Hebrew Word Study – Song From The Heart – Zamar זמר Zayin Mem Resh

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Psalms 66:2: “Sing forth the honor of His name, make his praise glorious.”

I know there are some worship leaders on my mailing list, I am not sure if they read these things, but if they do and you happen to be a worship leader, I hope you give some consideration to the four different aspects of music in the ancient Hebrew religion. I went over this a couple of years ago and for personal reasons, I believe the Spirit of God is directing me to take another look at Ancient Hebrew music.

The word “sing” in this passage is zameru and is a reference to its Semitic root form of music known as zemirot. The word itself means to prune or cut. It is usually sung at the end of a meal or on special occasions. When Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn at the end of the last supper, it was a zemiort. The idea of cutting is that it brings something to an end like the end of a meal or it is cutting into the middle of a service or sermon with a song. These are Jewish hymns sung in Hebrew or Aramaic. We don’t utilize the zemiorts much in Christianity. I would see it at weddings and funerals where a requested song is sung. A bride and groom would often request a special love song. “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” or whatever be sung at their wedding. This would be a song that would have special meaning for them. Just as in a funeral, the deceased may have requested a relative to have a certain song sung at his or her funeral to give a final message to the ones who would attend. I remember as a child attending services where the song leader would ask for requests. These requests would be zemirots. Most of our worship services today tend to be more formal, rehearsed, and polished and the zemirots are fading from the Christian scene. Although a zemiort could be rehearsed and polished as in a funeral or wedding, most of the time they are spontaneous and expressions of the heart. It’s the joining of hands singing “We Shall Overcome” or sitting around a campfire singing “Kumbaya.” Zemirots occur in small prayer groups where someone suddenly starts to sing: “We Are One In The Spirit.” I once knew a preacher who would break out into song during his sermon or his wife or an elder would interrupt in the middle of a sermon with a song. I have heard this in some of our city churches. The Quakers and Old Plymouth Brethren were good at doing this. These are zemirots a song expressing one’s heart.  I hope it does not fade out entirely in our attempts to maintain a sense of order in our services. After all it is Biblical. 

This is why the chief musician in this Psalm is instructed to sing a zemirot in the honor of God’s name. In other words, don’t make this a polished, well-rehearsed musical number.  Let it be spontaneous, let the words of honor and respect to the name for the Name of God flow from the heart and not a music sheet. If one feels so led, let him zemirot or cut into the middle of the service with a song from the heart honoring God. If there is true unity, no one would be offended, in fact, all would join in. 

Just for personal review I also want to consider another form of music which is the piyyut. This is a liturgical poem that is usually sung, chanted, or recited during a religious service. This is not so spontaneous and is well ordered and prepared. I find this in our Catholic Churches where a piyyut is often used to create a sense of beauty and order to service. It is used to show reverence and respect for God. 

There is also the pizmonim, Probably ninety percent of our worship services fall into this category. These may be scripture songs or songs by poets. They can range from somber, almost melancholy to hand clapping, dancing, and swinging on chandeliers.  These are songs of worship and praise to God. 

Ah, but let’s not forget the niguns. These are songs without words or lyrics.  They are made up of nonsensical words. If you have ever seen the musical “Fiddler On The Roof” you remember Tevye singing “If I Were A Rich Man.” He sang: “If I were a rich man, yabi dibi dibi dibdi dubu dubu dum.” Tevye was singing a nigun. The reasoning behind the nigun is that one can not always know the thoughts of his own spirit, so he will let his physical body sing some nonsensical words to distract the physical and allow his spirit to sing or express his heart to God. I suspect this is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 8:26 that at times we do not know how to pray so the spirit makes intercession for us with groans and utterings.  The word groan in the Greek is alatetos which means that which cannot be expressed in words. Paul, as a good praying Jew, would most likely have used niguns and said his share of “yaba dibi dibi dibi dubi dubi dums. I don’t really see this in Christianity today, although I often wonder as I sit in services where there is speaking in tongues if this is not really the Spirit of God bringing niguns to his people. Unfortunately our full Gospel brethren have created a whole theology around tongues and is not open to my suggestion that tongues could very well be the equivalent of niguns. I don’t doubt that there are cases where someone speaks actual languages, through the Spirit of God, this may not have been adequately documented, but I wonder if maybe many people who do speak in tongues are really practicing an ancient Jewish form of singing or praying which is well documented in the Old Testament. Either way, the end result is the same and that is that one is expressing the cry of his or her spirit which can not be put into words. 

Finally, we have the baqashit which are prayer songs.  This is not often done in our Christian churches.  Our more liturgical churches will do this, but it is well scripted. A true baqashit is hard to accomplish unless you are very musically gifted and instantly put music to a prayer, or you are truly being led by the Spirit of God who will prompt your prayer into song. This is probably why we do not experience the baqashit that often.  

Still a verse like this is important for me. The music I groove to is a couple of generations behind the present music offered in our churches and it just doesn’t cut through the layers of dust on this old professor.  As a result, I have not really paid much attention to Christian music. Yet this little study does remind me that there is more to music than just style. The Bible does encourage us to sing forth the honor of His name and if you make an awful noise unto the Lord, at least He appreciates it. 

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