King David, the worship warrior king, the former shepherd boy who overcame Goliath the giant by faith, such a faith that was developed while he played his harp and fought the lion and the bear. This worship warrior king collected taxes from his people and set aside a budget to finance a 24/7 project for musicians to be employed 100% in the work of Worship.
It’s worth mentioning first that David himself made the musical instruments; We can be sure that he hired artisans to build instruments, and we can also be sure that with all of David’s experience in playing instruments of worship, that he must have had design specifications which were quite detailed.
The next detail to mention is the number of Levite priests. So let’s break out these fulltime Tabernacle workers by the numbers:
24,000 men to do the work of the house of YHWH;
6,000 men serving as officers and judges;
4,000 men working as musicians to praise YHWH;
4,000 men operating as porters, “doorkeepers,” as Psalm 84:10 writes,
“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
38,000: TOTAL number of men who were Levites.
Out of a total of 1.6 million men of age in Israel and Judah (II Sam 24:9, I Chron. 21:5-6), this is 2.375% of the male population over 20 years of age, including men trained in warfare as well as those completely inexperienced.
Ok, now in one sense, 2.4% is far from zero. On the other hand, 2.4% seems like quite an insignificant portion of the mature male population.
But when we consider that the 4,000 musicians comprise only 0.25% of the male population, things get serious: That’s only a quarter of one percent.
It just goes to show: It only takes a “small” amount of praise and worship to get big results. When we praise Elohim the Creator, His power moves mountains.
These days, there is no theocratic nation with a king who collects taxes to finance 0.25% to work as worship musicians, never mind 2.4% of the population to serve as priests. Today, the finances come from freewill offerings from the people of Elohim. The more worshipers and workers the better. Let’s seek to build the King’s Kingdom together, by financing priests and worship musicians to bless and serve Elohim from the local areas in Israel.
The writer is a Psalmist serving among the Messianic communities in Israel. He is a member of a board which oversees Biblical Choral music in the Land. He is also a builder and distributor of 10-string harps.