The tabret, or timbrel, was a small hand drum, and it was played by those who wanted to celebrate. When David brought the ark toward Jerusalem, he and all Israel “played before the LORD on all manner of instruments,” and timbrels were among them. A psalm pictures the singers going first, then the players, and “damsels playing with timbrels.” Another says, “Let them praise his name in the dance.” In these verses the drum is not for show. It adds rhythm and joy to worship, and everyone seems welcome to join in. Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 81:2 are short and easy places to begin.
5 verses
And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
(Heb. toph), a timbrel (q.v.) or tambourine, generally played by women (Gen. 31:27; 1 Sam. 10:5; 18:6). In Job 17:6 the word (Heb. topheth) “tabret” should be, as in the Revised Version, “an open abhorring” (marg., “one in whose face they spit;” lit., “a spitting in the face”).