Basic Types of Stringed Instruments

God sent Jacob and his sons to Egypt to save them from the Amorites, an extremely violent people of giant stature.[1] While in Egypt for 400 years (Acts. 7:5) they perfected their ability to make musical instruments. Both the lyre and the lute were modified during the Egyptian captivity.[2] Jewish culture incorporated these improved instruments while in Egypt and then their construction did not change significantly through the time of King David. The two basic types of stringed instruments are as follows:

Kinnor or lyre, mentioned forty-two times in the OT and is most famously known as the harp of King David.[3] It often had ten to twelve strings. The lyre was played by touching the strings that did not belong in the chord with one hand and then the other hand would strum or pick the open strings.

Nevel or lute, also translated as “harp,” is mentioned twenty-seven times in the Bible.[4] The lute had a body made of a gourd with a neck and four strings. A fifth and then a sixth string was added in the ninth century.[5] The six-string guitar is considered the direct descendant of the lute.[6] Over time the lute replaced the lyre as the harp of choice for the soloist.[7]

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[1] Broderbund, “Amorites,” in Multimedia Life Application Bible, Tyndale Press, Parsons Technology, 1998.

[2] Claire C. J. Polin, Music of the Ancient Near East (N.Y.: Vantage Press, 1954), 55.

[3] Ibid., 67.

[4] Ibid., 69.

[5] Egon Wellesz, Ancient and Oriental Music (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1957), 446.

[6] Andrews, George, Musical Instruments (N.Y.: Irving Squire, 1908), 132.

[7] Wellesz, Ancient, 409. Wellesz states, “Based on a survey of the surviving illustrations, especially in Pompeli.”