Timbrel

How Nave’s arranged it

• (Also called TABRET, an instrument of music (in the tambourine category))
• Used by MiriamExodus 15:20
• By Jephthah' s daughterJudges 11:34
• Used in religious services2 Samuel 6:51 Chronicles 13:8Psalms 68:25Psalms 81:2Psalms 149:3Psalms 150:4
• Used in dancesJob 21:12
• See Music, Instruments of

The passages, in Bible order (9)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 9 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 15:20

   Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 15:202 voices

   “And Miriam the prophetess - We have already seen that Miriam was older than either Moses or Aaron: for when Moses was exposed on the Nile, she was a young girl capable of managing the stratagem used for the preservation of his life; and then Aaron was only three years and three months old, for he was fourscore and three years old when Moses was but fourscore, (see Exo 7:7); so that Aaron was older than Moses, and Miriam considerably older than either, not less probably than nine or ten years of age. See Clarke’s notes on Exo 2:

   “When God brought Israel out of Egypt, it is said ( Micah vi. 4 ), He sent before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, though we read not of any thing memorable that Miriam did but this. But those are to be reckoned great blessings to a people who assist them, and go before them, in praising God.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 15:20→

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2. Judges 11:34

   And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.

   ›Commentary on Judges 11:341 voice

   “With timbrels and with dances - From this instance we find it was an ancient custom for women to go out to meet returning conquerors with musical instruments, songs, and dances; and that it was continued afterwards is evident from the instance given 1Sa 18:6, where David was met, on his return from the defeat of Goliath and the Philistines, by women from all the cities of Israel, with singing and dancing, and various instruments of music.

   Everything gathered on Judges 11:34→

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3. 2 Samuel 6:5

   David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 6:51 voice

   “Played - i. e. danced to music vocal and instrumental (see Jdg 16:25 note). Cornets - Rather, from the etymology of the Hebrew word (to shake), and their being coupled with the cymbals, and being rendered sistra in the Vulgate, some kind of instrument with bells or rings, which gave a sound by being shaken.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 6:5→

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4. 1 Chronicles 13:8

   David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

   ›Commentary on 1 Chronicles 13:81 voice

   “David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah--(See on 2Sa 6:1-11). whose name is called on it--rather, "who is worshipped there" (2Sa 6:2).

   Everything gathered on 1 Chronicles 13:8→

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5. Job 21:12

   singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

   ›Commentary on Job 21:122 voices

   “Ver. 12. They take the timbrel, and harp, and rejoice at the noise of the organ. As if he said in plain speech; 'Whilst the masters swell with honours and substance, the dependants rejoice in festive sports.' But, O blessed man, wherefore dost thou tell us all these many things of the delights of the wicked? It is now a long time that thou runnest on in the description of them; after much said, in one word point out what thou thinkest.

   “They take the timbrel and harp - ישאו yisu, they rise up or lift themselves up, probably alluding to the rural exercise of dancing. תף toph, which we translate timbrel, means a sort of drum, such as the tom-tom of the Asiatics. כנור kinnor may mean something of the harp kind. עוגב ugab, organ, means nothing like the instrument now called the organ, though thus translated both by the Septuagint and Vulgate; it probably means the syrinx, composed of several unequal pipes, close at the bottom, which when blown into at the top, gives a very shrill and lively sound.

   Everything gathered on Job 21:12→

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6. Psalms 68:25

   The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 68:252 voices

   “The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after. This was the order of the march, and God is to be worshipped evermore with due decorum. First the singers, and lastly the musicians, for the song must lead the music, and not the music drown the singing. In the midst of the vocal and instrumental band, or all around them, were the maidens: among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

   The princes went before, joined with those making melody. The apostles themselves went before, and those who through them believed followed: or certainly the churches. But he says "of the timbrel-players" because their body is dead to sin. And Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron, holding a timbrel in Exodus, went before those making melody, and said: "Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been honored."

   Everything gathered on Psalms 68:25→

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7. Psalms 81:2

   Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 81:21 voice

   “Take a psalm. Select a sacred song, and then raise it with your hearty voices. And bring hither the timbrel. Beat on your tambourines, ye damsels, let the sound be loud and inspiriting. "Sound the trumpets, beat the drums." God is not to be served with misery but with mirthful music, sound ye then the loud timbrel, as of old ye smote it by "Egypt's dark sea." The pleasant harp with the psaltery. The timbrel for sound, must be joined by the harp for sweetness, and this by other stringed instruments for variety.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 81:2→

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8. Psalms 149:3

   Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 149:32 voices

   “Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. Thus let them repeat the triumph of the Red Sea, which was ever the typical glory of Israel. Miriam led the daughters of Israel in the dance when the Lord had triumphed gloriously; was it not most fit that she should? The sacred dance of devout joy is no example, nor even excuse, for frivolous dances, much less for lewd ones. Who could help dancing when Egypt was vanquished, and the tribes were free?

   “Let them praise his name in the choir. Wherever there is a choir, there diverse voices are gathered together into one song. For just as diverse strings produce the one sound of a song, so also diverse voices — that is, when they have been gathered together at once — make the choir of the Lord. Let them praise his name in the choir: where there is dissension, where there is envy, there is no choir. Let them praise his name in the choir: let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 149:3→

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9. Psalms 150:4

   Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 150:42 voices

   “Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Associated with the deliverance at the Red Sea, this form of worship set forth the most jubilant and exultant of worship. The hands and the feet were both employed, and the entire body moved in sympathy with the members. Are there not periods of life when we feel so glad that we would fain dance for joy? Let not such exhilaration be spent upon common themes, but let the name of God stir us to ecstasy.

   “The timbrel represents the death of fleshly desire because of honesty itself. Dancing is the agreement of reasonable spirits all saying the same thing and in which there are no divisions. The stringed instruments suggest the unison of the voices of moral excellence and the unity of the organ which is the church of God resting on reflective and active minds.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 150:4→

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