Torleif Elgvin: My Lips Play Flute for the Highest

Torleif Elgvin, My Lips Play Flute for the Highest: Jewish Hymns and Prayers before Jesus (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2024), 225 pages, ISBN 9781666770018.

“His engraved precepts shall be on my tongue as long as I live,
as the fruit of praise and portion of my lips.
I will sing with knowledge;
all my music shall be for the glory of God.
The strings of my lyre sound for his holy order;
my lips play flute after his guiding line.”
—Community Rule, 1QS 10:8-18 (p. 8, bold mine)

When we consider the inter-testamental period, we might assume that God was silent and that Israel—God’s chosen people—were spiritually adrift. My Lips Play Flute for the Highest was written to dispel such notions. Author Torleif Elgvin asserts, “Jewish literature blossomed in this period,” and demonstrates repeatedly that there were Israelites who prayed for their nation, for Jerusalem, for redemption from their sins, and who faithfully awaited God’s intervention. Elgvin focuses on the liturgy and psalms discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, offering often moving and sometimes revelatory insights. One may conclude, as I have, that Jesus’s arrival was not only “in the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4) but also an answer to the fervent prayers of a faithful remnant.

Extrabiblical in nature, the Dead Sea Scrolls do not measure up to or equal inspired Scripture, yet they provide a valuable glimpse into Jewish religious thought of the era and offer context for elements within the New Testament. Themes such as the “son of man”—a human serving as both offices as high priest and king—along with God as king, husband, and redeemer, are familiar from the Jewish Scriptures. However, the portrayal of God specified as a loving Father emerges in these 1st- and 2nd-century B.C. prayers. Theological concepts we now consider foundational to New Testament faith were already present, laying a groundwork up to two centuries before the Messiah’s birth.

“Save me from the power of evil spirits, those who rule over the thoughts of men, so that they do not lead me away from you, my God! Strengthen me and my descendants through all times, so that we never go astray!”
—Jubilees 12:19-20

While Dr. Elgvin professes to be a Christian, this is an academic work designed to appeal to both the traditional Jewish community and Christians. He contrasts both perspectives, presenting them objectively and allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.

Spanning 225 pages, the prayers are followed by brief commentary and organized into sections:

• Hymns of Praise
• Prayers for Israel
• Prayers for Zion
• Psalms of Confidence
• Longing for God
• Revelation and Illumination to the Humble
• The Lord’s Anointed
• The End of Days and the World to Come

Images and maps enhance the overall presentation.

My Lips Play Flute for the Highest serves as an excellent reference book. Though millennia old, these prayers remain fresh and biblically consistent, making them suitable for congregational prayers or liturgical readings today.

Reviewed by Kevin Williams

 

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666770018/my-lips-play-flute-for-the-highest/

Tags: Dead Sea Scrolls, flute, highest, hymns, inter-testamental, jewish, lips, liturgy, play, prayers, Torleif Elgvin

Category: In Depth, Spring 2025