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This Interruption is part of the Grant and Barbara in Scotland adventure series!
The heading for Psalm 57 in some translations says . . .
For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”
We may speculate about a tune named “Do Not Destroy,” but evidently, it existed in the time of David. Perhaps an Old Testament punk rock band created it.
Pastor Grant’s speculations aside, “psalm” means “song,” and all 150 Psalms were written to be sung and not read silently. An Old Testament household didn’t own a Book of Psalms handwritten on papyrus or parchment—as they were too expensive!
So, the Psalms would be sung during corporate worship as both a means to praise God and to learn about God.
Now let’s fast forward a few thousand years to the Reformation. The Bible didn’t become readily available until both the printing press was invented and the Protestant Reformation began encouraging people to personally read the Bible.
The Reformation believed God spoke directly to believers, and we didn’t need a system of priests to be intermediaries for us.
Now on to Scotland during the Protestant Reformation. John Knox, a leader of the Reformation in Scotland and founder of the Scottish Presbyterian Church, developed the Scottish Psalter of 1564.
This Psalter was a type of hymnbook of the Psalms.
From Old Testament times to when the Psalms were readily available to the common pew-sitting believer (when the Psalms became available to everyone during the Reformation), the emphasis was on singing the Psalms.
We’ve lost this today.
There is something about singing that enables words through music to sink deeply into our soul and memory. Feeling guilty about the loss, as I was writing this Interruption, I tried singing the Psalm . . .
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by (Psalm 57:1, NLT).
Reaction: My soul was edified, but my singing woke up my wife, and the person in the hotel room next door started banging on the wall.
Then I realized, “You dunderhead, the opening of Psalm 57 in the Bible says, ‘For the choir director,’ not Pastor Grant early morning in a hotel room!”
What should we do? We don’t have the original tunes from the Old Testament, and many of the Psalms in the Scottish Psalter are set to four-part harmonies. Fortunately, many contemporary artists have released new albums that emphasize psalms.
Check out Shane and Shane’s Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs! (Live worship at Liberty University starts at 7:51.)
You can slip on a pair of headphones and sing along—but keep your voice down, especially if you are in a hotel room.