In its earliest and simplest form this accompaniment consisted of the rhythmic beating of what is translated “timbrel” in the Revised Version; the word is tôph in Hebrew, and it was probably the most primitive instrument among the Hebrews. It would be better described as a hand-drum, or “tom-tom,” being made of a circular (though also square and sometimes probably three-sided) piece of wood over which the skin of an animal, after preparation, was tightly drawn and fastened with a thin thong of skin. It was held in one hand and struck with the open palm of the other. In addition to this two other instruments of percussion are mentioned as accompanying dancing, namely “cymbals,” tzeltzĕlim, and what are called metziltaim, evidently also cymbals in some form or another as both words come from the same root; the latter must clearly have been held one in each hand and struck together, the dual form of the word shows this. Wind instruments for accompaniment were represented by the ḥalîl, “flute,” and the ʿugâb, perhaps something in the nature of a Pan’s-pipe, though this is quite uncertain; it is mentioned in Gen. iv. 21, where the Revised Version renders it “pipe.” Stringed instruments as an accompaniment to dancing were a later development, though of course used in what are to us early times, among the Israelites; the simplest of these were the kinnôr, “lyre” and the nēbel, “harp.” For the accompaniment to dancing of all three types of instruments, percussion, wind, and string, see Job xxi. 11, 12. We also read of “rattles,” mĕnaʿnĕʿim, probably something equivalent to the sistrum of the Egyptians[49].
Besides instrumental, there was also vocal accompaniment, and doubtless the rhythmic clapping of hands, the most primitive form of accompaniment, and the beating of the thighs, though neither of these is mentioned in the Old Testament.
It has been truly said that
music is rarely divorced from dancing in the early stages of culture, and seldom advances beyond mere rhythm into melody or harmony. To a modern European ear it sounds not much more than rhythmic noise, a mere marking of time for concerted movement of the limbs, monotonous and unattractive, if heard without its origin and inspiration—the dance[50].
But the writer is mistaken in his mention of harmony here; such a thing was quite unknown in “the early stages of culture,” if he means by that “culture” among uncivilized men[51].
The normal accompaniment to the sacred dance, then, among the Hebrews was the beating of the drum and the blowing of the flute; this, as will be seen in the following chapters, is true of all peoples. The accompaniment of stringed instruments is, as we have said, a later development.