(20) Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who dwell in tents and amidst herds. (21) And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the pipe.

(11) Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.”

(14) Now the spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD began to terrify him. (15) Saul’s courtiers said to him, “An evil spirit of God is terrifying you. (16) Let our lord give the order [and] the courtiers in attendance on you will look for someone who is skilled at playing the lyre; whenever the evil spirit of God comes over you, he will play it and you will feel better.”

(23) Whenever the [evil] spirit of God came upon Saul, David would take the lyre and play it; Saul would find relief and feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

(12) The blossoms have appeared in the land, The time of pruning (or: singing) / זמיר/zamir has come; The song of the turtledove Is heard in our land.

(7) The Fields are saying: “YHVH founded the land with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding.”

(8) Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy in my care, and let us be on our way, that we may live and not die—you and we and our children. (9) I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible: if I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I shall stand guilty before you forever. (10) For we could have been there and back twice if we had not dawdled.” (11) Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, do this: take some of the choice products / zimrat of the land in your baggage, and carry them down as a gift for the man—some balm and some honey, gum, laudanum, pistachio nuts, and almonds. (12) And take with you double the money, carrying back with you the money that was replaced in the mouths of your bags; perhaps it was a mistake.

) מזמרת הארץ OF THE CHOICE PRODUCTS OF THE LAND — This is rendered in the Targum by “Take of that which is praised in the land” — that about which people sing its praise (מזמרים) when it comes into existence (Genesis Rabbah 91:11).

(1) Know! when our forefather Yaakov sent his sons, the ten tribes, to Yosef, he sent with them a melody of the Land of Israel. This is the deeper meaning of “Take from the ZiMRat (choice products) of the Land in your pouches…”—the concept of ZeMeR (song) and melody, which he sent through them to Yosef. This is as Rashi comments: me’zimrat—it connotes zemer ….

(2) For know! each and every shepherd has his own special melody, according to the grasses and specific location where he is grazing. This is because each and every animal has a specific grass which it needs to eat. He also does not always pasture in the same place. Thus, his melody is dictated by the grasses and place he pastures. For each and every grass has a song which it sings. This is the concept of Perek Shirah. And from the grass’s song, the shepherd’s melody is created.

(3) This is the deeper meaning of the verse “And Adah bore Yaval; he was the father of tent dwellers with cattle. His brother’s name was Yuval; he was the father of all who play harp and flute” (Genesis 4:20-21). As soon as the world had a shepherd of cattle, there were musical instruments. Therefore, because King David, may peace be upon him, was “a skilled musician” (1 Samuel 16:18), he was “a shepherd” (ibid. :11). {We find, too, that the patriarchs were all shepherds.}

(4) And this is the concept of “From the end of the earth we heard song” (Isaiah 24:16)—i.e., songs and melodies emerge from the end of the earth, because melody is produced through the grasses which grow in the earth, as mentioned above. And because the shepherd knows the melody, he instills the grasses with energy, and so the animals have what to eat.

(5) And this is the concept of “The first blossoms have appeared in the Land, the time of ZaMiR (singing) has arrived” (Song of Songs 2:12). In other words, the “first blossoms” grow in the Land as a result of their particular ZeMeR and melody, as mentioned above. It follows, that through the song and melody which the shepherd knows, he instills the grasses with energy and there is pasture for the animals.

(1) 2. And there are many distinctions with regard to melody. There is a whole melody. And there is a melody of various sections, which can be separated into sections and themes.

(2) And know! the king has all the melody, in its entirety. But the ministers have only a part of the melody, each according to his station. Therefore, Daniel said to Nevuchadnezzar: “The tree—it is you! … there was food for all in it” (cf. Daniel 4:17-19). Nevuchadnezzar was a king and had the entire melody, and so all the food was drawn through him, because the food is drawn via the melody, as mentioned above.

(1) 3. Thus, our forefather Yaakov—not knowing then that it was Yosef, but only what the tribes [= Jacob's other sons] told him about Yosef’s conduct—sent him a melody suitable for such a minister, based on what he heard from his sons about his ways and conduct. Through the melody Yaakov wanted to get from him what he needed. He therefore sent him that melody of the Land of Israel.

(2) This is the meaning of what he said to his sons: “Take from the zimrat of the Land in your pouches”—i.e., they should take the aforementioned concept of melody, which is the concept of “zimrat of the Land,” in their pouches. “And bring down to the man as tribute some balsam and some honey, and gum, resin, pistachio nuts and almonds.” These are the concepts of the melody’s scale and rhythm, because the melody is created out of what grows in the Land, as mentioned above.

(7) We see then that by playing a musical instrument with his hand, a person thereby extracts the good wind/spirit/ruach from the evil ruach, this being the aspect of the ruach of prophecy, as explained above. All this is the aspect of subduing the imagination, which is the aspect of an evil ruach, a foolish ruach, that would blemish and confound the aspect of the good ruach, the ruach of prophecy. [And the imagination] is subdued and eliminated by means of joy, which comes from the one who plays music with the hand, as explained above. For the main strengthening of the imagination is by means of depression, because the imagination is the aspect a depressed ruach /a gloomy ruach /an evil ruach, which confounds the good ruach /the ruach of prophecy, this being the aspect of memory/attaching one’s thoughts to the World to Come, which was mentioned above.

(13) This is the explanation of what is written, “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the ruach in his palms? Who has wrapped the waters in a robe? Who has established all afsay (the ends) of the earth?” (Proverbs 30:4) .

(14) Who has gone up to heaven and come down?—This is the aspect of the musician. The musician goes up and down in the music, because he has to go up and down on the scale of the strings in line with the song’s notes in order to gather the ruach. ...