Divine Guitar? Yes indeed, and literally so!
There were times in the Ancient Near East when Guitar really was a god.
You can find him on the list of deities on clay cuneiform tablets from the city of Ugarit (KTU 1.47;1.118 and RS 20.24)
True, he is not named precisely Guitar, but Kinnaru - but that is just phonetics. Both of these names share the same linguistic root together with, say, kithara or zither.
And if there was any doubt about Guitar’s pre-biblical divine nature, a liturgical text (KTU 1.148) prescribes for him a sacrifice: “A ram for Guitar/Kinnaru” - just imagine that feast! And the offering might be substantially richer, but the text is unfortunately broken.
In ancient times this personification and even deification of a musical instrument was the way to acknowledge and celebrate the spiritual power of music. In the Hebrew Bible itself there are still some weak echoes of a deified guitar in Psalm 57. And to this day we use word “music” which is indeed derived from Muses, Greek goddesses of divine inspiration. This is again a subliminal reminder of the spiritual importance of inspired music.
This Sunday we will not sacrifice a ram to the divine Guitar (god Kinnaru) nor will we offer any libations to the Muses, but on this last Sunday with our choir before summer we will celebrate the gifts our choir shares with us and we can share with them - divine gift of inspired and inspiring spiritual music making. Come and join us.
There were times in the Ancient Near East when Guitar really was a god.
You can find him on the list of deities on clay cuneiform tablets from the city of Ugarit (KTU 1.47;1.118 and RS 20.24)
True, he is not named precisely Guitar, but Kinnaru - but that is just phonetics. Both of these names share the same linguistic root together with, say, kithara or zither.
And if there was any doubt about Guitar’s pre-biblical divine nature, a liturgical text (KTU 1.148) prescribes for him a sacrifice: “A ram for Guitar/Kinnaru” - just imagine that feast! And the offering might be substantially richer, but the text is unfortunately broken.
In ancient times this personification and even deification of a musical instrument was the way to acknowledge and celebrate the spiritual power of music. In the Hebrew Bible itself there are still some weak echoes of a deified guitar in Psalm 57. And to this day we use word “music” which is indeed derived from Muses, Greek goddesses of divine inspiration. This is again a subliminal reminder of the spiritual importance of inspired music.
This Sunday we will not sacrifice a ram to the divine Guitar (god Kinnaru) nor will we offer any libations to the Muses, but on this last Sunday with our choir before summer we will celebrate the gifts our choir shares with us and we can share with them - divine gift of inspired and inspiring spiritual music making. Come and join us.
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