General Reference Each of the instruments used in Israel had its function in the life of the people, as described. Their customary uses also gave them symbolic significance, especially in the New Testament, which rarely mentions their actual use in music.
Wind instruments are of three general classes: those that use lip vibrations in creating the sound (trumpets and horns); those that use a vibrating reed or reeds (the clarinet and oboe); and those in which the vibrations are created by wind directed across the opening of an air column (flutes, whistles, and pipe organs). The latter two kinds may be classified together as “pipes.” Scripture mentions several varieties of wind instruments.
By far the most important of the fine arts in Israel and the early church was the field of literature. The Bible itself is the result of the sensitivity of literary artists to the Spirit of God. Each of the many forms of biblical literature contributes to our understanding of the philosophy of the worship arts.
Worship and liturgy not only involve the use of the fine arts but may themselves be understood as art forms within the broader category of dance and other movement arts. These arts contribute to the worshiper’s awareness of something “happening” in the corporate celebration of the people of God.
As worship arts, the visual arts include architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaic, and the crafting of artifacts. These arts create durable objects that may be seen and handled. Although of lesser importance in the biblical perspective than some other art forms, the visual arts may serve as effective windows into the holy.