2 Samuel 6:5

5 David and the whole company of Israel were in the parade, singing at the top of their lungs and playing mandolins, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

2 Samuel 6:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 6:5

And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord,
&c.] That is, before the ark, which was a symbol of the presence of the Lord:

on all manner of [instruments made of] fir wood:
which is a general expression, the particulars follow; though instruments of different sorts are mentioned, and even some of metal, as cymbals, which were vessels of brass, they struck one against another, and gave a very acute sound, being hollow ^F7;

even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and
on cymbals;
harps, psalteries, and timbrels, are frequently met with; cornets, according to Kimchi, are such sort of instruments, that in playing upon them it required an agitation of the whole body. Now it was that David penned the sixty eighth psalm, which begins, "let God arise" ( Psalms 68:1-35 ) , words used by Moses when the ark set forward, ( Numbers 10:35 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Suidas in voce (kumbala) .

2 Samuel 6:5 In-Context

3 They placed the Chest of God on a brand-new oxcart and removed it from Abinadab's house on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab's sons, were driving the new cart

4 loaded with the Chest of God, Ahio in the lead and Uzzah alongside the Chest.

5 David and the whole company of Israel were in the parade, singing at the top of their lungs and playing mandolins, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, so Uzzah reached out and grabbed the Chest of God.

7 God blazed in anger against Uzzah and struck him hard because he had profaned the Chest. Uzzah died on the spot, right alongside the Chest.