Minstrel

(Matt. 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual accompaniment of funerals. In 2 Kings 3:15 it denotes a player on a stringed instrument.

The Hebrew word in (2 Kings 3:15) 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, (1 Samuel 16:16; 18:10; 19:9) and which the harlots of the great cities used to carry with them as they walked, to attract notice. (Isaiah 23:16) The "minstrels" in (Matthew 9:23) were the flute-players who were employed as professional mourners, to whom frequent allusion is made. (2 Chronicles 35:25; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Jeremiah 9:17-20)

min'-strel.

See MUSIC.