Page Range
46-75
Keywords
Victory Songs, Recreation, Frame-Drum, Holy War
Abstract
Victory songs were sung by women to welcome home the men from victorious war. Some prophetic variants appeared from these songs that had a theology of salvation and recreation. Beside the message of the songs, the context of these songs also show that recreation was a major theme of these musical compositions. Warfare was about the expansion of creation from an ordered center in the Ancient Near East. For Israel the center was Yahweh’s presence with Israel being a new Eden. Recreation of the chaotic lands around Israel required that Israel went to war to subdue those lands and people. The songs were sung at cultic sites instruments that were associated with creation and fertility. The association of recreation and victory is found throughout the Old Testament, apocrypha, and into the New Testament and highlights the relationship of humans to the Divine Warrior who saves and recreates His people. When the Divine Warrior defeats His enemies and saves His people the only proper response is praise.
Recommended Citation
Doling, J C.. 2023. "The Voice of the Singers at the Watering Places: Victory Songs as a Celebration of Recreation." Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal 7, (1). https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/eleu/vol7/iss1/5