of all those who play the lyre (kinnor) and the pipe (`ugav)" (Genesis 4:21, RSV). This is the earliest mention of a wind instrument in the Bible (in terms of the order of books and of human history).

Before the creation of man, however, God created various kinds of angels (Psalm 148:2, 5).

The highest kind of all are the covering cherubim, so-called because the wings of two of these beings "cover" the "mercy seat" of the Ark of the Covenant, which represents God's throne (Exodus 25:10-22). Actually, the wings overshadow the mercy seat, and form a platform, not a canopy, for God; the Eternal sits upon, not just between, the cherubim (Psalm 99:1, RSV and other translations).

One of these "covering cherubim", identified later as the "king of Tyre" (that is, the superhuman power behind the human "prince of Tyre") is described thus: "the workmanship of thy tabrets (tuppim) and of thy pipes (neqavim) was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created" (Ezekiel 28:13, KJV). Neqavim refers to things that have been bored through -- and in combination with tuppim (timbrels or frame drums: Exodus 15:20), most likely refers to a genre of flute. This "king of Tyre", then, had great musical ability -- and of a sort capable of stirring great passion in the listener, as flutes and drums were and remain ideally suited for this (especially in dance).

Besides the already-mentioned `ugav (Genesis 4:21 and Psalm 150:4, where it is mentioned with other instruments), there was the halil (cf. Isaiah 30:29), the equivalent of the Greek aulos (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:7). It could be used for joyous occasions (cf. 1 Kings 1:40; Matthew 11:17) as well as for mourning (cf. Jeremiah 48:36; Matthew 9:23). According to Harper's Bible Dictionary ("Music", p. 670), the halil "consisted of two separate pieces of reed, metal or ivory, each with its own mouthpiece containing either a single (clarinet-type) or double (oboe-type) reed. The pipes were played together, one probably acting as a drone accompaniment." The halil was "generally a secular instrument" (op. cit.), not surprising since the cantillation of the Hebrew Scriptures was not suited to a drone accompaniment or the "tone color" of reed instruments.

We find a singular reference to nehilot ("flutes") in the heading of Psalm 5 (Psalm 5:1, Hebrew versification). The "tone color" of the melody Hak-Vantoura has reconstructed for Psalm 5 suggests the instrument could produce sounds that were either doleful or cheerful; yet it seems not to have been a clarinet- or oboe-type instrument. (As noted above, perhaps it was a wooden flute, not unlike the modern recorder.) Other instruments mentioned in the Psalm titles might also be specialized types of wind instruments.

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The most famous wind instruments of the Bible are the trumpet and the horn or (falsely so-called) "cornet" (Psalm 98:6, KJV). The Hebrew Scriptures mention the hatsotsrot (trumpets made of silver sometimes called the Temple Trumpet) and the shofarot (horns made of rams' or antelopes' horns). (Both are sometimes called "trumpet" in the KJV, to the confusion of the reader. ) There are also the wind instruments mentioned in a number of Psalms and Psalm titles (which will be discussed below).

In the Aramaic portions of Scripture, we read of the wind instruments found in the famous ensemble of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Daniel 3:5, 7, 15): the qarna' (horn), mashroqita' (flute or pipe), and sumfonyah (bagpipe, reed-pipe or Pan's pipe, if not simply the whole ensemble playing together). The sabkha', translated "sackbut" in the KJV, apparently is not a wind instrument, but a stringed instrument (see above).

In the New Testament, we find the Greek salpinx mentioned as the trumpet used by the angels to announce the "seven trumpet plagues" (Revelation 8:2). It is back-translated as shofar rather than hatsotserah in Hebrew New Testament versions, presumably because of verses such as Isaiah 27:13 and Joel 2:1. In ancient Greece, it was chiefly used by the army (the animal horn having but limited use among the Greeks).

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