augustine often complain that his contemporaries burdened the church with their traditions?
- 📝 Can priests (or popes) administer sacraments in a liturgy other than their own?
- 📝 Why does the LDS church (Mormon) put so much more emphasis on the family than most other denominations do?
- 📝 Did church fathers ever deal with "Bible requires brutality" critics?
- 📝 What does the LDS church teach about what men and women did or do in the pre-existence?
- 📝 Did the Emperor Constantine ever present explanations for putting off his baptism?
- 📝 Why did Moses have the sons of Levi run about with swords slaying family and friends?
- 📝 Did Thomas Pearne do anything other than contradict Granville Sharp?
- 📝 Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John write anything other than the Gospels?
- 📝 Was there a time when bishops were not appointed to other sees and did not generally ever relocate?
- 📝 Did God ever talk about his other creations?
- 📝 Was the Covenant made with the Church or does 'Everlasting' mean something other than 'eternal?'
- 📝 Why did Jesus favor Peter, James and John more than the other disciples?
- 📝 Would men have ever sinned if Satan did not tempt Eve in the garden in the first place?
- 📝 Did the Jews waiting for their Messiah associate him with the creation of the world?
- 📝 Is there an example in the Bible of a human ever praying [a prayer] to someone other than one assumed to be God/god?
- 📝 According to Evangelicals, will the saved ever experience the magnitude of suffering associated with their sins?
- 📝 Did Jesus tell us that at the Bema judgment Minister, Evangelists, and etc. would face a higher standard of judgment than other Christians?
- 📝 Does Augustine ever say that Christians in his time identify their Deus [God] with the Roman deity Saturn?
- 📝 Were the scriptural readings at Mass ever other than Vulgate read at mass pre-Vatican II?
- 📝 What did pastors in the 1800s in the United States teach their congregations about interacting with Native Americans?
- 📝 Did any other church father other than St. Augustine believe in the just war theory?
- 📝 Did Solomon Ever Fight as a Soldier or Shed Human Blood with His Own Hands?
- 📝 Why did Mary Magdalene and the other women disciples wait until the dawn of Sunday before arriving at the tomb?
- 📝 Did Casting Crowns ever say why they chose their name?
- 📝 Was Paul's Relationship with Jewish Leadership Close Enough to Act as Their Agent?