What Is the Significance of King Davids Harp?
The first time that were introduced to King Davids musical talent, he is a young lad and has just been anointed in a private ceremony by the prophet Samuel. Immediately afterward, Gds spirit departs from King Saul and melancholy and anxiety descends upon him. Acting on the advice of his servants, King Saul sends out messengers to seek a harpist to help cheer him up. Young David finds favor in the eyes of the king, and he is appointed Sauls arms-bearer and tasked with playing the harp to cheer up the king whenever the need arises. Additionally, a number of psalms are preceded by the words To the conductor with melodies on the sheminith or Give thanks to the Lrd with a kinor; with a neivel . . . , indicating that King David had composed them to be accompanied by the harp. It should be noted that although in modern-day translations kinor and neivel are usually (and at times interchangeably) translated as a harp and a lyre, the instrument that King David used was probably more similar to the lyre, as it was a portable instrument that he played by hand. At the end of his life, King David is described as the sweet singer of Israel: And these are the last words of David; the saying of David the son of Jesse, and the saying of the man raised on high, the anointed of the Gd of Jacob, and the sweet singer of Israel . . .  Davids Alarm Clock The Talmud relates that a lyre hung over Davids bed, and once midnight arrived, the northern wind would come and cause the lyre to play on its own. David would immediately rise from his bed and study Torah until the first rays of dawn. Provenance and Number of Strings The Midrash shares a tradition that the strings were made out of the tendons taken from the ram that was offered as a sacrifice instead of Isaac by the Akeidah. There are various opinions as to the number of strings on the harp. In some places in Psalms, we read that the harp had seven strings. But based on the verse To the conductor with melodies on the sheminith, a song of David, some commentators explain that the word sheminith means eight and therefore the harp had eight strands. And elsewhere in Psalms the verse reads, Upon a ten-stringed harp and upon a psaltery, with speech upon a harp, implying that the harp had ten strands. Commentators explain that King David usually played on a seven-string instrument but at times would use one with eight strings, and in the World to Come he will play on one with ten strings. These varying instruments of King David parallel the instruments played by the Levites in the Temple. The Talmud relates: The harp used in the Temple was an instrument of seven strings, as it is stated: In your presence is fullness [sova] of joy . . . (Psalms 16:11). Do not read the word as fullness [sova] but as seven [sheva]. And in the days of the Messiah it will have eight strings, as it is stated: For the Leader, on the eighth: A Psalm of David (Psalms 12:1). On the eighth string. In the World to Come it will have ten strings, as it is stated:  . . . With an instrument of ten strings and with the lyre, with a solemn sound upon the harp (Psalms 92:14).