276. Each having a lyre. This symbolizes a confession of the Lord's Divine humanity springing from spiritual truths.

We know that in the Temple in Jerusalem, confessions of Jehovah were made with songs and musical instruments, and these had a correspondence. The instruments were principally horns and timbrels, harps and lyres. Horns and timbrels corresponded to celestial goods and truths, while harps and lyres corresponded to spiritual goods and truths. The correpondences were with their sounds.

The difference between celestial good and truth and spiritual good and truth may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, 13-19nos. and .

That lyres symbolize confessions of the Lord springing from spiritual truths can be seen from the following passages:

Confess Jehovah with the lyre; make music to Him with a harp of ten strings. (Psalms 33:2)

...on the lyre I will confess You, O God, my God. (Psalms 43:4)

...I will confess you with the instrument of a harp... I will sing to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. (Psalms 71:22)

Awake (me), harp and lyre... I will confess You among the nations, O Lord. (Psalms 57:8-9; 108:2, 3)

Answer Jehovah by confession, make music to our God with the lyre. (Psalms 147:7)

It is good to confess to Jehovah... on the harp, and on the melodious sound of the lyre. (Psalms 92:1-3)

Make a noise to Jehovah, all the earth... Sing to Jehovah with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of singing. (Psalms 98:4, 5)

And so on in many other places, as in Psalms 49:3-4; 137:1-2, Revelation 14:2; 18:22.

Since lyres corresponded to a confession of the Lord, and evil spirits cannot endure it, therefore David used a lyre to drive away the evil spirit from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-16, 23).

To learn that it was not lyres that John heard, but confessions of the Lord that sounded like lyres, see no. 661 below.