Religious or not, the Bible, or The Gospel as some may call it, is one of the most influential books in modern history. People may argue about its contents, but the lessons and truths from the book are still relevant today.
During my studies of the Bible, two parables stood out to me, Miriam's Song and God's Wrath Against Isreal, both found in Exodus. These two parables highlight a critical point that we see today in our music. Miriam's song was created in truth to express the deliverance and goodness of God, and the other song was produced in idolatry and false worship of material things, which warranted God's Wrath.
"The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him." (Ex. 15:2). Miriam's song begins on the truth according to her life. In the verses preceding, the children of Israel observed the deliverance from Pharoah by God, which brought forth a song from their imagination. The Bible then proceeds to add seventeen more verses filled with the lyrics of Miriam and the children of Israel.
If we look at the conditions in which Miriam's song was produced, we can see a message regarding the construction of music. The children of Israel experienced a significant event that impacted their thinking and way of living. Similar to the common man or woman's life, which undergoes a change at nearly every moment. These life-changing moments are the moments that serious reflection should be considered. It is in these moments that we gain inspiration and wisdom to create.
Likewise, the children of Israel's situation inspired the lyrics to Miriam's song almost instantaneously, as evident from the transition from Ex. 14:31 to Ex. 15:1, which begins the parable of Miriam's Song. The Bible details the lyrics from Ex. 15:2 to Ex. 15.19. One way to interpret this detail is that it highlights the significance of using Life truths in song. In today's modern music, we often hear many lies about the life that people live. This can be why newer music needs help impacting people positively and drawing significant revenue. For example, think of the lasting legacy of music produced by Michael Jackson, Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, and Stevie Wonder. Music inspired by life truth and reflection brought for music that has lasted for generations, as in the Bible, which people can still read and see today.
Furthermore, as we take a closer look at the lyrics, we see that the song is about the glory and goodness of God. I encourage more music of this kind, but in our society, this music may come from a few composers and far between time. The message of this song is as positive as one can get, as the song worships and praise the glory of God. For those who do not resonate with this message, one can interpret that a positive, empowering, and loving message is the best foundation to create a song. This type of music has proven to connect and uplift people. Just think of the feelings "Get Up" by Dennis Brown invokes. Or "The show goes on " by Lupe Fiasco. These songs provide an uplifting message that can help someone change their situation. Consider all the negative music that people put out there. With time it eventually fades away and becomes a distant memory of the past. As people grow up and age out of certain mindsets, they tend to lean more on soothing music with a better message. Try talking to someone over 40 and see what music they recommend.
Juxtaposed to the parable of Miriam's Song, we have God's Wrath Against Israel found starting in Ex. 32:7. This parable came about because as Moses was atop mount Sinai learning from God how to live and organize the lives of the children of Israel, the children became impatient. This impatience led them to melt down their gold and create a molten idol. The children then sang and danced about the idol disrespecting God and disrespecting themselves as a result. "And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry from being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear." (Ex. 32:18)
The Bible does not spend much time detailing the song of the idol worshippers as it did in Miriam's song to drive home a series of points. As the verse mentioned above, it describes the singing as "noise." This can be interpreted as the song's intention being somewhat immoral, thus defining it as noise. Think about how society's elders view the unrestrained style of music today. One does not have to search hard for an elder to call it "noise," but what is the basis of this response? Music has lost meaning or taken on a new meaning. Instead of love, you often find lust or hate. Instead of humility and beauty, you find boastfulness and unbecomingness. Furthermore, reducing songs to noise instead of music.
Looking at the conditions that made the song of the idol worshipers, we see that there was impatience for Moses's return. The careless consideration led to a misguided action, which ended up being their undoing. This can be interpreted in the modern sense of people lusting after fame and wealth and making misguided decisions about the music they create. This misguided action causes people to produce songs about lies to seek material gain. That unintentionally or intentionally causes a culture and a society to degenerate into madness. Just pull up the lyrics or a music video from today's music to see the results described above.
The value of materialism was evident in the Bible verse as it is today. The children of Israel made a statue of gold, then presumably sang about its beauty to them. This angered God and Moses because of the foolish nature of this action. As you and I know, life is much bigger than the items we lust after or possess, yet we continue to ignore this foundational truth for some reason. We boast about our sexual conquest, the money we may or may not have, and the violence we wish or intend to use amongst our people and wonder why we are in the condition that we are in now.
I have been guilty of this degenerate behavior in my music and seek to change the methods and reasons I write now. Music is beautiful, but how we construct or use, it is up to us. We all have the power to create or destroy with our words and actions. Which one will you choose?