Reference: Minstrel
Easton
(Mt 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual accompaniment of funerals. In 2Ki 3:15 it denotes a player on a stringed instrument.
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Fausets
A player upon the" harp" or kinor (1Sa 16:16; 18:10; 19:9). Elisha called for a minstrel to withdraw his mind from the outer world, so that his spirit might be in a state to receive the divine revelation (2Ki 3:15). Music was often so used to prepare the frame for spiritual influences (1Sa 10:5-11) and to soothe an evil spirit of excitement, as when David played to calm Saul. In Mt 9:23 the "minstrels" were flute players employed as professional mourners at a funeral (Ec 12:5; Jer 9:17-20; 2Ch 35:25).
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Morish
The word nagan signifies a player on a stringed instrument, a harpist, though used of players of any musical instrument. Elisha once when solicited to give advice asked for a minstrel to be brought, and 'when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him.' 2Ki 3:15. The minstrels mentioned in Mt 9:23 were pipers or flute-players hired to assist in mourning.
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Smith
Minstrel.
The Hebrew word in
properly signifies a player upon a stringed instruments like the harp or kinnor [HARP], whatever its precise character may have been, on which David played before Saul,
See Harp
and which the harlots of the great cities used to carry with them as they walked, to attract notice.
The "minstrels" in
were the flute-players who were employed as professional mourners, to whom frequent allusion is made.